Stingray (TV show)

This article is about the ITV television series. For the NBC action-adventure series starring Nick Mancuso, see Stingray (NBC television series).

Related Topics:
Nick Mancuso - Stingray (NBC television series)

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Stingray is a children's marionette television show, made by Sylvia and Gerry Anderson. An AP Films production for ATV and ITC Entertainment. 39 half-hour episodes, 1964 - 1965. Originally screened on ITV in the UK and syndication in the US. Scripts by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, Alan Fennell, and Dennis Spooner. Music composed and conducted by Barry Gray. Special Effects Director Derek Meddings.

Related Topics:
Marionette - Television - Sylvia and Gerry Anderson - AP Films - ATV - ITC Entertainment - 1964 - 1965 - ITV - UK - Syndication - US - Barry Gray - Derek Meddings

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Stingray was the first Supermarionation show to be filmed in colour, and also the first in which marionettes had interchangeable heads with different facial expressions. It was also the first UK TV show to be filmed entirely in colour. At the time the US networks were gearing up for full-time colour broadcasting, although ITV in Britain did not begin colour transmission until late 1969.

Related Topics:
Supermarionation - 1969

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Supercar had featured a vehicle that could travel on land, sea and air, and Fireball XL5 featured a spaceship. The next logical step was a series about a submarine, although this presented a number of technical challenges.

Related Topics:
Supercar - Fireball XL5

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For scenes where model submarines or marionettes were seen underwater, they were actually floated on wires through a dry set, but the camera filmed them through a narrow water tank containing air bubbles and fish of different sizes (giving the impression that they were at different distances from the camera), thereby convincingly creating the illusion that the models or puppets were underwater. This was enhanced by the use of lighting effects which gave the impression of shafts of light refracted through the surface of the sea.

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Scenes on the ocean's surface were filmed using a large tank that was filled with water dyed blue. To prevent the edges of the tank from showing it was deliberately overfilled so that the water would constantly spill over the edges and conceal them. These techniques were so successful that they were also used in Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet.

Related Topics:
Thunderbirds - Captain Scarlet

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