Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Kids TV
    Kids TV TV Shows - 1960s 3 Mins Read

    Joe 90

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    1 9 6 7 – 1 9 6 8 (UK)
    30 x 25 minute episodes

    This really was the stuff of young boys fantasies in the 1960s.

    A nine-year-old boy is equipped only with intelligence-giving spectacles (and all too visible strings) and gets to be an air force pilot, astronaut, president of the World Bank, a rally driver and much, much more.

    Every episode saw the plucky and earnest Joe 90 stepping into another crisis and saving the day.

    The premise of this puppet series from the prolific Anderson stable (it was Gerry Anderson’s ninth puppet series and the sixth of the ‘Supermarionation‘ series’) was as follows;

    Joe’s adoptive father is brilliant electronics engineer Professor Ian ‘Mac’ McClaine. Mac invents BIG RAT (Brain Impulse Galvanascope Record And Transfer) – A machine capable of transferring brain patterns, skills and experience from one person to another.

    Mac’s friend Sam Loover is an operative from WIN (World Intelligence Network) which is an organisation dedicated to maintaining the world balance of power.

    Sam sees the BIGRAT in action when Mac tests the machine on Joe and immediately sees the potential. Sam contacts his boss, Shane Weston, who is Deputy Director and head of the London office of WIN.

    Shane also recognises the machine’s potential to create a new and deadly form of secret agent, able to make use of the skills and experience of any living person.

    Who better to perform this role, suggests Weston, than Mac’s nine-year-old adopted son who could slip into any situation without arousing suspicion?

    Young Joe agrees and WIN’s most special secret agent, ‘Joe 90’, goes into action.

    To download the skills necessary for each mission, Joe sits on a special chair which is pneumatically elevated into the Rat Trap. The entry bars close and the trap begins to spin and the BIGRAT begins to work.

    Once the process is completed, the brainwave transfer only works when Joe puts on a pair of special glasses with built-in electrodes which connect to his temples, though (unlike previous Anderson shows) the gadgetry in Joe 90 takes second place to the characters.

    In fact, apart from the BIGRAT itself, the only machines to appear regularly in the show are Mac’s Jet car and Sam Loover’s saloon.

    Perhaps the ugliest vehicle designed by Derek Meddings, Mac’s car was triphibious – travelling on land or water but most spectacularly in low-level flying.

    As the jet motors roared up, the wings would swing away from the sides and the wheels would retract into the body of the car.

    Joe McClaine (Joe 90) 
    Len Jones
    Professor Ian ‘Mac’ McClaine 

    Rupert Davies
    Sam Loover 

    Keith Alexander
    Shane Weston 

    David Healy
    Mrs Ada Harris 

    Sylvia Anderson

    Episodes

    The Most Special Agent | Most Special Astronaut | Project 90 | Hi-Jacked | Colonel McClaine | The Fortress | King For A Day | International Concerto | Splash Down | The Big Fish | Relative Danger | Operation McClaine | The Unorthodox Shepherd | Business Holiday | Arctic Adventure | Double Agent | Three’s A Crowd | The Professional | The Race | Talkdown | Breakout | Child Of The Sun-God | See You Down There | Lone-Handed 90 | Attack Of The Tiger | Viva Cordova | Mission X-41 | Test Flight | Trial At Sea | The Birthday

    Video

    Links

    • The official Gerry Anderson website

    Related Posts

    • Four Feather Falls
      Four Feather Falls
      1 9 5 9 - 1 9 6 0 (UK) 39 x 15 minute episodes Sheriff Tex Tucker maintained the peace…
    • Torchy The Battery Boy
      Torchy The Battery Boy
      1 9 5 7 - 1 9 5 9 (UK) 52 x 15 minute episodes This early Gerry Anderson puppet series pre-dated…
    • Monroes, The
      Monroes, The
      1 9 6 6 - 1 9 6 7 (USA) 26 x 60 minute episodes A family western TV series, The…
    • Joe/Set 'em Up, Joe
      Joe/Set 'em Up, Joe
      1 9 6 9 - 1 9 7 0 (UK) 14 x 45/30 minute episodes Actor, singer, dancer, guitarist and…
    • Mill of Secrets
      Mill of Secrets
      1 9 6 0 (UK) 6 x 30 minute episodes Written by Peter Johnson and Diana K. Watson, Mill of Secrets…
    • Dick Spanner P.I.
      Dick Spanner P.I.
      1 9 8 6 (UK) 22 x 6 minute episodes Produced by legendary Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson, this tongue-in-cheek stop-motion…
    • Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries
      Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries
      1 9 7 7 - 1 9 7 9 (USA) 46 x 60 minute episodes Prolific young people's adventure and mystery…
    • Fireball XL5
      Fireball XL5
      1 9 6 2 - 1 9 6 3 (UK) 39 x 30 minute episodes I wish I was a spaceman,…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleBullwinkle Show, The/Rocky & His Friends
    Next Article Howdy Doody Show, The

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Raven
      1 9 7 7 (UK) 6 x 30 minute episodes This six-part […]
    • Will and Grace
      1 9 9 8 – 2 0 0 6 (USA) 2 0 1 8 – 2 0 2 0 (USA) 246 […]
    • Friday Night with the Crazy Gang
      1 9 5 6 (UK) 6 x 30 minute episodes The Crazy Gang had been film […]
    • Frost Report, The
      1 9 6 6 – 1 9 6 7 (UK) 26 x 25 minute episodes 2 x […]
    • Lindisfarne
      Lindisfarne’s first three albums, released on Charisma […]
    • Siege of Sidney Street, The (1960)
      A pitched battle rages as armed police surround well-armed […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Sport Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About Nostalgia Central
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.