Supercar (series)

Supercar
Publisher:	City Magazines
Type:	TV series Comic series
Release date:	28 January 1961

Supercar was a science fiction series created by Gerry Anderson and Reg Hill. The first programme to bear the words "filmed in supermarionation", Supercar was also spun off into comics which were published in TV Century 21 alongside The Daleks. The original televised run of the series spanned January 1961 to April 1962 and was succeeded in the chronology of Anderson-produced supermarionation series by Fireball XL5.

Crossovers with the DWU

Of all Anderson's series filmed predominantly in supermarionation, Supercar had the least crossover material with the Doctor Who universe in the original run of TV Century 21. This is excluding The Secret Service, which featured extensive footage of live-action actors, and only crossed over with the DWU in a special one-off edition of TV21 released as part of Network Distributing's Supermarionation boxset. Supercar's own placement in the magazine was short-lived as it was cancelled after the first year in the revamp which introduced strips for Thunderbirds, Get Smart and The Munsters.

The earliest narrative crossover was through a mention of the titular Supercar in the 21 short story Graham Page, published in TV Century 21 #7. The story also referenced the Daleks, Stingray and Fireball XL5. A somewhat similar crossover occurred in TV21 #11's Space-Age Versery Rhymes, part of the Music Box series, whose illustration showed Little Miss Muffet reading an issue of TV 21 which contained, among others, Supercar and The Daleks. Later, in the TV Century 21 Summer Extra, the short story Marineville Blackout was released, with some focus on the events of Supercar. Much later, in 2014, Network Distributing released a few extra issues in their Supermarionation boxset. This included TV21 #244, which contained the TV21 Stop Press story XL5 Crew Detained on Astra!, which referenced Astra alongside the events of Supercar. Finally, in 2022, the Fireball XL5 60th Anniversary Comic Anthology was released, containing some new stories. Although the main focus of these was on crossing over Fireball XL5 with Stingray, Thunderbirds, and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, the first new strip - Looking Back - featured a picture of Supercar, captioned "From tiny acorns". Unlike more prominent strips printed in TV21, the ongoing narratives of Supercar were never referred to in cover stories or in the "Stop Press" panels at the end of The Daleks.

Cast and crew connections

Barry Gray, who worked on Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., composed and conducted the theme song and all the music for Supercar.

David Graham, best known to Doctor Who audiences for providing Dalek voices, played Doctor Horatio Beaker, Mitch the Monkey, Zarrin, Ben Judd and Bill Gibson. Cyril Shaps, a guest actor in Who from 1967 to 1978, joined the cast in the second series and took over the roles previously voiced by George Murcell, namely Professor Rudolph Popkiss and Masterspy.