Operation Time

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“Operation Time”
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 8
Written by Richard Conway
Stephen J. Mattick
Directed by Ken Turner
Production no. 6
Original airdate November 17, 1967
Episode chronology
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"The Trap" "Spectrum Strikes Back"
List of Captain Scarlet episodes

"Operation Time" is the eighth episode of the Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It was the sixth episode to be produced. Its original UK air date was November 17, 1967 on ATV Midlands. It was written by Richard Conway and Stephen J. Mattick and directed by Ken Turner.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

The Mysterons threaten to "kill time" and Spectrum is baffled until they discover that the target is a top army general. The military leader is due to have revolutionary brain treatment, but will Spectrum realise that his doctor is a Mysteron before it is too late?

[edit] Plot

In a London operating theatre, two students observe as neurosurgeon Dr Magnus operates on a patient using the pioneering technology of the Cerebral Pulsator. The machine is switched on and electrodes pass a small electrical current over the patient’s brain. Transmitting to Earth, the Mysterons threaten to "kill time".

Cloudbase personnel are puzzled by the obscure threat. Colonel White dispatches his top officers to the world’s major cities to keep a lookout for leads on the target. Meanwhile, Dr Magnus’s operation has been a success. He bids goodnight to his colleague, Dr Turner, before leaving the hospital in his car. Unaware that the vehicle behind is being driven by Captain Black, he stops at the Westbourne Clinic to obtain a treatment consent signature from his next patient, General J.F. Tiempo. However, while driving away from the clinic, he is shot at by Black and drives through a red light in order to lose the hostile car. Thinking himself in the clear, he is shocked when Black catches up with him and shoots one of his rear tyres. Magnus loses control and swerves over a ridge, his vehicle crashing and exploding on the ground below. As the Mysteron rings pan over the body, a second Dr Magnus appears on the ridge above. Standing behind, Captain Black instructs him to "kill time".

On Cloudbase, the search for information appears fruitless until Captain Magenta discovers that General Tiempo, the Commander of Western Region World Defence, whose name means "time" in Spanish, is due to have a brain operation the next day. At the Westbourne Clinic, the duplicated Dr Magnus is checking on Tiempo while he sleeps when Captain Scarlet enters the room. The Spectrum officer reveals that he has orders to escort them both to Cloudbase.

Colonel White explains that Tiempo has been brought to the base for his protection. Magnus is adamant that the operation must take place immediately and rejects Dr Fawn’s calls to postpone it in view of the Mysteron threat. Reluctantly, White orders for the Cloudbase Sickbay to be prepared.

Dr Turner and the rest of the medical team arrive on Cloudbase while Magnus takes a series of X-rays of Tiempo’s head. During processing, the radiographer is unimpressed when he comes across an X-ray with Magnus’s hand in the shot. With everyone ready in the Sickbay, Magnus impatiently awaits the arrival of the X-rays. Meanwhile, Colonel White and Lieutenant Green watch from the control room via video link. Assisted by Dr Fawn, Magnus applies the primary treatment to Tiempo’s head but is irritable when questioned about his behaviour. Ordering for the Cerebral Pulsator to be switched on, he snaps at Fawn when the Spectrum doctor protests at the strength of the voltage that he has chosen.

Meanwhile, the radiographer is shocked to find the useless X-ray now showing Magnus’s hand as an ordinary black-and-white image. Fearing that Magnus is a Mysteron agent, he commands Captain Magenta to allow him entry to the Sickbay, but the Spectrum officer is maintaining a strict armed guard at the door. Instead, the radiographer rushes to Colonel White in the control room.

After applying the electrodes, Tiempo’s pulse and breathing rapidly become spasmodic, but Magnus sends the Pulsator into overdrive and the general is killed by the seizure. However, Dr Fawn lifts the cover over the patient’s face and Magnus finds to his horror that Tiempo was replaced with Captain Scarlet. Colonel White orders for Magnus to be placed under arrest, but the Mysteron agent has other ideas and smashes his way out of the Sickbay, knocking out Captain Magenta. Captain Blue follows Magnus into the generator room and tries to reason with him, but the doctor rebuffs his words. Blue knocks a ladder over Magnus and the Mysteron agent is killed when he comes into contact with naked electrical circuitry.

General Tiempo thanks Colonel White for Spectrum’s help and White directs the gratitude to the revived Captain Scarlet. The Colonel then announces a desire to exploit the Mysteron weaknesses of resistance to X-ray and vulnerability to high-voltage current.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Regular voice cast

[edit] Guest voice cast

  • Dr Magnus — Martin King
  • General J.F. Tiempo — Paul Maxwell
  • Dr Turner — Gary Files
  • Morgan — Charles Tingwell
  • 1st Student — Gary Files
  • 2nd Student — Jeremy Wilkin
  • Porter Benson — Paul Maxwell
  • Radiographer — Jeremy Wilkin
  • Nurse — Liz Morgan

[edit] Notes

  • The Mysteron weaknesses discovered in this episode are developed in the episode "Spectrum Strikes Back".

[edit] External links

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