15/05/2024
JOE 90 1968 TO 1969
This 30 episode series was to be the last time that Gerry and Sylvia Anderson would film anymore marionette puppetry shows as they felt as the novelty was beginning to wear off with a demanding audience and realised that they would have to reinvent themselves to survive in an industry and move into live action series such as UFO and Space 1999 to break into the American market as they were moving into a new era of colour and the 1970s and also witnessing the transformation of so many shows such as Doctor Who and Z Cars reinventing themselves to compete in an ever changing world and a demanding market and looking at the other side of the coin where Star Trek and many others popular shows of the 1960s began to grow flat and were eventually taken off the air. So this was the reason Joe 90 was to be their last one and even though their previous successes of Thunderbirds, Captan Scarlet and Stingray concentrated on action, gadgetry and special effects, Joe 90 would be a different kind of show and would focus on characterisation and espionage rather than science fiction, so the show was commissioned by Lew Grade in the summer of 1967 and the first script for the first episode called The Most Secret Agent was written by Gerry and his wife Sylvia but even though it brought in audiences and also a modest franchise launch it felt that the network’s were more interested in cop shows and variety rather than escapist themes and even in Britain The BBC were more interested in drama and variety rather than science fiction and so the days of the Anderson’s Super Marionation puppet shows were coming to an end. But even though Joe 90 came to an end in 1969 it had a following almost to cult status and the franchise of toys and conventions are just as popular at science conventions all over the world
