64 years ago this week, Supercar first took to the skies on television! In recognition of Supercar's anniversary, we're taking a celebratory dive into the series - and learning how our website editor, Fred McNamara, has changed his attitude to the series over the years!

My formative years in first experiencing the worlds of Gerry Anderson were done so in a non-linear fashion. Initially brought up on a healthy diet of Stingray, I was barely into double figures when Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons received their hugely successful revivals on BBC Two in the late 1990s/early 2000s. From there, I discovered so many more of Gerry Anderson's productions out of order, including his much earlier Supermarionation productions from the early 1960s.

Coming to the likes of Supercar and Fireball XL5 after Stingray, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet was an intriguing case of digging deep into Gerry's formative years with puppetry. Seeing the roots of International Rescue and Spectrum in action opened my eyes to the evolutionary nature of these shows, how successive one improved over the former. However, it came with an unfortunate side effect.

I'd been enthralled by Thunderbirds and petrified by Captain Scarlet, but I struggled to latch onto Fireball XL5. Undoubtedly a series that paved the way for the space age thrills seen in later works, coming to Fireball XL5 after the dizzying heights of Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet could only result in me being bitterly disappointed by how archaic that series felt in comparison. Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet presented such sophisticated, believable retrofuture worlds with mature storytelling and compelling characters. The outlandish science-fantasy of Fireball XL5, so much lighter and more jovial when pressed against the frightening power of the Mysterons, wasn't easy to be won over by.

This isn't a phenomena unique to Gerry's works. Perhaps it's simply the natural way of things when you come to a versatile and far-reaching body of creative work firstly through the most highly regarded productions, only to find that the earlier productions fail to match that level of intensity. I was exposed to Supercar even less of as a kid, which bore a premise that seemed really quite dull by comparison even to Fireball XL5. A craft that can fly, swim and go into outer space? I already had Stingray and Thunderbirds to fill those needs! Surely Supercar would suffer the same issues as Fireball XL5 - right?

Supercar's Wonderland

It's only been over the last couple of years that I've realised what a disservice I done to Supercar. For too long, I'd shunted Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's first genuine stab at science fiction into the same mindset as Fireball XL5. Too old hat, too simplistic, too mundane. It transpires that, just like all the classic Supermarionation series, Supercar boasts its own unique flavour, while avoiding the similar baggage of Fireball XL5.  

Compared to the adventures of the World Space Patrol, Supercar is a far gentler and intimate viewing experience. It isn't concerned with being a super-futuristic adventure series in the stars, filled with wildly improbable alien villains. Instead, Supercar is set in a far more contemporary and thus believable post-WWII world, a world in which the gang at Black Rock Laboratories constantly play at technological and engineering advancements if nothing else for their own curiosity and amusement, whilst something of a Cold War quietly rages on in the background between Western and Eastern powers.  

The Supercar gang avoid lumbering themselves with similar ideological justifications as the likes of International Rescue, World Intelligence Network, or Spectrum. Supercar, as a marvel of engineering, doesn't explicitly exist to resolve danger zones which normal means of rescue aren't adequate, nor does it exist as the last line of defence against underwater invaders. It exists because... it does. It's a refreshingly uncomplicated concept which nonetheless plants the seeds from which future works would blossom. 

That's not to say that the Supercar gang aren't called upon by governments for assistance or take advantage to step into hostile territory themselves. But it comes with a sense of character-driven fun. The Black Rock gang aren't a global security organisation or an outfit specialising in international rescues. Supercar presents Mike Mercury, Dr. Beaker, Professor Popkiss, Jimmy, and Mitch the Monkey as a sort of found family of unlikely adventurers who take on missions to help those in need, but also for the sheer fun of it. Four heroes and their pet animal getting into adventures can't help but reframe Supercar as the answer to the questions 'what if Enid Blyton wrote science fiction'?

Satisfactory - Most Satisfactory!

A winning element of Supercar's enticing warmth is its characters. Supercar pilot Mike Mercury is the archetypal Anderson hero, but comes with a welcome shot of snarky sarcasm that makes his daredevil personality pop that bit more. Dr. Beaker is the other stand-out hero of Supercar. 

A pure stereotype of the absent-minded yet genius boffin that would be refined with Professor Matic and Brains, the humour derived from Beaker is one of the series' purest joys. It also makes more sense when prizing open Supercar's genesis and the fact that the realised series was the result of two concept fused together - the idea of the multi-purpose Supercar itself and Beaker's Bureau concept of Huge Woodhouse. He and brother Martin would become the main writers on Supercar for its first series. Little wonder then that Beaker remains such an enjoyably prominent character.

Graydon Gould pulls in a particularly convincing job in voicing Mercury, notably injecting plenty of much-needed vigour into Supercar's dialogue, which is admittedly laboured with an abundance of techno-hokum. This approach to dialogue does rather drag the energy of many episodes down, but is Supercar a series you watch for its rip-roaring energy? This is a series that boasts a low-key, slice-of-life atmosphere that's greatly at odds with its hyper-futuristic successor. For a series that relies quite heavily on dialogue-driven interactions between its characters, it helps that those characters are so well-rounded and naturally entertaining. 

Few Anderfans would ever claim that Supercar was the most dynamic or exhilarating of the classic Supermarionation series. But it's undeniably one of the most pleasant, propelled by an techno-enhanced futuristic worldview that's far more innocent and small-scale than that of Thunderbirds. Supercar may lack that ambition that would come with Thunderbirds, but Thunderbirds very likely wouldn't have been nearly as ambitious without the foundation that Supercar provided. With its wonderfully likeable characters and sharply written and performed sense of humour, Supercar is indeed a marvel of the age. I'm only sorry it's taken quite so long for me to realise it!