Winged Assassin

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"Winged Assassin"
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episode
Episode no. Episode 02
Directed by David Lane
Written by Tony Barwick
Cinematography by Paddy Seale
Editing by Harry MacDonald
Production code 02
Original air date 6 October 1967 (1967-10-06)
Guest actors

Voices of:
Charles Tingwell as
Captain Brown (flashback)
Spectrum Agent 042
Airport Operator
Janna Hill as
Intercontinental Airlines Announcer
Paul Maxwell as
DT19 Pilot
Neil McCallum as
Airport Chief (uncredited)[1]
Martin King as
DT19 Co-Pilot
Jeremy Wilkin as
Director General Xian Yoh
Director General Impersonator

Episode chronology
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"The Mysterons"		 Next →
"Big Ben Strikes Again"
List of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episodes

"Winged Assassin" is the second episode of the Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It was first broadcast in the UK on 6 October 1967 (1967-10-06) on ATV Midlands. It was written by Tony Barwick and directed by David Lane. In this episode, Captain Scarlet establishes his indestructibility as Spectrum tries to prevent the Mysterons from assassinating the Director General of the United Asian Republic.

Due to similarities between the plotline and the September 11 attacks,[1] "Winged Assassin" was held back in the BBC Two transmission schedule when Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons was re-run on British television in 2001.[1] Footage from "Winged Assassin" was re-edited and included in the Captain Scarlet compilation film Captain Scarlet vs the Mysterons in 1980.

Plot

The Mysterons threaten to assassinate the Director General of the United Asian Republic, Xian Yoh, who is completing a tour of the United Kingdom. One night, a sniper targets the Director General in his London hotel room, only for Spectrum officer Captain Grey, acting as bodyguard, to shoot him dead. Maximum security is imposed at London International Airport, from which the Director General is due to leave Britain. On the permission of Colonel White, the Mysteron reconstruction of Captain Scarlet, who has assumed the consciousness of the deceased human agent and is now "indestructible", returns to official duties to lead the protection operation with Captain Blue. Elsewhere, the Mysterons engineer a power failure on airliner Delta-Tango 19, which plunges into the Atlantic Ocean with the deaths of all on board. An unmanned reconstruction of the plane continues on the original flight path from New York to London.

An impersonator Director General is driven to London Airport in a false motorcade. Meanwhile, the real Xian Yoh arrives in Yellow Fox, a secure Spectrum transporter with the appearance of a fuel tanker. When DT19 lands a short distance from the Director General's private jet, Scarlet experiences a sudden nausea which precedes the revelation to the Control Tower personnel that the airliner is a weapon: breaking off from the terminal building, it charges forward, threatening to crush the jet. Leaving the Control Tower in their Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle, Scarlet and Blue attempt to fire at DT19's undercarriage, but the projectile gun is jammed. Activating Blue's ejection seat, Scarlet rams the wheels and succeeds in halting the airliner, but then collides with a radar bunker, sustaining fatal injuries. Meanwhile, the jet lifts off but fails to gain sufficient altitude, clipping DT19's wing, crashing into a field and killing all including the Director General. Blue assures the airport chief that, despite Spectrum's defeat, Scarlet will return to face the Mysterons again.

Production

A flashback to the death of the original Captain Scarlet and Captain Brown in "The Mysterons" does not include the blue monochrome effect which was used to indicate the Mysteron presence in the first episode.[1][2] It is in this episode that the "Mysteron rings" make their first appearance, trailing the reconstruction of DT19. According to character dialogue, the events of "Winged Assassin" are set on 10 July,[3] supposedly along with those of "Treble Cross" and the end of "Flight to Atlantica".[4] Writer Tony Barwick often inserted references to this particular date into his scripts since 10 July was his birthday.[5] This episode is the first to feature Neil McCallum as a guest character. McCallum provides the voice of the Airport Controller and the DT19 Pilot. He went on to make three further uncredited contributions to the series: "Big Ben Strikes Again", "Codename Europa" and "Expo 2068". The incidental music for "Winged Assassin", a suite running to 4 minutes 38 seconds,[6] was recorded by Barry Gray in a four-hour[7] studio session on 3 April 1967 (1967-04-03).[7]

Broadcast

"Winged Assassin" was postponed on its scheduled first airdate in ATV London region, 8 October 1967 (1967-10-08), due to the death of former British Prime Minister Clement Attlee the same day.[8] A tribute programme was run in its place.[8] The British Board of Film Classification notes that "Winged Assassin" contains "some action and mild horror"[9] in spite of its "U" certificate.[9] When a digitally-remastered re-run of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons began in the United Kingdom in September 2001, "Winged Assassin" was originally to be broadcast as the second episode as recommended by the continuity.[1] However, it was postponed from its BBC Two transmission date of 17 September 2001 (2001-09-17) due to parallels between the plot, which revolves around the Mysteron "hi-jacking" of an airliner, and the September 11 attacks which occurred during the previous week.[1][10][11] At the same time, the Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons pages on the Carlton website were taken down.[11] The episode was eventually broadcast much later in the run.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Bentley: Gerry Anderson, 121.
  2. ↑ Bentley: Captain Scarlet, 60.
  3. ↑ Drake, Chris; Bassett, Graeme (1993). Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. London: Boxtree. p. 52. ISBN 1-85283-403-X. 
  4. ↑ Bentley: Gerry Anderson, 134.
  5. ↑ Bentley: Captain Scarlet, 78.
  6. ↑ "Captain Scarlet Music CD Release Information". soundtrack-express.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2006. Retrieved 14 March 2010. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 de Klerk, Theo (25 December 2003). "Complete Studio-Recording List of Barry Gray". tvcentury21.com. Archived from the original on 13 December 2009. Retrieved 14 March 2010. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Billen, Andrew (21 February 2005). "Andrew Billen — Red-Hot Hero". New Statesman (London: Spencer Neal). ISSN 1364-7431. OCLC 35012871. Archived from the original on 13 December 2009. Retrieved 1 October 2009. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 ""Winged Assassin" rated "U" by the BBFC". bbfc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 9 June 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2010. 
  10. ↑ "Toonhound.com entry". Archived from the original on 3 May 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2009. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "The Hound — October 2001: Scarlet faces ...". toonhound.com. October 2001. Archived from the original on 9 April 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2009. 
Bibliography
  • Bentley, Chris (2001). The Complete Book of Captain Scarlet. London: Carlton Books. pp. 60, 78. ISBN 1-84222-405-0. 
  • Bentley, Chris (2008) [2001]. The Complete Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Episode Guide (4 ed.). Richmond, London: Reynolds and Hearn. pp. 121, 134. ISBN 978-1-905287-74-1. 

External links

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See also
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