In the 1960s Gerry Anderson coined the phrase "Supermarionation" (a portmanteau of "super", "marionette" and "animation") for his puppet television shows, this was one of his most successful series, and one I grew up with in childhood. Basically set in the year 2065, the story revolves around the adventures of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (WASP), a security organisation based at Marineville, specifically with the highly sophisticated combat submarine Stingray. Captain Troy Tempest (Don Mason) is the pilot of Stingray, his navigator and hydrophone operator is Lieutenant George Lee "Phones" Sheridan (Robert Easton), and they are joined by regular crew member Marina, a beautiful mute young woman, a rescued slave, who can breathe underwater. Marineville is commanded by "hoverchair"-bound Commander Samuel "Sam" Shore (Ray Barrett), his daughter Lieutenant Atlanta Shore (James Bond's Lois Maxwell) is infatuated with Troy, but he is enamoured with Marina, there is also sub-Lieutenant John Horatio Fisher (Ray Barrett) working in Marineville's control room. The main missions of Marineville are to protect the oceans from attack and investigate strange underwater activities, and when there is trouble the alerts for "action stations", "launch stations", and "battle stations" are sounded, with Marineville safe in underground bunkers, and missiles on standby. Throughout the series the Stingray crew encounter a number of underwater races, both friendly and hostile, their most frequent enemy is tyrannical ruler Titan (Ray Barrett) of the underwater city of Titanica, with his aquatic warrior race the Aquaphibians, and his Surface Agent X-2- Zero (Robert Easton). Also starring David Graham as Oink the seal pup and Doc and Sylvia Anderson as Barry Byrne. Stingray was the first British television series to be broadcast entirely in colour throughout. There were 39 episodes of this classic show, the puppet characters are all likable, the stories all have their own charm, the music by Barry Gray, including the closing credits song "Aqua Marina" by Gary Miller, is great, and there are a good amount of exciting underwater chases, explosions and laughs to keep you watching, it is a most entertaining show for adults and children alike, a great family action adventure. Very good!