Supermarionation "Thunderbirds", who closely resembled Sylvia Anderson, and Captain Blue in "Captain Scarlet", who looked like Ed Bishop (the similarity was reportedly coincidental). Other characters were based on well-known film actors: Troy Tempest of "Stingray" was based on James Garner, Scott Tracy of "Thunderbirds" on Sean Connery and Captain Scarlet on Cary Grant. "Stingray" also featured the only non-speaking Supermarionation puppet: the water-breathing woman Marina. Occasionally, close-ups of a live actor's hand would be inserted to show actions such as turning keys and pressing buttons. This was affectionately parodied in the 2004 live-action feature film "Thunderbirds", with a brief shot of
Stingray (1964 TV series) to the Bottom of the Sea", in which he had played a Southern radio operator called Sparks. The voice of Surface Agent X-2-0 was Easton's impression of actor Peter Lorre, who had appeared in the same film. Sylvia Anderson, who had voiced the regular character Dr Venus on "Fireball XL5" and was credited for "characterisation supervision" for "Stingray", stated in her 2007 autobiography that she devised Marina as mute because she wanted to take a break from voice acting and "concentrate on the scripts and characters". The Aquaphibians were based on a villainous alien from the "Fireball XL5" episode "XL5