Joe 90

Joe 90 is a UK VHS release by Carlton Home Entertainment on 15th April 1998 and re-released by Carlton on 6th September 2000 and 5th February 2001.

## Description

The series revolves around the eponymous Joe, a nine-year-old schoolboy and the adopted son of widowed computer expert Professor Ian "Mac" McClaine. Ostensibly an ordinary father-and-son pair, the McClaines live in an Elizabethan-style cottage on the Dorset coast. In the basement of the cottage is a secret laboratory containing Mac's latest invention, the Brain Impulse Galvanoscope Record And Transfer (referred to by the acronym "BIG RAT"): a machine capable of recording a person's knowledge and experience and transferring it to the mind of another. The BIG RAT is centred around the "Rat Trap": a spinning, spherical cage in which the pre-recorded "brain patterns" are uploaded to the recipient.

Sam Loover, a friend of Mac and an agent of the World Intelligence Network (WIN), recognises the potential of Joe and the BIG RAT and persuades Mac to pledge their services to the organisation. With the aid of the BIG RAT, Joe becomes a spy unlike any other: by taking on the brain patterns of expert adults, he gains the skills needed to undertake dangerous missions, while his youth helps him to avoid arousing enemy suspicion. As long as he wears a pair of special glasses, which contain electrodes that store the transferred brain patterns, he is able to carry out all manner of assignments – from piloting fighter aircraft to performing neurosurgery to playing the piano. Known as WIN's "Most Special Agent", Joe 90 reports to Shane Weston, the network's commander-in-chief in London, and carries a specially-adapted school case that contains radio transceiver and high-capacity handgun.

## Opening (Original 1998 release)

1. European Captioning Institute Warning Screen (1995-2005)
2. Carlton Warning Screen (1994-2004)
3. Carlton Home Entertainment children's trailer from 1997 [announced by Martin Jarvis]

## Closing (Original 1998 release)

1. Carlton Home Entertainment logo (1997-1999)

## Opening (September 2000 re-release)

1. European Captioning Institute Warning Screen (1995-2005)
2. Carlton Warning Screen (1994-2004)
3. Children's Videos from Carlton trailer from 1999 [announced by Nick Mercer and Jade Chaston]

## Opening (February 2001 re-release)

1. Carlton Warning Screen (1994-2004)
2. Carlton Video "Bring the Magic Home" children's trailer from 2000 [announced by Justin Fletcher]

## Trailers and info

### Original 1998 release

* Carlton Home Entertainment children's trailer from 1997 with clips of "Tots TV", "Rosie and Jim", "Starla and the Jewel Riders", "Bananas in Pyjamas", "Beatrix Potter", "Old Bear and Friends" and "The Willows in Winter".

### September 2000 re-release

* Children's Videos from Carlton trailer from 1999 with clips of "Jellikins", "The Fairies", "Dream Street", "Kingdom Of Rhymes: Incy Wincy Spider", "The Big Garage", "Beatrix Potter", "Tots TV", "The Wind in the Willows", "The Willows in Winter", "Bananas in Pyjamas", "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie" and "Annabelle's Wish".

### February 2001 re-release

* Carlton Video "Bring the Magic Home" children's trailer from 2000 with clips of "A Monkey's Tale", "Thunderbirds", "Beatrix Potter", "Jellikins", "Tots TV", "Dream Street", "Bananas in Pyjamas", "Annabelle's Wish", "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie" and "Casper's Haunted Christmas".