The Heart of New York (Captain Scarlet)

"The Heart of New York" is the 11th episode of the British Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. Written by Tony Barwick and directed by Alan Perry, it was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on 8 December 1967 on ATV Midlands. In this episode, a gang of strictly human bank robbers attempt to outwit Spectrum as the Mysterons threaten to destroy the "heart of New York".

As was also the case with "Winged Assassin" and "Big Ben Strikes Again", similarities between the plot of "The Heart of New York" and the attacks of September 11, 2001 resulted in the episode's postponement during a repeat run of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons on BBC Two in late 2001.

Plot

The Spectrum Security Vaults are raided by criminals Kruger and Doig. Despite promising intelligence collected by their associate, Carl, they discover only documentation and microfilm that, although classified, is of no material value. Nevertheless, Kruger is fascinated by the files detailing Earth's conflict with Mars and intends to "get the Mysterons to work for us." Elsewhere, the Mysterons announce that they have studied human greed and corruption and plan to strike at the "heart of New York". While the civilian population is evacuated and the perimeter roadblocked, Captains Scarlet and Blue search the city for concealed explosive devices.

Kruger, Doig and Carl irritate a forest fire lookout by feigning drunkenness. They then fake their own deaths, planting dummies of themselves inside their car before sending it crashing down a hillside, leading the lookout to believe that the apparently drunk men have been killed. The three later return and, now claiming to be Mysteron reconstructions, vow to destroy the New York Second National Bank. Colonel White is unwilling to endanger lives to protect such a target and orders all Spectrum personnel to withdraw to the roadblocks.

The criminals soon appear at a roadblock manned by Captain Magenta, with FBI identification to hand. A Mysteron Detector check by Captain Ochre comes back negative and Magenta permits them to enter the city. Arriving at the Second National Bank with a crate of plastic explosive, the men are counting on being able to escape with the whole East Coast gold reserve. However, after the vault is blown open, they are caught unawares by Captain Black, who locks them in and reveals that the bank will be shortly be obliterated.

At Magenta's roadblock, Scarlet is puzzled how the criminals knew that the Mysterons had narrowed their target when that intelligence had been circulated among Spectrum personnel only. Realising that the Second National bank is in the process of being robbed, Scarlet and Blue rush to apprehend the men, but turn their Spectrum Patrol Car around when they notice Black driving the criminals' grey saloon. Black evades Spectrum when the Mysterons use their powers to teleport him to safety and the Second National Bank is razed to the ground in a bomb explosion. On Cloudbase, Colonel White refuses to accept that Kruger, Doig and Carl were the typical greedy and corrupt humans that the Mysterons deplored, confident in his belief that the good of humanity will ultimately prevail over the Martian evil.

Production

The Mysteron's vanishing power is demonstrated for the first time in this episode and is seen again in "Model Spy", "Expo 2068" and "Inferno".^[1][2] It appears that Black is able to control this power himself, giving him the ability to make inanimate objects appear and disappear.^[1] For realism, the Second National Bank model was constructed at ¹⁄₁₂ scale.^[3]

The puppet that plays Kruger would become one of the most frequently used puppets in the Supermarionation TV series of the late 1960s:^[1] other appearances in Captain Scarlet alone include "Winged Assassin",^[1] "Big Ben Strikes Again", "Point 783", "Avalanche", "The Trap" and "Special Assignment".^[4] It would later return as Commander Kavoc in the Joe 90 episode "Arctic Adventure" and as the Dreisenberg ambassador in the The Secret Service episode "A Case For The Bishop".^[1] The Carl puppet originally appeared as Lieutenant Belmont in "White As Snow", while the puppet that plays Doig makes its sole appearance in this episode.^[4] The fire lookout was previously Major Brooks in "Point 783" and Commander Goddard in "The Trap", while the Spectrum Security Vaults guard would feature regularly as Shane Weston in Joe 90.^[4]

This episode contains a number of continuity errors. In the puppet shots of Scarlet, Blue and Black driving down through New York, trees and bushes are seen to be in front of the city buildings in the background, while in the model shots no vegetation lines the streets.^[4] In the scene in which Kruger, Doig and Carl persuade the lookout that they are Mysteron agents, the colour of Kruger's jacket switches from mauve to magenta between the puppet and close-up live-action shots while the lookout is sprayed with knockout gas.

Broadcast

When Captain Scarlet was repeated on BBC Two in late 2001, "The Heart of New York" was originally scheduled to be broadcast as the 11th episode, but was later postponed due to parallels between the plot, in which New York comes under attack by the Mysterons, and the attacks that occurred there on 11 September that year. Along with "Winged assassin" and "Big Ben Strikes Again", which were similarly held back on account of their storylines, the episode was broadcast later in the line-up.^[5][6]

Reception

James Stansfield, of the website Den of Geek, ranks "The Heart of New York" second in his list of the top ten Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episodes.^[2] Stansfield considers the episode "memorable and unique" because of the fact that "the Mysterons [are not] really the villains".^[2] He praises the scenes of the evacuation of New York, describing the silence as "eerie".^[2] Summing up the story, he commends it as a "great episode with a really different storyline to it".^[2]

References

Bibliography

External links

• "The Heart of New York" at TV.com
• "The Heart of New York" at Fanderson.org.uk
• "The Heart of New York" at TheVervoid.com