Supercar (1961)
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. The format uses puppets in a technique called supermarionation, a name that was first seen in the closing titles of the last 13 episodes. The plot of the show consisted of Supercar, a vertical takeoff and landing craft invented by Rudolph Popkiss and Horatio Beaker, and piloted by Mike Mercury. On land it rode on a cushion of air rather than wheels. Jets in the rear allowed it to fly like a jet and retractable wings were incorporated in the back of the car. Retrorockets on the side of the car slowed the vehicle. The car used "Clear-Vu", which included an inside television monitor allowing the occupant to see through fog and smoke. The vehicle was housed in a laboratory and living facility at Black Rock, Nevada, U.S.A. In the show's first episode, "Rescue", the Supercar crew's first mission is to save the passengers of a downed private plane. Two of the rescued, young Jimmy Gibson and his pet monkey, Mitch, are invited to live at the facility and share in the adventures.
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Episode 1 - Rescue
Release Date: 1961-01-28Jimmy Gibson and his older brother Bill are flying to America by plane with Mitch the monkey when their plane crashes. The Air Sea Rescue team can find no trace of their life raft through the dense fog, but at Black Rock Laboratory, the newly-completed Supercar is ready to be put to the test and Mike Mercury flies out to rescue the trio.
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Episode 2 - False Alarm
Release Date: 1961-02-04Masterspy and Zarin use a phony distress call to lure Supercar to them, and after they have Mike captured and drugged, who will be able to stop them from making off with the super vehicle?
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Episode 3 - The Talisman of Sargon
Release Date: 1961-02-11With Dr. Beaker's unwitting help, Masterspy locates and steals the legendary lost talisman of Sargon, which supposedly has magical powers that will allow him to take over an oil sheik's riches.
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Episode 4 - What Goes Up
Release Date: 1961-02-18An Air Force test to explode a new rocket fuel in the upper atmosphere goes awry, and only Supercar has a chance of getting close enough to detonate it before it falls back to earth.
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Episode 5 - Amazonian Adventure
Release Date: 1961-02-25When Mitch the monkey falls ill with sleeping sickness, Mike and Dr. Beaker head for the Amazon jungle to retrieve a special plant that can cure him, but they are captured by a tribe of headhunters.
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Episode 6 - Grounded
Release Date: 1961-03-04When sabotage keeps Mike from pursuing two thieves via the skies, he continues to follow them using his vehicle as an ordinary car.
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Episode 7 - Keep It Cool
Release Date: 1961-03-11Bill Gibson and Beaker come under attack by Masterspy as they are transporting an experimental new fuel across the desert. Mike must rescue them before the volatile fuel warms up past its freezing point and explodes.
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Episode 8 - Jungle Hazard
Release Date: 1961-03-18Masterspy tries to take over an old rubber plantation in Malaysia, not realizing that the girl who now owns the estate is Beaker's cousin, and she has obtained the assistance of Mike and Supercar.
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Episode 9 - High Tension
Release Date: 1961-03-25Masterspy kidnaps Dr. Beaker and tries to make off with Supercar, but he gets a nasty shock when he finds out that Mike can take over part of the vehicle's operation by remote control.
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Episode 10 - Island Incident
Release Date: 1961-04-01Supercar's underwater capabilities come in handy when Mike receives a call for help from the deposed president of the island nation of Pelota.
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Episode 11 - Ice-Fall
Release Date: 1961-04-08Exploring a frozen waterfall in an underground mountain cavern, Beaker is trapped by an avalanche. Can Supercar's powerful engines melt the ice in time to save him?
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Episode 12 - Phantom Piper
Release Date: 1961-04-15Mike and his friends go to Scotland to solve the mystery of a castle's phantom bagpiper and keep a woman from being swindled out of a valuable gem.
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Episode 13 - Pirate Plunder
Release Date: 1961-04-22Black Morgan, a descendant of the infamous pirate, has been plundering cruise ships in the Pacific, and Supercar is the only vessel that can match his speed. But then he threatens to blow up a group of hostages with a torpedo if Mike tries to stop him.
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Episode 14 - A Little Art
Release Date: 1961-04-29When a painting he just bought is stolen from Dr. Beaker, he discovers that it contained a clue to the secret hiding place of a forger's plates for printing counterfeit money.
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Episode 15 - Flight of Fancy
Release Date: 1961-05-06Jimmy has a dream in which he and Mitch use Supercar to rescue a princess.
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Episode 16 - Deep Seven
Release Date: 1961-05-13On a test dive to the sea floor, Supercar has engine trouble and then becomes entangled in the cable of an unexploded mine.
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Episode 17 - Hostage
Release Date: 1961-05-20While Dr. Beaker is on vacation in Ireland, two men kidnap a girl and force him to call Mike Mercury for help.
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Episode 18 - The Sunken Temple
Release Date: 1961-05-27Mike and Beaker help a history professor excavate an underwater cavern, but they are unprepared to encounter a stolen safe full of money and a falling statue.
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Episode 19 - The Lost City
Release Date: 1961-06-03Forced off course on its way to the South Pole, Supercar is forced to land in the ruins of an ancient city, where its passengers discover the secret hideout of a mad scientist who is planning to destroy Washington D.C. with a guided missile.
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Episode 20 - Trapped in the Depths
Release Date: 1961-06-10Mike takes Supercar deep into the ocean to rescue scientists trapped in a bathyscaphe on the sea floor.
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Episode 21 - Dragon of Ho Meng
Release Date: 1961-06-17When a typhoon forces Supercar down near an island temple guarded by Ho Meng, the man thinks it is some kind of dragon until his daughter is kidnapped and he gets to see Supercar in action.
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Episode 22 - Magic Carpet
Release Date: 1961-06-24The Supercar team goes to Kirikan, an isolated kingdom in southern Asia, on a mission to deliver medical supplies to save a prince's life, but their efforts are thwarted by an attempted coup.
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Episode 23 - Supercar "Take One"
Release Date: 1961-07-01When the team uses a newly-acquired movie camera to document Supercar's abilities, the film accidentally falls into the hands of some spies, so Mike and crew have to fly to New York to retrieve it.
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Episode 24 - Crash Landing
Release Date: 1961-07-08When engine trouble forces Supercar to land in the African jungle, the first night goes well until Mike and Dr. Beaker wake up to find Mitch missing.
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Episode 25 - The Tracking of Masterspy
Release Date: 1961-07-15Pretending to be a reporter, Masterspy manages to steal the secret plans for Supercar, or so he thinks. Mike has actually allowed him to steal a tracking device that will allow Supercar to follow him back to his hideout.
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Episode 26 - The White Line
Release Date: 1961-08-06Baffled by a series of armored car robberies, Scotland Yard calls in he Supercar team, but when Dr. Beaker decides to take the wheel for the next delivery, he is unaware that he is headed for a deadly trap.