15. Spectrum Hovercraft
A vehicle we never saw enough of in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, the Spectrum Hovercraft is a vehicle designed to patrol the desert landscapes of Australia, and appeared solely in the episode ‘Traitor’. From the one adventure it ever took part in, we can assume this may well have been an SPV without the wheels.
In ‘Traitor’ the Spectrum Hovercraft never actually went up against a physical enemy, probably because it was patrolling the deserts where there’s nothing and no-one to be found for miles, so we never actually saw this mean looking machine dole out any attacks. But we can still dream, and laugh at the fact that this vehicle is so huge it couldn’t even fully fit inside this article.
14. Any Vehicle From Joe 90 That ISN’T Mac’s Jet-Air Car
Joe 90 marks the point where an attempt was made to move the focus of the show away from machinery and centre more on character-driven plots. The results were mixed, to say the least. Let down by an all-male cast, Joe 90 showed how, even with decent stories that were driven mostly by characters rather than machines, you needed those fantastic machines to literally keep the story moving.
Nevertheless, the show featured a nirvana of wonderful guest vehicles in Joe’s disguises as military personnel, astronauts and spies. The Explosives Truck U-59 and the MIG 242 fighter jet are just some of the highlights from the series. Odd then that the show’s only starring vehicle, Mac’s car, is such an ugly thing. Noted by Anderson himself on how unappealing it’s design was, it’s rough, unfinished appearance brought the series down several levels.
13. Spectrum Patrol/Saloon Car
Another vehicle that we never saw enough of in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, The Spectrum Patrol Car (or Spectrum Saloon Car, depending on which toy you bought) is basically an SPV without the massive missiles. Curiously, an SPC is always used before and SPV took over the action. Much like Thunderbird 1, whenever an SPC appears, the adventure would be ready to crank up a few notches.
Its hilariously sleek, retro design puts many of its ilks to shame, and even though it failed to display any FAB 1-like gadgets, the blood-red colour of its body is synonymous with the hero of the programme. Perhaps that’s mostly due to the pre-Mysteronised Scarlet being sent to his death from within an unsuspecting SPC by the Mysterons in the pilot episode.
12. Mysteron’s Flying Saucers
This was the closet we came to seeing the Mysterons in person, if you don’t count their human agent replicas. Seen only in ‘Attack of the Mysterons’, the episode features the Mysterons finally getting of their arses and coming to Earth themselves to destroy Spectrum once and for all. They do so by floating down in an armada of moth-like ships that manage to obliterate Cloudbase, sending it hurtling towards the Earth. But if you haven’t yet seen that episode, don’t be too despondent, as the finale may surprise you (and infuriate the rest of us).
11. The Ghost Ship
The most anti-mecha on this list, in that it doesn’t sport any futuristic designs, doesn’t hide several smaller vehicles inside, or doesn’t have a detachable smaller craft. The Ghost Ship from Stingray (seen in the aptly named episode ‘The Ghost Ship’) was one of the more haunting vehicles in the Century 21 canon.
The ship spends most of the episode moored and sill, surrounded by thick, eerie fog while the Stingray crew investigate it. It’s beautiful, classically designed, and appears magnificently foreboding against the backdrop of fog.
Some interesting ideas and a good selection of Anderson’s vehicle, but how do we go about grading them in what should we say categories.
But what about Gabriel… or maybe not.
Supercar ugly? Nonsense. It’s a classic design that made Supercar a success leading to the rest of the Supermarionation series.