In the year 2065, the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (WASPs) explores the oceans and keeps the world safe from a variety of perils. The WASPs' most advanced combat submarine, Stingray, is their greatest asset commanded by Troy Tempest. Troy is not alone on his missions as he is joined by copilot Phones, and Marina, a princess of the undersea kingdom of Pacifica. Marina can breathe underwater, however, she is unable to speak. In charge of the WASPs is the gruff Commander Shore, whose daughter Atlanta is both a member of his staff and Marina's rival for Troy's affection. I remember Stingray from my childhood despite being a much older show from the 1960s and growing up in the early 2000s. I somehow managed to remember a few small details from this show, which led to my rediscovering this cult classic underwater adventure. Thanks to my memories of the theme song, submarine Stingray, the mechanical fish, some toys I owned and a very particular episode called 'Pink Ice', I was able to recollect and find this piece of my youth. Very specific points I know but that's what I recalled mainly from this series alongside of course the obvious detail of the characters being puppets. That was one of the most interesting aspects of Stingray was the use of puppets called a marionette. A marionette is a puppet manipulated from above with strings that are attached to a control used for each limb of a character or an object. It is a fascinating choice for a show and not something you see nowadays. We have seen this style used in other shows by Anderson like his other popular production: Thunderbirds (TV Series 1965-1966). This artistic choice for the show gave it a very unique style and look with the strings still being quite clearly visible, which in a way, I liked as it showed the realism of these models and the level of skill it must have taken to operate them. Not only that but the set designs are incredible whilst also being practical for fitting the models inside them and looking as realistic as possible. Whilst the characters looked, moved and acted like puppets, I grew attached to each member of the WASP crew as we see their friendships grow, their overcoming of personal struggles and successes in their most dangerous of missions. I began to see them less as just puppets and more as real people thanks to the amazing voice acting and deliveries as well as the puppeteering of the operators. My personal favourites of the crew have to be Troy and Phones who we spend the most time with on their missions in Stingray. They have a real bond with one another and have some enjoyable banter and scenes of working as a team when fending off deadly foes. The adventures we go on in these episodes are actually phenomenal with some great imagination and creativity on display here. Many of the action-oriented episodes are filled with explosions and stand-offs and feature some high-stakes sequences. On the other hand, there are a heap ton of suspenseful stories which have you hooked and sitting at the edge of your seat with many tense moments like my favourite 'The Disappearing Ships', which sees the crew left stuck in one of three ships set to explode with no way of knowing which will go off first. There is even one episode where the crew set out in search of the Loch Ness Monster. However, there are some lacklustre stories and I'd have to say they are the ones where Troy dreams up a whole crazy story for an entire 30 minutes. Yeah he does it three times and I mean one is okay but to recycle that idea multiple times was a bit annoying. The show features a heap of creative enemies for the WASPs to combat with some unusual designs but, they frequently battled with the recurring Titan and his surface agent, X-20, alongside their footsoldiers the Auquaphibians. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Stingray most especially because it was a dive back into my childhood. It has some superb stories filled with many spectacles and features some well-rounded characters. A fun show from the 1960s that still entertains people of all ages to this day.
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