Why do they put SPVs in such odd places?

[Sage]

LMAO
Surely not I mean they are such competent pilots and all, so it can be that much diffrent.

[Matt Crowther]

I refrain from quoting sexist comment from The Spy Who Loved Me!

[Marion]

Sage said:

Hmm wonder what would be in their hampers.

Chocolate.

Symphony: Hey, one of you girls has got my hamper! This sandwich is smelly cheese and rocket, not peanut butter and jelly... (pauses) Destiny... give it back... there's only empty chocolate wrappers in here and I had some decent Belgian Chocolates, that Blue gave me, in my hamper...
Destiny (swallowing hard) Pardon - eet was a mistake... I have not eat the sandweetch - mais, quelle dommage - the chocolate they are all gone...
Symphony: **%$£&&**
Destiny (horrified) Language - a lady she does not swear!
Symphony: I ain't no lady when there's chocolate involved...

[Marion]

Matt Crowther said:

I refrain from quoting sexist comment from The Spy Who Loved Me!

You will have to quote it now - because I, for one, have no idea what it was.... I am not a Bond Fan.

[Carrie]

I am..but I still can't think of it..
So come on Matt...cough up the goods....

[Matt Crowther]

Okay, but don't shoot the messenger

Bond is trying to escape Jaws (Richard Kiel) with Major Anya Amasova and she decides to be the driver of this van. She's twisting the ignition key, got the engine on but the clutch is making loud squealing noises, she isn't going forward and Bond shakes his head and in a typical Roger Moore mannerism says:

"Woman drivers"

though she does snap in accented English: "Quiet!"

Not much, but there you go

[Marion]

Had she taken the handbrake off?

[Matt Crowther]

Eventually.

[Parker Gabriel]

Why can't the Angels be trained to drive SPVs? The CINCSPEC, Colonel White, definitely saw the necessity after Sympnony Angel proved to be at the controls of one in "Manhunt."

And don't count ANY of them out as SPV drivers; Magnolia Jones, Melody Angel, used to race cars, if you'll remember!

[Cerise]

I doubt there would be a particular reason why Angels wouldn't be trained in driving SPVs. The only really possible reason is that everyone can't receive training in everything. I real life work situations everyone has specialist knowledge and it's just not practical for everyone to learn everything. It's obvious that the workings of an SPV are quite different to anything else and so reasonable that it would be quite difficult to drive. Following this situation, the training may have been re-thought. Or it just could be that the writer was just going for a typical sexist steriotype - not untypical of the time.

[LadyP]

You are so right, Cerise.
There is a dreadful calumny - which perists to this day - implying that I am unable to drive my beloved FAB 1.
Simply because one chooses to employ a chauffeur, it should not be assumed that one is unable to drive at all.
I know all the Angels can drive standard cars, but I also know that there is a knack to driving those SPVs.
One might suspect they had been built backwards simply to give the boys new toys - if one was of a cynical disposition that is.

[Parker Gabriel]

Lady P remarked:

There is a knack to driving those SPVs. One might suspect they had been built backwards simply to give the boys new toys--if one was of a cynical disposition, that is.

I am not of THAT cynical a disposition. It's simply the fact that if you strike an obstacle with the front of your car, then you're pitched forwards. Captain Scarlet simply has not had that many chances to develop his SPV driving skills. Remember, he had never driven the Zeus tank on which they're based.

[chrisbishop]

Nor did the others, I recall - Blue would be more apt to fly a plane, considering his background, than drive a SPV. Yet, he seems to excel at it (He has expert driving, according to the first episode, "The Mysterons").

Of all of them, perhaps Scarlet would have been the more apt to drive the SPV, however, considering HIS background as a soldier... AND weapon expert. According to his biography sheet:

he was trained in field combat duty, how to pilot a variety of aircraft and to become an expert with hundreds of weapons, from the most sophisticated to the most ancient (2059-2063). Drilled to survive in any conditions, he demonstrated a strong mental resilience, a concern of others over his own safety, and an ability to command. Acclaimed as ‘Supreme Soldier’ by fellow students and lecturers alike, Paul left West Point and joined – or was transferred – to the Word Army/Air-Force

Did this training include the driving of tanks - I guess it would be the case; he wouldn't have been considered 'Supreme Soldier' if it wasn't the case (just personal extrapolation here.)

While the SPV was actually based on the Zeus tank, it is not mentioned anywhere if the Zeus tank was equiped with a driving seat facing backward. If I am not mistaken, I think that particular feature was dreamed up exclusively for the SPV (I think an annual even said it was Colonel White's idea, though I wonder if it is logical to consider that Colonel White had any say in the conception of the SPV).

I did read somewhere that some aircraft had been conceived in quite the same fashion - seat facing backward - though at this moment, I would have to dig up the net to find out if those said craft were actually built, or if they had not gone beyond blueprints!

[Marion]

I agree that Scarlet - perhaps of all the elite officers, was the most likely to have had experience of driving a tank. None of the civilians woud have a chance, and the ex-WASP officers (going by what we see Troy Tempest doing in Stingray) probably learned to fly planes and sea-going vessels, rather than tanks.
The fact that they drive the SPV backwards was supposed to be based on safety reasons, but, quite apart from making it a bit awkward to do, the fact that they have to drive by video-screen does make the machine vulnerable to attack from electronic jamming devices - as demonstrated in 'Codename Europa'.
And, after that crash, Captain Blue has a lovely black eye/bruised cheek - which suggests that he was thrown forward in the crash anyway...

Poor baby...

[Parker Gabriel]

The SPV might have been rammed in the back as well, throwing Captain Blue hard into the instrumentation and controls. Was it?