Line #49 Series/Stingray1964


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Stingray-tvshow_4699.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:250:"Stand by for action!"]]
3
4	->''"It dives under the sea, into the world below''\
5	''Where beauty and mystery can always be found''\
6	''It dives fearless and free, chasing the strangest foe''\
7	''But against all adversity, sails homeward '''BOOOOOOUND!"''''''
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9	'''''Stingray''''' is a children's marionette television show, created by [[Creator/GerryAnderson Gerry]] and Sylvia Anderson, that ran from 1964-65. Stingray was also the first British television programme to be filmed entirely in colour (the earlier series ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSirLancelot'' had been made in colour from halfway through its run thanks to Creator/{{NBC}} money - although British TV viewers wouldn't get colour television until 1967).
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11	Set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, the show's focus was the day-to-day adventures of the crew of [=WASP=], the '''W'''orld '''A'''quanaut '''S'''ecurity '''P'''atrol (why, what {{WASP}} were ''you'' thinking of?), a Californian naval organization dedicated to keeping the world's waters free of any danger -- in particular, any danger caused by the Aquaphibians, a race of evil [[HumanAlien fish-men]]. Helping them to lead the way is Captain [[AlliterativeName Troy Tempest]], who pilots the titular Stingray submarine alongside George Lee "Phones" Sheridan (so named because he operates the ship's hydrophones).
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13	The organization falls under the direction of Commander [[AlliterativeName Sam Shore]], who now uses a [[SuperWheelChair hoverchair]] around the base as a result of a submarine accident. His daughter is Atlanta Shore, the assistant communications officer who loves Troy Tempest from afar.
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15	Tagging along with the two pilots is a mute, [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent tail-less]] mermaid by the name of Marina. It's revealed AllThereInTheManual that she is actually forbidden by her ruler Titan to ever speak (if she does so, he will destroy her people). Unfortunately for Atlanta, Troy [[MermaidProblem seems to be attracted to her.]]
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17	All of the underwater sequences were shot dry-for-wet by filming the puppets or models through narrow water tanks containing small fish and bubble machines, and using lighting effects to give an underwater look.
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19	A compilation movie of the series, ''Invaders from the Deep'', was the very first film ever riffed in ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', in its local-access season on [=KTMA-TV23=] in Minneapolis.
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21	It has nothing to do with [[Series/Stingray1985 the American '80s series of the same name]].
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23	----
24	!!Any tropes can happen in the next half hour!
25
26	* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: Commander Shore's opening theme call-to-arms [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E06cNv55jTs "STAND by... for ACTION!"]]
27	* AlienInvasion: "The Invaders".
28	* AllJustADream: "The Cool Cave Man," "Tom Thumb Tempest" and "Raptures Of The Deep" (that's right, they did it ''three times''!). [[spoiler: In the last-named it's more of a hallucination, but it still counts.]]
29	* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Troy has a crush on Marina (who is forbidden to speak). Atlanta in turn longs for Troy. It is occasionally implied that Phones carries a bit of a soft spot for Atlanta.
30	* ApparentlyHumanMerfolk: Marina and some of the Aquaphibians, others of the species are more FishPeople.
31	* AsianRudeness: Two episodes - "Star of the East" and "Eastern Eclipse" - focused on the incredibly rude (and extremely deluded) Arabic [[spoiler: sometimes]] despot El Hudat.
32	* TheCameo: In "Raptures Of The Deep," Marina speaks for the only time onscreen with the uncredited voice of Sylvia Anderson. [[spoiler: Too bad it's only in Troy's oxygen-starved imagination.]]
33	* CaptainFishman: Marina is a humanoid princess of Pacifica. She's a tailless mermaid capable of breathing in water or in air. She gets rescued from the clutches of King Titan, and becomes a valuable ally to the heroes, Troy Tempest and Phones. Though she cannot speak, she can make herself understood, and often guides the Stingray around the seas, exploiting shortcuts and dodging hazards.
34	* CompilationMovie: Two, under the umbrella title ''Super Space Theater''.
35	** ''The Incredible Voyage of Stingray'', featuring the episodes "Stingray," "Plant of Doom," "Count Down, and "The Master Plan," in 1980.
36	** ''Invaders of the Deep'', featuring the episodes "Hostages of the Deep," "The Big Gun," "Emergency Marineville" and "Deep Heat," in 1981. Notable for being the first movie featured on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' (''ever'').
37	** A third one was put together to be shown for Japanese television executives, with framing footage bridging "Stingray," "An Echo Of Danger," "Raptures Of The Deep" and "Emergency Marineville." Said footage was later used as the basis for "The Reunion Party," shown on Creator/{{BBC}}4 as part of a Gerry Anderson celebration.
38	* CoolBoat: Stingray.
39	* CryptidEpisode: One episode has the crew shipped to Scotland to find the Loch Ness Monster.
40	* CuteMute: Marina. According to the audio adventure "Marina Speaks" a curse was put on her race by Titan so if any of them ever spoke, another of them would die.
41	* DamselInDistress: Atlanta and Marina, in several episodes.
42	* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: In "Raptures Of The Deep," a hallucinating Troy sings "Aqua Marina" (the EndingTheme) to Marina.
43	* {{Egopolis}}: Titan, ruler of the underwater city of Titanica.
44	* ElaborateUndergroundBase: Marineville's buildings could be retracted underground in an emergency.
45	* EndingTheme: [[SillyLoveSongs "Marina... aqua Marina... what are these strange enchantments that start when ever you're near?"]]
46	* FrenchJerk: The titular character of "The Man from the Navy", who drives Troy to distraction with his arrogance and need to prove the Navy's superiority.
47	* GreaterScopeVillain: In the first scene we see, Teufel seems to be just a fish that the Titanicans worship... the next scene we see proves it is anything but, and serves as Titan's advisor and enabler.
48	* HumanAliens: Some of the Aquaphibians, including the love interest Marina, are quite human in appearance, despite their aquatic origins.
49	* IGaveMyWord: Titan is xenophobic and a slave owner, but he's still a man of his word. After Titan poisons Troy and demands Marina's return for the cure, Marina chooses Troy's life over her freedom, and Titan sends the antidote as promised.
50	* JumpingFish: Performed by two ''submarines'' in the opening credits: [[http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab227/sabredelamar/vlcsnap-211824.png Stingray itself, followed by the Aquaphibian's "Terror Fish" craft]].
51	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In the pilot episode there's a dramatic announcement regarding the current crisis, "Anything could happen in the next half hour!" Of course that's just so they can say the line in the TitleSequence introducing each half-hour long episode.
52	* LoveTriangle: Troy, Atlanta, and Marina.
53	* MadeASlave: Marina is Titan's personal slave when she's introduced, but she helps Troy and Phones escape the first chance she gets.
54	* MovingBuildings: All of the buildings in Marineville can be lowered underground on hydraulic jacks in case of an attack. This idea also surfaced in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''.
55	* MusicalEpisode: "Tune of Danger" and "Titan Goes Pop".
56	* NeverSayDie: Subverted: Troy is sentenced to "death" by Titan in the opening episode.
57	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Surface Agent X20, who [[LorreLookalike looked and sounded like Peter Lorre]], though his appearance was also based on Claude Rains. Troy Tempest was modelled on James Garner, and Marina on Brigitte Bardot.
58	** X20's voice actor, Robert Easton[[note]] one of the few actual Americans to provide voices for Anderson shows - on ''Stingray'' Don Mason and Lois Maxwell both hailed from Canada while Creator/RayBarrett was Australian, with David Graham the only British regular[[/note]], [[ActingForTwo also did the voice of]] Phones, who was an {{Expy}} of Sparks (played by Easton) from the Creator/IrwinAllen movie ''Film/VoyageToTheBottomOfTheSea''.
59	* NoEnding: The series ends on a clip show with the overall arc unresolved.
60	* NotSoHarmlessVillain: When Teufel is introduced, it appears to be just a fish that Titan claims is their great god, and Troy is given what appears to be an arbitrary trial where he lives or dies depending if it continues to look at him for one marine-minute, and it turns away from him JUST as the time runs out. Then when Titan vows revenge on his slave Marina for saving Troy and escaping Titanica, he implores Teufel for how to enact his revenge. Teufel then conjures a flower that devours the atmosphere around it, which Titan smashes only just in time, before remarking how the plant would be his instrument of revenge. This reveals in one scene that Teufel is not a dumb animal, that it purposely sentenced Troy and his crewmate to death, and that it didn't care if Titan died before realizing what the plant was for.
61	* OneWordTitle
62	* PunnyName: Atlanta Shore, Marina, Troy Tempest, Lt Fisher; also, the Titanians worship the living fish-god [[GratuitousGerman Teufel]] (German for "Devil"), and their [[TheAlcatraz maximum security prison]] is named [[IncrediblyLamePun Aquatraz]].
63	* SmallNameBigEgo: El Hudat, and ''how''.
64	* SoundToScreenAdaptation: Inverted with a series of original cast 'audio adventures', originally released on vinyl and included as DVD extras (and also released on CD by Fanderson, the official Gerry Anderson fan club).
65	* StockFootage: Notably on two occasions, besides the launch and battle stations sequences: the collapse of the drilling rig in "Sea of Oil" is seen again in "The Ghost of the Sea", and the destruction of Seaprobe in the pilot episode is reused in "A Nut for Marineville".
66	* SuddenlySpeaking: Marina actually does speak in one episode, her voice being provided by Gerry Anderson's wife, Sylvia (who would gain more recognition in [[Series/{{Thunderbirds}} Anderson's next series]] as Lady Penelope).
67	* TrojanHorse: Titan sends Surface Agent X20 to Marina's people with a gift to show "no hard feelings" for her freeing two prisoners sentenced to death and fleeing her life of slavery. This is a gambit to get the deadly plant inside WASP after they pay Marina's people a visit a short time later.
68	* UltraTerrestrials: The various aquatic races.
69	* UnwinnableTrainingSimulation: Lieutenant Fisher is put through one of these in his DayInTheLimelight episode, "Rescue from the Skies".
70	* VitriolicBestBuds: Commander Shore and his InsaneAdmiral buddy Jack Denver.
71	* {{Zeerust}}: A guarantee in all of Anderson's Supermarionation works set in the future. According to the show's technical manual, Stingray is capable of speeds up to 600 knots[[note]](690 mph / 1110 kmh)[[/note]] and submerging to depths of 36,000 feet[[note]]This would mean it could reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest point on Earth[[/note]] (for reference the Seawolf class fast attack submarine is rated at 35 knots and approx. 2350 feet) making it every bit as advanced today as it was then. Not so for pretty much everything else in the show: sixties decor and fashions, big computers with lots of flashing lights and spinning wheels, terrible graphics and resolution on every monitor etc.

Context Series / Stingray1964