ALL ABOUT STAR FLEET | In-depth analysis of the 1980s puppet series with Ben Page

[@crazyjedi5994]

50:53 So, for the whole series until episode 22, the Imperial Master is always portrayed by a puppet. In the last three episodes, he is portrayed by a man in a costume, APART from the scene in episode 24 where you see the giant hologram message of him in space.

[@AlexDraco]

Indeed. That all boils down to the Imperial Master's size compared to the rest of the cast. In the course of the show, he's revealed to be a 30 feet-tall cybernetic colossus who literally towers over his subordinates, so i guess they had to resort to traditional suitmation instead of puppetry to portray him standing next to the puppets.

[@BentzensEmporium]

Star Fleet was incredible. So sad we didn't get season 2&3 after the fire .

[@rayyorkie7266]

I loved Starfleet. There was nothing like it at the time which is probably why kids loved it. Spacefighters combining into giant robots, main characters dying, being poisoned, suicide, mega violence - spoiler alert - a main villain being crushed to death by the giant Dai-X - revenge is sweet. Just predated Terrahawks in the UK by one year (1982) . Shown on saturday mornings on the ITV channel. Great fun. Used a lot of Space 1999 sound fx. Some great model fx (and some very bad too, but that's part of the fun). Comic strip in Look-In comic too. Shame the toys never got to the UK but they were available in Europe, particularly Italy. At least there is a new model kit of Dai-X coming from Japan. Now if they'd just make a kit of the X-Bomber itself. Jack makes the point about the Imperial Master being an actual actor rather than a puppet but don't forget Steve Begg later filmed something similar with Ben Tuszynski in the Sporilla costume in Terrahawks 'Space Giant'.

[@StevieZala]

Yeah, I was bummed that they're were no toys available over here when I was a kid. So I begged & begged for a T-shirt when we went to Alton Towers & I'm ashamed to say that I kinda got my step gran to get me the EP. I must have been a right brat. Awesome show. Loved it. The over all arcs, the Dai-X. I love space opera me.

[@dazatronsdioramallama6370]

Great listening to you guys talking about Starfleet XBomber, such fond memories of the show. I never took to Anderson’s shows, there was something about the character design that jarred with me which hindered me from relating to the characters whereas the designs for Starfleet ticked all the boxes for me (I would say, the vehicle designs in Anderson’s properties are awesome) it would be great to see a documentary investigating the show and what happened afterwards

[@parelt]

Great background information- would be great to see some episode talkovers and view this outside of the Gerry Anderson overshadow. SF always seemed like an animation of Japanese animation and Japanese puppet traditions.

[@AlexDraco]

I heard about Kinosuke Takeda, and watched some brief excerpts from his shows... Spaceship Silica was visibly directed on a tiny budget and looks very, VERY antiquated by today's standards, and it's actually more akin to traditional puppet theatre that would be filmed than to an actual series made for TV. Galaxy Boy Troop (known as "Ginga Shonentai" in Japan) is a little more visually evolved, and has the particularity of merging puppetry with traditional cartoon. Finally, Aerial City 008 is a lot closer to classic Gerry Anderson shows, with advanced miniature effects and pyrotechnics.

[@NotSuitableForMum]

I always remember John Lee as looking ike a kid in a duffle oat and the whole snot bubble scene.