Here is another famous Joe who did not really exist, save in the head of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. He was a simple schoolboy, called Joe McClaine, just nine years old, when his adoptive father, Ian "Mac" McClaine, a widowed computer whizz, invents a magical machine which can record knowledge and implant it in someone else`s brain. For some reason, he picks Joe as the guinea pig, and turns him into a spy, the "Most Special Agent" of the World Intelligence Network.
When you think about it, this was most of the appeal of the show for children, seeing someone of their age doing things they could only dream of. James Bond was okay, but he was an adult, and got involved with lots of women, things that wasted time which could be spent fighting the bad guys and playing with cool pieces of kit.
Joe 90 was first shown on ITV between 1968 and 1969, and it was the last series to be made entirely using the Supermarionation puppets. However Joe 90, and its predecessor, Captain Scarlet, paved the way for the next step in Gerry Anderson`s enterprises, for they used puppets of the same proportions as human beings, and, in this case, of human appearance too, of more than one size, for Joe was the size of a child and he mixed with adults who were taller. That is shown well on our card
Strangely, the set only uses a few cards of the actual puppets, most of the set shows artist`s impressions. The thirteen cards (out of sixty-six) which are of the actual Supermarionation puppets are :
- 3 - "Mac" in his office with a cup of tea
- 14 - Joe 90 in a red and black coat swamped by a big black chair
- 25 - "Mac", Shane Weston and Joe 90 at home with a spiral staircase
- 26 - Joe 90 in a grey jumper
- 31 - Joe 90 perched perilously on a railing with "Mac"
- 39 - "Mac" and Joe 90 looking at a machine on the wall
- 43 - "Mac", Shane Weston and Joe 90 at home with a fireplace
- 44 - Shane Weston, "Mac" and Joe 90 in a laboratory
- 49 - Joe 90 in a chair in the middle of an empty space
- 52 - Shane Weston in a pink shirt
- 54 - Joe 90 in the middle of the RAT TRAP globe
- 63 - Joe 90 in a red and black coat with a microscope
- 66 - the outside of "Mac"`s cottage
There is very little about this set in our British Trade Index part two, just this scant description :
- JOE 90. Lg. 89 x 64. Sectional back. Nd. (66) ... ANF-4
This is slightly expanded in our updated British Trade Index, but not by much, only to :
- JOE 90. 1968. 89 x 64. Nd. (66) Sectional back, forming one large picture. ... ANG-210