Joe 90
Encyclopedia
Joe 90 is a late-1960s British science-fiction
television series documenting the exploits of a nine-year-old boy, Joe McClaine, who embarks on a double life
as a schoolboy turned spy when his scientist father invents a pioneering machine capable of duplicating and transferring expert knowledge and experience to another human brain
. Equipped with the skills of the foremost academic and military minds, Joe enlists in the World Intelligence Network (WIN), becoming its "Most Special Agent", pursuing the ideal of world peace
and saving human life. Created by Gerry
and Sylvia Anderson
and filmed by Century 21 Productions, the 30-episode series followed the earlier Thunderbirds
and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
.
First screened in the UK from September 1968 to April 1969 on the ATV
network, Joe 90 was the sixth and final the Anderson production to have been made exclusively using the form of marionette
puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation
". The final puppet series, The Secret Service
used this process only in combination with extensive live-action filming. As in the case of its predecessor, Captain Scarlet, the puppets of Joe 90 are of a more naturally proportioned design as opposed to the more caricature
d appearance of the characters from Thunderbirds.
Although not as successful as Century 21's previous puppet efforts, since its inception, Joe 90 has been praised, besides other aspects, for the characterisation
of its smaller Supermarionation cast and the accomplishment of its model sets and special effects. Critics read into Joe 90' s spy-fi
theme and the choice of a child character as the protagonist, suggesting either a "kids play Bond
" connection or an enshrinement of children and the powers of their imagination. Points for criticism range from the violence
depicted in a number of episodes to the absence of female characters, which is viewed either as the inevitable result of Joe 90' s development as a "boy's own adventure" or bordering on sexism
.
As had been the case for its precursors, Century 21 based merchandising
campaigns on Joe 90, which included toy cars and comic strip
s dedicated to the continuing adventures of Joe McClaine. Syndicated on its arrival in the United States in 1969, re-broadcast in the UK during the 1990s and released on DVD in most regions
in the 2000s, the concept of a live-action motion picture adaptation of Joe 90 has been considered more than once since the 1960s, although without further development. A comparable format exists in the similarly titled Ben 10
; while Joe 90 has access to the knowledge and experience of scientists and military personnel while wearing his glasses, Ben 10 acquires alien powers while wearing a watch.
, tended by their housekeeper, Mrs Harris. However, residing in a secret underground laboratory is Mac's latest invention, the "BIG RAT" (Brain Impulse Galvanoscope Record And Transfer), a machine capable of recording knowledge and experience from leading experts in various fields and transferring it to another human brain. At the heart of the design is the "Rat Trap", a rotating, spherical cage in which a subject is seated during the transfer of the expert "brain pattern".
Sam Loover, a secret agent for the World Intelligence Network (WIN), persuades Mac, his friend, to dedicate the BIG RAT to WIN's pursuit of world peace
by permitting Joe to assume such knowledge and experience and become an operative for the organisation. Episode 1. After the requisite skill is transferred, and provided that Joe is wearing special glasses containing hidden electrode
s storing the expertise, he is able to execute such missions as operating fighter aircraft
, Episode 20. Episode 25. Episode 27. blasting off into space Episode 2. and performing advanced neurosurgery
, Episode 12. all the while appearing to be an innocent schoolboy to the enemies of WIN. Since no one would suspect a child of espionage, Joe quickly becomes WIN's "Most Special Agent". Reporting to the commander-in-chief
of WIN's London Headquarters, Shane Weston, he is also provided with a special briefcase, which on superficial inspection appears to be a simple school case but in fact conceals an adapted handgun and transceiver
. There is some inconsistency as to why Joe assumes the codename "90". Promotional information states that, in the pilot
, Joe joins 89 other WIN agents based in London, becoming the 90th agent. However, in the episode "Project 90
", the BIG RAT is referred to as WIN's "File 90" and (according to dialogue from Professor McClaine) Joe's designation originates from this. Episode 3.
In a manner similar to other Gerry Anderson
series, Joe 90 features gadgets, Episode 18. rescue operations, Episode 11. secret organisations, and criminal and terrorist threats to the safety of the world. One example of advanced technology demonstrated is the "Jet Air Car", a land, sea and air vehicle invented by Professor McClaine prior to the events of the series. The pun of the "WIN" acronym for the World Intelligence Network is similar to that of WASP, the abbreviated name of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol that appears in Stingray
. The Cold War
, significant in 1968 due to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia that August has ended in the futuristic universe of Joe 90. Although in the pilot episode Joe is depicted stealing a new Russian fighter plane to expose its revolutionary design to the West
, the story is later revealed to be a scenario imagined by Shane Weston to demonstrate the types of espionage in which Joe would likely be involved if Mac agrees to his son becoming a spy.
In the fictional universe of Joe 90, the nations of the world are politically divided into Western and Eastern
blocs. A recurring antagonist is the Eastern Alliance, which dominates Asia and appears in the episodes "Attack of the Tiger
" and "Mission X-41
". "International Concerto
", Episode 8. "Business Holiday", Episode 14. "Arctic Adventure" Episode 15. and "The Professional" feature villains who speak with Slavic
accents. "Attack of the Tiger" combines the Eastern Alliance threat with the hazards of nuclear technology; in this episode, Joe must prevent an Eastern nuclear device from being launched into Earth orbit. By contrast, an episode that demonstrates the advantages of nuclear technology is "Big Fish", in which Joe struggles to remove a crippled nuclear submarine
from the ocean floor when it strays into the territorial waters
of a hostile Latin America
n police state. Episode 10. The series ends with a clip show
episode, "The Birthday", in which a number of Joe's missions are recalled as flashbacks
on the day that the protagonist reaches the age of ten. Episode 30.
, Joe 90 was purposely conceived and developed to be a different kind of Supermarionation
series, placing the narrative emphasis less on action, advanced technology and visual effects
and more on characterisation
and plotlines subscribing more to the spy thriller genre than science fiction. Co-creator Gerry Anderson
explained, "The show majored on its characters, which I thought were all very good. The puppets had become so lifelike, I now strongly believed that they could carry the action without the usual massive assistance from futuristic hardware." Explaining his inspiration for the series, Anderson recalls his pre-Supermarionation days when he served as an assistant editor for such films as The Wicked Lady
and handled recording tape on a daily basis. While pondering on the blanking and re-use of such tape, Anderson made a connection to the human brain's electrical activities, explaining, "I read somewhere that the human brain is controlled by electrical impulses and how thoughts are stored electronically. I started toying with the story potential of a process that would allow the recording of brain patterns and transferring them to another brain. I was really likening it to magnetic recording, where material could be stored or transferred to another tape." When it came to naming the lead character and, from that, the name of the new series, Anderson recalled that on his previous production, Fireball XL5
, the surname "Ninety" had been an early proposal for Colonel Steve Zodiac, and selected it for the schoolboy who would be the next protagonist. The script for the pilot episode
was written by Anderson with his wife, Sylvia
, as was the custom for each new puppet series that the couple developed.
financier Lew Grade
in the autumn of 1967, with pre-production
completed in October while the final episodes of Captain Scarlet were still being filmed, principal photography
for Joe 90 ran from 13 November 1967 to mid-August 1968 using two puppet stages at the Century 21 Studios on the Slough Trading Estate
Slough Trading Estate
: 51.5244°N 0.6250°W (principal photography and editing) in Berkshire
. The average shooting period for each episode was two weeks, as had been the case with the previous series. Since he was occupied by post-production
on the second Thunderbirds
feature film, Thunderbird 6
, and the development of his live-action film, Doppelgänger
, Gerry Anderson was unable to take on a producer role as he had done for Captain Scarlet, instead passing the responsibility down to Reg Hill
and David Lane
. Lane in particular recalls that in his role as producer, he was "responsible for looking at the scripts, the effects, the puppets, the whole thing really", and found support in Anderson's long-serving collaborator Desmond Saunders
, who directed the pilot episode and acted as production controller for the rest of the series. Other directors for Joe 90 included Leo Eaton, Alan Perry and Ken Turner
, all of whom had contributed to Captain Scarlet, and Peter Anderson, who was promoted from his earlier position as assistant director to replace the outgoing Brian Burgess and Robert Lynn.
and Grenville Nott mostly superseded Bob Bell as heads of the art department
and built the interior of Culver Bay Cottage from a design by Mike Trim
. Anderson recalls his satisfaction with the cottage set, remarking that, "the interior, with its beams and lovely soft furnishings, was really beautiful." The construction of the BIG RAT model, meanwhile, was entrusted to the newly formed incorporated company Century 21 Props or Electronics, responsible for the various technical gadgets to appear in the series and based in Bourne End
in Buckinghamshire
.Century 21 Props: 51.5752°N 0.7096°W (props and electronics)
Although also occupied with Thunderbird 6 and Doppelgänger, Derek Meddings
briefly reprised his role as head of special effect
s to construct Professor McClaine's Jet Air Car, although this concept was a disappointment to Anderson, who stated that, "The car looked like no other piece of hardware we had had previously but I was wary of canning it as I feared I might be becoming stereotyped. Maybe the whole thing was becoming a bit narrow; all the ideas were becoming similar." Supermarionation
writer Stephen La Rivière views the Jet Air Car as an update of Supercar, the revolutionary vehicle which appeared in Anderson's 1961 series of the same name
, but agrees that while the Jet Air Car is the "star vehicle" of Joe 90, it is visually unappealing in comparison to the "beautiful, sleek design of its predecessor."
. Simultaneously, the drive for enhanced realism across all major design aspects which started with the preceding series continued for Joe 90. Main character puppets from Captain Scarlet were re-used for Joe 90 with the exceptions of the Captain Scarlet
and Captain Blue
marionettes. Few new puppets were constructed, the only notable exceptions being Professor McClaine (sculpted by Mary Turner), Joe (sculpted by Tim Cooksey), and Mrs Harris.
The Joe puppet was the first child marionette to be made as part of the new generation of Supermarionation puppets introduced for Captain Scarlet, for which the sculpting team were careful to achieve realistic proportions for the body of a nine-year-old boy. The puppets of Sam Loover and Shane Weston had each made several appearances in the previous series, but for their regular role in the new series a variety of alternative heads were created from the "expressionless" templates—including "smilers", "frowners" and "blinkers" — and the Shane Weston puppet was re-wigged. Many of the recycled "revamp puppets", used to depict supporting characters for Captain Scarlet, were also duplicated with darker
skin colours to portray characters from a range of ethnicities. Further to these requirements, the use of two shooting soundstages necessitated the duplication of all the "expressionless" main character puppets to avoid conflicts over resources between the two filming units. As in the previous series, "under control" puppets, manipulated by levers from below as opposed to wires from a gantry above, feature in Joe 90.
, and opening and ending theme music
, composed by Barry Gray
, who served as musical director for other Anderson productions. Episodes of Joe 90 either start with a cold open
(this was the first Anderson series to do so) before the main title sequence
, or enter immediately into the latter, which features Joe sitting in the BIG RAT's "Rat Trap" and receiving transferred knowledge from the machine (a sequence filmed for the pilot). This sequence is accompanied by Gray's opening theme, dominated by the notes of guitarist Vic Flick
, who had performed lead guitar in the recording of the original "James Bond Theme
" for the film Dr. No
in 1962. In Anderson's biography, What Made Thunderbirds Go!, the Joe 90 theme is described as a "dizzying piece of psychedelic
pop art that could have been produced only in the late Sixties." The closing credits
, meanwhile, are superimposed over images of objects such as Joe's BIG RAT spectacles, his WIN badge, and also his briefcase, gun, and transceiver. Conceptual designs of these images were photographic, but the final versions were augmented with airbrush artwork.
In addition to the themes and tracks for the pilot, "The Most Special Agent
", Gray composed incidental music for 20 further episodes of Joe 90. Music for the Joe 90 episodes was recorded between 18 January and 27 September 1968, starting with the titles and the pilot in a session at the Olympic Sound Studios in Barnes, LondonOlympic Sound Studios: 51.4752°N 0.2407°W (music recording) and finishing with work for one of the last instalments of the series, "See You Down There
" at London's CTS Studios. Scores were also recorded at the private Barry Gray Studio at Gray's residence in Esher, Surrey
.Barry Gray Studio: 51.3691°N 0.365°W (music recording) A CD of the Joe 90 scores, running to 28 pieces, was released by Silva Screen Records in 2006. Offering a rating of 3.5 stars out of five, AllRovi reviewer William Ruhlmann comments that the scores are "not great writing", but that Gray's work was "perfectly adequate, if not inspired."
, Joe 90 features a smaller cast, voicing just five regular characters. Like Captain Scarlet, the series has been viewed as more "English-sounding", the Andersons abandoning their stipulation dating from the production of Thunderbirds
that the puppet cast be American and thus dispensing with the established format of their series' principal character being a "square-jawed, fair-skinned male with a Mid-Atlantic
accent". Instead, in a manner similar to the Captain Scarlet, Joe 90 focuses on the strong American supporting characters of Sam Loover and Shane Weston.
Supporting character
s were voiced by Alexander, Healy and Anderson as well as earlier Anderson contributors Gary Files
, Martin King
, Jeremy Wilkin
, Shane Rimmer
and (for one episode, "Viva Cordova
") Liz Morgan
. Rimmer and Morgan, however, are not credited in the closing titles. Files recalls that he felt honoured to be asked to rejoin the Andersons for another production following Captain Scarlet, and that he was "tickled pink" to be performing with Davies, adding, "I hated the way that so many so-called producers wouldn't meet his eye. He was Maigret forever, you see, in their eyes." Morgan, meanwhile, explains how she was contracted for her single voice role in Joe 90: "They needed a voice, they called around and everyone else was out shopping. So they called me in."
in late September 1968 and moving on to LWT, Southern
and Anglia
shortly after. The series reached the Harlech and Channel
regions in November 1968 and finally Granada
on Christmas Day, although the first episode to air was the Christmas-themed "The Unorthodox Shepherd
" rather than the pilot, "The Most Special Agent
". Granada was one of several regions which broadcast Joe 90 under the altered title, The Adventures of Joe 90. Although the series was re-run
several times in various regions during the 1970s, it was not transmitted in the Yorkshire
region until 1981, when it was secured by ITV
for a syndicated run. In the United States, Joe 90 was broadcast in first-run syndication in 1969.
Joe 90 was later purchased for early-morning network
transmissions on BBC1 in 1994. Rights holder PolyGram
cleared the programme for broadcast on the condition that the "zooming" Joe 90 logo in the title sequence
be replaced with a new static version to distinguish it from the logo for the American G.I. Joe
toy brand, which, PolyGram believed, appeared too similar. The videotapes used for broadcast were 16 mm
transfers of the 35 mm
film and were edited for timeslot constraints, with the cold open
re-arranged where applicable so that the titles now opened each episode, and the closing credits
minimised to permit a BBC Children's presenter to read out viewer birthday cards. A separate 1994 run on Nickelodeon
made none of these alterations to the 1960s material. With Thunderbirds
and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
, the series commenced a run on the UK Sci Fi Channel
in 2009.
For Joe 90' s original run, in some regions the end of the title sequence incorporated a zoom-in shot of Joe's WIN glasses accompanied by a voice-over
provided by actor Tim Turner
, stating, "These are Joe 90's special glasses. Without them, he's a boy. Wearing them, he's an expert." This short speech, intended to warn child viewers not to put themselves at risk by imitating Joe's exploits, has been erroneously attributed to Keith Alexander
on the Joe 90 Region 2 DVD box set, on which it is a special feature.
television series, John Peel
questioned the ethics of Mac effectively "experimenting on" his adopted child in his development of the BIG RAT, and on the subject of Joe as a secret agent enquires, jokingly, "Presumably there are no child labour laws in the future!" The more violent style introduced in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
is occasionally evident in Joe 90. In the episode "Hi-jacked
", for instance, Joe kills an enemy with a grenade. Episode 4. Meanwhile, in "Project 90
", Professor McClaine is menaced by a drill that threatens to pulverise his head. On the subject of violence, director Desmond Saunders
says, "There was an unpleasant side to it which I never really understood. There was something about it that was very strange and sinister."
On the other hand, producer David Lane
praises the series for its increased humour following the dark tone of Captain Scarlet and sees Joe 90 as much more family-orientated
in comparison to its forerunner, summing up the series as "a great little programme." Anthony Clark of the British Film Institute
commends Joe 90 for more effective characterisation
than Captain Scarlet, and also compliments the quality of its scripts and Barry Gray
's musical score. La Rivière underlines a connection between the child protagonist and the theme of espionage, writing, "The premise that drives Joe 90 taps into the fantasy indulged by most boys that they, even at nine years old, can be James Bond
." Writer John R. Cook agrees with La Rivière's points on audience self-identification, describes the series as a "wish-fulfilment fantasy" and suggests that the character of Joe is a mirror image
of the target child viewer. Comparisons have been made to later franchises with child protagonists who are in fact operatives for intelligence agencies, such as Robert Rodriguez
's Spy Kids films, released between 2001 and 2003, and the Alex Rider
novels by Anthony Horowitz
, of which the first instalment was released in 2000.
La Rivière noted the intimacy of the series and the predominantly male voice cast and characters, suggesting that Joe 90 is "very much a Boy's Own
adventure." Out of the 30 episodes, only ten feature appearances from female characters, a fact which La Rivière attributes to the increased demands on Century 21 for its feature film productions, Thunderbird 6
and Doppelgänger
. Peel suggests that the female absence leaves Joe 90, with many other Anderson productions, inferior to previous Supermarionation
effort Thunderbirds
, in which the character of Lady Penelope has a primary role in several episodes. Grouping Joe 90 with the earlier Supercar
and the subsequent The Secret Service
, Peel concludes, "It is hardly coincidental that these tend to be the least-loved of [Anderson's] series; he had, after all, ignored half of his potential audience." For Peel, this return of the "standard Anderson sexism
" is only one aspect of deterioration between Joe 90 and previous productions. Peel challenges La Rivière's asserted "kids play Bond" theme, writing that, "being a somewhat nerd
y kid with glasses and brain implant
s was not really thrilling."
Peel's view was contested by Anderson's belief that the series, with its bespectacled lead character of Joe McClaine, can raise the self-confidence of young viewers with glasses, stating, "Suddenly they were proud because they had something in common with Joe 90." Since the first appearance of the series in 1968, the epithet "Joe 90" has become popular as a term of endearment for such children as well as adults remembered for wearing oversized spectacles, such as snooker
player Dennis Taylor
. During UK re-runs
of the series in the 1990s, similarities were also drawn between Joe and contemporary British Prime Minister John Major
, also known for wearing large spectacles.
Cook reads further into the concept of child empowerment in Joe 90, writing that the series creates a "technological utopia" around youth, remarking, "Through the character of Joe, his brain hardwired at the start of each episode into the BIG RAT supercomputer
, the young are shown to be literally at one with technology." He adds that the instant access to brain patterns that the BIG RAT affords to Joe may be interpreted as heralding the development of the Internet over a decade after Joe 90 was produced. With his intellectual horizons broadened, Joe becomes the manifestation of homo superior, yet his youthfulness grants him the power to change the fraught political world in ways that no adult could due to the limitations of their imagination. In this respect, Cook holds up Joe 90 as a precursor to the 1970s television series The Tomorrow People
, which also concerned ideas of human transcendence in children. This idea, Cook says, was evident in the title of Joe 90 itself: "no longer is he a nine-year-old boy but instead his status and capacities have been multiplied tenfold to transform him into agent 'Joe 90', his name an appealing futuristic echo of the then distant year of 1990."
Ultimately, Joe 90 has proven to be less successful than previous series made by Anderson. In the Anderson-related book, Supermarionation Classics, the model work and scripts are praised, but it is conceded that the series "failed to arouse more than a passing interest with some Anderson fans." Stephen Hulse refers to Joe 90 as "clearly the most child-oriented of the latter Anderson Supermarionation series" and "technically accomplished", but "one of the Anderson stable's lesser series". However, its spy-fi
theme led on to the final Supermarionation series, The Secret Service, which too features an unconventional secret agent (a vicar, Father Stanley Unwin
) and an intelligence organisation with a contracted name (BISHOP, an acronym for "British Intelligence Service Headquarters, Operation Priest").
", "Splashdown", "Attack of the Tiger
" and "Arctic Adventure", titled The Amazing Adventures of Joe 90, was created under the supervision of Robert Mandell
of ITC Entertainment
's New York offices. Intended to boost American syndication
sales, The Amazing Adventures of Joe 90 is one of a number of composite films of Gerry Anderson
productions, which were released both to stations and on home video
under the promotional banner of "Super Space Theater". Material for "The Most Special Agent" was re-edited to remove the framing sequences set at Culver Bay Cottage and WIN Headquarters London, with the result that Joe's fictitious mission to steal the Russian prototype fighter appears to be a real assignment for the nine-year-old WIN agent. Despite each of the episodes in this compilation receiving a U certificate
from the British Board of Film Classification
(BBFC), The Amazing Adventures of Joe 90 was rated PG.
From the 1980s, the distribution rights to the ITC productions belonged to PolyGram Television
. Subsequent sales were made to Carlton International
in the late 1990s and finally Granada International which, through a merger with Carlton International in 2004, now forms ITV Global Entertainment, a division of ITV plc
. During the 1990s, the possibility of a live-action film adaptation of Joe 90 was mooted by PolyGram. The idea re-emerged in the 2000s, when in 2003 the magazine Variety
reported that a film version was in the planning stages, to be produced by Disney. However, to date, the film proposal remains to be developed. In 2005, Anderson said of negotiations with Granada, "We have regular meetings and although they are very polite and very nice, nothing ever happens."
When I Love the '70s
, '80s
and '90s
, three British pop culture nostalgia programmes, were broadcast on BBC Two
in 2001, a set of Joe 90-themed "trailers
" were filmed to precede instalments of the last of these series. In each of the three previews, the character of Joe is depicted entering the BIG RAT's "Rat Trap" to receive the brain pattern of a 1990s household name, from Oasis
bandmember Liam Gallagher
(representing 1990) to comedian Vic Reeves
(1991) to the character of Garth (portrayed by Dana Carvey
) from the 1992 film, Wayne's World
. On leaving the "Rat Trap", Joe has assumed the identity of each BIG RAT subject and acts and speaks using their mannerisms. Edited versions of the trailers missing the BBC Two voiceovers and logos are included as special feature material on the Region 2 release of the Joe 90 DVD box set.
Authentic 1960s associated media for Joe 90 included a Century 21 Toys range comprising friction-drive
and battery-operated versions of Professor McClaine's Jet Air Car and Sam Loover's futuristic saloon. Also available were Joe's WIN briefcase (complete with replica gadgets and pistol) and his WIN badge reading "Most Special Agent". Joe 90 was also allotted its own weekly comic, Joe 90 Top Secret, which ran for 34 issues (and included strips
based on TV series The Champions
and Land of the Giants
). In September 1969, it merged with the established Anderson tie-in TV21
(previously titled TV Century 21), which then came to be known as TV21 and Joe 90. After a further 36 issues, Joe 90 strips were dropped from the comic and the new title dropped in favour of the original TV21.
The 1990s were marked by a considerable interest in old TV series from the 1960s and 70s — Joe 90 was one of those that was among the repeats
and was also the subject of a strip series in the Funday Times
section of The Sunday Times
. Strips from Joe 90 Top Secret were reprinted in a new publication, Joe 90, which was launched to tie in with the 1994 BBC
re-runs
but which also, after just seven issues, merged into a related comic, on this occasion Fleetway
's Thunderbirds. Other Joe 90 print media include 1968 and 1969 Joe 90 annuals
from Century 21 Publishing and two short paperback novels, Joe 90 and the Raiders (by Tod Sullivan) and Joe 90 in Revenge (by Howard Elson), published by May Fair Books.
of Joe 90 in the 1980s were controlled by "Channel 5", later re-branded as "PolyGram
Video". Released in an eight-volume series and re-packaged in 1992, the set included "The Most Special Agent
", "Splashdown", "Attack of the Tiger
" and "Arctic Adventure" in their re-edited forms from the 1981 compilation film The Amazing Adventures of Joe 90, which itself received three video releases both in PAL
and NTSC
format between 1981 and 1986. The 1980s and 90s VHS releases used 16 mm
prints, which were of a quality poorer than that of the original film.
In September 2002, a DVD box set of all 30 Joe 90 episodes, sourced from a digital remaster
of 35 mm
film prints, was released in Region 2 by Carlton
. The five component discs were also released individually at intervals between September 2002 and January 2003, and the episodes were also marketed in a new five-volume VHS package. A North American set from A&E
debuted in July 2003 before a Region 4 version appeared in October. A French-language release of Joe 90 — Agent Très Spécial (English: Joe 90—Very Special Agent) hit the Canadian market in 2004. With these DVD releases, the component episodes of The Amazing Adventures of Joe 90 were made commercially available in their unedited form for the first time.
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
television series documenting the exploits of a nine-year-old boy, Joe McClaine, who embarks on a double life
Double Life
Double Life is a 2-CD compilation album of songs by Värttinä. It includes the entire 6.12 live album, and songs from studio albums Seleniko, Aitara and Ilmatar...
as a schoolboy turned spy when his scientist father invents a pioneering machine capable of duplicating and transferring expert knowledge and experience to another human brain
Human brain
The human brain has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times larger than the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size. Estimates for the number of neurons in the human brain range from 80 to 120 billion...
. Equipped with the skills of the foremost academic and military minds, Joe enlists in the World Intelligence Network (WIN), becoming its "Most Special Agent", pursuing the ideal of world peace
World peace
World Peace is an ideal of freedom, peace, and happiness among and within all nations and/or people. World peace is an idea of planetary non-violence by which nations willingly cooperate, either voluntarily or by virtue of a system of governance that prevents warfare. The term is sometimes used to...
and saving human life. Created by Gerry
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
and Sylvia Anderson
Sylvia Anderson
Sylvia Anderson , born 25 March 1937, is a British voice artist and film producer, most notable for collaborations with Gerry Anderson, to whom she was married from 1962 to 1975....
and filmed by Century 21 Productions, the 30-episode series followed the earlier Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds (TV series)
Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation"...
and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often referred to as Captain Scarlet, is a 1960s British science-fiction television series produced by the Century 21 Productions company of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, John Read and Reg Hill...
.
First screened in the UK from September 1968 to April 1969 on the ATV
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
network, Joe 90 was the sixth and final the Anderson production to have been made exclusively using the form of marionette
Marionette
A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a manipulator. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms...
puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation
Supermarionation
Supermarionation is a puppetry technique devised in the 1960s by British production company AP Films. It was used extensively in the company's numerous Gerry and Sylvia Anderson-produced action-adventure series, the most famous of which was Thunderbirds...
". The final puppet series, The Secret Service
The Secret Service
The Secret Service is a British children's espionage television series, made as a Century 21 production for ITC Entertainment and broadcast in 1969...
used this process only in combination with extensive live-action filming. As in the case of its predecessor, Captain Scarlet, the puppets of Joe 90 are of a more naturally proportioned design as opposed to the more caricature
Caricature
A caricature is a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.Caricatures can be...
d appearance of the characters from Thunderbirds.
Although not as successful as Century 21's previous puppet efforts, since its inception, Joe 90 has been praised, besides other aspects, for the characterisation
Characterisation
Characterization or characterisation is the art of creating characters for a narrative, including the process of conveying information about them. It may be employed in dramatic works of art or everyday conversation...
of its smaller Supermarionation cast and the accomplishment of its model sets and special effects. Critics read into Joe 90
Spy-fi
-Definition and characteristics:It often uses a secret agent or superspy whose mission is a showcase of science fiction elements such as technology and ideas used for extortion, plots for world domination or world destruction, futuristic weapons, gadgets and fast vehicles that can travel on land,...
theme and the choice of a child character as the protagonist, suggesting either a "kids play Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
" connection or an enshrinement of children and the powers of their imagination. Points for criticism range from the violence
Media violence research
Research into the media and violence examines whether links between consuming media violence and subsequent aggressive and violent behavior exists...
depicted in a number of episodes to the absence of female characters, which is viewed either as the inevitable result of Joe 90
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
.
As had been the case for its precursors, Century 21 based merchandising
Merchandising
Merchandising is the methods, practices, and operations used to promote and sustain certain categories of commercial activity. In the broadest sense, merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer...
campaigns on Joe 90, which included toy cars and comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s dedicated to the continuing adventures of Joe McClaine. Syndicated on its arrival in the United States in 1969, re-broadcast in the UK during the 1990s and released on DVD in most regions
DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
in the 2000s, the concept of a live-action motion picture adaptation of Joe 90 has been considered more than once since the 1960s, although without further development. A comparable format exists in the similarly titled Ben 10
Ben 10
The Omnitrix was originally created by a Galvan named Azmuth. The Omnitrix was intended to allow beings to experience life as other species in order to bring understanding and foster peace in the universe....
; while Joe 90 has access to the knowledge and experience of scientists and military personnel while wearing his glasses, Ben 10 acquires alien powers while wearing a watch.
Plot
Joe 90 is set either in 2012-3 or at another point in the early 21st century, or 1998, according to the official guide for scriptwriters. Nine-year-old British schoolboy Joe McClaine is the adopted son of Professor Ian "Mac" McClaine, a renowned computer expert. On the outside, the McClaines are an ordinary father-and-son pair who live in an antiquated Elizabethan-style cottage overlooking Culver Bay, DorsetDorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, tended by their housekeeper, Mrs Harris. However, residing in a secret underground laboratory is Mac's latest invention, the "BIG RAT" (Brain Impulse Galvanoscope Record And Transfer), a machine capable of recording knowledge and experience from leading experts in various fields and transferring it to another human brain. At the heart of the design is the "Rat Trap", a rotating, spherical cage in which a subject is seated during the transfer of the expert "brain pattern".
Sam Loover, a secret agent for the World Intelligence Network (WIN), persuades Mac, his friend, to dedicate the BIG RAT to WIN's pursuit of world peace
World peace
World Peace is an ideal of freedom, peace, and happiness among and within all nations and/or people. World peace is an idea of planetary non-violence by which nations willingly cooperate, either voluntarily or by virtue of a system of governance that prevents warfare. The term is sometimes used to...
by permitting Joe to assume such knowledge and experience and become an operative for the organisation. Episode 1. After the requisite skill is transferred, and provided that Joe is wearing special glasses containing hidden electrode
Electrode
An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit...
s storing the expertise, he is able to execute such missions as operating fighter aircraft
Fighter aircraft
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...
, Episode 20. Episode 25. Episode 27. blasting off into space Episode 2. and performing advanced neurosurgery
Neurosurgery
Neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spine, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra-cranial cerebrovascular system.-In the United States:In...
, Episode 12. all the while appearing to be an innocent schoolboy to the enemies of WIN. Since no one would suspect a child of espionage, Joe quickly becomes WIN's "Most Special Agent". Reporting to the commander-in-chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
of WIN's London Headquarters, Shane Weston, he is also provided with a special briefcase, which on superficial inspection appears to be a simple school case but in fact conceals an adapted handgun and transceiver
Transceiver
A transceiver is a device comprising both a transmitter and a receiver which are combined and share common circuitry or a single housing. When no circuitry is common between transmit and receive functions, the device is a transmitter-receiver. The term originated in the early 1920s...
. There is some inconsistency as to why Joe assumes the codename "90". Promotional information states that, in the pilot
The Most Special Agent
"The Most Special Agent" is the first episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. Its original UK air date was 29 September 1968 on ATV Midlands...
, Joe joins 89 other WIN agents based in London, becoming the 90th agent. However, in the episode "Project 90
Project 90
"Project 90" is the third episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. It was the 17th episode to be produced. Its original UK air date was October 13, 1968 on ATV Midlands...
", the BIG RAT is referred to as WIN's "File 90" and (according to dialogue from Professor McClaine) Joe's designation originates from this. Episode 3.
In a manner similar to other Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
series, Joe 90 features gadgets, Episode 18. rescue operations, Episode 11. secret organisations, and criminal and terrorist threats to the safety of the world. One example of advanced technology demonstrated is the "Jet Air Car", a land, sea and air vehicle invented by Professor McClaine prior to the events of the series. The pun of the "WIN" acronym for the World Intelligence Network is similar to that of WASP, the abbreviated name of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol that appears in Stingray
Stingray (TV series)
Stingray is a children's marionette television show, created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and produced by AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment from 1964–65. Its 39 half-hour episodes were originally screened on ITV in the UK and in syndication in the USA. The scriptwriters included Gerry and...
. The Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, significant in 1968 due to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia that August has ended in the futuristic universe of Joe 90. Although in the pilot episode Joe is depicted stealing a new Russian fighter plane to expose its revolutionary design to the West
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
, the story is later revealed to be a scenario imagined by Shane Weston to demonstrate the types of espionage in which Joe would likely be involved if Mac agrees to his son becoming a spy.
In the fictional universe of Joe 90, the nations of the world are politically divided into Western and Eastern
Eastern world
__FORCETOC__The term Eastern world refers very broadly to the various cultures or social structures and philosophical systems of Eastern Asia or geographically the Eastern Culture...
blocs. A recurring antagonist is the Eastern Alliance, which dominates Asia and appears in the episodes "Attack of the Tiger
Attack of the Tiger
"Attack of the Tiger" is the 25th episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. It was the 21st episode to be produced. Its original UK air date was 16 March 1969 on ATV Midlands...
" and "Mission X-41
Mission X-41
"Mission X-41" is the 27th episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. It was the 24th episode to be produced. Its original UK air date was March 30, 1969 on ATV Midlands...
". "International Concerto
International Concerto
"International Concerto" is the eighth episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. It was the sixth episode to be produced. Its original UK air date was 17 November 1968 on ATV Midlands. It was written by Tony Barwick and directed by Alan Perry.- Synopsis :Igor Sladek, a famous...
", Episode 8. "Business Holiday", Episode 14. "Arctic Adventure" Episode 15. and "The Professional" feature villains who speak with Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
accents. "Attack of the Tiger" combines the Eastern Alliance threat with the hazards of nuclear technology; in this episode, Joe must prevent an Eastern nuclear device from being launched into Earth orbit. By contrast, an episode that demonstrates the advantages of nuclear technology is "Big Fish", in which Joe struggles to remove a crippled nuclear submarine
Nuclear submarine
A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor . The performance advantages of nuclear submarines over "conventional" submarines are considerable: nuclear propulsion, being completely independent of air, frees the submarine from the need to surface frequently, as is necessary for...
from the ocean floor when it strays into the territorial waters
Territorial waters
Territorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most from the baseline of a coastal state...
of a hostile Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n police state. Episode 10. The series ends with a clip show
Clip show
A clip show is an episode of a television series that consists primarily of excerpts from previous episodes. Most clip shows feature the format of a frame story in which cast members recall past events from past installments of the show, depicted with a clip of the event presented as a flashback. ...
episode, "The Birthday", in which a number of Joe's missions are recalled as flashbacks
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
on the day that the protagonist reaches the age of ten. Episode 30.
Production
Following Captain Scarlet and the MysteronsCaptain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often referred to as Captain Scarlet, is a 1960s British science-fiction television series produced by the Century 21 Productions company of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, John Read and Reg Hill...
, Joe 90 was purposely conceived and developed to be a different kind of Supermarionation
Supermarionation
Supermarionation is a puppetry technique devised in the 1960s by British production company AP Films. It was used extensively in the company's numerous Gerry and Sylvia Anderson-produced action-adventure series, the most famous of which was Thunderbirds...
series, placing the narrative emphasis less on action, advanced technology and visual effects
Visual effects
Visual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...
and more on characterisation
Characterisation
Characterization or characterisation is the art of creating characters for a narrative, including the process of conveying information about them. It may be employed in dramatic works of art or everyday conversation...
and plotlines subscribing more to the spy thriller genre than science fiction. Co-creator Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
explained, "The show majored on its characters, which I thought were all very good. The puppets had become so lifelike, I now strongly believed that they could carry the action without the usual massive assistance from futuristic hardware." Explaining his inspiration for the series, Anderson recalls his pre-Supermarionation days when he served as an assistant editor for such films as The Wicked Lady
The Wicked Lady
The Wicked Lady is a 1945 film starring Margaret Lockwood in the title role as a nobleman's wife who secretly becomes a highwayman for the excitement...
and handled recording tape on a daily basis. While pondering on the blanking and re-use of such tape, Anderson made a connection to the human brain's electrical activities, explaining, "I read somewhere that the human brain is controlled by electrical impulses and how thoughts are stored electronically. I started toying with the story potential of a process that would allow the recording of brain patterns and transferring them to another brain. I was really likening it to magnetic recording, where material could be stored or transferred to another tape." When it came to naming the lead character and, from that, the name of the new series, Anderson recalled that on his previous production, Fireball XL5
Fireball XL5
Fireball XL5 is a science fiction-themed children's television show following the missions of spaceship Fireball XL5, commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac of the World Space Patrol...
, the surname "Ninety" had been an early proposal for Colonel Steve Zodiac, and selected it for the schoolboy who would be the next protagonist. The script for the pilot episode
The Most Special Agent
"The Most Special Agent" is the first episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. Its original UK air date was 29 September 1968 on ATV Midlands...
was written by Anderson with his wife, Sylvia
Sylvia Anderson
Sylvia Anderson , born 25 March 1937, is a British voice artist and film producer, most notable for collaborations with Gerry Anderson, to whom she was married from 1962 to 1975....
, as was the custom for each new puppet series that the couple developed.
Filming
Commissioned by ITCITC Entertainment
The Incorporated Television Company was a British television company largely involved in production and distribution. It was founded by Lew Grade.-History:...
financier Lew Grade
Lew Grade
Lew Grade, Baron Grade , born Lev Winogradsky, was an influential Russian-born English impresario and media mogul.-Early years:...
in the autumn of 1967, with pre-production
Pre-production
Pre-production or In Production is the process of preparing all the elements involved in a film, play, or other performance.- In film :...
completed in October while the final episodes of Captain Scarlet were still being filmed, principal photography
Principal photography
thumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
for Joe 90 ran from 13 November 1967 to mid-August 1968 using two puppet stages at the Century 21 Studios on the Slough Trading Estate
Slough Trading Estate
The Slough Trading Estate founded in Slough, Berkshire in 1920, was an early business park in the United Kingdom. According to the estate's owners and operators, SEGRO , Slough Trading Estate consists of of commercial property in Slough and provides of accommodation to 500 businesses and has...
Slough Trading Estate
Slough Trading Estate
The Slough Trading Estate founded in Slough, Berkshire in 1920, was an early business park in the United Kingdom. According to the estate's owners and operators, SEGRO , Slough Trading Estate consists of of commercial property in Slough and provides of accommodation to 500 businesses and has...
: 51.5244°N 0.6250°W (principal photography and editing) in Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
. The average shooting period for each episode was two weeks, as had been the case with the previous series. Since he was occupied by post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
on the second Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds (TV series)
Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation"...
feature film, Thunderbird 6
Thunderbird 6
Thunderbird 6 is a 1968 British science-fiction and adventure film written by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, directed by David Lane and produced by Century 21 Cinema...
, and the development of his live-action film, Doppelgänger
Doppelgänger (1969 film)
Doppelgänger is a 1969 British science-fiction film directed by Robert Parrish and starring Roy Thinnes, Ian Hendry, Lynn Loring and Patrick Wymark. Outside Europe, it is known as Journey to the Far Side of the Sun, which is now the more popular title...
, Gerry Anderson was unable to take on a producer role as he had done for Captain Scarlet, instead passing the responsibility down to Reg Hill
Reg Hill
Reginald E. Hill was a British television producer and was most prominently associated with the work of puppet animator Gerry Anderson.-Professional life:...
and David Lane
David Lane (director)
David Lane is a British television and film director, best known for his association with series produced by Gerry Anderson's AP Films.Lane directed several episodes of the Thunderbirds television series, including "Attack of the Alligators!", as well as the two cinema films Thunderbirds are GO and...
. Lane in particular recalls that in his role as producer, he was "responsible for looking at the scripts, the effects, the puppets, the whole thing really", and found support in Anderson's long-serving collaborator Desmond Saunders
Desmond Saunders
Desmond Saunders is a British television director and film editor.He has a long association with producer Gerry Anderson, having served as a director for the series Supercar , Stingray , Thunderbirds , Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons , Joe 90 and Terrahawks...
, who directed the pilot episode and acted as production controller for the rest of the series. Other directors for Joe 90 included Leo Eaton, Alan Perry and Ken Turner
Ken Turner (director)
Ken Turner is a British television and film director and screenwriter who has worked extensively on series created by Gerry Anderson....
, all of whom had contributed to Captain Scarlet, and Peter Anderson, who was promoted from his earlier position as assistant director to replace the outgoing Brian Burgess and Robert Lynn.
Design
Keith WilsonKeith Wilson (production designer)
Keith George Wilson was an award-winning production designer who began work at AP Films, working as art assistant on Fireball XL5 and many other Gerry Anderson productions to follow. As a production designer he created all the futuristic sets for Space: 1999 and Star Maidens...
and Grenville Nott mostly superseded Bob Bell as heads of the art department
Art department
Art department in movie terms means the section of a production's crew concerned with visual artistry. Working under the supervision of the production designer and/or art director, the art department is responsible for arranging the overall look of the film as desired by the film director...
and built the interior of Culver Bay Cottage from a design by Mike Trim
Michael Trim
Michael Trim is an artist most famous for illustrating the cover of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, which depicts a Martian tripod striking down the heroic Thunder Child...
. Anderson recalls his satisfaction with the cottage set, remarking that, "the interior, with its beams and lovely soft furnishings, was really beautiful." The construction of the BIG RAT model, meanwhile, was entrusted to the newly formed incorporated company Century 21 Props or Electronics, responsible for the various technical gadgets to appear in the series and based in Bourne End
Bourne End, Buckinghamshire
Bourne End is a village predominantly in the parish of Wooburn and Bourne End, but also in the parish of Little Marlow, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated close to the border with Berkshire, near where the River Wye meets the River Thames...
in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
.Century 21 Props: 51.5752°N 0.7096°W (props and electronics)
Although also occupied with Thunderbird 6 and Doppelgänger, Derek Meddings
Derek Meddings
Derek Meddings was a British television and cinema special effects expert, initially noted for his work on the "Supermarionation" television puppet series produced by Gerry Anderson, and later for the 1970s James Bond films and the Superman film series.-Early years:Both Meddings' parents had...
briefly reprised his role as head of special effect
Special effect
The illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....
s to construct Professor McClaine's Jet Air Car, although this concept was a disappointment to Anderson, who stated that, "The car looked like no other piece of hardware we had had previously but I was wary of canning it as I feared I might be becoming stereotyped. Maybe the whole thing was becoming a bit narrow; all the ideas were becoming similar." Supermarionation
Supermarionation
Supermarionation is a puppetry technique devised in the 1960s by British production company AP Films. It was used extensively in the company's numerous Gerry and Sylvia Anderson-produced action-adventure series, the most famous of which was Thunderbirds...
writer Stephen La Rivière views the Jet Air Car as an update of Supercar, the revolutionary vehicle which appeared in Anderson's 1961 series of the same name
Supercar (TV series)
Supercar was a children's TV show produced by Gerry Anderson and Arthur Provis's AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment. 39 episodes were produced between 1961 and 1962, and it was Anderson's first half-hour series. In the UK it was seen on ITV and in the US in syndication...
, but agrees that while the Jet Air Car is the "star vehicle" of Joe 90, it is visually unappealing in comparison to the "beautiful, sleek design of its predecessor."
Puppets
The Supermarionation puppets featured in Joe 90 are of the more accurately proportioned kind introduced for Captain Scarlet, and which would also be used for the Andersons' final puppet series, The Secret ServiceThe Secret Service
The Secret Service is a British children's espionage television series, made as a Century 21 production for ITC Entertainment and broadcast in 1969...
. Simultaneously, the drive for enhanced realism across all major design aspects which started with the preceding series continued for Joe 90. Main character puppets from Captain Scarlet were re-used for Joe 90 with the exceptions of the Captain Scarlet
Captain Scarlet (character)
Captain Scarlet is the fictional main character in Gerry Anderson's British Supermarionation science fiction television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and its CGI remake Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet....
and Captain Blue
Captain Blue (Captain Scarlet)
Captain Blue is a character in the 1967 Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. He is a senior officer of the Spectrum organisation and a close friend of Captain Scarlet....
marionettes. Few new puppets were constructed, the only notable exceptions being Professor McClaine (sculpted by Mary Turner), Joe (sculpted by Tim Cooksey), and Mrs Harris.
The Joe puppet was the first child marionette to be made as part of the new generation of Supermarionation puppets introduced for Captain Scarlet, for which the sculpting team were careful to achieve realistic proportions for the body of a nine-year-old boy. The puppets of Sam Loover and Shane Weston had each made several appearances in the previous series, but for their regular role in the new series a variety of alternative heads were created from the "expressionless" templates—including "smilers", "frowners" and "blinkers" — and the Shane Weston puppet was re-wigged. Many of the recycled "revamp puppets", used to depict supporting characters for Captain Scarlet, were also duplicated with darker
Person of color
Person of color is a term used, primarily in the United States, to describe all people who are not white. The term is meant to be inclusive among non-white groups, emphasizing common experiences of racism...
skin colours to portray characters from a range of ethnicities. Further to these requirements, the use of two shooting soundstages necessitated the duplication of all the "expressionless" main character puppets to avoid conflicts over resources between the two filming units. As in the previous series, "under control" puppets, manipulated by levers from below as opposed to wires from a gantry above, feature in Joe 90.
Music
Joe 90 includes incidental musicIncidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
, and opening and ending theme music
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
, composed by Barry Gray
Barry Gray
Barry Gray was a British musician and composer who is best known for his work for Gerry Anderson.-Life:...
, who served as musical director for other Anderson productions. Episodes of Joe 90 either start with a cold open
Cold open
A cold open in a television program or movie is the technique of jumping directly into a story at the beginning or opening of the show, before the title sequence or opening credits are shown...
(this was the first Anderson series to do so) before the main title sequence
Title sequence
A Title Sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound...
, or enter immediately into the latter, which features Joe sitting in the BIG RAT's "Rat Trap" and receiving transferred knowledge from the machine (a sequence filmed for the pilot). This sequence is accompanied by Gray's opening theme, dominated by the notes of guitarist Vic Flick
Vic Flick
Victor Harold Flick is an English guitarist, most famous for playing the guitar riff in the "James Bond Theme".-Biography:...
, who had performed lead guitar in the recording of the original "James Bond Theme
James Bond Theme
The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme of the James Bond films and has featured in every Eon Productions Bond film since Dr. No. The piece has been used as an accompanying fanfare to the gun barrel sequence in almost every James Bond film....
" for the film Dr. No
Dr. No (film)
Dr. No is a 1962 spy film, starring Sean Connery; it is the first James Bond film. Based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name, it was adapted by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather and was directed by Terence Young. The film was produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R...
in 1962. In Anderson's biography, What Made Thunderbirds Go!, the Joe 90 theme is described as a "dizzying piece of psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
pop art that could have been produced only in the late Sixties." The closing credits
Closing credits
Closing credits or end credits are added at the end of a motion picture, television program, or video game to list the cast and crew involved in the production. They usually appear as a list of names in small type, which either flip very quickly from page to page, or move smoothly across the...
, meanwhile, are superimposed over images of objects such as Joe's BIG RAT spectacles, his WIN badge, and also his briefcase, gun, and transceiver. Conceptual designs of these images were photographic, but the final versions were augmented with airbrush artwork.
In addition to the themes and tracks for the pilot, "The Most Special Agent
The Most Special Agent
"The Most Special Agent" is the first episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. Its original UK air date was 29 September 1968 on ATV Midlands...
", Gray composed incidental music for 20 further episodes of Joe 90. Music for the Joe 90 episodes was recorded between 18 January and 27 September 1968, starting with the titles and the pilot in a session at the Olympic Sound Studios in Barnes, LondonOlympic Sound Studios: 51.4752°N 0.2407°W (music recording) and finishing with work for one of the last instalments of the series, "See You Down There
See You Down There
"See You Down There" is the 23rd episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. It was the 28th episode to be produced. Its original UK air date was March 2, 1969 on ATV Midlands. It was written by Tony Barwick and directed by Leo Eaton....
" at London's CTS Studios. Scores were also recorded at the private Barry Gray Studio at Gray's residence in Esher, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
.Barry Gray Studio: 51.3691°N 0.365°W (music recording) A CD of the Joe 90 scores, running to 28 pieces, was released by Silva Screen Records in 2006. Offering a rating of 3.5 stars out of five, AllRovi reviewer William Ruhlmann comments that the scores are "not great writing", but that Gray's work was "perfectly adequate, if not inspired."
Voice cast
In comparison to Captain Scarlet and the MysteronsCaptain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often referred to as Captain Scarlet, is a 1960s British science-fiction television series produced by the Century 21 Productions company of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, John Read and Reg Hill...
, Joe 90 features a smaller cast, voicing just five regular characters. Like Captain Scarlet, the series has been viewed as more "English-sounding", the Andersons abandoning their stipulation dating from the production of Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds (TV series)
Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation"...
that the puppet cast be American and thus dispensing with the established format of their series' principal character being a "square-jawed, fair-skinned male with a Mid-Atlantic
Mid-Atlantic English
Mid-Atlantic English is a cultivated or acquired version of the English language that is not a typical idiom of any location. It blends American and British without being predominantly either. It is also used to describe various forms of North American speech that have assimilated some British...
accent". Instead, in a manner similar to the Captain Scarlet, Joe 90 focuses on the strong American supporting characters of Sam Loover and Shane Weston.
- Len JonesLen JonesLen Jones was a British actor and voice actor of the 1960s and 70s.In his youth, Jones featured in television series such as Z-Cars , Adam Adamant Lives! , Dixon of Dock Green , Softly, Softly and The Adventures of Black Beauty...
as Joe McClaine, a nine-year-old adoptee who balances schoolwork with missions as a spySPYSPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
for the World Intelligence Network (WIN), using the aid of knowledge and experience captured by a brilliant invention, the Brain Impulse Galvanoscope Record And Transfer (BIG RAT). For realism, Joe is voiced by child actorChild actorThe term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...
Jones rather than an actress as had usually been the case for the representation of younger characters on earlier SupermarionationSupermarionationSupermarionation is a puppetry technique devised in the 1960s by British production company AP Films. It was used extensively in the company's numerous Gerry and Sylvia Anderson-produced action-adventure series, the most famous of which was Thunderbirds...
series. On the subject of female casting, Gerry AndersonGerry AndersonGerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
recalled, "... it always sounded rather odd to me. It never sounded like a real little boy ... With Joe 90, I suggested finding a British kid and making him repeat the lines parrot fashion. That's what we did with Len Jones. His performance was only adequate, but at least it sounded authentic." - Rupert DaviesRupert DaviesRupert Davies was a British actor. He remains best known for playing the title role in the BBC's 1960s television adaptation of Maigret, based on the Maigret novels written by Georges Simenon....
as Professor Ian "Mac" McClaine, Joe's adoptive father and inventor of the BIG RAT. At the time of production, Davies was well-known for acting the leading role in the 1960s TV adaptationMaigret (1960 TV series)Maigret is a British television series made by the BBC and which ran for 52 episodes from 1960 to 1963.Based on the Maigret stories of Georges Simenon, the series starred Rupert Davies as the Sûreté detective Commissaire Jules Maigret, and featured Ewen Solon as Lucas, Helen Shingler as Madame...
of the MaigretMaigretJules Maigret, Maigret to most people, including his wife, is a fictional police detective, actually a commissaire or commissioner of the Paris "Brigade Criminelle" , created by writer Georges Simenon.Seventy-five novels and twenty-eight short stories about Maigret were published between 1931 and...
novels, and was the most distinguished actor yet to contribute to an Anderson series. Experiencing typecastingTypecasting (acting)In TV, film, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character; one or more particular roles; or, characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ethnic groups...
as a result of his earlier role as the fictional French detective, voice actingVoice actingVoice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
provided Davies with the opportunity to broaden the horizons of his career. In Gerry Anderson's biography, What Made Thunderbirds Go!, Simon Archer and Marcus Hearn credit Mac's "warm yet distinguished" English tones as a "perfect counterpoint" to the American voices of the characters of Sam Loover and Shane Weston. - Keith AlexanderKeith Alexander (actor)Keith Alexander is a British actor and voice actor.Alexander's television credits include Softly, Softly , The New Avengers , Minder and The Day of the Triffids...
as Sam Loover, a long-time friend of Mac and Deputy Head of WIN's London offices, whom Joe affectionately calls "Uncle Sam". Australian actor Alexander had provided voices for the second ThunderbirdsThunderbirds (TV series)Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation"...
film, Thunderbird 6Thunderbird 6Thunderbird 6 is a 1968 British science-fiction and adventure film written by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, directed by David Lane and produced by Century 21 Cinema...
, as a replacement for actor Ray BarrettRay BarrettRaymond Charles "Ray" Barrett was an Australian actor. He was one of the more popular leading men on British television in the 1960s, where he was best known for his appearances in The Troubleshooters . Back in Australia he was a leading man in many TV series over the years.-Biography:Barrett was...
. During the 1960s, he provided the voice for another puppet character, Topo GigioTopo GigioTopo Gigio was the lead character of a children's puppet show on Italian and Spanish television in the early 1960s. The character, created by artist Maria Perego, debuted on Italian television in 1959 and has been customarily voiced by actor Giuseppe Mazzullo...
, on The Ed Sullivan ShowThe Ed Sullivan ShowThe Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
in the United States. - David HealyDavid Healy (actor)David Healy was an American-born actor who starred in many British and American television shows. His credits include voices for the Supermarionation series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90 and The Secret Service, as well as parts in UFO, The Troubleshooters, Randall and Hopkirk , Space...
as Shane Weston, the commander-in-chiefCommander-in-ChiefA commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
of WIN's London Headquarters and Deputy Head of the international organisation, who has a penchant for feeble jokes. Healy, an American actor resident in the United Kingdom, had voiced supporting characters in Captain Scarlet, and was often contracted to play transatlantic characters in British television. - Sylvia AndersonSylvia AndersonSylvia Anderson , born 25 March 1937, is a British voice artist and film producer, most notable for collaborations with Gerry Anderson, to whom she was married from 1962 to 1975....
as Mrs (Ada) Harris, the McClaines' long-suffering housekeeper, who is unaware that Mac and Joe are members of an intelligence organisation. Anderson, whose voice had first featured in the 1961 series SupercarSupercar (TV series)Supercar was a children's TV show produced by Gerry Anderson and Arthur Provis's AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment. 39 episodes were produced between 1961 and 1962, and it was Anderson's first half-hour series. In the UK it was seen on ITV and in the US in syndication...
, was best known for voicing the character of Lady Penelope in Thunderbirds and its two feature films.
Supporting character
Supporting character
A supporting character is a character of a book, play, video game, movie, television or radio show or other form of storytelling usually used to give added dimension to a main character, by adding a relationship with this character...
s were voiced by Alexander, Healy and Anderson as well as earlier Anderson contributors Gary Files
Gary Files
Gary Files was born in Melbourne, Australia and is an Australian-Canadian actor, writer and director who has resided in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. He has lived in Australia since 1976.-Early life:...
, Martin King
Martin King (actor)
Martin King is a British actor, voice actor and former continuity announcer.His television credits include Dixon of Dock Green , Crossroads , Detective and The Troubleshooters...
, Jeremy Wilkin
Jeremy Wilkin
Jeremy Wilkin is a British actor, possibly best known for his contributions to the television productions of Gerry Anderson....
, Shane Rimmer
Shane Rimmer
Shane Rimmer is a Canadian actor and voice actor, probably best known as the voice of Scott Tracy in Thunderbirds.He has mostly performed in supporting roles, frequently in films and television series filmed in the United Kingdom, having relocated to England in the late 1950s, initially performing...
and (for one episode, "Viva Cordova
Viva Cordova
"Viva Cordova" is the 26th episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. It was the 30th and final episode to be produced. Its original UK air date was March 23, 1969 on ATV Midlands. It was written by Tony Barwick and directed by Peter Anderson....
") Liz Morgan
Elizabeth Morgan (actor)
Elizabeth Morgan is a British actress, primarily in supporting roles, in films, television, and onstage. She was often credited as "Liz Morgan".-External links:...
. Rimmer and Morgan, however, are not credited in the closing titles. Files recalls that he felt honoured to be asked to rejoin the Andersons for another production following Captain Scarlet, and that he was "tickled pink" to be performing with Davies, adding, "I hated the way that so many so-called producers wouldn't meet his eye. He was Maigret forever, you see, in their eyes." Morgan, meanwhile, explains how she was contracted for her single voice role in Joe 90: "They needed a voice, they called around and everyone else was out shopping. So they called me in."
Broadcasting
In the United Kingdom, the starts of the regional broadcasts were staggered, with Joe 90 premiering on ATV Midlands and Tyne TeesTyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. As of 2009, it forms part of a non-franchise ITV Tyne Tees & Border region, shared with the ITV Border region...
in late September 1968 and moving on to LWT, Southern
Southern Television
Southern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until the night of 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was consistently used on-air throughout its life...
and Anglia
Anglia Television
Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional...
shortly after. The series reached the Harlech and Channel
Channel Television
Channel Television is a British television station which has served as an Independent Television contractor to the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey...
regions in November 1968 and finally Granada
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
on Christmas Day, although the first episode to air was the Christmas-themed "The Unorthodox Shepherd
The Unorthodox Shepherd
"The Unorthodox Shepherd" is the 13th episode of the British Supermarionation television series Joe 90. It was the eighth episode to be produced. Its original UK air date was 22 December 1968 on ATV Midlands...
" rather than the pilot, "The Most Special Agent
The Most Special Agent
"The Most Special Agent" is the first episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. Its original UK air date was 29 September 1968 on ATV Midlands...
". Granada was one of several regions which broadcast Joe 90 under the altered title, The Adventures of Joe 90. Although the series was re-run
Rerun
A rerun or repeat is a re-airing of an episode of a radio or television broadcast. The invention of the rerun is generally credited to Desi Arnaz. There are two types of reruns—those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Reruns can also be, as the...
several times in various regions during the 1970s, it was not transmitted in the Yorkshire
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
region until 1981, when it was secured by ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
for a syndicated run. In the United States, Joe 90 was broadcast in first-run syndication in 1969.
Joe 90 was later purchased for early-morning network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
transmissions on BBC1 in 1994. Rights holder PolyGram
PolyGram
PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
cleared the programme for broadcast on the condition that the "zooming" Joe 90 logo in the title sequence
Title sequence
A Title Sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound...
be replaced with a new static version to distinguish it from the logo for the American G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe is a line of action figures produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier , Action Sailor , Action Pilot , Action Marine and later on, the Action Nurse...
toy brand, which, PolyGram believed, appeared too similar. The videotapes used for broadcast were 16 mm
16 mm film
16 mm film refers to a popular, economical gauge of film used for motion pictures and non-theatrical film making. 16 mm refers to the width of the film...
transfers of the 35 mm
35 mm film
35 mm film is the film gauge most commonly used for chemical still photography and motion pictures. The name of the gauge refers to the width of the photographic film, which consists of strips 35 millimeters in width...
film and were edited for timeslot constraints, with the cold open
Cold open
A cold open in a television program or movie is the technique of jumping directly into a story at the beginning or opening of the show, before the title sequence or opening credits are shown...
re-arranged where applicable so that the titles now opened each episode, and the closing credits
Closing credits
Closing credits or end credits are added at the end of a motion picture, television program, or video game to list the cast and crew involved in the production. They usually appear as a list of names in small type, which either flip very quickly from page to page, or move smoothly across the...
minimised to permit a BBC Children's presenter to read out viewer birthday cards. A separate 1994 run on Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (UK & Ireland)
Nickelodeon is a children's television channel available on Sky, Virgin Media, Smallworld Cable, TalkTalk TV and UPC Ireland in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including on demand on BT Vision. The channel was launched on 1 September 1993...
made none of these alterations to the 1960s material. With Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds (TV series)
Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation"...
and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often referred to as Captain Scarlet, is a 1960s British science-fiction television series produced by the Century 21 Productions company of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, John Read and Reg Hill...
, the series commenced a run on the UK Sci Fi Channel
Sci Fi channel (United Kingdom)
Syfy is a television channel service specialising in science fiction, fantasy and horror shows and movies. It is available via digital cable, IPTV, satellite television and Top Up TV platforms. The channel launched in 1995 in the UK a sister channel to the US Sci Fi Channel , with a similar...
in 2009.
For Joe 90
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
provided by actor Tim Turner
Tim Turner
Not to be confused with the TV character Timmy Turner of The Fairly OddParents.Tim Turner , was a British actor who performed in the 1950s and 1960s....
, stating, "These are Joe 90's special glasses. Without them, he's a boy. Wearing them, he's an expert." This short speech, intended to warn child viewers not to put themselves at risk by imitating Joe's exploits, has been erroneously attributed to Keith Alexander
Keith Alexander (actor)
Keith Alexander is a British actor and voice actor.Alexander's television credits include Softly, Softly , The New Avengers , Minder and The Day of the Triffids...
on the Joe 90 Region 2 DVD box set, on which it is a special feature.
Reception
In his episode guide to the AndersonGerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
television series, John Peel
John Peel (writer)
John Peel is a British writer, best known for his books connected to several television series. He has written under several pseudonyms, including John Vincent and Nicholas Adams. He lives in Long Island, New York and his wife is a U.S...
questioned the ethics of Mac effectively "experimenting on" his adopted child in his development of the BIG RAT, and on the subject of Joe as a secret agent enquires, jokingly, "Presumably there are no child labour laws in the future!" The more violent style introduced in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often referred to as Captain Scarlet, is a 1960s British science-fiction television series produced by the Century 21 Productions company of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, John Read and Reg Hill...
is occasionally evident in Joe 90. In the episode "Hi-jacked
Hi-jacked
"Hi-jacked" is the fourth episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. It was the second episode to be produced. Its original UK air date was 20 October 1968 on ATV Midlands. It was written by Tony Barwick and directed by Alan Perry.-Synopsis:...
", for instance, Joe kills an enemy with a grenade. Episode 4. Meanwhile, in "Project 90
Project 90
"Project 90" is the third episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. It was the 17th episode to be produced. Its original UK air date was October 13, 1968 on ATV Midlands...
", Professor McClaine is menaced by a drill that threatens to pulverise his head. On the subject of violence, director Desmond Saunders
Desmond Saunders
Desmond Saunders is a British television director and film editor.He has a long association with producer Gerry Anderson, having served as a director for the series Supercar , Stingray , Thunderbirds , Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons , Joe 90 and Terrahawks...
says, "There was an unpleasant side to it which I never really understood. There was something about it that was very strange and sinister."
On the other hand, producer David Lane
David Lane (director)
David Lane is a British television and film director, best known for his association with series produced by Gerry Anderson's AP Films.Lane directed several episodes of the Thunderbirds television series, including "Attack of the Alligators!", as well as the two cinema films Thunderbirds are GO and...
praises the series for its increased humour following the dark tone of Captain Scarlet and sees Joe 90 as much more family-orientated
Family-friendliness
Entertainment or information is called "family friendly" if it is considered suitable for all members of the average family. In particular it means that it is not considered inappropriate for children, which may imply restrictions on engagement in, or depiction of, nudity, sex, violence, horror,...
in comparison to its forerunner, summing up the series as "a great little programme." Anthony Clark of the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
commends Joe 90 for more effective characterisation
Characterisation
Characterization or characterisation is the art of creating characters for a narrative, including the process of conveying information about them. It may be employed in dramatic works of art or everyday conversation...
than Captain Scarlet, and also compliments the quality of its scripts and Barry Gray
Barry Gray
Barry Gray was a British musician and composer who is best known for his work for Gerry Anderson.-Life:...
's musical score. La Rivière underlines a connection between the child protagonist and the theme of espionage, writing, "The premise that drives Joe 90 taps into the fantasy indulged by most boys that they, even at nine years old, can be James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
." Writer John R. Cook agrees with La Rivière's points on audience self-identification, describes the series as a "wish-fulfilment fantasy" and suggests that the character of Joe is a mirror image
Mirror image
A mirror image is a reflected duplication of an object that appears identical but reversed. As an optical effect it results from reflection off of substances such as a mirror or water. It is also a concept in geometry and can be used as a conceptualization process for 3-D structures...
of the target child viewer. Comparisons have been made to later franchises with child protagonists who are in fact operatives for intelligence agencies, such as Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...
's Spy Kids films, released between 2001 and 2003, and the Alex Rider
Alex Rider
Alex Rider is a series of spy novels by British author Anthony Horowitz about a 14-15 year old spy named Alex Rider. The series is aimed primarily at young adults. Nine novels have been published to date, as well as three graphic novels, three short stories and a supplementary book...
novels by Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Craig Horowitz is an English novelist and screenwriter. He has written many children's novels, including The Power of Five, Alex Rider and The Diamond Brothers series and has written over fifty books. He has also written extensively for television, adapting many of Agatha Christie's...
, of which the first instalment was released in 2000.
La Rivière noted the intimacy of the series and the predominantly male voice cast and characters, suggesting that Joe 90 is "very much a Boy's Own
Boy's Own Paper
The Boy's Own Paper was a British story paper aimed at young and teenage boys, published from 1879 to 1967.-Publishing history:The idea for the publication was first raised in 1878 by the Religious Tract Society as a means to encourage younger children to read and also instil Christian morals...
adventure." Out of the 30 episodes, only ten feature appearances from female characters, a fact which La Rivière attributes to the increased demands on Century 21 for its feature film productions, Thunderbird 6
Thunderbird 6
Thunderbird 6 is a 1968 British science-fiction and adventure film written by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, directed by David Lane and produced by Century 21 Cinema...
and Doppelgänger
Doppelgänger (1969 film)
Doppelgänger is a 1969 British science-fiction film directed by Robert Parrish and starring Roy Thinnes, Ian Hendry, Lynn Loring and Patrick Wymark. Outside Europe, it is known as Journey to the Far Side of the Sun, which is now the more popular title...
. Peel suggests that the female absence leaves Joe 90, with many other Anderson productions, inferior to previous Supermarionation
Supermarionation
Supermarionation is a puppetry technique devised in the 1960s by British production company AP Films. It was used extensively in the company's numerous Gerry and Sylvia Anderson-produced action-adventure series, the most famous of which was Thunderbirds...
effort Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds (TV series)
Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation"...
, in which the character of Lady Penelope has a primary role in several episodes. Grouping Joe 90 with the earlier Supercar
Supercar (TV series)
Supercar was a children's TV show produced by Gerry Anderson and Arthur Provis's AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment. 39 episodes were produced between 1961 and 1962, and it was Anderson's first half-hour series. In the UK it was seen on ITV and in the US in syndication...
and the subsequent The Secret Service
The Secret Service
The Secret Service is a British children's espionage television series, made as a Century 21 production for ITC Entertainment and broadcast in 1969...
, Peel concludes, "It is hardly coincidental that these tend to be the least-loved of [Anderson's] series; he had, after all, ignored half of his potential audience." For Peel, this return of the "standard Anderson sexism
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
" is only one aspect of deterioration between Joe 90 and previous productions. Peel challenges La Rivière's asserted "kids play Bond" theme, writing that, "being a somewhat nerd
Nerd
Nerd is a derogatory slang term for an intelligent but socially awkward and obsessive person who spends time on unpopular or obscure pursuits, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities. Nerds are considered to be awkward, shy, and unattractive...
y kid with glasses and brain implant
Brain implant
Brain implants, often referred to as neural implants, are technological devices that connect directly to a biological subject's brain - usually placed on the surface of the brain, or attached to the brain's cortex...
s was not really thrilling."
Peel's view was contested by Anderson's belief that the series, with its bespectacled lead character of Joe McClaine, can raise the self-confidence of young viewers with glasses, stating, "Suddenly they were proud because they had something in common with Joe 90." Since the first appearance of the series in 1968, the epithet "Joe 90" has become popular as a term of endearment for such children as well as adults remembered for wearing oversized spectacles, such as snooker
Snooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
player Dennis Taylor
Dennis Taylor
Dennis Taylor is a retired snooker player, and current BBC snooker commentator. Winner of two ranking events, he is best known for winning the 1985 World Championship, beating World number one Steve Davis on the final black in one of the sport's most memorable finals...
. During UK re-runs
Rerun
A rerun or repeat is a re-airing of an episode of a radio or television broadcast. The invention of the rerun is generally credited to Desi Arnaz. There are two types of reruns—those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Reruns can also be, as the...
of the series in the 1990s, similarities were also drawn between Joe and contemporary British Prime Minister John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
, also known for wearing large spectacles.
Cook reads further into the concept of child empowerment in Joe 90, writing that the series creates a "technological utopia" around youth, remarking, "Through the character of Joe, his brain hardwired at the start of each episode into the BIG RAT supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
, the young are shown to be literally at one with technology." He adds that the instant access to brain patterns that the BIG RAT affords to Joe may be interpreted as heralding the development of the Internet over a decade after Joe 90 was produced. With his intellectual horizons broadened, Joe becomes the manifestation of homo superior, yet his youthfulness grants him the power to change the fraught political world in ways that no adult could due to the limitations of their imagination. In this respect, Cook holds up Joe 90 as a precursor to the 1970s television series The Tomorrow People
The Tomorrow People
The Tomorrow People is a British children's science fiction television series, devised by Roger Price. Produced by Thames Television for the ITV Network, the series first ran between 1973 and 1979. The series was re-imagined in 1992, Roger Price acting as executive producer...
, which also concerned ideas of human transcendence in children. This idea, Cook says, was evident in the title of Joe 90 itself: "no longer is he a nine-year-old boy but instead his status and capacities have been multiplied tenfold to transform him into agent 'Joe 90', his name an appealing futuristic echo of the then distant year of 1990."
Ultimately, Joe 90 has proven to be less successful than previous series made by Anderson. In the Anderson-related book, Supermarionation Classics, the model work and scripts are praised, but it is conceded that the series "failed to arouse more than a passing interest with some Anderson fans." Stephen Hulse refers to Joe 90 as "clearly the most child-oriented of the latter Anderson Supermarionation series" and "technically accomplished", but "one of the Anderson stable's lesser series". However, its spy-fi
Spy-fi
-Definition and characteristics:It often uses a secret agent or superspy whose mission is a showcase of science fiction elements such as technology and ideas used for extortion, plots for world domination or world destruction, futuristic weapons, gadgets and fast vehicles that can travel on land,...
theme led on to the final Supermarionation series, The Secret Service, which too features an unconventional secret agent (a vicar, Father Stanley Unwin
Stanley Unwin (comedian)
Stanley Unwin , sometimes billed as Professor Stanley Unwin, was a British comedian and comic writer, and the inventor of his own language, "Unwinese", referred to in the film Carry On Regardless as "gobbledegook".Unwinese was a mangled form of English in which many of the...
) and an intelligence organisation with a contracted name (BISHOP, an acronym for "British Intelligence Service Headquarters, Operation Priest").
Adaptations
In 1981, a compilation film of the Joe 90 episodes "The Most Special AgentThe Most Special Agent
"The Most Special Agent" is the first episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. Its original UK air date was 29 September 1968 on ATV Midlands...
", "Splashdown", "Attack of the Tiger
Attack of the Tiger
"Attack of the Tiger" is the 25th episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. It was the 21st episode to be produced. Its original UK air date was 16 March 1969 on ATV Midlands...
" and "Arctic Adventure", titled The Amazing Adventures of Joe 90, was created under the supervision of Robert Mandell
Robert Mandell
Robert Mandell is an American animated series and film writer, director and producer. He is a five-time NY Golden Apple Award winner in graphics arts and design....
of ITC Entertainment
ITC Entertainment
The Incorporated Television Company was a British television company largely involved in production and distribution. It was founded by Lew Grade.-History:...
's New York offices. Intended to boost American syndication
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
sales, The Amazing Adventures of Joe 90 is one of a number of composite films of Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
productions, which were released both to stations and on home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
under the promotional banner of "Super Space Theater". Material for "The Most Special Agent" was re-edited to remove the framing sequences set at Culver Bay Cottage and WIN Headquarters London, with the result that Joe's fictitious mission to steal the Russian prototype fighter appears to be a real assignment for the nine-year-old WIN agent. Despite each of the episodes in this compilation receiving a U certificate
History of British film certificates
-Overview:The UK's film ratings are decided by the British Board of Film Classification and have been since 1912. Previously, there were no agreed rating standards, and local councils imposed their own - often differing - conditions or restrictions...
from the British Board of Film Classification
British Board of Film Classification
The British Board of Film Classification , originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom...
(BBFC), The Amazing Adventures of Joe 90 was rated PG.
From the 1980s, the distribution rights to the ITC productions belonged to PolyGram Television
PolyGram
PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
. Subsequent sales were made to Carlton International
Carlton Communications
Carlton Communications was a British media company. It was led by Michael Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it taken over by Granada plc to form ITV plc with Carlton gaining 32% of the new company....
in the late 1990s and finally Granada International which, through a merger with Carlton International in 2004, now forms ITV Global Entertainment, a division of ITV plc
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
. During the 1990s, the possibility of a live-action film adaptation of Joe 90 was mooted by PolyGram. The idea re-emerged in the 2000s, when in 2003 the magazine Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reported that a film version was in the planning stages, to be produced by Disney. However, to date, the film proposal remains to be developed. In 2005, Anderson said of negotiations with Granada, "We have regular meetings and although they are very polite and very nice, nothing ever happens."
When I Love the '70s
I Love the '70s (UK TV series)
I Love the '70s is a television mini-series produced by the BBC that examines the pop culture of the 1970s. It was broadcast in ten hour-long episodes, one dedicated to each year, with the first episode, I Love 1970, premiering on BBC Two on 22 July 2000, and the last, I Love 1979, premiering on 23...
, '80s
I Love the '80s (U.K. TV series)
I Love the '80s is a BBC television mini-series that examines the pop culture of the 1980s. It was commissioned following the success of I Love the '70s and is part of the I Love... series. I Love 1980 premiered on BBC Two on 13 January 2001 and the last, I Love 1989, on . Unlike with I Love the...
and '90s
I Love the '90s (UK TV series)
-1990:*Twin Peaks*Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinéad O'Connor*Pretty Woman*Vanilla Ice*Snowboarding*Baywatch*Home Alone*MC Hammer*The Simpsons*Vogueing*Bungee jumping*Edward Scissorhands*Supermodels...
, three British pop culture nostalgia programmes, were broadcast on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
in 2001, a set of Joe 90-themed "trailers
Trailer (film)
A trailer or preview is an advertisement or a commercial for a feature film that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema. The term "trailer" comes from their having originally been shown at the end of a feature film screening. That practice did not last long, because patrons tended to leave the...
" were filmed to precede instalments of the last of these series. In each of the three previews, the character of Joe is depicted entering the BIG RAT's "Rat Trap" to receive the brain pattern of a 1990s household name, from Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
bandmember Liam Gallagher
Liam Gallagher
William John Paul "Liam" Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, the former frontman of the English rock band Oasis and currently of the band Beady Eye. Gallagher's erratic behaviour, distinctive singing style, and abrasive attitude have been the subject of commentary in the press...
(representing 1990) to comedian Vic Reeves
Vic Reeves
James Roderick Moir , better known by the stage name Vic Reeves, is an English comedian, best known for his double act with Bob Mortimer . He is known for his surreal and non sequitur sense of humour....
(1991) to the character of Garth (portrayed by Dana Carvey
Dana Carvey
Dana Thomas Carvey is an American actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and for playing the role of Garth in the Wayne's World movies.-Early life:...
) from the 1992 film, Wayne's World
Wayne's World (film)
Wayne's World is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Penelope Spheeris and starring Mike Myers in his film debut as Wayne Campbell and Dana Carvey as Garth Algar, hosts of the Aurora, Illinois-based Public-access television cable TV show Wayne's World...
. On leaving the "Rat Trap", Joe has assumed the identity of each BIG RAT subject and acts and speaks using their mannerisms. Edited versions of the trailers missing the BBC Two voiceovers and logos are included as special feature material on the Region 2 release of the Joe 90 DVD box set.
Merchandise
Friction drive
A friction Drive or friction engine is a type of transmission that, instead of a chain and sprockets, uses 2 wheels in the transmission to transfer power to the driving wheels. This kind of transmission is often used on scooters, mainly go-peds, in place of a chain.An example of this system is in...
and battery-operated versions of Professor McClaine's Jet Air Car and Sam Loover's futuristic saloon. Also available were Joe's WIN briefcase (complete with replica gadgets and pistol) and his WIN badge reading "Most Special Agent". Joe 90 was also allotted its own weekly comic, Joe 90 Top Secret, which ran for 34 issues (and included strips
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
based on TV series The Champions
The Champions
The Champions is a British espionage/science fiction/occult detective fiction adventure series consisting of 30 episodes broadcast on the UK network ITV during 1968–1969, produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment production company...
and Land of the Giants
Land of the Giants
Land of the Giants was an hour-long American science fiction television program lasting two seasons beginning on September 22, 1968 and ending on March 22, 1970. The show was created and produced by Irwin Allen. Land of the Giants was the fourth of Allen's science fiction TV series. The show was...
). In September 1969, it merged with the established Anderson tie-in TV21
TV Century 21
TV Century 21, also known as TV 21, was a weekly British children's comic of the 1960s and early 1970s. It promoted the many television science-fiction puppet series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Century 21 Productions...
(previously titled TV Century 21), which then came to be known as TV21 and Joe 90. After a further 36 issues, Joe 90 strips were dropped from the comic and the new title dropped in favour of the original TV21.
The 1990s were marked by a considerable interest in old TV series from the 1960s and 70s — Joe 90 was one of those that was among the repeats
Rerun
A rerun or repeat is a re-airing of an episode of a radio or television broadcast. The invention of the rerun is generally credited to Desi Arnaz. There are two types of reruns—those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Reruns can also be, as the...
and was also the subject of a strip series in the Funday Times
Funday Times
The Funday Times was a section of the UK Sunday Times. It was intended mainly for children, and included several comics, including Dennis and Gnasher, Rex and Tex, Beryl the Peril, Fans Utd., Scooby Doo, Space Raoul, The Powerpuff Girls, Creature Feature, Newton's Law, Jarvis, Squirt, The...
section of The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
. Strips from Joe 90 Top Secret were reprinted in a new publication, Joe 90, which was launched to tie in with the 1994 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
re-runs
Rerun
A rerun or repeat is a re-airing of an episode of a radio or television broadcast. The invention of the rerun is generally credited to Desi Arnaz. There are two types of reruns—those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Reruns can also be, as the...
but which also, after just seven issues, merged into a related comic, on this occasion Fleetway
Fleetway
Fleetway, also known as Fleetway Publications and Fleetway Editions, was a UK publishing company which mainly produced comic magazines. For a time owned by IPC Media, they are now a division of Egmont Publishing....
's Thunderbirds. Other Joe 90 print media include 1968 and 1969 Joe 90 annuals
Annual publication
An annual publication, more often called simply an annual, is a book or a magazine, comic book or comic strip published yearly. For example, a weekly or monthly publication may produce an Annual featuring similar materials to the regular publication....
from Century 21 Publishing and two short paperback novels, Joe 90 and the Raiders (by Tod Sullivan) and Joe 90 in Revenge (by Howard Elson), published by May Fair Books.
VHS and DVD
In the United Kingdom, the earliest home releasesHome video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
of Joe 90 in the 1980s were controlled by "Channel 5", later re-branded as "PolyGram
PolyGram
PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
Video". Released in an eight-volume series and re-packaged in 1992, the set included "The Most Special Agent
The Most Special Agent
"The Most Special Agent" is the first episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. Its original UK air date was 29 September 1968 on ATV Midlands...
", "Splashdown", "Attack of the Tiger
Attack of the Tiger
"Attack of the Tiger" is the 25th episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. It was the 21st episode to be produced. Its original UK air date was 16 March 1969 on ATV Midlands...
" and "Arctic Adventure" in their re-edited forms from the 1981 compilation film The Amazing Adventures of Joe 90, which itself received three video releases both in PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
and NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
format between 1981 and 1986. The 1980s and 90s VHS releases used 16 mm
16 mm film
16 mm film refers to a popular, economical gauge of film used for motion pictures and non-theatrical film making. 16 mm refers to the width of the film...
prints, which were of a quality poorer than that of the original film.
In September 2002, a DVD box set of all 30 Joe 90 episodes, sourced from a digital remaster
Remaster
Remaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began...
of 35 mm
35 mm film
35 mm film is the film gauge most commonly used for chemical still photography and motion pictures. The name of the gauge refers to the width of the photographic film, which consists of strips 35 millimeters in width...
film prints, was released in Region 2 by Carlton
Carlton Communications
Carlton Communications was a British media company. It was led by Michael Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it taken over by Granada plc to form ITV plc with Carlton gaining 32% of the new company....
. The five component discs were also released individually at intervals between September 2002 and January 2003, and the episodes were also marketed in a new five-volume VHS package. A North American set from A&E
A&E Television Networks
A&E Television Networks is a U.S. media company that owns a group of television channels available via cable & satellite in the US and abroad...
debuted in July 2003 before a Region 4 version appeared in October. A French-language release of Joe 90 — Agent Très Spécial (English: Joe 90—Very Special Agent) hit the Canadian market in 2004. With these DVD releases, the component episodes of The Amazing Adventures of Joe 90 were made commercially available in their unedited form for the first time.
| Joe 90 DVD Box Sets | |||||
| Title and Country | Region DVD region code DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region... |
Technical Specifications | Distributor | Special Features | Release Date(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe 90 — The Complete Series USA |
1 |
|
A&E Home Video A&E Television Networks A&E Television Networks is a U.S. media company that owns a group of television channels available via cable & satellite in the US and abroad... |
|
29 July 2003 |
| Joe 90—Agent Très Spécial Canada |
1 |
|
Imavision |
|
25 May 2004 |
| Joe 90 — Complete Series UK |
2 |
PAL PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system... |
Carlton International Carlton Communications Carlton Communications was a British media company. It was led by Michael Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it taken over by Granada plc to form ITV plc with Carlton gaining 32% of the new company.... |
(Both Regions 2 and 4)
|
|
| Joe 90 — Complete Series Australia |
4 |
|
Beyond Home Entertainment | 8 October 2003 |
External links
- BIG RAT Joe 90 fan site
- Gerry Anderson's Title Sequences includes the title sequence of Joe 90
- The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History includes the Joe 90 1960s comic strips