"Tom Thumb Tempest" is the 22nd episode of Stingray, a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and produced by their company AP Films (APF) for ITC Entertainment.
[2] The series follows the missions of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (WASP), an organisation responsible for policing the Earth's oceans in the 2060s.
Headquartered at the self-contained city of Marineville on the West Coast of North America, the WASP operates a fleet of vessels led by Stingray: a combat submarine crewed by Captain Troy Tempest, Lieutenant "Phones" and Marina, a mute young woman from under the sea.
[5] The Stingray crew are relaxing in the Marineville standby lounge when Commander Shore tells them to prepare to launch, warning them of a dangerous mission.
)[6] It was not the first episode of an APF series to deal with miniaturised characters: the idea had previously been explored in Supercar's "Calling Charlie Queen" and Fireball XL5's "The Triads".
[8] Stephen La Rivière cites "Tom Thumb Tempest" as another example of the "Land of Giants-type" episode that APF had attempted in its previous two series.
[9] Gerry Anderson biographers Simon Archer and Marcus Hearn consider "Tom Thumb Tempest" to be one of Stingray's most entertaining episodes.
[4] Jim Sangster and Paul Condon, authors of Collins Telly Guide, describe the episode as "decidedly less aimed at realism" than those of later Supermarionation series.
[10] La Rivière suggests that the "tantalising glimpse of reality" in this episode conflicted with APF's ongoing efforts to make its puppet characters seem more human.
[11] Ian Fryer regards the episode as a precursor of the final Supermarionation series, The Secret Service, which featured both puppets and live actors.