Customer Reviews

Joe 90

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Joe 90 is, to American viewers, one of Gerry Anderson's best-kept secrets, as, apart from two made-for-cable episode compilations that aired in the early 80s, it has never been broadcast in the USA. This is a shame as this series contains some of the best model work of the entire Supermarionation canon. The series is pure fantasy -- just think what the DYFS would do if it found out that a nine-year-old adopted child were acting as a "most special agent," carrying a gun, driving tanks full of explosives, etc.The series is a great deal of fun, and the attention to detail is quite frankly amazing. If one were to watch the series from a distance, one could easily be forgiven in thinking that it has real actors in actual normal-sized sets. Although contemporary publicity material claims the series is set about 50 years in the future, ie in 2038, the fashions, vehicles, etc. are firmly from the 1960s, and easily stands up to the best that British television from this era had to offer. Just ignore the fact that the main protagonist is about 2 feet tall and you'll find the series highly enjoyable.Oh, and it's got a super theme tune, and the remastering is, as George Orwell might say, double-plus-excellent. Carlton in the UK has removed practically every flaw in the original prints. They are pristine, and look superb on my 32" TV.

Despite the outlandish plot, this is a fine series. Fans of the Captain Scarlet series (my own favorite) will find some similarities in Joe 90. The Joe 90 series was done after Captain Scarlet, and some of the puppets, sets, and even some of the background sounds were recycled for Joe 90. The series was produced in '68, and the groovy opening number shows it; the music and the psychedelic visuals remind me of Jefferson Airplane. Most of the Joe 90 episodes are similar, even formulaic, but a few of the episodes are more ambitious, or artitistic. One such unusual epsidode is "The Unorthodox Shepherd", one of the highlights from this under-rated series. After Captain Scarlet and Thunderbirds, I think Joe 90 is the 3rd-best Gerry Anderson series. It's just a matter of personal taste; I also like Stingray! Terrahawks is pretty good, too! Gerry Anderson has given us a huge body of work and it's a dream-come-true to be able to own these complete sets on DVD. I'm proud to have Joe 90 on a shelf and I think it will stand up to repeated viewings over the years.

Excellent!! Gerry Anderson & crew are truly at their finest here. All the work done in previous series such as "The Thunderbirds" and "Captain Scarlet" have paid off towards the perfection in craft and storytelling that is "Joe 90". I am almost done with the first volume and I am happy to say that there are virtually no plot-holes. Some episodes had me raise serious questions about what was going on and were satisfyingly resolved in the endings. The gun battles, aircraft, marionettes, gadgets, and not to mention, the awesome "Big Rat" machine are at their finest.
Tired of all the mindless CGI-saturated shows of today? Go back in time and enjoy the 1968 sensation of Joe 90. Once you get past the groovy sixties vibe that it has, it becomes an awesome experience.

Joe 90 is tremendously underrated, and it builds on the advances in production design and puppetry from the earlier series of the Anderson production team. I am constantly baffled by "professional" reviewers who ask about the "ethics" of this show: have they spent some time with young children? ALL of the young people I've communicated with "get it," and the humor of this show is very clear in EVERY episode I've seen, where the presence of young Joe as a super agent is one of the punch lines to the villians. As with other 60's Gerry and Sylvia Anderson productions, the material can be quite violent, but as I remember it quite well, this is one of the most exciting aspects of their shows to age-appropriate children, and made valid by the excellent character development, meticulous design, and consistently original and expressive visual storytelling.

Although not as bleak as "Captain Scarlet" that proceeded it, "Joe 90" was yet another triumph for Anderson & Company with an outrageous but entertaining plot--a young boy can be transformed in mind and spirit into a super, secret agent via "Big Rat" a laboratory device of his brilliant scientist-father against evil rogue agents who threaten the UK and the free world.

Taking what worked from "Captain Scarlet"--the more anatomically correct and proportioned puppets on incredibly detailed minature sets--and refining it even more, Anderson again delivered an enjoyable half-hour program intended for children, but seems to delight all of us Gen X'ers who were probably too young to truly appreciate Anderson's genius and who are not afraid to indulge in a little childhood nostalgia.

Where as the content of "Captain Scarlet" was never lighthearted and terribly violent for children's Saturday morning fare(the Mysterons inhabiting the dead bodies of Spectrum agents and unknowing ordinary citizens), each half hour of "Joe 90" usually ended on a happy note with the bespectacled Joe thwarting yet another hostile takeover of Anderson's supermarionation universe.

The puppets in this series demonstrate a further margin of refinement from "Captain Scarlet" but not by much--that artistry would reach its ultimate apogee with Anderson's "Secret Service," technically a superior series and light years from the earlier and more crude puppets seen in "Supercar" and "Stingray," but alas, the series never really found its audience and was cancelled after 13 episodes.

In this set, the transfers are remarkably good, but there are little or none in the way of outstanding extras to speak of that most collectors demand with their multi-volume dvd editions.

As a kid I watched a number of Gerry Anderson's series; SUPERCAR, FIREBALL XL-5, THUNDERBIRDS, CAPTAIN SCARLET, STINGRAY. All had varying degrees of technical expertise. Watched progressively, in order of production, one can see how Anderson & Company improved the technology they used.
JOE 90 is a series about a ten year old boy who is allowed to become a super spy by means of "The Big Rat," a machine that transfers the "brain patterns" of older, expert people, into Joe's mind. Certainly, no enemy faction would EVER suspect a ten year old kid of being a threat to their evil plans!!!!!!
The plot is silly; the idea of using a kid in this way is handled by the device of having Joe's scientist father act reticent about the spy agency's use of his child, but nevertheless, Joe gets to go to work .... every kids' deepest fantasy in the world of 1960s James Bond and The Man From UNCLE.
The puppetry, however, is superb. Anderson's technicians really shine as subtle human motions and postures are recreated here far better than in any previous series. This must be the epitome of the Anderson's work if technical expertise alone is the judge.
Many earlier series were better by other standards. Thunderbirds will probably remain the quintessential Gerry Anderson series, despite the fact its puppetry is not quite equal to JOE 90's.
But as a kid, I never saw JOE 90. Now, on DVD, I am seeing it for the first time.
It's fun, and I can still see why it would have appealed to kids everywhere.
The perfect childhood fantasy. Silly, but, hey, it's a TV SHOW!!!!!

I first saw Joe 90 when A&E showed them many years ago. I really enjoy the complete series and love watching the story and watching how they put everything together so that you really forget the "strings"

I never saw this series back in the day, but was able to see Thunderbirds and Stingray regularly as a child. I figured I would give this a watch since the price was great. It is a bit more drama based than the other 2 series dealing with world espionage and their may be groups of people...(parents) that may take issue with a father using his son as a spy and implanting information into his brain but lets remember that it is fantasy and came out of a much different era. It's fun and cool to remember some of the things that were done before CGI became such a big deal.

This old entertainment is the original and better than the Spy Kid movies. Joe is like the kid version of The Matrix long before the Matrix existed.

In the UK, Joe 90 was the following to Captain Scarlet on DVD. In the US, Joe 90 was the following to Fireball XL5 on DVD. It is the show that nobody can remember as being that all interesting and that is because this is a very different show to what Stingray, Thunderbirds or even Scarlet was. But because of that, it remains true to being a great show that was made by one of the best.

I can remember back in 1993 when Joe 90 came onto UK's screens that I really could not stand it. It made me think that Gerry Anderson had finally given up and just gave out any old thing. When this was released on DVD in the UK, I decided to give it a whirl and I really was not dissapointed. As a child, it really bored me. As a teenager-turned-adult, it really made me think about the morals of our society and the fact that there really are evil people in the world. Joe 90 says more then this and there are many laughs and edge-of-your-seat adventure along the way.

The DVD itself is absolutely spectacular. The episodes seems such fine print that the viewer does not mind the fact that the sound is mono. Everything has been done perfectly well and makes it stand among the rest in being a Gerry Anderson classic. As soon as you put this in your player, you will not be dissapointed. Everything you could want from a Gerry Anderson show is here: adventure, laughs, one-liners, great effects and brilliant story-telling. You are going to be amazed by what you see.