Iain Petrie | "Paul Starr - Space Agent!" 1960's Sci-fi pilot show rarity by Roberta Leigh. AI Enhanced. @IKP1000 | Uploaded November 2022 | Updated October 2024, 9 hours ago.
Created and written by Roberta Leigh following the success of Space Patrol, Paul Starr had a much bigger budget and was in full colour.
Topaz Video AI has done a great job on enhancing it, making it a lot sharper and clearer, so much so that you can see strings which are not visible in the original!
The pilot show is all that we have, as sadly the show did not get commissioned. Here Toonhound explains why: (toonhound.com/starr.htm)
"With its roaring rockets, aquatic-looking aliens, whirring robots, interplanetry
action and explosions, all the ingredients for TV success were present and
correct. But alas, "Paul Starr" never received a series commission. You see,
there was a sizable supermarionated elephant lurking around the production,
in the form of Gerry Anderson and AP Films. Their team had already
conquered the TV schedules with Fireball XL5 and Stingray, and those
Thunderbirds were blasting off for action at the same time as Roberta
Leigh's new pilot.
It's easy to speculate that, if those Anderson series weren't omni-present
"Paul Starr" would have been picked up, and soared. Oh, but then it
probably wouldn't have been made in the first place, because, there's no
escaping the fact that this was hugely derivative of those shows. There's
"Stingray" all over that underwater base, and "Thunderbirds" in the protracted
launch sequence. The robots have stolen Robert the Robot's electronic vocals
too, and we've got a slick singing star (Jerry Dane) crooning over the end
credits. Heck, there's even a rumbling bongo beat introducing the thing!"
Created and written by Roberta Leigh following the success of Space Patrol, Paul Starr had a much bigger budget and was in full colour.
Topaz Video AI has done a great job on enhancing it, making it a lot sharper and clearer, so much so that you can see strings which are not visible in the original!
The pilot show is all that we have, as sadly the show did not get commissioned. Here Toonhound explains why: (toonhound.com/starr.htm)
"With its roaring rockets, aquatic-looking aliens, whirring robots, interplanetry
action and explosions, all the ingredients for TV success were present and
correct. But alas, "Paul Starr" never received a series commission. You see,
there was a sizable supermarionated elephant lurking around the production,
in the form of Gerry Anderson and AP Films. Their team had already
conquered the TV schedules with Fireball XL5 and Stingray, and those
Thunderbirds were blasting off for action at the same time as Roberta
Leigh's new pilot.
It's easy to speculate that, if those Anderson series weren't omni-present
"Paul Starr" would have been picked up, and soared. Oh, but then it
probably wouldn't have been made in the first place, because, there's no
escaping the fact that this was hugely derivative of those shows. There's
"Stingray" all over that underwater base, and "Thunderbirds" in the protracted
launch sequence. The robots have stolen Robert the Robot's electronic vocals
too, and we've got a slick singing star (Jerry Dane) crooning over the end
credits. Heck, there's even a rumbling bongo beat introducing the thing!"
