Joe 90 (series)

Joe 90 was a science fiction series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Originally running as a televised puppet series, Joe 90 was also spun off into comics published in Joe 90 Top Secret, as well as TV21 and Joe 90. upon the merger of the former comic and TV Century 21.

The original run of the series on television spanned September 1968 to April 1969. In the chronology of Anderson-produced series filmed in, Joe 90 was preceded by Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and succeeded by The Secret Service.

Crossovers with the DWU
As the conceit of TV Century 21 was that all its series took place in a single universe, several stories freely crossed over elements from the Joe 90 and Doctor Who universes with one another, although no Joe 90 comics featured DWU elements.

The earliest crossover between the two universes took place in the Dateline 2089 short story Get the Gunman!, printed in Action 21 #4, which mentioned the World Intelligence Network from the series. A similar crossover occurred in the 21 short story Contact 21, printed in the same issue. A more substantial crossover occurred in the Dateline 2089/21 short story Letters Special, printed in Action 21 #6, which featured the Joe 90 character of Sam Loover. The World Intelligence Network was again mentioned in the Dateline 2089 short story They Watch the World, printed in Action 21 #8.

After these Action 21 crossovers, some special one-off issues of TV Century 21 were released as part of Network Distributing's Supermarionation boxset. This included the short story Mysteron Alert!, printed in TV Century 21 #243, which featured mention of various Joe 90 elements, including an appearance by Joe 90 himself, the TV21 Stop Press short story XL5 Crew Detained on Astra!, printed in TV Century 21 #244, featuring Shane Weston, the TV21 Stop Press short story Stalemate!, printed in TV Century 21 #247, which featured Sam Loover, and the TV21 Stop Press short story Thunderbirds Film for Sale!, printed in TV Century 21 #249, which featured further reference to the World Intelligence Network.

Behind-the-scenes connections
The backdrops for the harbour shots in The Man from MI.5 were later used in the Joe 90 episode The Race.