"Hi-jacked" is the second episode of Joe 90, a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 for ITC Entertainment.
Set in the future, the series follows the adventures of nine-year-old schoolboy Joe McClaine, who becomes the "Most Special Agent" of the World Intelligence Network (WIN).
Telephoning the McClaine cottage, Sam asks Mac and Joe to join him at the hospital with a portable transmitter, which enables them to record Johnson's brain pattern and relay it to the BIG RAT.
An entry on Johnson's concealed voice recorder reveals that arms trafficker Mario Colletti is in England and plans to hijack a consignment of submachine guns.
Equipped with Johnson's brain pattern, a transceiver and a handgun, Joe infiltrates the Hudson Armaments Factory and stows away inside a gun crate – one of many that is about to be shipped out by lorry.
[1] The opening street scene uses props that first appeared in the title sequence of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, as well as miniature model buildings that were originally built for that series' third episode, "Big Ben Strikes Again".
[6][7] The official soundtrack release includes two distinct pieces from the episode, running to a combined eight-and-a-half minutes: "Mission Tango 120" and "Showdown at Colletti's Hideout".
[8] In 1968, Pye Records released a 45 rpm disc called Title Theme from the ATV Series Joe 90 featuring a new version of the incidental music.
When the regular characters reminisce about past events in "The Birthday", it is stated that the Colletti assignment was Joe's first mission as a WIN agent, indicating that "Hi-jacked" follows on directly from the first episode.
He adds that the episode "sees all aspects of the Joe 90 production working at their absolute peak", praising elements like the opening scene's use of zooming close-ups and footstep sound effects to imply motion while bypassing the puppets' lack of articulation; the design of Colletti's hideout (including the "Charles and Ray Eames"-style chair that Colletti sits in); and Rupert Davies' emotive voice acting during the scene in which Mac and Sam look for Joe in the burning ruins.