REMEMBERANCE OF CHRISTMAS PAST 2

SUPERCAR, the British kid-vid sf/action/adventure syndicated television series debuted in the United States in January 1962. Which means I must have gotten this jewel for Christmas of that year.

Produced by Gerry Anderson, SUPERCAR used the then cutting-edge "Supermarionation" puppeteering process that brought a fuller range of movement to characters and vehicles. Of course, I could still see the wires/strings making the puppets and various props move but after a few minutes I got used to it and gave myself over entirely to the story being told. SUPERCAR was just that, a "super" car that could travel on the land, in the air and under the sea. It was piloted by Mike Mercury and his weekly adventures held me spellbound as a youngster.

This toy version of Supercar had three wheels, with the rear two being fixed while the front, third wheel (barely visible in the picture above), rotated a full 360 degrees. Supercar was battery operated and came with a half dozen or so little plastic discs that contained various movements and maneuvers for the vehicle to execute. When you loaded the appropriate disc, Supercar would do such things as turn in a circle, run in reverse, move forward, spin in place, and other simple movements.

Alas, none of the discs made the car actually fly or be safe submersed in water but I nevertheless had a helluva lot of fun playing with this beauty.