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CAPTAIN SCARLET |
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Series Overview
OTHER GERRY ANDERSON SHOWS New Captain Scarlet UFO Thunderbirds Space 1999 
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Series OverviewCaptain Scarlet is one of Gerry Anderson's action adventure puppet shows and whilst it is not as fondly remembered as THUNDERBIRDS it is a big step forward in the technical side of such things, with puppets that are properly proportioned and have more expressive faces and that never, never are seen 'spacewalking' on screen. The concept of the show is more sophisticated and darker as well. A mistake, made by the humans, brings Earth into conflict with a race of martians known as Mysterons. In revenge, the Mysterons set about a series of terrorist attacks against Earth, always announcing their target in advance to maximise the dips in morale when they succeed. And succeed they do from time to time, despite the best efforts of the heroes, something else that marks this show out from some of its fellows. Rarely is there a show aimed at children where the good guys don't always come out victorious. CAPTAIN SCARLET also manages to be darker than previous efforts through the methods by which the Mysterons carry out their threats. With the ability to reconstruct perfect, but controllable copies of destroyed objects and people, even a plot that Spectrum manage to foil usually starts with the death of some innocent in order to create the necessary Mysteron agent. One such agent was Captain Scarlet who fell to his death in the opening episode only to come back to life, free of the Mysteron influence and indestructible to boot. Just how this was acheived is never properly explained. Spectrum, the worldwide agency set up to counter the Mysteron threat, has a wealth of wonderful vehicles to play with including a flying base, female-piloted jet attack aircraft, and the Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle in which you have to sit backwards and steer by television picture. With episodes running at only half an hour, there is little enough time to tell the story and the set ups usually take a while so there is always a rapid and often tense last few minutes as the plot is about to come to fruition and only Captain Scarlet can save the day. TopThe MysteronsSpectrum is a worldwide police organisation in 2068. After discovering signals coming from Mars, they send an expeditionary force that comes across a fabulous city on the surface. Mistaking a camera for a weapon, the crew open fire and destroy the city only for it to be rebuilt before their eyes. The Voice of the Mysterons informs them that revenge will be taken, a revenge that will be slow, but incessant. The first target will be the World President. Spectrum sends top Agent Captain Scarlet and rookie Captain Brown to protect the President, but both are killed in a car crash. Or are they? For a children's show, this is a very bleak opening episode. The introduction itself involving a dark alley, footsteps and a killing is very downbeat and before you know it humans have fired on an alien race unnecessarily, top agents have been wiped out and the World President has been punched in the face. Even the hero, Captain Scarlet (sounding uncannily like Cary Grant) ends up dead twice, but the Mysteron copy is somehow rendered indestructible (though exactly how this happens is quickly glossed over). The supermarionation team have come up with better puppets this time around. The heads are the right size and somewhat more realistic and expressive. There isn't much personality on show here, but it is the first episode with a lot of backstory to get through. There's also an awful lot of hardware on show as well. None of it is as evocative as the THUNDERBIRDS, but the Cloudbase was impressive enough to be ripped off decades later by DOCTOR WHO. The angel interceptors are flashy, the Spectrum Pursuit vehicle (hidden inside a truck) classy and an array of less impressive cars, helicopters and aeroplanes. The initial revenge plot by the Mysterons is a little unclear to say the least. The first attempt is a straightforward bomb attack after which they suddenly need to take him alive for reasons that are not explained. Still, it's a pacy start to a new Gerry Anderson show with a slightly harder edge. Written by Gerry and Sylvia AndersonDirected by Desmond Saunders Top Winged AssassinThe elected head of the Asian alliance is threatened by the Mysterons and Spectrum swing into action. A decoy is set up to get the man to his private jet, but the Mysteron plan is revealed too late and Captain Scarlet must throw himself into a suicide bid to save the day. The plotting of this second episode is pretty good, although you do have to ask yourself why the Mysterons should destroy a plane to create a duplicate with which to destroy the leader's private jet. If they could destroy the airliner by cutting all power why didn't they just do that to his private jet instead and save everyone the trouble? This aside, the decoy is a nice idea and the ending is far more downbeat than we might expect in a children's show. This is already far more challenging than foreseen. The modelwork remains top notch, although the designs are far more workmanlike than some of the stuff that the team have come up with for other shows. It is rather unforgiveable that the Angels aren't able to take out such a large, lumbering vehicle as the airliner. Written by Tony BarwickDirected by David Lane Top Big Ben Strikes AgainThe Mysterons announce that they are going to destroy the city of London and shortly thereafter a nuclear charge to be used in underground demolition goes missing. The only clue to its whereabouts is the driver saying that he heard Big Ben strike thirteen times at midnight. The show may be called CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE MYSTERONS, but it is Captain Blue who saves the day here, working out how Big Ben could possibly strike thirteen times and thus the location of the bomb. The first half of the episode is the atmospheric build up involving the theft of the bomb and the driver's looking around his new prison, but there are questions about the plotting such as why the Mysterons would let him go at all. Of course, the biggest suprise of all is the fact that the streets of London could be this empty at any time of the day or night. Written by Tony BarwickDirected by Brian Burgess Top ManhuntCaptain Black is caught on camera trying to sabotage a nuclear plant. Irradiated himself, he is a radioactive source that can be tracked by long range geiger counters and so Spectrum leaps into action, laying down a dragnet that slowly closes in around the Mysteron agent. Now this is something unexpected. It is very unusual for the heroes in a children's show to fail, but Captain Black proves to be an altogether canny adversary, as a former agent of the organisation ought to be. He outfoxes the very best that Spectrum can throw at him and even manages to take one of the angels captive. This is beyond the normal level of realism that we might have expected and shows the level of sophistication that the show is aiming for. Written by Tony BarwickDirected by Alan Perry Top AvalancheA string of early warning centres in the Arctic Circle is the target of the latest Mysteron threat. Housed in sealed domes against the intense cold, they are attacked through the venilation system, a chemical reaction removing all the air. Lieutenant Green gets his first field assignment as he accompanies Captain Scarlet in a race against time to stop another dome being attacked and the project's commander launching his nuclear missiles against Mars with incalculable consequences. CAPTAIN SCARLET has turned out to be a series for older children than its stablemates. Every Mysteron operation involves the death of at least one person and this time it is a truck driver. His death, buried in an avalanche is shown in stark detail that might be a bit disturbing to younger ones, the fact that he is a puppet notwithstanding. There are problems with the plotting, such as the fact that the gates are only guarded by a single man with no CCTV and the fact that the ventilation maintenance truck is still given access when there is a full on red alert in operation. Even so, the scenes inside one of the attacked domes are quite creepy and very well done and for once Captain Scarlet's invincibility is not a factor. Written by Shane RimmerDirected by Brian Burgess Top White as SnowColonel White becomes the next target for the Mysterons and an orbital space music station is the weapon of choice. When that threat is averted by drastic action, the colonel takes refuge in a submarine, but the Mysterons take over one of the crew in order to make their shot. Discord in the ranks? Captain Scarlet takes extreme exception to his commanding officer's actions, even to the point of refusing an order. His sentence is death, which in his case is no big thing. This, once again, shows that the series is going for an older audience than some of its forerunners and once again the death of the submarine's crewman may be a little strong for some of the younger children. Which is not to say that there aren't any problems with it such as Colonel White's insistence of telling a hoverjet pilot that he's just a deep sea fisherman when he makes contact with a giant military submarine and some adults may find the shape of the crashing spaceship amusing to say the least. Written by Peter Curran and David WilliamsDirected by Robert Lynn Top The TrapIn order to 'clip the wings of the world' the Mysterons take over a senior officer in the Air Force who organises a meeting of all the world's leading air officers in a remote castle in Scotland. The aim is to kill them all as the conference begins, but Captain Scarlet, locked in the dungeon, has other ideas about that. For a high powered conference like this it's hardly likely that the only security arrangements would be to have Captain Scarlet on site. Where were all the other guards when they were needed? Apart from that, this is a pretty good tale with Scarlet's escape from the dungeon very cleverly (and for once believably) achieved. And the castle guardian's scottish accent isn't overdone either. Written by Alan PattilloDirected by Alan Perry Top Operation TimeThe Mysterons announce that they will 'kill time'. Their target is one General Tiempo who is about to undergo a serious brain operation. The general and his doctor are brought to Cloudbase so that the operation can be carried out under tight security, but it turns out that the surgeon himself is a Mysteron replacement. The manner in which the surgeon is replaced by the Mysterons takes place in a sequence that is shot just like a big screen thriller and works just like a big screen thriller. That is the secret of this puppet show, it doesn't believe that it's a puppet show. It's tense and unforgiving (every Mysteron agent is a dead person), which will be problem for younger audiences, but at least will prove to be more interesting for their adult companions. The twist in the tale is a little obvious, but effective nonetheless. Written by Richard Conway and Stephen J MattickDirected by Ken Turner Top Spectrum Strikes BackUsing the knowledge that Mysteron reconstructs are impervious to x-rays and that they are vulnerable to high voltage, Spectrum has developed a detector and gun to use against them. The practical value of these is displayed when Captain Indigo is killed by Captain Black and reconstructed in order to start the slow destruction of Colonel White and the World President. Buildings that move are very popular in Gerry Anderson shows. In this episode, a whole hunting lodge descends into the ground to deliver its important guests into the tactical centre. This is a ridiculous idea as it would be quicker, more practical and a heck of a lot cheaper to use an ordinary lift. To further have it that there is no exit from the tactical centre when the building is descending is just plain stupid. It does, however, provide an effective mechanism for tension as the roof starts closing in on the victims whilst Captain Scarlet chases Captain Indigo. There's nothing like a ticking clock to ratchet up the suspense. The sequence is shot in such a way as to make you forget that this is a puppet show and actually put you on the edge of the seat. Written by Tony BarwickDirected by Ken Turner Top Special AssignmentCaptain Scarlet grabs a little downtime in a casino and manages to run up some large gambling debts. Colonel White has no alternative but to fire him. Drinking follows gambling and Paul Metcalfe's descent into debt grows worse until two Mysteron agents offer him money to carry out their threat of destroying North America. First, he must kill Captain Blue. Ok, this story doesn't make a lot of sense at all. Why bother trying to corrupt a Spectrum agent into getting hold of a Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle when Captain Black must know where there are a few and how to get hold of them. If there's good reasons for not risking Captain Black then just kill one of the other Spectrum captains and get his construct to do the work. Then for the Mysterons to believe that something as minor as a gambling debt (oh for the innocent days when 5,000 of any currency could be considered huge money) would be enough to turn a man into a killer of millions is patently absurd. Just to top it off, the place where the plot is hatched is the same hunting lodge used in Spectrum Strikes Back with virtually no attempt made to disguise it. Written by Tony BarwickDirected by Robert Lynn Top The Heart of New YorkSafecrackers break into a Spectrum vault only to find secret papers of no value to them. They use these, however, to come up with a caper that uses a Mysteron threat against New York to cover the biggest bank robbery ever. Whilst they are playing Spectrum for fools, however, the Mysterons are playing them. Now here's a shock - the Mysterons win. We don't just mean the killing of someone to carry out the larger plan, but they succeed in the large plan itself. It's rare that a children's show would be brave enough to actually let the bad guys get a full victory. Exactly why the second national bank might be considered as the heart of New York is never properly justified and even Colonel White is not willing to risk any of his assets in protecting anything so prosaic as a bank, but there can be no doubt that Spectrum is outfoxed and outmanoeuvred this time around. The Mysterons also show that they can make a car vanish, either by invisibility or teleportation, but either talent could seriously simplify their revenge attacks so it's a wonder that this is the first we've seen of it (or not seen of it). Written by Tony BarwickDirected by Alan Perry Top Lunarville 7The head of the bases on the moon's surface announces that he cannot support either side in the war between Earth and the Mysterons and so declares independence. Spectrum sends Captains Scarlet and Blue along with Lieutenant Green, to find out what is going on. What they discover is a base under construction that will act as the bridgehead to the invasion of Earth. Captain Scarlet finally gets into space and this episode can be seen as a blueprint for the Moonbase that would later feature in Gerry Anderson's live action series UFO. The manner in which Captain Scarlet uses the limitations of the technology against the Mysterons' agent is clever and there is a bout of thoroughly satisfying large-scale destruction near the end. Written by Tony BarwickDirected by Robert Lynn Top Point 783The supreme commander of Earth's armed forces attends a demonstration of the very latest fully automated battle tank. It inevitably gets taken over by the Mysterons and starts an assault against the bunker where the commander is watching from. Apart from the question as to why a united earth actually needs a new battle tank, or even an armed forces for that matter, this is a nicely streamlined story with a simple premise. The more observant audience will note the sequence of the battle tank going through its paces is used twice, optically reversed and re-edited to try and hide the fact that it's recycled. Written by Peter Curran and David WilliamsDirected by Robert Lynn Top Model SpyWhen the head of European Intelligence (whose cover is as head of a Paris fashion house) is the next announced target of the Mysterons, two of the angels go undercover as models whilst Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue masquerade as press. 'The Mysterons have powers that we cannot hope to understand' - it's a refrain that we've heard a few times in the show to date, but they also have plans that we cannot hope to understand. One minute they're trying to blow up a boat with their target aboard (and who designs a fuel release valve that will flood fuel all over the engine room?) and the next they are saying that they need him alive. If they were serious about killing him then they could have had their reconstructed models do it during their first private audience with him. On top of a story that doesn't make sense there are a whole load of clothes that don't make sense either. Inexplicable as high fashion actually is, these costumes just don't sit well on puppets and look ridiculous throughout. Written by Bill HedleyDirected by Ken Turner Top Seek and DestroyThe Mysterons announce that they are going to kill one of Spectrum's Angels and to do so set fire to a warehouse storing all the parts for replacement Angel aircraft. Reconstructing the destroyed parts into complete aircraft, they target Destiny who is being brought back to Cloudbase from Paris, leading to a dogfight between the Spectrum Angels and the Mysteron-controlled aircraft. A simple enough story that starts off with a clever idea. Spectrum doesn't let anyone see the whole plans for the vehicles that they are constructing parts for so the only way to make copies is to destroy one. To do it whilst it is still in parts and they reconstruct whole is a very smart twist, although you have to wonder if secrecy is worth the security breach of leaving whole (if unassembled) aircraft in unprotected warehouses. This leads to a dogfight that fills up the last third of the show and is impressive throughout. Since the Mysteron aircraft are without paintjobs they are easy to tell apart from the Spectrum planes and things are not one-sided as the Mysterons manage to take out one the Angels (though she manages to eject). The explosive crashes of the downed planes are suitably fiery and well done. Written by Peter Curran and David WilliamsDirected by Alan Perry Top TraitorWhen the Mysterons announce that they will hurt Spectrum 'from within' everyone takes that to mean that there is a traitor inside the organisation and the crashing of hovercrafts at Koala Base in Australia would seem to confirm that. Under cover of a lecture tour, Captains Blue and Scarlet go to investigate, but one young cadet decides that it is Captain Scarlet who is the traitor. This is the least successful episode of CAPTAIN SCARLET to date. The hovercraft are crashing, but nobody carries out complete overhauls of the equipment or static testing to see if the things are merely defective. The cadet makes snap judgements about Captain Scarlet despite the fact that older and wiser puppets trust him implicitly and only the vaguest of evidence. Finally, the central section of the episode is a rerun of events in The Mysterons, which is just unforgiveable time filling. Written by Tony BarwickDirected by Robert Lynn Top Renegade RocketAn advanced missile capable of evading countermeasures is launched by the Mysterons and disappears of radar. Captains Blue and Scarlet are despatched to find a way of stopping the rocket, but the only way seems to be tapping through 10,000 words on a decoder box. Spectrum saves the day again, except that it doesn't really. The base, and Captain Blue and Captain Scarlet are actually saved by a stroke of luck so utterly dumb that it might actually be an act of God. This is an organisation that is human and capable of failure and that is what puts it a cut above the other puppet shows in the Anderson stable. Written by Ralph HartDirected by Brian Burgess Top Crater 101On the moon, a Mysteron outpost is detected as nearing completion in Crater 101. Captain Scarlet, Captain Blue and Lieutenant Green are sent to infiltrate the automated installation before completion and remove its power source before a nuclear bomb blows the place up so that the Mysterons can't just recreate it. Unfortunately, a Mysteron agent has sabotaged the bomb so that it is set to go off two hours ahead of schedule. Can Captain Scarlet's indestructibility withstand a nuclear blast? It's a question that doesn't get an answer here as he manages to escape in the nick of time, something that seems impossible considering the amount of ground that he has to cover in the few seconds he has left. Liberties like that can be taken in children's TV shows, but they do let it down somewhat. This is a direct sequel to Lunarville 7 and you do have to wonder why Spectrum left it so long to get around to tackling the Mysteron base. The new lunar commander is a woman and shows a distinct interest in Captain Scarlet, the first time that physical attraction has raised its head in this particular show, again showing that it might be aimed at slightly older audiences than previous Anderson puppet projects. Written by Tony BarwickDirected by Ken Turner Top Shadow of FearSatellites sent to Mars to get photographic information about the Mysterons are destroyed before they enter orbit, so a satellite is sneakily landed on Phobos, one of Mars' moons from which it can take photos undetected. The earth observatory where the pictures are to be received, however, is targeted by the Mysterons. There is very little way in which Spectrum's utter failure here could be any more complete. Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue are on the scene when the Mysteron makes his move, but they choose to chase him into the mountains rather than search for the sabotage that he must surely have left. It is once again a measure of this children's show that it would allow the heroes to be so completely outwitted and beaten. Written by Tony BarwickDirected by Robert Lynn Top Dangerous RendezvousUsing the power source that Captain Scarlet brought back from the moon, Spectrum fashions a communicator and sends a message of peace to the Mysterons. A meeting of representatives is set up in a remote location, but time is running out as Cloudbase itself has been announced as the next Mysteron target. Carrying on from Crater 101 with its use of the information that Captain Scarlet brought back from the moon, this casts the Mysterons in a different light. Prior to the Earth suing for peace there was the tiniest shred of justification in their campaign of revenge following the attack on their martian complex, but by setting up the meeting in Iceland as a diversion away from their real target of Cloudbase has made them firmly, irredeemably the villains of the piece. Aside from that, this is one of the duller stories. Written by Tony BarwickDirected by Brian Burgess Top Fire at Rig 15Spectrum vehicles use a special grade of fuel. Only one refinery in the world is capable of making the fuel and that is the latest target of the Mysterons. Their weapon is a specialist in putting out fires, killed in a fire at one of the oil drilling sites nearby. Captain Scarlet must make a desperate chase across the desert if he is to avert disaster. There's a reason why this is called 'Fire at Rig 15' and not 'Assault on the refinery' and that's because the fire is where the show's makers interests lie. Gerry Anderson's effects teams have always been superb at blowing things up and making things burn and the inferno that is the oil rig fire is another example of that. So much time is spent on the rig fire, however, that the main threat becomes something that is tagged on at the end and therefore something of an anticlimax. Written by Bryan CooperDirected by Ken Turner Top Treble CrossA test pilot is drowned when his car goes into a river. His Mysteron counterpart then attempts to steal a plane with a nuclear warhead on board, but it stopped by the airfield officials. The pilot is resuscitated by a medical team and Spectrum use him as bait to draw out the Mysterons and their plan to destroy World Capital Futura City. Is Spectrum one step ahead of the Mysterons for a change? The plot of this episode doesn't work at all. The idea of Mysterons reconstructing a man who is then revived is not bad at all, but Captain Black watche the mysteron counterpart get destroyed, so why would Spectrum think that they could fool the Mysterons by putting the real pilot in a plane with a delay of probably several hours? The sight of the drowned puppet floating to the surface might also be disturbing to a younger audience. Written by Tony BarwickDirected by Alan Perry Top Flight 104Captains Scarlet and Blue are escorting a high ranking astrophysicist to a top level conference on a return to Mars when they are latched onto by a pair of curious journalists. Worse still, the commercial flight they are on falls into the hands of the Mysterons. This is a very messy episode. The whole thing with the journalists is a red herring that has nothing to do with the plot nor manages to be interesting in itself. The Mysterons take over the plane, but crash it in a very shallow dive rather than just going straight down, or crashing on take off. They also leave the crew alive and locked away when they could have been killed to create Mysteron reconstructs who would have aroused far less suspicion. Captain Blue's singing voice also leaves a lot to be desired. Written by Tony BarwickDirected by Robert Lynn Top Place of AngelsA female assistant at a biological research station steals a liquid containing enough deadly virus to wipe out a whole city. Captains Scarlet and Blue take up pursuit, but when she crashes off the road and releases the virus they are both infected. Bouncing back from Flight 104, the show gives us a simple story with a nice twist in the middle. The mysterons come literally within an inch of wiping out Los Angeles (the 'place of the angels' of the title) thanks to a little ruse that fools Spectrum utterly. Of course, Captain Scarlet saves the day in the nick of time, but the defence of Earth was shown to be vulnerable again. The model of the dam where the final action takes place is impressive, but surely the agent should be throwing the phial into the side full of water rather than the empty side. Some younger children might find the mysteron agent's tumble off the dam a little upsetting. Written by Leo EatonDirected by Leo Eaton Top Noose of IceThe Mysterons threaten the space programme, but their method of attack is much more earthbound. The only source of a vital mineral lies at the bottom of the sea beneath the polar ice cap. The surrounding water is kept at a temperature that prevents it freezing so that the mine can operate, but a reconstructed maintenance man has just turned off the power. This is practically a script left over from THUNDERBIRDS. After the maintenance man dies in a blizzard (very nicely realised), it's a race against time to get through the water without dying of the bends and then avoiding being killed by a mysteron to get the heating elements switched back on before the freezing water crushes the mine complex. It's against the clock and the sound of the ice slowly cracking against the complex is great for raising tension. Written by Tony BarwickDirected by Ken Turner Top Expo 2068A truck carrying a nuclear reactor is hijacked by the Mysterons and transported to the construction site of Expo 2068. Held in an automated helicopter hovering above the site, the reactor is set on a process to meltdown. Only Captain Scarlet can stop it, but as the helicopter controls fail and the vehicles drifts closer to the tower the attempt might cost him his life. Transporting a fully armed nuclear reactor without any sort of escort just seems like an unacceptably stupid risk. The excuse is that it would stop the shipment from attracting undue attention, but that's pretty weak. As soon as the Mysteron plot is set in motion it becomes the standard race against time to save the day and it seems inevitable that Scarlet will prevail considering the scale of destruction if he doesn't, but the idea of having the remotely controlled helicopter just drifting slowly off its hover into danger makes for an exciting finale. Written by Shane RimmerDirected by Leo Eaton Top The LaunchingThe life of the World President is threatened by the Mysterons and Spectrum swing into action, but are they really protecting the right target. This is a fair episode that is built around a red herring that you can pick up from the wording of the Mysteron threat, but it is marred by some dumb plotting. Once the real target is identified, Captain Scarlet rushes over there. Nobody, it seems, thinks to pick up a phone and speak to the owners of the shipyard where the target is located or the local police or anyone else to get the place evacuated a bit quicker. The Mysteron agent also acts stupidly, sitting outside the President's location when it can only attract attention his way and put his real mission in danger. Written by Peter Curran and David WilliamsDirected by Brian Burgess Top Codename EuropaCaptain Black kills a top electronics expert so that the Mysterons can recreate him and use his particular skills to go after a triumvirate of powerful men. The best defences, however, are not always the most technologically complex. The 'advanced' electronics on show here may not appear so advanced these days, but the methods used by the Mysteron agent in his first attempt at inflitrating a tightly controlled military installation are novel to say the least, although they do rely on the guards being somewhat stupid. The method of his downfall is one of true irony. Written by David LeeDirected by Alan Perry Top InfernoA plant for purifying seawater to irrigate a desert is the next Mysteron target and they set a space vessel on a collision course with the Mayan temple overlooking it, a location that has just been selected by Captains Blue and Scarlet as their observation post. One of the strengths of this show has been its willingness to show the bad guys winning from time to time and that provides a kick in the teeth for the heroes in this particular episode. It's just as well because the storyline isn't very memorable and borrows from a similar set up in THUNDERBIRDS. Written by Shane Rimmer and Tony BarwickDirected by Alan Perry Top Flight to AtlanticaThe Mysterons threaten the underwater complex of Atlantica, so Spectrum take over all operations in the area. One of these is a low level bombing run, but the members of Spectrum have been compromised by drugged wine at a celebration thrown by Captain Scarlet and have become the threat themselves. Now it would appear that the Mysterons have the power to alter the contents of a wine bottle at will. Why they chose some sort of inhibition-lowering drug rather than simply poisoning all of the Spectrum high-ranking officers is a question never answered and puts in question once again the aliens' tactical abilities. There is some entertainment value in seeing the normally controlled crewmen in full abandon, but otherwise this is a fairly standard instalment. Written by Tony BarwickDirected by Leo Eaton Top Attack on CloudbaseSymphony Angel is out on patrol when her engine catches fire and she crashes in the desert. Captain Blue is desperate to join the search for her, but Cloudbase has been directly threatened by the Mysterons and their vessels are capable of not only destroying the base, but killing Captain Scarlet once and for all. There is something just a bit off about the telling of this tale and it is at the end that it becomes clear just what it is. The destruction of Cloudbase is impressive, though the alien flying saucers don't convince. Written by Tony BarwickDirected by Ken Turner Top The InquisitionCaptain Blue is drugged and wakes up on Cloudbase with a member of Spectrum Intelligence demanding to know where he has been for the past few months. In a bid to prove himself to be the real Captain Blue, he relates three of his adventures with Spectrum, but the interrogator will take nothing except Spectrum's codes as proof of his identity, leading Blue to suspect that something is not quite right. Even in puppet shows, it appears, you will find episodes with a concept designed purely to allow the use of previously filmed material to create a cheap extra episode. The stories here are Big Ben Strikes Again, Crater 101 and The Trap, which aren't even three of the best. When the deception is found out Blue makes his escape in seconds, just as Scarlet appears fortuitously on the scene to blow everything up. This is the last of Spectrum's missions and it is disappointing that the show should go out in such poor fashion. Written by Tony BarwickDirected by Ken Turner Top |
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