"Gentlemen, I give you W.I.N.'s most special agent - Joe 90."

Nine-year old Joe McClaine may look like an ordinary schoolboy, but when he dons his special glasses and enters the B.I.G. R.A.T. – Brain Impulse Galvanoscope Record And Transfer - he can take on the brain-patterns of virtually anyone, becoming a top test pilot, an astronaut, a racing car driver, an aquanaut or even a brain surgeon. When the B.I.G. R.A.T.’s inventor, Professor Ian 'Mac' McClaine, shows the device to his friend, Sam Loover, it is not long before the scientist and his adopted son are approached by Sam’s boss, Shane Weston, the director of the World Intelligence Network. Shane explains to the professor how his nine year-old adopted son, Joe, can become W.I.N.’s most special agent - and so begins the start of Agent 90’s daring adventures…

Created by the prolific husband and wife team of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, ‘Joe 90’ featured the more ‘realistic’ puppets as seen in its predecessor, ‘Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons’. However, instead of the usual square-jaw heroes such as Captain Scarlet, Troy Tempest or the International Rescue team, the star of this show was more close to home, as the producers wanted a character that their viewers would more readily identify with. Unfortunately, the idea that children would want to identify with what is essentially a know-it-all swot in glasses fell a bit flat, and the show was not as popular as the Andersons’ previous successes. That being said, each episode was packed with action and adventure, hi-tech gadgetry and vehicles, and the seriously psychedelic imagery and mega groove-tastic theme tune that accompanied Joe each time he went into the B.I.G. R.A.T. machinery is arguably one of the most memorable sequences in television history.

Personally, I always thought it rather disturbing that three grown men would be so eager and irresponsible to send a nine-year old boy into the midst of such dangerous and life-threatening missions – but then, Joe was adopted, so Mac could always just get another one…


Joe 90 - Season 1

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Legal Bit: 'Joe 90' is a registered trademark of Carlton International Media Ltd. The 'Joe 90' logos and all images from the television series are copyright Carlton International Media Ltd. unless otherwise stated; music is copyright the original composers and producers; no copyright infringement is intended. All specially created images and text are copyright © Clive Banks; please do not use these without my permission. All rights reserved. No profit is made from this website, and any revenue made from using the banner-links featured goes straight back into the costs of maintaining it, which comes out of my own pocket in the first place. No profit advertising is accepted. This website was created purely to entertain and amuse, and any references to persons living, dead, comatose, in suspended animation, regenerated, not born yet, using someone else’s brain patterns, or a figment of someone's imagination is purely coincidental. All opinions expressed are my own, so there...


Why not visit 'BIG RAT - the Joe 90 Website' for more things puppety, run by my mate Andrew Frampton.

You can buy DVDs, books and much more on 'Joe 90' and other classic shows at:

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