Jonathan Bignell

Gerry and Sylvia Anderson began making puppet series for British
television in the 1950s, and by the end of the 1960s, [their
company](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AP_Films) had
made *Supercar*, *Fireball XL5*, *Stingray*, *Thunderbirds*, *Captain
Scarlet and the Mysterons* and *Joe 90*. Anderson's last puppet series
of the decade was *The Secret Service*, blending live action with
puppets in a contemporary setting. Across the decade, puppets and
puppetry generated technological innovation in the production of the
programmes, puppet performance was developed aesthetically, and puppet
adventures expressed the techno-futurist ambitions of the time. Puppets
were taken seriously as an effective way to produce profitable
television for domestic and international sale. [According to
Anderson](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gerry-Anderson-The-Authorised-Biography/dp/0099224429),
the export to the USA of *Supercar* in 1962 saved both his own company
and also the distributor, [Lew Grade's
ITC](http://www.plexusbooks.com/index.php/film/product/17-cult-tv-the-golden-age-of-itc-robert-sellers),
and the fact that all of the 1960s puppet series were screened in the
USA by the networks or in syndication affected how they were
commissioned, cast and shot. Their action-adventure formats were
intended to appeal to [both UK and US
audiences](http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/19658/), they were [shot on
film](http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/17666/) because that was how drama
was made in the USA, and they used international settings and both
British and North American performers.

::: {.wp-caption .aligncenter style="width: 510px"}
![Fig. 1. A futuristic London Airport in
Thunderbirds](https://cstonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/1.ThundLondonAirport.jpg "Fig. 1. A futuristic London Airport in Thunderbirds"){loading="lazy"
decoding="async" width="500" height="468"}

Fig. 1. A futuristic London Airport in *Thunderbirds*
:::

#### Technical innovation

The Andersons studios were in Slough, where [numerous contributors
worked on puppet and set construction, and special
effects](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Filmed-In-Supermarionation-History-Future/dp/1932563237).
The company made filmed television using film cameras on soundstages,
but the use of puppets meant production did not require backlot sets
built on the studio premises or shooting in outside locations.
Nevertheless the programmes were not cheap or simple to make; with the
production of *Stingray* it became necessary for two crews to work
simultaneously on the filming, on two parallel soundstages, and the
studio had to manufacture duplicate sets of puppets at different scales.
A similar system was adopted to make *Thunderbirds*, for which episodes
were shot two at a time, using three soundstages, one for models and
effects and two others for puppet performance. With around 100 effects
sequences per episode, *Thunderbirds* demanded elaborate planning, with
up to seven puppeteers at a time on a bridge structure eight feet above
the set, controlling the puppets and vehicles. The company developed
video assist in 1957 so that the production crew could see what was
being filmed, back projection in puppetry was pioneered for *Supercar*'s
title sequence, and proportionately sized puppets were introduced
in *Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons* when the Andersons' technicians
invented tiny solenoids that would fit inside puppets' heads. They
invented electronic lip-synch to precisely match a pre-recorded voice
track to the puppets' mouths.

These innovations were designed to enhance realism, because the
cinephiles Gerry and Sylvia Anderson wanted to match live action
verisimilitude. They used inserted shots of real hands for close ups,
for example, and continually strove to make puppets move like live
actors. The focus on futuristic settings and vehicles in the programmes
was initially motivated by the Andersons' dissatisfaction with puppets'
ability to walk convincingly, leading to vehicular movement instead.

::: {.wp-caption .aligncenter style="width: 510px"}
![Fig. 2. Inside Cloudbase in Captain Scarlet: no walking
necessary!](https://cstonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/2.CaptSCloudbaseInterior.jpg "Fig. 2. Inside Cloudbase in Captain Scarlet: no walking necessary!"){loading="lazy"
decoding="async" width="500" height="474"}

Fig. 2. Inside Cloudbase in *Captain Scarlet*: no walking necessary!
:::

#### Performance

Settings, vehicles and special effects make up for some of the puppets'
limitations and become performative in the programmes' telefantastic
fictional worlds. So, for example, the title sequence
of *Thunderbirds* gives equal prominence to the Tracy's vehicles and the
family's members. The places represented in Anderson's series are
diverse, reflecting the reach and effectiveness of the protagonists, who
usually work for international organisations with law-enforcement or
humanitarian aims. Some environments express 1960s modernity and
technology, but there are also atavistic or exotic spaces, and moving
between spaces is a key feature of the programmes. The science fictional
worlds offer opportunities for the visual revelation of machines and
physical action, and vehicles feature prominently. Storylines are
constructed around spectacular moments, but also longer effects
sequences that showcase technologies in operation. A rolling road and a
rolling sky backdrop were invented to facilitate movement and action in
vehicle sequences, and a custom-made mix of gunpowder created rocket
blasts and explosions. Extended long shots situate vehicles and
buildings in large sets, where narrative pace is often generated
by [editing and
music](https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/science_fiction_film_and_television/summary/v003/3.2.barron.html) rather
than puppet action. Puppet performances are enriched by, and embedded
in, a fantasy space that has emotional texture and verisimilar
realisation.

The company used voice actors who were American or Canadian, as well as
British, primarily to increase exportability, but also with important
effects on how characters and performances were created and perceived.
In *Thunderbirds*, for example, the Britishness of Lady Penelope and her
butler Parker drew on the cultural meaning of 'cool Britannia' in the
1960s. [Sylvia Anderson scripted Lady
Penelope](http://www.sylviaanderson.org.uk/my-fab-years/introduction/) in
Thunderbirds with 'not only the daring and panache of a secret agent but
also the poise of a cool and beautiful aristocrat', and costume ideas
for the puppet were based on Sylvia's interest in the Carnaby Street
styles of 1960s London.

Transatlantic voices included the Canadian actor Paul Maxwell who voiced
Steve Zodiac of *Fireball* and various characters in *Captain Scarlet*.
The Canadian-born Shane Rimmer voiced *Thunderbirds*' Virgil Tracy and
also appeared in *Captain Scarlet* and* Joe 90*. Key puppet characters
also facially resemble American film actors, or international stars,
because in defining the characters this was an effective way to indicate
character to their designers and to viewers. *Supercar*'s antagonist
Masterspy was based on the portly Sydney Greenstreet, and his henchman
Zarin sounded like Peter Lorre, thus recalling these actors' pairing
in *The Maltese Falcon* (1941). The Lorre characterization was reprised
for the enemy agent X20 in *Stingray*, and the series' hero Troy Tempest
was based on the film star James Garner. The character Marina seems
modelled on Ursula Andress, seen in *Dr No* (1962), and Atlanta Shore
facially resembled Lois Maxwell, the Canadian actress who voiced her and
who appeared in the James Bond films as Miss Moneypenny. Captain Scarlet
was intended to signal sophistication, by resemblance to Cary Grant in
both the puppet's facial features and in his voice. The appeal of
Anderson's puppet series depended on aesthetic features in performance
that richly referenced popular culture, and compensated for a perceived
the lack of nuance in puppet performance.

::: {.wp-caption .aligncenter style="width: 510px"}
![Fig. 3. Captain Scarlet, modelled on Cary
Grant](https://cstonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/3.CaptScarlet.jpg "Fig. 3. Captain Scarlet, modelled on Cary Grant"){loading="lazy"
decoding="async" width="500" height="470"}

Fig. 3. Captain Scarlet, modelled on Cary Grant
:::

Making programmes for children using the devalued mode of the puppet
series, and the devalued genre of television science fiction, the
Andersons could experiment and innovate. The economic success of the
programmes fuelled rapid development, and the efficiency of the
industrial organization necessary to quickly complete the episodes. The
producers tried to find puppet equivalents to realist styles of screen
acting and characterizations, matching voice to body both technically
via lip-synching and by practices of puppet design and styles of
movement. They aimed to take the puppets and their stories seriously.
But the puppets' limitations as performers meant that the other aspects
of mise-en-scène, especially vehicles and associated bases like Tracy
Island, took on performative characteristics too. In the Andersons'
fictional world, echoing [Marx's theory of the
commodity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_fetishism), things are
given life.

::: {.wp-caption .aligncenter style="width: 360px"}
![Fig. 4. Stingray launches from its underwater
base](https://cstonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/4.Stingray-launch.jpg "Fig. 4. Stingray launches from its underwater base"){loading="lazy"
decoding="async" width="350" height="177"}

Fig. 4. Stingray launches from its underwater base
:::

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Jonathan Bignell** is [Professor of Television and
Film](http://www.reading.ac.uk/ftt/about/staff/j-bignell.aspx) at the
University of Reading.  He has written about the Andersons' series in
the collection [*British Science Fiction Film &
Television*](http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-4621-6),
and presented versions of this topic at the International Association
for Media & History ([IAMHIST](http://iamhist.org/)) and [Screen
Studies](http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/screen/conference2014/) conferences. 
He leads the research project '[Spaces of Television: production, site
and
style](http://www.reading.ac.uk/ftt/research/Spacesoftelevision.aspx)',
and his book on space and place in 1960s TV science fiction will appear
in 2015.


Gerry and Sylvia Anderson began making puppet series for British television in the 1950s, and by the end of the 1960s, their company had made

 Supercar

,

 Fireball XL5

,

 Stingray

,

 Thunderbirds

,

 Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

and

 Joe 90

. Anderson’s last puppet series of the decade was

 The Secret Service

, blending live action with

Messaggi di Rogue Scholar

SPACE AND PERFORMANCE: GERRY AND SYLVIA ANDERSON’S 1960s SCIENCE FICTION