Seek and Destroy (Captain Scarlet)

"Seek and Destroy" is the 15th episode of the Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on 5 January 1968 (1968-01-05) on ATV Midlands, was written by Peter Curran and David Williams and directed by Alan Perry.

In this episode, a Mysteron threat to kill one of the Spectrum Angels leads to aerial combat between Melody and her team and a squad of reconstructed Angel fighters. The frequent special effects sequences and aerial shots in "Seek and Destroy" have garnered praise for the episode.^[1]

Plot

A transporter is ferrying valuable cargo to a warehouse but is intercepted by Captain Black. Shooting the driver, Jackson, the Mysteron agent deliberately starts a fire which obliterates the building and everything inside it. Surveying the wreckage with a fire chief, the company director, Fairfield, reveals the contents of the transporter's shipment: three new Spectrum Angel jets, fitted with engines and awaiting spraying and testing before delivery to Cloudbase. At that moment, however, three aircraft fly over the warehouse, bearing a strong resemblance to the planes that were destroyed in Black's arson attack.

Meanwhile, the Mysterons have informed Spectrum that they intend to kill one of the Spectrum Angels. Destiny is the only one of the five women currently away from Cloudbase, and Colonel White dispatches Captains Scarlet and Blue to retrieve her from her vacation leave in Paris when Lieutenant Green's attempts to contact her prove unsuccessful. The officers eventually locate Destiny at a café and the group depart for the nearest airport, only to find themselves ambushed on a country road by the reconstructed, unpiloted Angel fighters. Fortunately, the real Angels, led by Melody, soon arrive at the danger zone and engage the enemy. After shooting down one of them, Harmony is hit and is forced to eject, but Rhapsody manages to eliminate another. Finally, the third plane is destroyed when it performs a suicidal nosedive with Melody in pursuit. Melody, however, reacts quickly enough to avoid crashing her own jet. On the ground, the Mysteron attack has reduced the Spectrum Saloon that Scarlet, Blue and Destiny were travelling in to a charred wreck, leading Blue to quip that it will be "a long walk to Cloudbase".

Production

In the episode, the crate containing the unfinished Angel fighters is picked up by Jackson's transporter in a motion which is described in the shooting script as similar to "Thunderbird 2 picking up a pod".^[2][3] Destiny Angel's hotel room is the same set used for the accommodation of the Director General in the episode "Winged Assassin", while the exterior of the hotel also appears as the SHEF Headquarters in "Point 783".^[2] The finished episode deletes a concluding scene in which Destiny Angel finds that a bottle of perfume that she purchased in Paris has survived the destruction of the Spectrum Saloon.^[3]

Reception

In their Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episode guide, Chris Drake and Graeme Bassett praise the aerial sequences in "Seek and Destroy",^[1] summarising that the episode is "an excellent showcase for the Angel aircraft, as well as providing the small 'Flying Unit' of Century 21 with an opportunity to express themselves in full."^[1] Rating the episode "U",^[4] the British Board of Film Classification notes that "Seek and Destroy" contains "infrequent, very mild" violence.^[4]

Later appearances

Footage from "Seek and Destroy" was re-edited and used in Captain Scarlet vs the Mysterons, a Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons compilation film created in 1980.

References

External links

• "Seek and Destroy" at TV.com
• "Seek and Destroy" at Fanderson.org.uk
• "Seek and Destroy" at CliveBanks.co.uk
• "Seek and Destroy" at TheVervoid.com