Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

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This article is about the 1967 Supermarionation TV series. For the 2005 CGI remake series, see Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet.
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

North American DVD release
Format Supermarionation Science Fiction Adventure
Created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson
Starring Francis Matthews
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of episodes 32 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time 30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel ITV
Original run September 29, 1967 – May 14, 1968

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often referred to as simply Captain Scarlet, is a science fiction television series produced by the Century 21 Productions Television company of Sylvia and Gerry Anderson and Reg Hill. It was first shown in the United Kingdom (originally on ATV Midlands, but later the whole of the UK) between September 1967 and May 1968. It used puppetry (Supermarionation) and scale model special effects.

The series is one of several of popular science-fiction TV adventure series the Andersons produced in the 1960s, beginning with Supercar and followed by Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90, and the little-seen The Secret Service. Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons was the first series made after the international success of Thunderbirds in 1964-66.

Contents

[edit] Summary

On a mission to Mars in 2068, a Mysteron installation is attacked and destroyed by a team of three Earth explorers, including Captain Black, leading the Mysterons to declare a "War of Nerves" on Earth. The Mysterons have the ability to replicate and then control any person or object they first kill or destroy, through their power of "retro-metabolism". They use this power to conduct a war of terror against Earth—primarily aimed at the world leaders, major cities, industrial and defence establishments, and, of course, "Spectrum" and its airborne Cloudbase headquarters. The Mysterons are never seen; their presence is indicated by two circles of light tracking across the scene. Their actions on Earth are always through their replicated intermediaries — with the possible exception of Captain Black whose death is never portrayed and who may simply have been "turned" as their first agent whilst still on Mars. Although this distinction is never made in the series, the accompanying book states that Black was killed and revitalised by the Mysterons in much the same way as their other victims throughout the series.

Captain Scarlet becomes Spectrum's principal weapon at the forefront of the battle with the Mysterons after the events of the first episode, "The Mysterons". In that episode, Scarlet (whose real name is Paul Metcalfe) is one of two Spectrum agents (the other being fellow Spectrum agent Captain Brown) killed by the Mysterons in a rigged car crash and then replaced with a duplicate under their control; for reasons never explained in or out of the series, however, when the duplicate falls 800 feet from a tower the personality of Paul Metcalfe reasserts itself in the duplicate, who is immune thereafter to Mysteron control. Not only that, but Scarlet's new body has two new powers: it allows him to sense the presence of other Mysteron duplicates nearby, and if he should be injured or even killed, retro-metabolism will re-create him as good as before. ("Self-repairing" might be a more accurate way to describe this than the "indestructible" that the series uses, since it is established that Scarlet feels all the pain associated with any injuries he suffers.) This advantage is kept secret outside Spectrum, and even Captain Blue is often heard saying "But Captain, you'll be killed!" Later in the series, the Mysteron duplicates are discovered to be vulnerable to high-voltage electricity, implying that the same could permanently destroy Scarlet.

[edit] Characters

Spectrum personnel have military ranks and colour based code names (hence Captain Scarlet), and they are headed by Colonel White. Other characters include Captains Blue, Ochre, Grey, and Magenta, Lieutenant Green,[1] and the five female fighter pilots, who have a different collective codename — the Angels — and are individually Destiny, Symphony, Melody, Rhapsody, and Harmony.

=== Spectrum personnel ===

Code name Real name
Captain Scarlet Paul Metcalfe
Captain Blue Adam Svenson
Colonel White Charles Gray
Lieutenant Green Seymour Griffiths
Doctor Fawn Edward Wilkie
Captain Black Conrad Turner
Captain Ochre Richard Fraser
Captain Magenta Patrick Donaghue
Captain Grey Bradley Holden
Captain Brown unspecified -
killed by the Mysterons
Captain Indigo unspecified -
killed by the Mysterons
Destiny Angel Juliette Pontoin
Symphony Angel Karen Wainwright
Melody Angel Magnolia Jones
Rhapsody Angel Dianne Simms
Harmony Angel Chan Kwan

Note: with the exception of Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue, none of the above real names were actually mentioned on screen. They originate from various licensed spin-off publications. As such, it is debatable whether these names are actually canon, but are generally accepted as such, particularly given the fact that several of the sources were sufficiently close to the production teams/ publishers, for the latter to have blocked erroneous information. It is from similar sources (the TV21 comics, for example) that non-canon personnel such as Captain Purple (based in England; killed shortly after the series began), and most of the Lieutenant-grades, come.

[edit] Puppets

Whether the puppets of the various Anderson series were modelled on real people, and who those real people were, is the subject of some question. Gerry and Sylvia Anderson have claimed that they asked the puppet designers to give the puppets rough resemblances to specific celebrities of the day. Some of the puppets, however, appear to be modelled instead on the actors who provided their voices; chief puppet artist Mary Turner admitted that Thunderbirds' Lady Penelope was modelled on Sylvia, a revelation the latter claimed came as a surprise.

On Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Captain Blue and Colonel White were said particularly to resemble their voice actors, Ed Bishop and Donald Gray respectively. (Ironically, although many fans believe the resemblance of Captain Blue and Ed Bishop to be particularly strong, based on Ed Bishop's appearance in Anderson's live-action series UFO, the blonde hair that Bishop's UFO character Straker shares with Captain Blue is Bishop's brown hair bleached blonde in the first episode, and a wig in subsequent episodes of the series.) The Captain Scarlet character has been said at various times to have been modelled on Cary Grant, Roger Moore,[2] and on Scarlet's voice actor Francis Matthews; while no definite answer appears to be forthcoming, Matthews says that Gerry Anderson went to great lengths to get him to sign on to the production because of his skilled Cary Grant impression. Anderson, however, claims (in his biography[3]) that the impression was Matthews' choice at audition, and whilst it wasn't what had been intended for the character they chose to use it. For the pilot episode, a separate head was sculpted for the Captain Scarlet puppet, purely for the one-second close-up reaction shot of Scarlet being hit by the bullet fired by Captain Blue.

The appearance of four of the Angels were allegedly based on contemporary celebrities:

The character of the World President which appeared in the first episode was modelled on its intended voice artist - actor Patrick McGoohan,[4] an ITC/ATV contract player at the time.[citation needed]

Lieutenant Green was the first black character to appear in such a series and was voiced by black actor Cy Grant.

As in the Andersons' previous puppet series, the characters' mouths were operated electronically, but in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons the solenoid was placed in the puppets' chests rather than their heads. This meant that the puppets no longer needed oversized heads to accommodate the mechanisms and could be built with normal proportions for the first time. (Anderson later admitted in interviews that this was probably a mistake since the puppets lost a lot of their charm.) In order to enhance the sense of realism further, the puppets were never seen walking, as it was impossible to make their legs move realistically. For this reason characters are often seen standing on moving walkways or even sitting at moving desks, and there are of course any number of futuristic land, sea, air, and space vehicles for them to ride in, such as the Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle (SPV), the bright-red Spectrum Patrol Car (also referred to as the Spectrum Saloon), the Spectrum Passenger Jet (SPJ), and the streamlined Angel Interceptor aircraft, armed with missile guns, all of them courtesy of special effects director Derek Meddings, his design assistant Michael Trim, and the miniatures unit.

SPVs were located around the world, hidden in public or commercial buildings. Upon meeting the staff of a building, a Spectrum agent would show his identification and the SPV would either be moved out for use, or the camouflage which had concealed it (a shack, or a goods container) would collapse to reveal it.

[edit] Title Sequence And Closing Credits

Each episode begins with a short film sequence displayed from the viewpoint of an unseen assassin. As the opening credits roll, the assassin approaches the corner of a run-down street at night. A voiceover from Ed Bishop (who voiced Captain Blue) states: "The Mysterons. Sworn enemies of Earth...possessing the ability to recreate an exact likeness of an object or person. But first--they must destroy." Suddenly, there is the sound of a knocked bottle, a cat's wail is heard, powerful searchlights flash on and the agent turns to face Captain Scarlet. The assassin opens fire with a machine gun but none of his bullets apparently manages to penetrate. The Spectrum officer fires his own gun and the attacker grunts as he falls to the ground dead. With a drum roll, the Captain Scarlet logo appears on the screen and the voiceover concludes: "Leading the fight--one man fate has made indestructible. His name: Captain Scarlet."

An alternate voiceover from Bishop, not commonly heard, states, before the sound of the knocked bottle: "One man. A man who is different. Chosen by fate...caught up in Earth's unwanted conflict with the Mysterons. Determined...courageous...indestructible. His name: Captain Scarlet." After the drum roll brings the Captain Scarlet logo on screen, a voiceover from Donald Gray, voicing Colonel White, admonishes: "Captain Scarlet is indestructible. You are NOT. Remember this. DO NOT TRY TO IMITATE HIM!!!" (This had to be added in some showings because of the fear that younger audiences would attempt to imitate Captain Scarlet's activities and possibly get themselves injured or killed in so doing.)

The first episode, "The Mysterons," features a different voiceover: "The finger is on the trigger...about to unleash a force with terrible powers beyond the comprehension of Man. This force we shall know as--the Mysterons." Then comes the sound of the knocked bottle. The drum roll brings the logo on screen, and the voiceover continues: "This man will be our hero, for fate will make him indestructible. His name: Captain Scarlet."

From "Winged Assassin" onwards, a sequence featuring the Mysteron rings follows the first few moments of action. The Mysterons (voiced by Donald Gray) announce their latest threat, always starting with "This is the voice of the Mysterons. We know that you can hear us, Earthmen." Meanwhile, the rings pan over the supporting characters in various environments and their names are displayed as captions onscreen, from Captain Blue driving an SPV, to Destiny Angel flying her jet, to Colonel White at his Cloudbase control desk, to the other Angels in their Amber standby room, to Captain Black in a moonlit graveyard. After this, the episode resumes.

The closing credits are accompanied by various paintings of Scarlet in life-threatening situations - he is drowning in a swamp filled with green liquid, falling from a skyscraper, confronted by a venomous snake, pushed out of a moving car, trapped under rocks with dynamite, surrounded by sharks underwater, about to be stabbed by spikes, beneath falling crates, pushed over a ridge by a tank, and caught in an explosion.

The sequence is complemented by instrumental music in the earlier episodes, while vocals provided by the "Spectrum" pop group are added in the later episodes.

[edit] Closing Credit Lyrics

  • Captain Scarlet; He's the one who knows the Mysteron game and things they plan.

Captain Scarlet; To his Martian foes, a dangerous name...a super-man.

They crash him, and his body may burn; they smash him, but they know he'll return to live again.

Captain Scarlet; As the Angels are flying wing-to-wing, into the scene, (spoken) Spectrum Is Green.

Captain Scarlet; Though the Mysterons plan to conquer the Earth, this indestructible man will show what he's worth.

Captain Scarlet, indestructible Captain Scarlet.

[edit] Paintings

The closing-credit paintings were created by comic book artist Ron Embleton. Remaining in the safe of producer Reg Hill for more than thirty years, they were auctioned at Christie's in London in 2003, raising between £2300 and £3500 per painting. The following year, art publishers Iconagraph released licensed limited editions of the paintings featuring the signature of Francis Matthews, the voice of Captain Scarlet.

[edit] Alternative versions

The Japanese version of the show completely scrapped the original opening credits and replaced them with a montage of action scenes from various episodes, with schoolchildren singing a theme tune completely different from the one with which fans of the Western version will be familiar. This version can be found on the extras disc of the "Complete Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" DVD.

[edit] Episode list

Main article: List of Captain Scarlet episodes

[edit] Series storyline

Unlike Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's earlier shows Thunderbirds and Stingray, where each episode was a different rescue attempt, Captain Scarlet had a continuous storyline running throughout the episodes concerning Spectrum's attempt to find the weaknesses of and destroy the Mysterons. For instance, in the episode "Operation Time" it was revealed that a key Mysteron weakness was that high voltage electricity could kill them. They could also be detected when X-rayed, as the slide produced would just reveal a normal picture of that individual rather than their skeleton. These weaknesses were further developed in the following episode "Spectrum Strikes Back" in which the Mysteron gun and Mysteron detector were introduced and used throughout the rest of the series.

In "Lunarville 7", it was discovered that a second Mysteron complex was being built in a crater on the far side of the Moon, prior to a lunar conquest and eventually one of Earth itself. It was later destroyed by an atomic device in "Crater 101", after Captain Scarlet, Captain Blue and Lieutenant Green removed the crystal pulsator power source to prevent the Mysterons from reconstructing their complex. The pulsator was later found to be a means of communication with the Mysterons in "Dangerous Rendezvous", but Colonel White was unable to convince them to abandon their war of nerves in a diplomatic transmission. The Mysterons then turned their pulsator into an explosive device, which threatened to destroy Cloudbase until it was jettisoned from a window and detonated in the open air.

Attempts were made to obtain detailed satellite photographs of Mars in "Shadow of Fear", but the Himalayan observatory scheduled to receive the transmissions was destroyed by a Mysteron agent.

Towards the end of the series, the episode "Treble Cross" revealed that a human being could be mistaken for a Mysteron if they managed to survive their encounter with them. This weakness however, was not developed in future episodes.

The penultimate episode of the series, "Attack on Cloudbase", involved an all-out Mysteron assault on Cloudbase itself. This grim story left many characters dead, including Scarlet, but the episode proved to be simply the dream of a concussed Symphony Angel, leaving many fans disappointed.

Further disappointment came with the final episode, "The Inquisition", a "clip show" that provided no closure to the series in terms of the fate of either Spectrum or The Mysterons. Moreover, it ended with Spectrum still battling them and The Mysterons remaining in power on Mars with Captain Black still at large on Earth. The episode itself largely consisted of flashbacks to earlier episodes with the main story centering on Captain Blue being held hostage inside a fake Cloudbase developed by Mysteron agents. This was done in an attempt to make him reveal Spectrum's secrets to them. At the end of the episode he escapes and realises he has been held in an abandoned factory, which Captain Scarlet then destroys and tells him that they will return to the real Cloudbase.

When the series concluded, TV Century 21 continued the storyline, eventually revealing that The Mysterons shut down their own city and leave Captain Black for dead, whilst Scarlet leaves Spectrum to use his powers to prevent more Earth-bound criminals and situations. The Mysterons eventually reawaken, prompting Scarlet and Spectrum to resume their struggle.

[edit] Later productions

The rights to the show belong to ITC Entertainment, Lew Grade's production company which co-produced all the Anderson shows from Thunderbirds onwards. In 1980 ITC combined several episodes of the original show to make two compilation movies, titled Captain Scarlet vs. the Mysterons and Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars. This second movie was later used for the second episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, shown on Thanksgiving Day (24 November) 1988 in Minneapolis, Minnesota on station KTMA. It is one of the few MST3K episodes that, to date, has not been found to exist among fan-made copies of the series.

[edit] Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet

Main article: Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet

A new version of the series, entitled Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet, began broadcast on ITV on 12 February 2005. The series, produced by Anderson and backed by Sony Pictures Television, uses computer-generated imagery (CGI) instead of puppetry, although as a nod to Supermarionation, the show is promoted as being produced in "Hypermarionation".

[edit] Original novels

Several novels based upon the series were published in the late 1960s:

  • Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, John Theydon (pseudonym for John W. Jennison), 1967
  • Captain Scarlet and the Silent Saboteur, Theydon, 1967
  • The Angels and the Creeping Enemy, Theydon, 1968 (not published under the Captain Scarlet series title)

In 1993, Corgi Books published four episode novelizations for young readers based upon the episodes "The Mysterons", "Noose of Ice", "Lunarville 7", and "The Launching".

[edit] Trivia

  • Later prints of the episodes feature a voiceover from Colonel White stating "Captain Scarlet is indestructible. You are not. Remember this. Do not try to imitate him." This served to both establish the background to the series and warn young fans not to copy Scarlet's antics.[5]

This was done because of concerns expressed to the TV companies showing the program that children might emulate their heroes' actions and be hurt.

  • The Zero-X mission seen and referred to in the pilot episode ("The Mysterons") involved the same spacecraft seen in the feature film Thunderbirds Are Go (as confirmed in the TV Century 21 comic at the time). This is allegedly due to a Japanese model manufacturer paying a sizeable license fee for the Zero-X ship, and expressed great concern that it was only to appear in the one film. This explanation was given by writer Tony Barwick in an interview in the late 1980s, but he made it clear this was a possible explanation, not a definite fact.[citation needed]
  • The oft-repeated expression "S.I.G." in the series stands for "Spectrum Is Green"; i.e. affirmative, understood, or an indication of a safe and stable situation depending on context. The corresponding "S.I.R." ("Spectrum Is Red"), meaning the reverse, is rarely heard. These catch phrases are a common Anderson-ism, similar to the Thunderbirds' "F.A.B." or Stingray's "P.W.O.R." ("Proceeding With Orders Received"). In Crater 101 we are introduced to another acronym, SET, meaning Standard Earth Time.
  • The Angel jets make a sound while diving identical to the sound of Sky 1 diving in the later Anderson series, UFO.
  • The character of Captain Grey previously worked for WASP and was the preceding commander of Stingray. Setting Captain Scarlet in the same universe as Thunderbirds and Stingray.

[edit] Stations

Alphabetized by city.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Lieutenant" is usually pronounced in the British manner "left-tenant" (/lɛf'tɛnənt/) by all but the American characters in the series.
  2. ^ Archer, Simon (1993). Gerry Anderson's FAB Facts. Harper Collins, 86. ISBN 0-00-638247-9. 
  3. ^ Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Biography by Simon Archer and Stan Nicholls; ISBN 0-09-978141-7
  4. ^ Archer, Simon (1993). Gerry Anderson's FAB Facts. Harper Collins, 38. ISBN 0-00-638247-9. 
  5. ^ Alternate Versions for "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" (1967). IMDb. Retrieved on 2007-02-06.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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