2003 Archive 
Stingray (The series)
A Brief Summary
Stingray is the name of the submarine in which Captain Troy Tempest and “Phones” patrol the oceans on behalf of W.A.S.P. - World Aquanaut Security Patrol. They are based in Marineville, a self contained city by the ocean which has the unique ability of having all of its buildings descend underground on large hydraulic rams when danger threatens. Their commander is Commander Shore, a stogey (cigar) smoking and gruff old sea captain type fellow in an electronic conveyance somewhat reminiscent of Captain Christopher Pike’s mobile chair in the Star Trek episode “The Menagerie.” He is not handicapped and uses this more so as a high tech mobile La-Z-boy recliner. His daughter Atlanta (voiced by Lois Maxwell of classic Bond Miss Moneypenny fame) assists him in the control room and has a “thing” for Troy Tempest which is upset when Marina (a non speaking undersea engenue type puppet character) joins W.A.S.P. after being rescued from the undersea King Titan, her enslaver.
From the Bandai/Emotion Laserdisc gatefold packaging are reprints of the following old original Stingray production literature:
Marineville Control Center
Control Room - Part of the intricate machinery in the Control Room is the videophone. Connected to WASP headquarters in Washington, the videophone is a television phone link, allowing the caller to see as well as hear the person to whom he is speaking. But a control is attached to eliminate vision if required. The Automatic Sea Map, another part of the WASP machinery, is used extensively to track the course of vessels at sea. An electrically controlled Locator Compass is used in pin-pointing the exact bearing of WASP vessels.
Standby Lounge
The Standby Lounge is a room where aquanauts wait for the final “green light” to proceed with their allotted missions. It has been furnished in soft, restful tones to give aquanauts a last chance to relax and sort out any last-minute problems that may be bothering them. Focal point of the lounge is the three hydraulic chairs which transport aquanauts to their craft.
Tunnel Scanner
The Tunnel Scanner is manned by Atlanta, daughter of commander Shore, to view craft at the tunnels entrance and as they pass through its interior. If necessary, Atlanta can refuse entry to craft which arouse her suspicion. At the press of a button she can raise or close the huge door which seals the entrance.
Communications Room
The Communications Room is the nerve center of WASP headquarters. Banks of highly sensitive two-way videophones, monitor and de-coding equipment line the room. Constantly manned, the Communications Room receives a never-ending stream of messages from WASP aquanauts working in all parts of the world. When in-coming traffic becomes too heavy, the Communications Director simply switches over to a computer which stores the messages in its brain.
“Battle Stations” - And Marineville disappears!
As soon as “Battle Stations” is sounded, three dramatic operations begin which take Marineville to the safety of the underground emplacement. First, the control tower descends on enormous hydraulic supports. The second stage sends the living quarters below ground. Thirdly, the military installations, power plant and parking bays sink. Huge, steel-reinforced concrete roof doors seal Marineville from the outside world, protecting it from attack.
Marineville
Revolutionary in design, Marineville is a completely self-sufficient town able to exist without contact with the outside world for a maximum of three years.
Car Control
Most senior WASP officials are supplied with a staff car, which are garaged in the car control. Here the vehicles are kept in first-class mechanical condition. Like all WASP vehicles, the staff cars are radio linked with the base. The car control also has a number of salvage vehicles, used to tow crashed vehicles to the control for repair.
Fire Station
Marineville can boast of having one of the most extensive fire-warning systems of any town in the world. If a fire does break out, and is unable to be controlled by the automatic extinguishers built into offices and homes, Marineville’s fire station goes into action. On call is a fleet of twenty fire tenders, each equipped with high-powered hoses, which spray fire-smothering foam and other anti-flame chemicals.
Hospital
The Marineville Hospital is recognized as one of the most modern and best-equipped hospitals in the world and a team of 300 specialists, doctors and nurses is on call night and day. One of the most interesting aspects of the hospital is the research work carried out in Marine laboratories. Researches include the job of finding out how man can best adapt himself to a marine existence.
Ambulance Bay
The Marineville Hospital is equipped with a fleet of high-powered ambulances, capable of speeds of up to150 miles an hour. Each ambulance is like a miniature hospital, complete with operating theatre. The unique suspension on these vehicles allows a patient to be rushed to hospital without any discomfort from movement of vibration. The ambulance bay is housed beneath the hospital. Each ambulance is linked by a videophone to base. In the event of emergency operations, specialists at the hospital are able to relay instructions to the ambulance doctor via the videophone.
Generating Plant
Marineville scientists have harnessed the ocean’s tide movement to drive the power plant’s generators. In case of a power failure, Marineville can switch over to its reserve plant near by, which converts the sun’s solar energy into electricity. The plant also converts sea water into fresh drinking water.
Marineville’s Living Quarters
WASP personnel live in luxuriously furnished apartments, close to the control tower. During their spare time, staff members can use the extensive recreational facilities provided in Marineville. These include every type of sports equipment and arena. In times of emergency, the living quarters, together with the rest of the base, descend underground.
WASP Strike Aircraft
The WASP Airforce has been boosted in strength by the recent addition of five hundred Supersonic Mercury fighters. World Government scientists claim that the new aircraft is far in advance of any similar type built. The rear-mounted, single rocket engine hurls the sleek machine to a top speed of 5000 m.p.h. The atomic -powered Zeus engine enables the fighter to remain airborne for 3 days, if necessary. Cruising comfortable in Earth’s upper atmosphere, the aircraft is capable of making accurate long-range strikes on ground targets. The big Thor 11 missile, which nestles under the belly of the Mercury, can seek out and destroy a target within a range of 158 miles. Stage 1 of Thor 11 automatically uncouples from the main stage and acts as a decoy if anti-missiles are launched against it. Deadly mini-rockets on the wing-tips of the aircraft are used for close-range combat. The Mercury has virtually no landing problems. It is capable of vertical take-offs - on land and sea - and can hover with ease.
Underwater Interceptors
One of Marineville’s main defences are her deadly underwater interceptors, which guard the bases ocean approach. The interceptors are powered by magna-dyn atomic engines, which achieve a water speed of more than 150 knots. Hostile craft within a range of 12 miles of Marineville stand little chance.
Underwater Catapults
The underwater interceptors are launched from giant compressed-air-operated catapults. A jet of air sends the missile from the ocean floor to the top of the water where the boosted motors ignite and carry it on its journey. Conveyor tracks are used to carry the interceptors from the storage arsenal to the catapult.
The Bandai / Emotion Laserdisc Sound
These discs all utilize the right audio channel for the English soundtrack and the left track is used for the Japanese soundtrack. This is the same as used in other Japanese laserdiscs including Bandai/Emotion titles. This results in there being no need for Japanese subtitles and is but one reason Bandai discs are so highly sought after. Note that Stingray was originally recorded in mono anyway, so no channel information is lost in this alternate audio track process. The audio quality varies at times between the Japanese and English tracks but is nothing one can’t live with.
Although not as dynamic as many modern soundtracks - partially due to it being mono - the sound is still quite good considering how old the material is. As in other Japanese laserdisc releases, I suspect the sound used for the English channel was taken from the optical audio tracks of the film elements themselves and not magnetic media. For those with home theaters, a hall type setting seems to work nicely as long as one doesn’t go nuts with delays and the like.
The Bandai / Emotion Laserdisc Video Quality
For the most part, these are sharp and detailed, as one would expect from Bandai/Emotion. There are some lines in some of the film elements used (mostly in volume 1), and thus would be compared similarly with the Bandai Thunderbirds elements used for laserdisc release. One of the nice things about these are unlike the Stingray “compilation” movies (recycled original episodes cut into feature length size) these do not have laser beams superimposed over the torpedo firing sequences. These are the original uncut episodes running at the correct speed.
The Bandai / Emotion Stingray Gatefolds Themselves
These gatefold sets fit nicely and not too snugly in the regular sized plastic Chicago One Stop sleeve sold by Ken Cranes (www.kencranes.com). These are truly worth the 2 dollars to keep ones volumes in the best of shape. My personal examples were purchased used and were sans corner caps and assumably had these when new.
Interestingly enough, volume 1 is yellow in color as are the Scarlet gatefolds. Volume 2 is an orange/pumpkin color and stands out in ones collection. There are a few spelling format errors. Both gatefolds have “The Gerry Anderson’s Stingray” instead of “Gerry Anderson’s Stingray”. This is not uncommon to see such errors on Bandai titles. Also, on the second gatefold, “Raptures of the Deep” is spelled “Paptures of The Deep” no doubt missed in quality control because the “P” looked close enough to the letter “R”. When compared alongside other Bandai/Emotion Anderson laserdisc releases, these gatefold sets look “older” in design and layout.
In the following reviews - the price listed is original retail and not necessarily indicative of current collector values.
Volume 1 - Stingray
Bandai/Emotion (BELL-524) ¥ 9,800
This rarer of the two gatefold sets is primarily yellow in color on the periphery with the cover being black bordered with a centered large image of Stingray with dolphins and a sinking enemy “fish” submarine. Smaller and superimposed in the lower center are Troy and Phones. This is the more difficult of the 2 Stingray gatefold sets to obtain although not impossible. This observation is from speaking with fellow collectors who were only able to obtain the second gatefold volume. I suspect as in other laserdisc purchases, some collectors only desire to have a representative example of a series and were quite satisfied to own just this first gatefold set. Those of us who archive an entire series would find it more difficult to obtain for this reason. Original production numbers may have a factor in this as well. Production numbers are unknown at this time although it seems Bandai/Emotion laserdisc series tend to have lower runs of the initial volumes - perhaps due to low initial preorders until a series is known to exist and then more orders pouring in for the subsequent volumes.
The inside of the gatefold when opened has mostly Japanese writing, but does have the main character photos as well as an English episode list for the series.
The back of the gatefold set has a few photographs, the prominent one being a very nice shot of Stingray in a bay with smooth water. Some of the “bad guys and goons” of the series are featured in photos as well.
Volume 1 - The Episodes
Disc 1:
Side 1
#1 “Stingray”
#2 “Plant Of Doom”
Side 2
#3 “Sea Of Oil”
#4 “Hostages Of The Deep”
Disc 2:
Side 1
#5 “Treasure Down Below”
#6 “The Big Gun”
Side 2
#7 “The Golden Sea”
#8 “The Ghost Ship”
Volume 2 - Stingray
Bandai/Emotion (BELL-524) ¥ 9,800
This somewhat easier to obtain (although still difficult) of the two out of print gatefold sets is strangely enough orange in color on the periphery with the cover being black bordered with a centered large image of Stingray leaping out of the water and pitching in a roll with three missiles chasing it as Stingray and the ensuing missiles burst forth from the ocean’s surface. Smaller and superimposed in the lower center are Troy and Marina. (Atlanta was no doubt unhappy with this choice.)
The inside of the gatefold when opened has mostly English writing albeit very small. This is in the form of reprinted reduced sized publicity materials. This gatefold is much more visually exciting and informative than Stingray volume 1 and contains the information used in the series summary above. It is comparable to the nicer Scarlet gatefolds inside. I would have to rate this volume the better of the 2 overall when comparing elements used etc.
The back of the gatefold set has a few photographs, the prominent one being a very nice shot of Stingray cruising in Loch Ness by a castle near the water.
Volume 2 - The Episodes
Disc 1:
Side 1
#1 “Count Down”
#2 “Ghost Of The Sea”
Side 2
#3 “Emergency Marineville”
#4 “Subterranean Sea”
Disc 2:
Side 1
#5 “Loch Ness Monster”
#6 “The Invaders”
Side 2
#7 “Secret Of The Giant Oyster”
#8 “Raptures Of The Deep”
Closing Comments
Unfortunately Stingray shares the same fate that Space:1999 did on the Bandai/Emotion label in that it was not released in its entirety on laserdisc. A few more gatefold sets would have completed the series, but poor initial sales of Stingray on laserdisc in Japan resulted in no further production of additional episodes/gatefold sets. Perhaps DVD or a corporate awareness of collectors and the market will dictate a future release, but I think this highly unlikely. If released on DVD, there is a good chance they may have some subtitles like what happened with the DVD release of Thunderbirds. As far as future video releases on laserdisc/DVD, the future remains to be seen although anything can happen in the next half hour…er..uh…few years with a little luck. In the interim, these should be appreciated.
These laserdiscs are running at the correct speed with all footage intact and unlike some videotapes and broadcast versions are not run at a faster speed with edited out scenes to make time to sell various products while ruining the integrity of the original production as sometimes happens on television. These Bandai laserdiscs are currently the best way to own this series barring your own pristine film elements or access to Gerry Anderson’s film vault.
These are great discs for kids (of all ages) to watch and enjoy - some enjoying again many years later with their own children as I’m doing with my young son. As far as these enjoyable laserdiscs are concerned…
View. With. Out. Reservations. !