Supercar is
about the adventures of Mike Mercury, the test pilot of Supercar,
and his friends Jimmy Gibson, Dr Beeker, and professor Popkiss.
Supercar is an advanced prototype flying car that was developed
by Dr Beeker and professor Popkiss in the American Southwest.
Supercar, introduced in 1961, is in all but name the first of the
Supermarionation television productions. Although the term
Supermarionation was coined to market the Anderson's next
program, Fireball XL5, Supercar brought together for the first
time all of the elements that are generally recognized as
characteristic of Supermarionation programming. For example, the
super vehicle as 'star' of the show, a secret organization,
futuristic themes, etc. So for this reason, Supercar has the
honorary title of being the 1st true Supermarionation program.
Here is Bill
Gibson's light aircraft, an unmodified Monogram Piper
Tri-Pacer kit. This was the first of many aircraft kits
to be featured in Anderson Supermarionation productions.
The Monogram Piper Tri-Pacer kit showed up again in a
later episode of Supercar as Masterspy's aircraft. The
exact same model with modifications was also used in
Thunderbirds as the Hood's aircraft in 'Martian Invasion'
and later turned up in Captain Scarlet in 'Codename
Europa'. Note that the old Monogram Piper Tri-Pacer kit
was recently reissued and is available today in better
hobby shops.
Here are Jimmy and
Bill Gibson at the controls of Bill's aircraft. Note that
the puppet design was essentially the same as that used
in Four Feather Falls. Note also the great attention to
detail on both the set and the various props. As Supercar
was situated in the then-present day of 1959/1960, most
of the hardware used reflected the then-current
state-of-the-art. Note Bill Gibson's headset and
microphone. It looks real, unlike the strange devices
often used by aircraft pilots and others later on in
Fireball XL5, Stingray, and Thunderbirds.
Jimmy and Bill
Gibson are about to crash at sea. The seascape in front
of them is a film running on a rear projection screen.
Rear projection was frequently used throughout the
production of Supercar to provide the illusion of motion.
Indeed, rear projection was used to a much greater extent
in Supercar than in any Supermarionation program that
followed. Much of the aerial scenes and cloudscapes shot
for Supercar were filmed by Gerry Anderson and John Read
from an Airspeed Oxford aircraft.
This appears to be
an unmodified Revell Sikorski H-19 helicopter model kit
hung on wires in front of a rear projection screen. A
small battery operated motor was either placed in the
helicopter to move the rotors or more likely, the rotors
were given a quick 'spin' right before the model was
filmed. If you watch this quick sequence very closely, it
looks like the rotors are slowing down through the shot.
This helicopter model kit was built so 'stock' that it
does not appear as if the wheels under the floats were
painted!
Here are Bill
Gibson, Mitch the Monkey, and Jimmy Gibson in their raft
after ditching Bill's aircraft at sea. The puppets and
their model raft are positioned on top of a tarp which is
being moved up and down by a group of technicians off
camera to the left and right of the shot to simulate wave
action. There is a motion picture film running on a rear
projection screen behind the puppets and raft providing
the ocean background. A smoke generator is making the fog
effect.
Here is a brief
sequence of live action film of three people in a small
life raft at sea. Another advantage of Supercar's
position in the 'present' was that stock footage like
this could occasionally be introduced into the program to
save money and enhance realism.
Here is the
Supercar Black Rock Canyon base lab set. This same set
was later reused in Fireball XL5 as the Space City Tower
control room! Note the overhead walkway behind Supercar.
This is very pronounced in both Fireball XL5 and
Supercar. Consider it a sort of 'landmark' when comparing
scenes of the two sets.
Supercar was
designed by Reg Hill. At least two different sized
miniatures were built in-house by the APF modelmakers.
The puppet sized Supercar shown here was basically a thin
plywood shell formed over a hardwood substructure. The
smaller model was made from balsa wood. The clear canopy
of the puppet sized model was blow-molded from plexiglas.
The canopy used on the smaller model was built from flat
sheets of clear acetate in the same way that canopies
were made for flying model aircraft.
Dr Beeker and Mike
Mercury illustrate the cartoonish appearance of the
Supercar puppets. Note the eyes which were painted wooden
spheres. Painted wooden eyes would also be used in
Fireball XL5 and were not done away with until glass eyes
were introduced for Stingray. The basic appearance of the
Supermarionation puppets remained essentially constant
through Stingray. For example, Mike Mercury appeared in
the Stingray episode 'Deep Heat' as a waiter at the
Marineville nightclub.
Here is what the
APF people called a 'live insert'. That's a real person's
hand being used to flip a full scale switch. Many of the
hands used in these types of close-up shots (like this
one) wore a painted rubber glove to make the hand look
more 'puppet-like'. The live insert technique eventually
got the APF studios in trouble with the actor's union as
the people in these shots were usually just anyone who
happened to be hanging around the set and not 'proper'
actors! Note the actual aircraft RPM indicator on the
console!
Here is Mike
Mercury in the cockpit of the puppet sized Supercar. The
very top of the canopy is completely open and clear of
plastic to permit the puppet's control wires to pass
through. Stringless under-control puppets, which could be
operated from under the set, were not introduced until
Thunderbirds and did not come into wide use until Captain
Scarlet. If you watch very closely, you can see holes cut
into the roofs and cockpit canopies of model vehicles
used in Fireball XL5 up through Thunderbirds.
The Supercar's
'Clear View' device illustrates yet another application
of rear projection screens. The scene of the Supercar lab
set seen on the 'Clear View' is a motion picture running
on a rear projection screen behind the full-sized prop.
Here is the
Supercar team's rarely seen Black Rock Canyon base and
research center. What you see here is not a miniature
set, it is only a painting!
The APF effects
team made their own pyrotechnic charges for Supercar from
bits of paper soaked in a mixture of weed killer and
sugar. When the treated paper dried out, it was stuffed
into a metal cigar tube. These home made rocket engines
were not entirely successful as they tended to produce a
weak flame, spit out bits of flaming paper, and were
unreliable. Later on, Schermuly Pistol Rocket Apparatus
Limited would produce reliable pyrotechnic charges for
APF out of compressed black powder.
Here is a closeup
of Mike Mercury and Supercar in flight. Both the large
and small models of Supercar were used for flight scenes.
Generally, the larger puppet sized model was placed on a
wooden table (as seen here) in front of a rear screen
projector to simulate motion. Note that the bottom of the
model is out of the shot so you can't see the table it is
resting on. Other shots often required the puppet sized
Supercar to be strung up on wires so that the bottom
could be seen but the table method was preferred.
Here is the
smaller model of Supercar seen in flight on wires in
front of a rear screen projector. This was a fairly crude
model that in many ways did not accurately reflect the
contours of the much more finely detailed puppet sized
model. Although the term Supermarionation was coined for
Fireball XL5, many people begin the Anderson's
Supermarionation era with Supercar. This series put all
the elements in place which would make the Andersons
famous through the 1960s and beyond.
2003 Archive 
