isolation. One character (a villain) bore a remarkable resemblance to the then South African President PW Botha. Production The same team that produced Interster had started in the late 1970s with Liewe Heksie, with the same sophisticated puppetry making its first appearance in the adventures of a well-meaning but absent-minded little witch. The internal-wiring puppeteers made their final work a set of musical crickets that played music for a children's program featuring two more puppets, Sarel Seemonster, a friendly sea monster which could blow steam from his nostrils, and Karel Kraai, a crow which was fully functional to the point of being able to remove his hat, for the children's TV program Wielie Walie, named for the first line of a traditional Afrikaans children's verse version of 'Ring a Ring a Rosie'. Interster was the brain-child of filmmaker Lindsay du Plessis. Du Plessis also worked on the puppet series Tales of Africa before that. Interster was produced almost 10 years after the last Gerry Anderson television show to use supermarionation techniques (The Secret Service, 1969) and almost 15 years after Thunderbirds, and as a result was technically superior: Puppets were internally wired, and movable in a large range of motion. Computer programmed and controlled servos (using Apple II personal computer) provided better motion. Models had a level of intricacy rivaling those from the Star Wars films. Pyrotechnics were also more impressive, requiring a special permit from the production crew. Many of them models 'Fly' using a sophisticated process involving ultra-thin lines and servo motor control, permitting a very convincing anti-gravity/flight special effect. With the film and TV camera process in use at the time of production, the thin lines are of course optically invisible on all shots of spacecraft. The cockpits of the Impalas are noteworthy for including a fairly sophisticated wiring loom, including flashing lights and a complete fully functional TV screen which is able to display computer text. In addition, the pilots sit in a semi-reclining position, echoing the seating of the F-16 jet fighter. The future Cape Town is a detailed model, and can be seen in considerable detail during the opening credits of the program in a downward looking flyby. The longer story arc and individual plots were also unusually sophisticated for a children's show. See also Supermarionation, the animation technique using puppets Thunderbirds (TV series), similar series X-Bomber, similar non-Anderson puppet series made around the