"Joe 90" was intended to be a different kind of Supermarionation series, with the emphasis less on action, gadgetry and special effects and more on characterisation and plots that were more spy thriller than science fiction. According to Gerry Anderson, "The show majored on its characters, which I thought were all very good. The puppets had become so lifelike, I now strongly believed that they could carry the action without the usual massive assistance from futuristic hardware." When it came to devising the series, Anderson was inspired by his early work as an assistant editor on films such as "The Wicked Lady" (1945), for which he handled recording tape on a daily basis. While reflecting on the uses of the tape, Anderson made an association with the workings of the human brain: "I read somewhere that the human brain is controlled by electrical impulses and how thoughts are stored electronically. I started toying with the story potential of a process that would allow the recording of brain patterns and transferring them to another brain. I was really likening it to magnetic recording, where material could be stored or transferred to another tape." As to naming the main character, Anderson remembered that Steve Zodiac, the protagonist of "Fireball XL5", was originally to have had the surname "Ninety".