I always liked Marina, although it would have been better if rather than being mute, she was simply unused to talking in air rather than water. Thus she could have developed the ability to talk over the series, with a few words at first and slowly more and more.
*I always thought that despite her Muteness. Marina was a successful addition to the Stingray team, and that inability to speak served to heighten the drama, as she communicated with the team. Of course, Triton could have been forced to give her back her voice... **_But would her voice be like Fran Drescher's laugh? Or a melodious timbre?_* 💯x👍✌️🤘👏
Don't "overthink" it boys... Marina was a huge part of Stingray... She was a heroic character despite being different, she adapted well, and in many occasions 'saved the day'... Her lack of a voice caused many of us viewers to think about how we ourselves, could manage without communications that we take for granted.. I see Marina as "essential" to many of the stories.
I found Marina strangely enchanting whenever she was near. I wondered why she couldn't whisper the words my heart had longed to hear? She was magic to me, a beautiful mystery.
I was 7 years old when I started to watch this show. I found Marina silence heart wrenching!!!! The Marina song at the end pulls hard on my heart strings and when I see Atlanta looking at Troy's picture it is heart breaking because you know she is heart broken because she knows Troy's heart belongs to Marina!!!! At age 7 it was difficult for me to process so many feelings!!!
One possibility had the series progressed further would have been for Tempest to finally defeat Titan. Marina would've gotten her voice back, but would return to her people to help them rebuild. Tempest would've been made Commander of WASP on Commander Shore's retirement and married Atlanta. Stingray would've been upgraded and been placed under the command of Phones. At the very end, a young WASP officer named Ensign Gordon Tracy would've been introduced as Tempest's control room officer.
@@colinp2238 There was one episode in which Marina "spoke." It was in a dream sequence being experienced by Troy Tempest. Troy is startled, saying "you can talk?" - To which she replies, Yes, you can't see my mouth move, but you can hear my 'voice.' Because it was a dream sequence, it didn't have to make much sense.
Marina, Aqua Marina. Out of the two only girls in Stingray, I always loved Marina. Interestingly, we only ever heard Marina speak in Troy Tempest's dream in "Raptures of the Deep" via her thoughts. Perhaps, telepathy should've being Marina's communication to humans if she was developed throughout the series. However though, it would be nice to have seen "Marina Speaks" adapted from the audiobook vinyl into a televised episode, exactly the same way that "Introducing Thunderbirds", "The Abominable Snowman" and "The Stately Homes Robberies" were adapted for Thunderbirds 1965.
I loved her when the very first episode came out, and haven't stopped ever since. Seems pretty successful to me. There were some other characters in the show too .... mmm Trey, Troy and Bones, Phones .... something like that.
The history of Marina not speaking was in TV21 comic if I remember correctly, I don’t think it was in the Lady Penelope comic (that included the back story of the Angels), but I could be mistaken.
Actually, you aren't mistaken at all. There was a comic strip entitled "Marina ~ Girl of the Sea", which was Marina's back-story, a prequel to the events of Stingray. In that comic strip, Marina and her father spoke until Titan literally silenced them. :O
The onlyvtime i can think of Marina's muteness plays a key role in episode countdown in a negative way with x20 using it as a means of manipulating his way into Marinville. Would have loved story's where they used that to an advantage? Or like the one where there's a guy putting every one in a trance; but it dosnt affect Marina cos she's from the sea
Always thought it was a reference to Hans Christian Anderson's Little Mermaid: Troy Tempest was the Prince she saved. On land she was cursed to be unable to speak....
Actually...the un spoken reason (see what i did there?) for Marina to become a member of Stingray was the quest to get her voice back. Nobody involved with making the show was aware of this quest as it was only developed by Troy Tempest, alone. He did make an entry in his personal log, but not in his captain's log. :)
Surely having one mute marionette in a show with talking ones, couldn't be any worse than having one speaking character in an otherwise "silent" movie, could it... ?!!
It's been a loooong time but I don't remember struggling with the character. The other actors were always able to fill in what she was trying to say for her. In other news, great theme song. It's resemblance to Tom Jobim's "Wave" I'm sure was entirely accidental.
Bratty American kid here: we speculated endlessly about her being mute. I maintain that she speaks well, but only while underwater, and only in the ultrasonic register. Her voice is pitched too high for us to hear. My brothers thought that she must have gills, and they replaced her vocal chords.
Good observation. The Little mermaid also had her voice taken away by a more powerful being, just like Marina. Little Mermaid was an old Hans Christian Andersen fable, I wonder if that was the inspiration for Anderson?
It was quite a different story for John Tracy from THUNDERBIRDS! Gerry Anderson disliked him so much, that he rarely appeared at all, apart from the scenes set on THUNDERBIRD 5! #FABFACTS
To be fair to John, he has very few lines, nothing visually interesting to do and no one to dramatically interact with. And for all the others ever see him of him he might as well be wearing shorts and slippers.
Carl Henderson: I highly agree with you 150% but remember it's (1964) so the blind predjuce hindered Marina because she was a different race. Surely she was more than beautiful she was a superior being that could do what the humans couldn't. 🤫
I believe that's how Gerry Anderson described her! Following that line of thought, I can imagine that the person who would have been most annoyed with Marina was Sylvia Anderson! Especially if Gerry & Sylvia had already got married by this point...
Drat. Please indicate where I may send the fiver. I had assumed this was headed to the problematic misogyny in how some of the male characters react to her muteness (quipping that it makes her the 'perfect woman' and so on). So I thought Silvia, whom I understood to be a more feminist voice in the creative team, would have a problem with that aspect of the character. The backstory to the muteness is addressed in the Stingray comic in a story entitled 'Marina - Girl of the Sea'
Marina's inability to speak was probably a first for TV of that era where disability was never openly on display. So in that, she was ahead of her time! Conveying emotion by eye movements and gestures was groundbreaking in those times.
Marina was completely essential to the Stingray universe, she rescued Troy Tempest in episode 1 and is featured in many episodes! And Gary Miller (NOT Matt Munro) sings of Troy's love for her over the end credits of every single story. Stingray just wouldn't be Stingray without her!! How rude to say her character doesn't work!
You mention 'Marina Speaks', and that gives away the whole story of her muteness. Titan placed a curse upn her people which meant that, should they speak, one of them would die for every word. Marina's understandable, shocked exclamation of 'Father...' to Aphony caused one of her people to promptly drop dead. After that, she and her fellow Atlanteans remained scrupulously silent. It's a tragic and surprisngly dark note for an Anderson series.
I've heard that one as well but it doesn't tie in with the episode in which X-2-zero disguises himself as a speech therapist and they ask him to teach Marina to talk. Marina was all for it and she wouldn't have been if that other story was true.
Just as a personal opinion, having a puppet character not be able to speak is a really bad choice. It's not like she could express herself well through motion and near impossible through facial expression. A difficult, but not insurmountable problem. Most of her 'speaking parts' could have been handled through the other characters. I think it's a bit unfair for Alan Patillo to call her 'unsuccessful' when it was just that he didn't like her or know how to handle a mute character in this format. Obviously the fans liked her, and I'd call that more a measure of success.
I actually really like Marina, to me she sounds like a victim after having her voice taken away by Titan. Also I beleive it makes her stand out more. I find mute characters more interesting than the ones that can talk. The puppeteers must've put more effort to bring her to life. The big question is would she be just as well known or less if she did speak to begin with? Who knows.
She could have learned sign language, easy enough to insert into the video ... (and subtitles) a missed opportunity ! (other moments had real people inserted)
I agree, but then maybe there would have been too much real hand stuff. If stingray were to be redone in the same style as Thunderbirds got, then I think sign language should definitely be considered. It would also tick more boxes in the equality and disability act.
@@Thundernerd2aBird I agree re the remake, but in the original there would indeed have been too much hand stuff, but it would also seem weird to focus on what one character is saying when none of the characters were complex, and we didn't actually care very much about what any of them said, unless it advanced the story!
Marina went on to have a career doing voice-overs for TV. She's probably best known as the longest-serving voice of Sooty (1967-1993), but was also the voice of both Jemima and Hamble through the entire run of Play School.
Her muteness and resemblance to Julie Newmar made her quite memorable to me. She had a distinctness that kept her in my mind for decades long after other Anderson characters had faded.
My older brother used to have the Marble Arch album ‘TV Favourites’ with ‘Marina Speaks’, ‘Trapped in the Sky’ and an episode of Captain Scarlet that I can’t quite remember. It was scratched to death but I can remember the storyline that led Marina to being mute. It was a curse put on her by Titan, that would lead to the death of a Pacifican for every word she spoke.
I've heard that one as well but it doesn't tie in with the episode in which X-2-zero disguises himself as a speech therapist and they ask him to teach Marina to talk. Marina was all for it and she wouldn't have been if that other story was true.
I feel Marina's character weakness came not from her inability to speak, which opened great doors for her character arc, but in the team's inability to use her for anything besides waiting around. They never utilized her ability to breathe underwater, to deal with deep pressure, or to better understand the different ocean civilizations. There were so many times she would have been perfect for different tasks but Troy had to do them himself and ended up almost losing his life for it, when Marina wouldn't have batted an eye. If they had just used her mermaid skills and taught her Morse Code (instead of that ridiculous "Tap once for yes" system from several episodes) she would have been an amazingly useful character.
I know with puppets it would be difficult but sign language. They used close up footage of real hands quite regularly so why not use the same trick for signing. I must admit that I would quite like to see a reboot on the same lines as ‘Thunderbirds Are Go’ where you could include sign language.
Marina saved the day a few times early in the series: In episode one she swam between the Mechanical Fish and Stingray to tie up the tether so that Stingray could be towed back to Marineville. A few episodes later when Stingray went too deep causing Troy and Phones to pass out she was able to bring Stingray back to the surface because she could withstand the extreme pressures. She also recognised the poison that Troy was infected with in The Master Plan by Titan, didn't do Troy much good though.
If Stingray were a more realistic show with decompression and all the complexities of actually working underwater, a mermaid able to pop in and out of Stingray would have been extraordinarily useful, and probably well worth taking her into WASP without the background and training other members would have. But really, the problem was she was mute and it can be difficult to work around that in a script. Remember how Avatar:TLA would have jokes almost every episode to remind the viewer that Toph was blind? And yeah, "Why not teach her sign language?" is a bit too obvious to really work.
There is an audio story that’s an extra on the DVD box set that has a letter written by Marina read out. In the letter Marina tells that her and her father were cursed by Titan, when they refused to join his ‘coalition’ (basically let me rule you or there’ll be problems), so that for every word the two speak a subject of their kingdom would die. As the king’s chief advisor passed away when the king next spoke they can’t be sure that its an actual curse or just a fear tactic, and neither the king or Marina are willing test the theory as they don’t want to risk harming their people. So Marina doesn’t speak because she can’t, she doesn’t speak to protect her people, which is just METAL if you ask me. Also Marina is still one of my favourite Anderson characters, it may be projection on my part but she does comes across as wonderfully sassy.
I always wondered why she didn’t write things down. Even Skippy had better communication skills. I’m prepared to forgive her, after all she inspired one of the best songs ever.
Given the period in which this was produced, when 'mute' (the current appropriate term is 'non-speaking') equated to intellectual disability, and intellectual disability to (however people might protest otherwise) sub-human status within society, it is *somewhat* understandable that people would struggle to imagine how to work with any character who does not speak. There's no real role models to work from, and ideas like communicating via writing or sign (never mind newer approaches like AAC tools such as symbol or text apps on a tablet, or text to voice apps) just don't seem to have leaped out as solutions. Given that Marina was not what people generally mean by non-speaking, i.e. lacking the motor skills or simply (whatever the reason) unable ever, or under certain circumstances, to translate thoughts, wishes, ideas, memories etc into spoken language... perhaps the idea of using such alternative communication methods just didn't register with Patillo. There was so much opportunity to weave efforts to utilise technology - such a major component in all the Anderson stories - as a means to alternative communication, and play with the danger they present - would written or signed communication invoke the curse? would a text-to-voice gizmo invoke it? a headpiece that read thoughts and transmitted them to someone else wearing a receiver? There was a great opportunity to create a role model (and I for one as a kid read her as one) that was largely missed. She was, even so, important more than once to conclusion of an episode and as comments here show, a character people cared about. I would suggest she was a character ahead of her time... two or three or four decades early for an opportunity to 'represent' for the non-speaking communities... Given that, that she existed at all, had capabilities others did not, and played an active role in plotlines, in the 1960s... that was actually pretty cool. That Patillo struggled to work out how to utilise her better only highlights how innvoative her character was. Taking all that into account, I think Patillo deserves a *little* forgiveness for his dislike of her, for all that I SO MUCH wish he had had more ingenuity.
I like the idea of her learning to use Morse code, since it fits in with the nautical/military theme. I think part of the reason the character was "problematic" was that her muteness was introduced for OOC reasons (Sylvia Anderson wanting to take a break from voice acting) rather than being an integral part of the concept from the beginning. Sometimes, though, it was used to really good effect. I recently watched the second episode, "Marineville Emergency", and there is a scene in which Marina is being electrocuted by the villain and she doesn't scream, because she can't... She just has sweat trickling down her forehead, and Troy is also sweating with empathy for her. It was a surprisingly powerful and sophisticated way of expressing emotions with puppets.
@@spaceanarchist1107 yes a good example - 'show don't tell' used for dramatic effect. more than 'she can't' here, it is that she can, and refuses to because of the consequences for others, which adds to the emotion of the scene. often though it seems they were more interested in how to get around her lack of speech rather than exploring it as an aspect of her experiences shaping her character and revealing her characteristics. this video has me thinking more about how a show like this might have been approached today, with a nonspeaking person writing or consulting on Marina's character.
It just kinda bothered me that how quickly Troy stopped thinking about his literal GIRLFRIND to try and Prosue Marine so that kinda put me off the character of Marine (but it had nothing to do with her muteness)
Always remember rubber faced Phil Cools version of her song: "Marina, Aqua Marina, What is that strange enchanting fishy smell, Whenever you're near?" His Aquaphibian impression was the stuff of nightmares, too :)
I reckon that Marina COULD speak - but her voice was that of Arthur Mullard (do a quick TH-cam search for him if you've never heard of him before), so they quickly decided to make her mute... ;-) In fact, if you search TH-cam for "Yus, My Dear - Bath Scene" you get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Marina's pre-show routine.
Yeah, James Garner/Lois Maxwell/Ursula Andress for those three, but who was Phones' face (not voice) based on? He looks slightly familiar, but I can't quite pinpoint him..
Does anyone know where to find the episode where she gets kidnapped by a Sheikh - and the guy has her captive on his boat? I remember that he was eating a chicken drumstick (with real hands) but the nice touch was the grease they rubbed on his puppet face. They must have had fun making that episode.
I read that it was silvia anderson that want marina not to speak because she wanted to rest her voice. I loved marina i think she lives troy but he didn't love her.In the end he didn't get to answer if he and alanta wete were an item before he could anwer they had to go on a mission and he said there was no time for tomance with Atlanta.What to people think he was going to say to Alanta.
Stingray's Aqua Marina! Were you a fan of Marina, or were you team Atlanta?
Personaly i'm a fan of Stingray herself, i mean she's the true star of her own show!
I always liked Marina, although it would have been better if rather than being mute, she was simply unused to talking in air rather than water. Thus she could have developed the ability to talk over the series, with a few words at first and slowly more and more.
Just a huge Gerry anderson fan loved stingray as well 😊
As a kid I found it annoying that she couldn't speak.
*I always thought that despite her Muteness. Marina was a successful addition to the Stingray team, and that inability to speak served to heighten the drama, as she communicated with the team. Of course, Triton could have been forced to give her back her voice... **_But would her voice be like Fran Drescher's laugh? Or a melodious timbre?_* 💯x👍✌️🤘👏
Don't "overthink" it boys... Marina was a huge part of Stingray... She was a heroic character despite being different, she adapted well, and in many occasions 'saved the day'...
Her lack of a voice caused many of us viewers to think about how we ourselves, could manage without communications that we take for granted.. I see Marina as "essential" to many of the stories.
When I was a kid I think Aqua Marina was my first crush . Always liked to see her appear in the show.
I found Marina strangely enchanting whenever she was near.
I wondered why she couldn't whisper the words my heart had longed to hear?
She was magic to me, a beautiful mystery.
You were certain to fall, I know, because she enthralled you so.
Why don’t you say that you’ll always stay close to my heart?
I was 7 years old when I started to watch this show. I found Marina silence heart wrenching!!!! The Marina song at the end pulls hard on my heart strings and when I see Atlanta looking at Troy's picture it is heart breaking because you know she is heart broken because she knows Troy's heart belongs to Marina!!!! At age 7 it was difficult for me to process so many feelings!!!
One possibility had the series progressed further would have been for Tempest to finally defeat Titan. Marina would've gotten her voice back, but would return to her people to help them rebuild. Tempest would've been made Commander of WASP on Commander Shore's retirement and married Atlanta. Stingray would've been upgraded and been placed under the command of Phones. At the very end, a young WASP officer named Ensign Gordon Tracy would've been introduced as Tempest's control room officer.
The actress who voiced Marina was a big star of silent radio, back in the 1910's.
Didn't they do that show, Radio for the deaf?
@@colinp2238 There was one episode in which Marina "spoke." It was in a dream sequence being experienced by Troy Tempest. Troy is startled, saying "you can talk?" - To which she replies, Yes, you can't see my mouth move, but you can hear my 'voice.' Because it was a dream sequence, it didn't have to make much sense.
@@cjmarshall0221 Don't spoil the illusion.
@@colinp2238 LOL, okay, my apologies. I initially missed the jokes.
I can't believe I've never heard this joke before. Now that I've read it, it seems like it should be a very old joke.
Marina, Aqua Marina. Out of the two only girls in Stingray, I always loved Marina. Interestingly, we only ever heard Marina speak in Troy Tempest's dream in "Raptures of the Deep" via her thoughts. Perhaps, telepathy should've being Marina's communication to humans if she was developed throughout the series.
However though, it would be nice to have seen "Marina Speaks" adapted from the audiobook vinyl into a televised episode, exactly the same way that "Introducing Thunderbirds", "The Abominable Snowman" and "The Stately Homes Robberies" were adapted for Thunderbirds 1965.
Marina was in every episode because they played her song at the end of every show....we were all enthralled!
I loved her when the very first episode came out, and haven't stopped ever since. Seems pretty successful to me. There were some other characters in the show too .... mmm Trey, Troy and Bones, Phones .... something like that.
She was one of my favorite characters.
I loved her and I love the song.
Marina being mute was the WHOLE idea of the show, wasn't it? I was a kiddie when it premiered? Loved her.
The history of Marina not speaking was in TV21 comic if I remember correctly, I don’t think it was in the Lady Penelope comic (that included the back story of the Angels), but I could be mistaken.
Interesting 😊
Actually, you aren't mistaken at all. There was a comic strip entitled "Marina ~ Girl of the Sea", which was Marina's back-story, a prequel to the events of Stingray. In that comic strip, Marina and her father spoke until Titan literally silenced them. :O
I still have my copy of the Century 21 vinyl record 'Marina Speaks' which explains why she is silent.
She was the unrequited love character and one many of us remember most.
The onlyvtime i can think of Marina's muteness plays a key role in episode countdown in a negative way with x20 using it as a means of manipulating his way into Marinville. Would have loved story's where they used that to an advantage? Or like the one where there's a guy putting every one in a trance; but it dosnt affect Marina cos she's from the sea
"MARIIIIIIIIINNAAAAAAA AQUA MARIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNAAAAAAA you give me wowsers in my trousers Aqua Marinnaaaaaaa"
Always thought it was a reference to Hans Christian Anderson's Little Mermaid: Troy Tempest was the Prince she saved. On land she was cursed to be unable to speak....
Actually...the un spoken reason (see what i did there?) for Marina to become a member of Stingray was the quest to get her voice back. Nobody involved with making the show was aware of this quest as it was only developed by Troy Tempest, alone. He did make an entry in his personal log, but not in his captain's log. :)
I've got Marina's album where she sang the words to John Cage's 4'33" and Jean Michel Jarre's Popcorn.
She also did the vocals on Jessica with the allman brothers
@@rogerrussell5155 Let's not forget her turn doing the vocals for Daft Punk's tracks for Tron Legacy.
She joined focus for their Sylvia single...
Hi FAB Facts, "Marina" did speak, to "Troy" in a dream in which he was the richest man in the world.
I was entranced by her mute melancholia 🧜♀️
Surely having one mute marionette in a show with talking ones, couldn't be any worse than having one speaking character in an otherwise "silent" movie, could it... ?!!
It's been a loooong time but I don't remember struggling with the character. The other actors were always able to fill in what she was trying to say for her. In other news, great theme song. It's resemblance to Tom Jobim's "Wave" I'm sure was entirely accidental.
I understand that Marina was based on Brigitte Bardot; Troy Tempest on James Garner.
The problem is that she was very difficult to get along with on set. A real diva.
Bratty American kid here: we speculated endlessly about her being mute.
I maintain that she speaks well, but only while underwater, and only in the ultrasonic register.
Her voice is pitched too high for us to hear.
My brothers thought that she must have gills, and they replaced her vocal chords.
The Little Mermaid was mute, too.
Good observation. The Little mermaid also had her voice taken away by a more powerful being, just like Marina. Little Mermaid was an old Hans Christian Andersen fable, I wonder if that was the inspiration for Anderson?
We all loved Marina, like we loved Maya in Space 1999.
Marina was a great character, IMHO the song aqua Marina kinda reminded me of the song venus by Frankie avalon
Wasn’t there an episode or Mini LP story titled “Marina Speaks”?
7" recond played at 33 speed - I still have my copy.
I really like Marina and I love the song aqua marine
It was quite a different story for John Tracy from THUNDERBIRDS! Gerry Anderson disliked him so much, that he rarely appeared at all, apart from the scenes set on THUNDERBIRD 5! #FABFACTS
To be fair to John, he has very few lines, nothing visually interesting to do and no one to dramatically interact with.
And for all the others ever see him of him he might as well be wearing shorts and slippers.
@@johnnhoj6749 Yeah, he was in isolation decades before COVID.
Carl Henderson: I highly agree with you 150% but remember it's (1964) so the blind predjuce hindered Marina because she was a different race. Surely she was more than beautiful she was a superior being that could do what the humans couldn't. 🤫
Must have been fun guessing what came next on the radio.
Neither Marina nor her father can speak. Interestingly, her father's name Aphony, literally means "no sound."
I'm a fan!!!!
She obviously communicated using mental powers we've actually seen her communicate with her father without using words
Perhaps she could only be heard underwater by others of her people.
I thought I'd do a quick impersonation of her.
...
...
...
...
...
What did you think? Maybe the accent could do with tightening up.
good
There is a good version of the song: The Inteli-Gents Aqua Marina
A _FEMALE_ who _NEVER SPEAKS??_
Talk about _THE PERFECT WOMAN!!_
😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
I believe that's how Gerry Anderson described her! Following that line of thought, I can imagine that the person who would have been most annoyed with Marina was Sylvia Anderson! Especially if Gerry & Sylvia had already got married by this point...
Surely they should have had an episode to return her speech and expand the ability to make her Interesting?
0:33 - Angelina Jolie. Dead Ringer. What do you think?
Cute mute.
Nowadays they would probably learn BSL as the series progressed. Not really an option with the original puppet
I'm at 0:24 and I bet you a fiver its Silvia Anderson
Drat. Please indicate where I may send the fiver.
I had assumed this was headed to the problematic misogyny in how some of the male characters react to her muteness (quipping that it makes her the 'perfect woman' and so on). So I thought Silvia, whom I understood to be a more feminist voice in the creative team, would have a problem with that aspect of the character.
The backstory to the muteness is addressed in the Stingray comic in a story entitled 'Marina - Girl of the Sea'
The character of Aqua Marina was really boring to me, the fact that she never spoke bugged me.
the only real issue is she just didn't do anything most of the time.
This is too deep for me.
Not exactly a fan of Marina, but I don't think her muteness was a liability as a character.
I thought that she was intriguing...especially for an 8 year old lol
I'm kind of ambivalent about Marina.
I’m pretty sure the feeling would be mutual 🙂
in a wishy washy way ?
@@jyvben1520 in a fishy washy way?
@@Manc-fh5we did she do the windows on the outside of Stingray or is that too sexist ?
the ideal wwoman,,, shes pretty, and is silent
Never liked Marina. Atlanta was one of my early fantasy figures. Atlanta and Kathy Kirby.
She was a babe and couldn't talk - surely the perfect woman! :p
I could not imagine Stingray without her - In fact she was a missed opportunity to develop a story line about who she "really was or might be"
Marina's inability to speak was probably a first for TV of that era where disability was never openly on display. So in that, she was ahead of her time! Conveying emotion by eye movements and gestures was groundbreaking in those times.
Marina was completely essential to the Stingray universe, she rescued Troy Tempest in episode 1 and is featured in many episodes! And Gary Miller (NOT Matt Munro) sings of Troy's love for her over the end credits of every single story. Stingray just wouldn't be Stingray without her!! How rude to say her character doesn't work!
Gary Miller sang Aqua Marina.
@@chrisparkes2179 Correct! Thankyou for putting me right. I shall edit my comment. Cheers!
You mention 'Marina Speaks', and that gives away the whole story of her muteness. Titan placed a curse upn her people which meant that, should they speak, one of them would die for every word. Marina's understandable, shocked exclamation of 'Father...' to Aphony caused one of her people to promptly drop dead. After that, she and her fellow Atlanteans remained scrupulously silent. It's a tragic and surprisngly dark note for an Anderson series.
I've heard that one as well but it doesn't tie in with the episode in which X-2-zero disguises himself as a speech therapist and they ask him to teach Marina to talk. Marina was all for it and she wouldn't have been if that other story was true.
She was my favorite character. Always thought she should have been taught ASL, which could have been a very interesting addition.
Love Aqua Marina. The song at the end is hauntingly beautiful! ❤
Just as a personal opinion, having a puppet character not be able to speak is a really bad choice. It's not like she could express herself well through motion and near impossible through facial expression. A difficult, but not insurmountable problem. Most of her 'speaking parts' could have been handled through the other characters. I think it's a bit unfair for Alan Patillo to call her 'unsuccessful' when it was just that he didn't like her or know how to handle a mute character in this format. Obviously the fans liked her, and I'd call that more a measure of success.
I actually really like Marina, to me she sounds like a victim after having her voice taken away by Titan. Also I beleive it makes her stand out more. I find mute characters more interesting than the ones that can talk. The puppeteers must've put more effort to bring her to life. The big question is would she be just as well known or less if she did speak to begin with? Who knows.
She could have learned sign language, easy enough to insert into the video ... (and subtitles)
a missed opportunity ! (other moments had real people inserted)
I agree, but then maybe there would have been too much real hand stuff. If stingray were to be redone in the same style as Thunderbirds got, then I think sign language should definitely be considered. It would also tick more boxes in the equality and disability act.
@@Thundernerd2aBird I agree re the remake, but in the original there would indeed have been too much hand stuff, but it would also seem weird to focus on what one character is saying when none of the characters were complex, and we didn't actually care very much about what any of them said, unless it advanced the story!
Marina went on to have a career doing voice-overs for TV. She's probably best known as the longest-serving voice of Sooty (1967-1993), but was also the voice of both Jemima and Hamble through the entire run of Play School.
Don't forget she appeared in person as Captain Mainwaring's wife in Dad's Army.
Her muteness and resemblance to Julie Newmar made her quite memorable to me. She had a distinctness that kept her in my mind for decades long after other Anderson characters had faded.
I thought Marina was "based" on Bridgette Bardot?. The same way that Troy was based on James Garner.
My older brother used to have the Marble Arch album ‘TV Favourites’ with ‘Marina Speaks’, ‘Trapped in the Sky’ and an episode of Captain Scarlet that I can’t quite remember. It was scratched to death but I can remember the storyline that led Marina to being mute. It was a curse put on her by Titan, that would lead to the death of a Pacifican for every word she spoke.
I've heard that one as well but it doesn't tie in with the episode in which X-2-zero disguises himself as a speech therapist and they ask him to teach Marina to talk. Marina was all for it and she wouldn't have been if that other story was true.
I vaguely remember that her race were supposed to speak to each other telepathically.
I feel Marina's character weakness came not from her inability to speak, which opened great doors for her character arc, but in the team's inability to use her for anything besides waiting around. They never utilized her ability to breathe underwater, to deal with deep pressure, or to better understand the different ocean civilizations. There were so many times she would have been perfect for different tasks but Troy had to do them himself and ended up almost losing his life for it, when Marina wouldn't have batted an eye. If they had just used her mermaid skills and taught her Morse Code (instead of that ridiculous "Tap once for yes" system from several episodes) she would have been an amazingly useful character.
I know with puppets it would be difficult but sign language. They used close up footage of real hands quite regularly so why not use the same trick for signing. I must admit that I would quite like to see a reboot on the same lines as ‘Thunderbirds Are Go’ where you could include sign language.
Marina saved the day a few times early in the series:
In episode one she swam between the Mechanical Fish and Stingray to tie up the tether so that Stingray could be towed back to Marineville.
A few episodes later when Stingray went too deep causing Troy and Phones to pass out she was able to bring Stingray back to the surface because she could withstand the extreme pressures.
She also recognised the poison that Troy was infected with in The Master Plan by Titan, didn't do Troy much good though.
It was the curse of Titan. None of her race knew the luxury of words as they were taken away by him.
Which was a massive part of the story, so no not a "disability" They could talk and were supposed to be telepathic as a means to communicate
The assumption these days is that the character was a plot to encourage girls of my ģeneration to stay quiet.
Guess what? It didn't work.
I liked Marina. What always puzzled me was not her muteness, but her apparently waterproof hair and clothing.
When I was little I wanted to be Marina because she was mute. I was a chatterbox and often got into trouble for saying the wrong things 😂
If Stingray were a more realistic show with decompression and all the complexities of actually working underwater, a mermaid able to pop in and out of Stingray would have been extraordinarily useful, and probably well worth taking her into WASP without the background and training other members would have.
But really, the problem was she was mute and it can be difficult to work around that in a script. Remember how Avatar:TLA would have jokes almost every episode to remind the viewer that Toph was blind?
And yeah, "Why not teach her sign language?" is a bit too obvious to really work.
They modelled her on Brigitte Bardot; she didn't wear any shoes either.
There is an audio story that’s an extra on the DVD box set that has a letter written by Marina read out. In the letter Marina tells that her and her father were cursed by Titan, when they refused to join his ‘coalition’ (basically let me rule you or there’ll be problems), so that for every word the two speak a subject of their kingdom would die. As the king’s chief advisor passed away when the king next spoke they can’t be sure that its an actual curse or just a fear tactic, and neither the king or Marina are willing test the theory as they don’t want to risk harming their people. So Marina doesn’t speak because she can’t, she doesn’t speak to protect her people, which is just METAL if you ask me. Also Marina is still one of my favourite Anderson characters, it may be projection on my part but she does comes across as wonderfully sassy.
Thank heavens for Gerry Anderson, it's criminal that so such effort is made by TV companies for today's children.
If I remember correctly she did speak once.
Love this show 🤗
I always wondered why she didn’t write things down. Even Skippy had better communication skills. I’m prepared to forgive her, after all she inspired one of the best songs ever.
Love the song at the end of each episode.
Given the period in which this was produced, when 'mute' (the current appropriate term is 'non-speaking') equated to intellectual disability, and intellectual disability to (however people might protest otherwise) sub-human status within society, it is *somewhat* understandable that people would struggle to imagine how to work with any character who does not speak. There's no real role models to work from, and ideas like communicating via writing or sign (never mind newer approaches like AAC tools such as symbol or text apps on a tablet, or text to voice apps) just don't seem to have leaped out as solutions.
Given that Marina was not what people generally mean by non-speaking, i.e. lacking the motor skills or simply (whatever the reason) unable ever, or under certain circumstances, to translate thoughts, wishes, ideas, memories etc into spoken language... perhaps the idea of using such alternative communication methods just didn't register with Patillo.
There was so much opportunity to weave efforts to utilise technology - such a major component in all the Anderson stories - as a means to alternative communication, and play with the danger they present - would written or signed communication invoke the curse? would a text-to-voice gizmo invoke it? a headpiece that read thoughts and transmitted them to someone else wearing a receiver?
There was a great opportunity to create a role model (and I for one as a kid read her as one) that was largely missed. She was, even so, important more than once to conclusion of an episode and as comments here show, a character people cared about. I would suggest she was a character ahead of her time... two or three or four decades early for an opportunity to 'represent' for the non-speaking communities... Given that, that she existed at all, had capabilities others did not, and played an active role in plotlines, in the 1960s... that was actually pretty cool. That Patillo struggled to work out how to utilise her better only highlights how innvoative her character was.
Taking all that into account, I think Patillo deserves a *little* forgiveness for his dislike of her, for all that I SO MUCH wish he had had more ingenuity.
I like the idea of her learning to use Morse code, since it fits in with the nautical/military theme. I think part of the reason the character was "problematic" was that her muteness was introduced for OOC reasons (Sylvia Anderson wanting to take a break from voice acting) rather than being an integral part of the concept from the beginning. Sometimes, though, it was used to really good effect. I recently watched the second episode, "Marineville Emergency", and there is a scene in which Marina is being electrocuted by the villain and she doesn't scream, because she can't... She just has sweat trickling down her forehead, and Troy is also sweating with empathy for her. It was a surprisingly powerful and sophisticated way of expressing emotions with puppets.
@@spaceanarchist1107 yes a good example - 'show don't tell' used for dramatic effect. more than 'she can't' here, it is that she can, and refuses to because of the consequences for others, which adds to the emotion of the scene.
often though it seems they were more interested in how to get around her lack of speech rather than exploring it as an aspect of her experiences shaping her character and revealing her characteristics. this video has me thinking more about how a show like this might have been approached today, with a nonspeaking person writing or consulting on Marina's character.
It just kinda bothered me that how quickly Troy stopped thinking about his literal GIRLFRIND to try and Prosue Marine so that kinda put me off the character of Marine (but it had nothing to do with her muteness)
Always remember rubber faced Phil Cools version of her song: "Marina, Aqua Marina, What is that strange enchanting fishy smell, Whenever you're near?" His Aquaphibian impression was the stuff of nightmares, too :)
I reckon that Marina COULD speak - but her voice was that of Arthur Mullard (do a quick TH-cam search for him if you've never heard of him before), so they quickly decided to make her mute... ;-)
In fact, if you search TH-cam for "Yus, My Dear - Bath Scene" you get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Marina's pre-show routine.
Yeah, James Garner/Lois Maxwell/Ursula Andress for those three, but who was Phones' face (not voice) based on? He looks slightly familiar, but I can't quite pinpoint him..
Ursula Andress could have played the role of Marina!!!! Oh yeah!!!!
I loved Marina. I wish they'd eventually explored why she couldn't talk, and maybe finally gotten past it.
Does anyone know where to find the episode where she gets kidnapped by a Sheikh - and the guy has her captive on his boat? I remember that he was eating a chicken drumstick (with real hands) but the nice touch was the grease they rubbed on his puppet face. They must have had fun making that episode.
I read that it was silvia anderson that want marina not to speak because she wanted to rest her voice. I loved marina i think she lives troy but he didn't love her.In the end he didn't get to answer if he and alanta wete were an item before he could anwer they had to go on a mission and he said there was no time for tomance with Atlanta.What to people think he was going to say to Alanta.
Maybe they were just ahead of their time. These days it is not uncommon to see actors with disabilities appearing in TV dramas
I still have the 7" Marina Speaks story that I found at a boot sale when I was a kid.
"Drama"...? Heh heh....
people pls stop! Who are we to question Genius!
looks abit like Dolly Parton
Titan said in the first episode "none of her race know the luxury of words"
You trust Titan?!
She was very important to me! At the time i even called the show « Marina » instead of « Escadrille soumarine » in french.
I don't think so but then I was 6 years old and did have a bit of a crush on her and the machines and gadgets were of greater interest