''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', often shortened to ''Captain Scarlet'', is a British science fiction television series created by
Gerry and
Sylvia Anderson
Sylvia Beatrice Anderson (; 25 March 1927 – 15 March 2016) was an English television and film producer, writer, voice actress and costume designer, best known for her collaborations with Gerry Anderson, her husband between 1960 and 1981. In a ...
and filmed by their production company
Century 21 Productions
AP Films or APF, later becoming Century 21 Productions, was a British independent film production company of the 1950s until the early 1970s. The company became internationally known for its imaginative children's action-adventure marionette tel ...
for distributor
ITC Entertainment
The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in production and distribution of television programmes.
History Incorporated Television Programme Compan ...
. Running to thirty-two 25-minute episodes, it was first broadcast on
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
regional franchises between 1967 and 1968 and has since been transmitted in more than 40 other countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. It is one of several Anderson series that were filmed using a form of electronic
marionette
A marionette (; french: marionnette, ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed ...
puppetry dubbed "
Supermarionation" combined with
scale model special effects sequences.
Set in 2068, ''Captain Scarlet'' follows the "
war of nerves
War is an intense armed conflict between State (polity), states, governments, Society, societies, or paramilitary groups such as Mercenary, mercenaries, Insurgency, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violenc ...
" between Earth and the
Mysteron
The Mysterons are a fictional race of extraterrestrials and the antagonists in the 1960s British Supermarionation science-fiction television series ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' (1967–68) and its 2005 computer-animated remake, ''Ge ...
s, a race of
Martian
Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s as the Moon was evidently lifeless. At the time, the pr ...
s who possess partial control over matter. When a misunderstanding causes human astronauts to attack their city on Mars, the Mysterons vow revenge and launch reprisals against Earth. These are countered by Spectrum, a worldwide security organisation. In the first episode, Spectrum agent
Captain Scarlet acquires the Mysterons' self-healing power of "retrometabolism" and is thus rendered "indestructible", being able to recover from otherwise fatal injuries. In this way, Scarlet becomes Spectrum's top asset in its fight against the Mysterons.
''Captain Scarlet'', the eighth of the Andersons' ten puppet series, was preceded by ''
Thunderbirds'' and followed by ''
Joe 90
''Joe 90'' is a 1968–1969 British Science fiction on television, science-fiction television series created by Gerry Anderson, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company, AP Films#Century 21, Century 21, for ITC Enterta ...
'' and ''
The Secret Service
''The Secret Service'' is a 1969 British science fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company, Century 21, for ITC Entertainment. It follows the exploits of Father Stanley Unwin, a pup ...
''. In terms of visual aesthetic, it represents a departure from ''Thunderbirds'' in its use of non-caricatured puppets sculpted to realistic body proportions. Repeated several times in the UK, it has generated tie-ins from
toy car
A model car, or toy car, is a miniature representation of an automobile. Other miniature motor vehicles, such as trucks, buses, or even ATVs, etc. are often included in this general category. Because many miniature vehicles were originally aime ...
s and
action figure
An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually mark ...
s to
audio play
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...
s and original novels, as well as strips in the weekly children's comic ''
TV Century 21
''TV Century 21'', later renamed ''TV21'', ''TV21 and Tornado'', ''TV21 and Joe 90'', and ''TV21'' again, was a weekly British children's comic published by City Magazines during the latter half of the 1960s. Originally produced in partnership ...
''.
Compared to ''Thunderbirds'' and earlier Anderson productions, ''Captain Scarlet'' is generally considered "darker" in tone and less suited to child audiences due to its violent content and themes of alien aggression and interplanetary war.
The change in puppet design has divided opinion, while the wisdom of making the protagonist "indestructible" has also been questioned.
However, the series has been praised for its use of a multinational, multi-ethnic puppet cast and depiction of a
utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island societ ...
n future Earth.
A computer-animated
reboot
In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
, ''
Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet
''Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet'' (more commonly ''New Captain Scarlet'' or ''NCS'') is a British computer generated action-adventure reboot of the 1967 Supermarionation series, ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons''. Both series were ...
'', was first broadcast in 2005.
Plot
The series begins in 2068. In the first episode, the crew of the ''
Zero-X
''Zero-X'' (spelling variants include "''Zero X''" or "''ZeroX''") is a fictional Earth spacecraft that first appeared in two of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Supermarionation productions, the 1966 film '' Thunderbirds Are Go'' and the 1967 te ...
'' spacecraft are investigating the surface of
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...
after mysterious radio signals are found to be coming from the planet.
[Production documents confirm that the ''Zero-X'' is of the type introduced in the film '' Thunderbirds Are Go'', placing ''Captain Scarlet'' in the same fictional universe as ''Thunderbirds'' (Bentley 2001, p. 59). Character biographies in Bentley's ''The Complete Book of Captain Scarlet'' also place '']Fireball XL5
''Fireball XL5'' is a 1960s British children's science-fiction puppet television series about the missions of ''Fireball XL5'', a vessel of the World Space Patrol that polices the cosmos in the year 2062. Commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac, ''XL5' ...
'' and '' Stingray'' in this universe (Bentley 2001, pp. 46–47, 50).[ Episode 1.] The source is discovered to be an alien city, which the astronauts destroy in a missile attack after mistaking a harmless surveillance device for a weapon.
The city's inhabitants, the
Mysteron
The Mysterons are a fictional race of extraterrestrials and the antagonists in the 1960s British Supermarionation science-fiction television series ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' (1967–68) and its 2005 computer-animated remake, ''Ge ...
s, are a collective of sentient computers that possess partial control over matter and communicate in a deep, echoing voice. After using their power of "reversing matter" to rebuild their city, they swear revenge for humanity's unwarranted aggression and declare war on Earth.
Also called "retrometabolism", reversing matter enables the Mysterons to re-create people and objects as facsimiles that they can control.
[ Episode 2.] This ability is used to wage a "
war of nerves
War is an intense armed conflict between State (polity), states, governments, Society, societies, or paramilitary groups such as Mercenary, mercenaries, Insurgency, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violenc ...
" against Earth in which the Mysterons issue threats against specific targets (from world leaders and military installations to entire cities and continents) and then destroy and reconstruct whatever instruments are needed (whether human beings or objects) to carry out their plans. The presence of the Mysterons is indicated by twin rings of green light that are projected onto scenes of destruction and reconstruction. Although the aliens are able to influence events from Mars, their actions on Earth are usually performed by their replicated intermediaries.
''Zero-X'' mission leader
Captain Black becomes the Mysterons' primary agent when they seize control of his mind.
[Black's transformation into a Mysteron agent is indicated by a paling of his skin combined with a deepening of his voice to match that of the Mysterons.] Prior to the events of the series, Black was an officer in Spectrum, a worldwide security organisation that mobilises its personnel, vehicles and other resources to counter the threat posed by the Mysterons. Spectrum's most senior agents hold military ranks and colour codenames and are posted to the organisation's headquarters, Cloudbase – an
airborne aircraft carrier
An airborne aircraft carrier is a type of mother ship aircraft which can carry, launch, retrieve and support other smaller parasite aircraft.
The only dedicated examples to have been built were airships, although existing heavier-than-air ai ...
stationed above the Earth's surface – where they answer to its commander-in-chief,
Colonel White
Colonel White is a character in the 1960s British Supermarionation television series ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' and its 2005 CGI remake, '' Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet''. In both series, he is the commander-in-chief of Spectr ...
.
[In communications, Spectrum personnel use the expression "S.I.G." ("Spectrum Is Green") as their affirmative code. The negative, "S.I.R." ("Spectrum Is Red"), is rarely used in the series.][ Episode 19.] Cloudbase is defended by Angel Interceptor fighters flown by an all-female team of pilots headed by Destiny Angel, while the base's computer systems are operated by White's assistant,
Lieutenant Green
Lieutenant Green is a fictional character in the 1960s British Supermarionation television series ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' and its 2000s computer-animated remake, '' Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet''.
In both series, Green serv ...
.
["Lieutenant" is generally pronounced in the British manner, (), by all but the American characters.] Spectrum also incorporates a fleet of armoured
Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle
The Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle (or SPV) is a fictional pursuit and attack vehicle from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's science-fiction television series ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' (1967).
Specifications
The metallic-blue, tank-like SPV serves ...
s (SPV), which are hidden in secret locations around the world, as well as
patrol cars, maximum-security transports, passenger jet aircraft and machine gun-equipped helicopters.
Captain Scarlet becomes Spectrum's main asset in its fight against the Mysterons after the events of the first episode, in which the Mysterons attempt to assassinate the World President as their first act of retaliation.
[In ''Captain Scarlet'', power from many individual nations has been vested in a ]world government
World government is the concept of a single political authority with jurisdiction over all humanity. It is conceived in a variety of forms, from tyrannical to democratic, which reflects its wide array of proponents and detractors.
A world gove ...
, headed by a president and possessing its own military and security forces. Spectrum is a unified operation set up to be unhindered by interdepartmental red tape, thus providing more efficient service (Bentley 2001, p. 43).[Bentley 2001, p. 44.] The original Scarlet is killed in a car accident engineered by the Mysterons and replaced with a reconstruction.
However, after being shot by Spectrum's
Captain Blue and falling to his death from the top of a tower, the reconstruction returns to life with the consciousness of the original Scarlet restored and is thereafter free of Mysteron control.
[According to ''The Complete Book of Captain Scarlet'', the Mysterons intended Scarlet's double to be "indestructible" (Bentley 2001, p. 44). This is in contrast with other reconstructions, which are permanently destroyed when killed.] With his new Mysteron body, Scarlet possesses two extraordinary abilities: he can sense other reconstructions nearby, and if injured or killed, his retrometabolism will restore him to full health, making him virtually "indestructible". As hostilities with Mars continue, Scarlet repeatedly sacrifices himself to thwart the Mysterons, safe in the knowledge that he will always return to face them again.
Over the course of the series, it is found that Mysteron reconstructions are especially vulnerable to electricity and can be identified through X-rays, which cannot penetrate their alien biology.
[ Episode 8.] These discoveries allow Spectrum to develop two anti-Mysteron devices: the "Mysteron Gun" and "Mysteron Detector".
[In " Spectrum Strikes Back", it is stated that the Mysteron Gun is "the only gun that kills a Mysteron." However, other episodes show the Mysterons to be vulnerable to conventional bullets.][ Episode 9.] A three-episode story arc focuses on the discovery of a Mysteron outpost on the Moon, its destruction by Spectrum, and Spectrum's efforts to negotiate with the Mysterons after converting the base's salvaged power source into an interplanetary communication device.
[ Episode 12.][ Episode 17.] A failed attempt to survey Mars from space,
[ Episode 18.] aborted military conferences
[ Episode 7.][ Episode 22.] and the sabotaged construction of a new Earth space fleet
[ Episode 24.] hinder Spectrum's progress in taking the fight to the Mysterons, and the organisation twice fails to capture Captain Black.
[ Episode 4.][ Episode 21.] In the penultimate episode, the Mysterons destroy Cloudbase itself, but this is later revealed to be a nightmare dreamt by one of the Angels.
[ Episode 31.] The final episode is a
clip show
A clip show is an episode of a television series that consists primarily of excerpts from previous episodes. Most clip shows feature the format of a frame story in which cast members recall past events from past installments of the show, depicte ...
that leaves the conflict between Earth and Mars unresolved.
[ Episode 32.]
Production
When efforts to secure an American network broadcaster for ''Thunderbirds'' fell through in July 1966,
Lew Grade
Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 1954 ...
, owner and financial backer of the Andersons' production company
AP Films
AP Films or APF, later becoming Century 21 Productions, was a British independent film production company of the 1950s until the early 1970s. The company became internationally known for its imaginative children's action-adventure marionette tel ...
(APF), capped ''Thunderbirds'' Series Two at six episodes and cancelled the production.
[Bentley 2001, p. 13.] Having overseen APF's work since the making of ''
Supercar
A supercar – also called exotic car – is a loosely defined description of street-legal, high-performance sports cars. Since the 2010s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performing supercars. Supercars commonly serve as t ...
'' in 1960, Grade was keen for Supermarionation to penetrate the lucrative American market and believed that a new series stood a better chance of landing a sale than a second series of ''Thunderbirds''.
As a result of the cancellation, Gerry Anderson was forced to come up with an idea for a new Supermarionation series. He had once been inspired by the thought of creating a live-action police drama in which the hero would have unexpectedly been murdered halfway through the series and replaced by a new lead character.
[Bentley 2001, p. 14.] Now giving fresh consideration to this idea, Anderson realised that a major selling point for his new production could be a character who is killed at the end of each episode and resurrected by the start of the next. This, coupled with contemporary theories about the possibility of
life on Mars
The possibility of life on Mars is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to the planet's proximity and similarities to Earth. To date, no proof of past or present life has been found on Mars. Cumulative evidence suggests that during the ...
, led to the idea of an interplanetary war between Earth and its neighbour and a worldwide security organisation being called upon to defend humanity.
[Bentley 2001, p. 5.] After further thought, Anderson decided that "Scarlet" would be a suitably unusual name for this organisation's "indestructible" agent, while his partner in the field could be called "Blue". From this, Anderson reasoned that all personnel should have colour codenames and that the organisation should be called "Spectrum". Noting that white light is composed of, and
can be broken down into, the colours of the spectrum, he named Spectrum's leader "White".
Intrigued by the oft-heard phrase "life as we know it", Anderson wanted to set his alien villains apart from the conventional extraterrestrials of 1960s TV and film. Working from a basis of "life as we ''don't'' know it", he made the Mysterons a collective of sentient computers rather than a race of organic lifeforms (though their exact nature is not explicitly stated in the series itself). The intention was that the original Mysterons were
extragalactic beings that established a base on Mars in the distant past before abandoning the planet at the start of the 20th century, leaving their computers behind them.
Anderson's recollections of the Second World War provided inspiration for a number of design aspects. For example, he remembered that during the
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
,
RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
pilots had found it difficult to counter German attacks because having to take off from the ground meant that it took a long time to intercept the enemy. He therefore made Spectrum's headquarters,
Cloudbase
Spectrum Cloudbase, often shortened to Cloudbase, is the fictional skyborne headquarters of the international security organisation Spectrum from Gerry Anderson's science-fiction television series ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' (1967–68). ...
, an airborne aircraft carrier. According to Anderson, the Mysteron rings were inspired by a TV advertisement for wool that featured the
Woolmark Woolmark is a wool industry certification mark used on pure wool products that meet quality standards set by The Woolmark Company. It is a trade mark owned by The Woolmark Company, which has since 2007 been a subsidiary of Australian Wool Innovation ...
logo being projected onto a woman.
Writing and filming
![Gerry Anderson](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Gerry_Anderson.jpg)
Adopting "''The Mysterons''" as their working title, Anderson and his wife
Sylvia wrote a pilot script in August 1966. This differed significantly from the completed
first episode
A series premiere is the first aired installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. In the United States, many series premieres are aired in the fall time or, for mid-season replacements, either in the spring or ...
. Originally, it was conceived that the Mysteron reconstruction of Captain Scarlet would be resurrected using an advanced computer, after which he would no longer be a true flesh-and-blood being but a "mechanical man" akin to an
android.
[The audio play ''Introducing Captain Scarlet'', set during the events of the first episode, indicates that Spectrum use an advanced computer to restore Scarlet's human personality.][Bentley 2001, p. 15.] Another plan, also dropped, was for each episode to feature a "guest star" puppet voiced by a famous actor: the World President, for example, was originally intended to be voiced by
Patrick McGoohan.
[Bentley 2001, p. 17.][Archer 1993, p. 38.]
With Gerry Anderson serving primarily as
executive producer, most of the writing was done by
Tony Barwick, who had previously written for ''Thunderbirds''.
[Bentley 2001, p. 31.] Originally ''Captain Scarlet''
'
s script editor, Barwick went on to pen 18 of its 32 episodes himself, besides making substantial revisions to other writers' work.
Discussing his approach to scriptwriting in a 1986 interview, Barwick compared the premise and characters of ''Captain Scarlet'' to those of ''Thunderbirds'' – for example, likening Spectrum to the heroic International Rescue and the character of Captain Black to recurring villain the
Hood
Hood may refer to:
Covering
Apparel
* Hood (headgear), type of head covering
** Article of academic dress
** Bondage hood, sex toy
* Hoodie, hooded sweatshirt
Anatomy
* Clitoral hood, a hood of skin surrounding the clitoris
* Hood, a flap of ...
.
Filming on the first episode, "The Mysterons", began on 2 January 1967 after two months of
pre-production
Pre-production is the process of planning some of the elements involved in a film, television show, play, or other performance, as distinct from production and post-production. Pre-production ends when the planning ends and the content start ...
.
[Bentley 2001, p. 22.] The budget for the series was set at £1.5 million (approximately £ million in ).
[Bentley 2008, p. 119.] At an average cost of £46,000 per episode, or £2,000 per minute, it was the most expensive Anderson production to date.
A month before, Anderson and his colleagues had dropped the name "AP Films" and renamed their company "
Century 21 Productions
AP Films or APF, later becoming Century 21 Productions, was a British independent film production company of the 1950s until the early 1970s. The company became internationally known for its imaginative children's action-adventure marionette tel ...
".
By the time ''Captain Scarlet'' entered production, many of the directors on earlier Anderson series – including
Alan Pattillo
Alan Huchison Pattillo (17 July 1929 – 16 January 2020) was a British writer and director who worked on ''Supercar'', '' Fireball XL5'', ''Stingray'', and '' Thunderbirds'' television series. He won an Emmy in 1979 alongside Bill Blunden for ...
,
David Elliott and
David Lane – had either left the company or were committed to the production of ''
Thunderbird 6
''Thunderbird 6'' is a 1968 British science fiction puppet film based on '' Thunderbirds'', a Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions. Written by ...
'', the second ''Thunderbirds'' feature film. Although Lane, Brian Burgess and
Desmond Saunders were able to reprise directorial duties for at least one episode each, the Andersons were forced to promote some of the junior production personnel to replace the outgoing directors. To this end, Alan Perry and
Ken Turner were promoted from the camera operator and art departments.
[Bentley 2001, p. 32.] Other directors were recruited from outside the company; among them was
Robert Lynn, who had been
assistant director on films including ''
Black Narcissus'', ''
Dracula'' and ''
The Revenge of Frankenstein
''The Revenge of Frankenstein'' is a 1958 Technicolor British horror film made by Hammer Film Productions. Directed by Terence Fisher, the film stars Peter Cushing, Francis Matthews, Michael Gwynn and Eunice Gayson. In the United States, it wa ...
''.
Although Saunders directed only the first episode, he stayed with the production as "supervising director" to guide the new recruits.
''Captain Scarlet'' was filmed in a set of converted factory units on the
Slough Trading Estate
The Slough Trading Estate founded in Slough in Buckinghamshire in 1920, was an early business park in the United Kingdom. According to the estate's owners and operators, Segro, Slough Trading Estate consists of of commercial property in Slough ...
,
Slough Trading Estate
The Slough Trading Estate founded in Slough in Buckinghamshire in 1920, was an early business park in the United Kingdom. According to the estate's owners and operators, Segro, Slough Trading Estate consists of of commercial property in Slough ...
: (filming and editing) which had served as Century 21's studios since the production of ''
Stingray'' in 1964.
[Bentley 2001, p. 12.] Continuing a practice that had started with earlier Anderson series, episodes were filmed in pairs on separate stages to speed up production. Filming overlapped with that of ''Thunderbird 6'', which was being shot on a different stage.
Production design duties were split between
Keith Wilson and John Lageu, the latter being responsible for the technical elements of the sets.
[La Rivière 2014, p. 248.] The Mysteron rings were created by panning a transparency of two green circles across the sets using a
slide projector
A slide projector is an opto-mechanical device for showing photographic slides.
35 mm slide projectors, direct descendants of the larger-format magic lantern, first came into widespread use during the 1950s as a form of occasional hom ...
, a method suggested by producer
Reg Hill
Reginald Eric Hill (16 May 1914 – 1999) was an English model-maker, art director, producer, and freelance storyboard artist. He is most prominently associated with the work of Gerry Anderson.
Early life
Born on 16 May 1914, Hill started his ...
.
The scale model-making and
special effects
Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wo ...
were handled by a separate unit headed by effects director
Derek Meddings
Derek Meddings (15 January 1931 – 10 September 1995) was a British film and television special effects designer. He was initially noted for his work on the " Supermarionation" TV puppet series produced by Gerry Anderson, and later for the ...
. It comprised two full-time effects crews and a "
second unit" responsible for shots presenting flying aircraft. One of the series' technical innovations was that the noses of miniature vehicles would now "dip" as they came to a stop, to imitate the sudden application of brakes on a real-life vehicle.
The vehicles were designed by Meddings or his assistant
Mike Trim: the former created Cloudbase, the SPV and the Angel fighter (the last of these during a flight to New York), while the latter produced many of the less prominent vehicles. The Cloudbase filming model, which was long, proved too heavy to be held up with wires so was instead mounted on a pole.
[Archer 1993, p. 23.][Bentley 2001, p. 21.] Some of Trim's creations, including the
Spectrum Patrol Car
The Spectrum Patrol Car (SPC) or Spectrum Saloon Car (SSC) is a fictional vehicle that appears in Gerry Anderson's science-fiction television series ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' (1967) and in revamped form in the remake '' Gerry Anderson' ...
, were originally meant to appear in only one episode, but proved so popular with the producers that they became regular features. As production continued, Trim's responsibilities grew, as Meddings was having to devote more and more of his time to the concurrent ''Thunderbird 6'' shoot.
When the series began airing in September 1967,
principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...
had been completed on the first 20 episodes.
[Bentley 2001, p. 41.] The puppet footage for each episode usually took two weeks or 11 working days to shoot.
[Bentley 2001, p. 34.] Although filming was originally expected to be completed in eight months, the demands of the ''Thunderbird 6'' shoot meant that it went on until November.
Puppet design
Supermarionation, a technique by which the movements of the puppets' mouths were electronically synchronised with pre-recorded dialogue, was first employed during the production of ''
Four Feather Falls
''Four Feather Falls'' is a British television programme, the third puppet TV show produced by Gerry Anderson for ITV Granada, Granada Television (now ITV Granada). It was based on an idea by Barry Gray, who also wrote the show's music. The ser ...
'' in 1960. In all Anderson series prior to ''Captain Scarlet'', the puppets' heads had been disproportionately large compared to the rest of their bodies as the cranium contained the
solenoid that powered the automatic mouth movements. Scaling up the bodies to match the heads was not an option, as the puppets would have become too heavy to operate and there was not enough studio space to enlarge all of the sets.
[Archer and Hearn, p. 151.] This gave the puppets a caricatured look that frustrated Gerry Anderson, who wanted their design to reflect natural
anatomical proportions.
Before ''Captain Scarlet'' entered production,
Reg Hill
Reginald Eric Hill (16 May 1914 – 1999) was an English model-maker, art director, producer, and freelance storyboard artist. He is most prominently associated with the work of Gerry Anderson.
Early life
Born on 16 May 1914, Hill started his ...
and associate producer
John Read created a new type of puppet with the solenoid built into the chest, thus enabling the heads to be scaled down to realistic size.
[Drake and Bassett, p. 203.]
After being sculpted in
Plasticine
Plasticine is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. Though originally a brand name for the British version of the product, it is now applied generically in English as a product category ...
, the puppet heads were moulded on a
silicone rubber base and finished in
fibreglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...
. At heights ranging from approximately one-third life sizethe next-generation puppets were no taller or shorter than their predecessors.
[Bentley 2001, p. 18.] As in earlier series, the main characters were given interchangeable heads with a range of expressions; these included "smiler", "frowner" and "blinker" heads.
Because episodes were to be filmed in pairs on separate stages, the "expressionless" heads were made in duplicate.
[Drake and Bassett, p. 266.] Costumes were designed by Sylvia Anderson, who drew inspiration from the work of French fashion designer
Pierre Cardin
Pierre Cardin (, , ), born Pietro Costante Cardino (2 July 1922 – 29 December 2020), was an Italian-born naturalised-French fashion designer. He is known for what were his avant-garde style and Space Age designs. He preferred geometric sha ...
(in particular, his 1966 "Cosmonaut" collection) in devising the Spectrum uniforms.
[Bentley 2001, p. 19.]
Despite their
realistic form, the new puppets were harder to animate on set, making the overall design ironically ''less'' lifelike than Gerry Anderson had intended.
Compared to the ''Thunderbirds'' cast, the ''Captain Scarlet'' puppets had inferior weight distribution: when standing, characters often had to be held in place with clamps and tape to prevent wobbling. The smaller heads made close-up shots difficult to obtain, and because most of the wires were headmounted, significantly reduced the puppeteers' level of control, with the result that head movements and other actions became jerkier. To reduce the amount of movement required, characters were frequently shown standing on moving walkways or sitting at moving desks: for example, Lieutenant Green operates the Cloudbase computer from a sliding chair and Colonel White's desk rotates. Puppeteer Jan King commented:
The "under-controlled" puppets described by King had no wires and were manipulated from the waist. One advantage of this method was that a puppet could pass through a doorway without necessitating a break in the shot. For shots of characters sitting in aircraft cockpits, variations of the "under-controlled" design were made comprising only a head and torso; these were operated using levers and wires located beneath the set.
Scarlet's appearance has been compared to that of his voice actor,
Francis Matthews, as well as
Roger Moore.
Ed Bishop, the voice of Captain Blue, believed that his character was modelled on him; however, Terry Curtis, who sculpted the Blue puppet said that he used himself as the template and simply added a blond wig after he learnt that Bishop would be supplying the voice.
Curtis, a ''
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
'' fan, based Captain Grey on
Sean Connery[Cull 2006 (August), p. 206.] and Destiny Angel on
Ursula Andress
Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss-German actress, former model and sex symbol who has appeared in American, British and Italian films. Her breakthrough role was as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, '' Dr. No'' (1962 ...
, Connery's co-star in ''
Dr No'' (1962).
Lieutenant Green was modelled on
Cy Grant
Cyril Ewart Lionel "Cy" Grant (8 November 1919 – 13 February 2010) was a Guyanese actor, musician, writer, and poet. In the 1950s, he became the first black person to be featured regularly on television in Britain,Kurt Barling '' The Inde ...
, who voiced the character, while Rhapsody Angel was based on
Jean Shrimpton
Jean Rosemary Shrimpton (born 7 November 1942) is an English model and actress. She was an icon of Swinging London and is considered to be one of the world's first supermodels.
She appeared on numerous magazine covers including ''Vogue,'' ''Har ...
, Melody Angel on
Eartha Kitt and Harmony Angel on
Tsai Chin Tsai Chin may refer to:
* Tsai Chin (actress) (born 1933), actress from Shanghai, also known as Irene Chow
* Tsai Chin (singer) (born 1957), Taiwanese singer
{{Hndis ...
.
Prior to ''Captain Scarlet'', guest characters had been sculpted in clay on an episode-by-episode basis. For ''Captain Scarlet'', however, these roles were played by a "
repertory company
A repertory theatre is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation.
United Kingdom
Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawing ...
" of over 50 puppets made to the same standards of workmanship as the regular characters.
Called "revamp puppets", or just "revamps", these puppets were superficially altered for each new role by changing the colours or styles of their wigs, or adding or removing facial hair.
Puppets from ''Captain Scarlet'' appeared in supporting roles in the final two Supermarionation series, ''
Joe 90
''Joe 90'' is a 1968–1969 British Science fiction on television, science-fiction television series created by Gerry Anderson, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company, AP Films#Century 21, Century 21, for ITC Enterta ...
'' and ''
The Secret Service
''The Secret Service'' is a 1969 British science fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company, Century 21, for ITC Entertainment. It follows the exploits of Father Stanley Unwin, a pup ...
''.
Response to the puppets
The redesigned puppets have drawn a mixed response from crew members and commentators. Some members of the crew believed that the new marionettes lacked the charm of the previous generation due to the natural body proportions that were now being used.
Director
David Lane recalls that when he first saw the prototype, "it was as if there was a little dead person in
he boxnbsp;... because it was perfect in all its proportions it just looked odd."
Sculptor John Brown remembers putting the prototype next to the
Lady Penelope
Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward is a fictional character introduced in the British 1960s Supermarionation television series '' Thunderbirds'', which was produced by AP Films (APF) for ITC Entertainment. The character also appears in the film seque ...
puppet from ''Thunderbirds'' and gauging his colleagues' response: "When they saw it, some people were horrified by the difference. Some didn't like it, some did."
It has been argued that facial expression was sacrificed to make the appearance more realistic. Sculptor Terry Curtis recalls:
Fellow sculptor John Blundall called the new design "ridiculous", criticising the attempts to make the puppets appear more lifelike on the basis that "we always try to do with puppets what you can't do with humans."
[Archer and Hearn, p. 152.] He suggested that the transition from caricature to realism was at the expense of the marionettes' "character and personality", arguing that "if the puppet appears completely natural, the audience no longer has to use its imagination."
Effects director
Derek Meddings
Derek Meddings (15 January 1931 – 10 September 1995) was a British film and television special effects designer. He was initially noted for his work on the " Supermarionation" TV puppet series produced by Gerry Anderson, and later for the ...
thought that although the new puppets were "very convincing miniature people", they were flawed in that audiences "couldn't identify one from the other. The heads were so small they didn't have any character to their faces."
Supervising puppeteer
Christine Glanville
Christine Glanville (born Nancy Christine Fletcher; 28 October 1924 – 1 March 1999) was an English puppeteer who spent much of her professional life contributing to television series produced by Gerry Anderson.
Career
Glanville became involv ...
considered the puppets "awful" from a practical perspective, recalling that their smaller, lighter heads rarely moved fluidly: "If you wanted them to turn their heads then more often than not there would be someone out of shot, with their fingers just above the puppet's head, actually turning it round."
Gerry Anderson said that he pushed for the new design to satisfy the audience, regarding it not as "a case of moving to a new technique, but more a case of incorporating new ideas with existing methods."
However, in later years he expressed doubts about the wisdom of the redesign: "
e problem was that exact and precise movements became more vital than ever and that caused us terrible difficulties."
The new design has been praised by Vincent Terrace,
Jeff Evans and
John Peel.
Applauding the transfer of the electronics from the heads to the bodies, Evans describes the puppets as "perfect in proportion", while Peel argues that the increased realism would not have put off audiences familiar with the earlier design.
A contrary view is held by Daniel O'Brien, who writes that the loss of the puppets' "idiosyncratic character" reduced them to the level of "de luxe
Action Men".
On the costume design, Mark Bould writes positively of the series' "commitment to fashion" and singles out the design of the Angel uniforms for particular praise.
Characters and voice cast
''Captain Scarlet'' had the largest regular puppet cast of any Supermarionation production.
[Drake and Bassett, p. 232.] Its use of a British protagonist was a departure from earlier series like ''Thunderbirds'', whose lead characters had been written as Americans to increase their appeal to the profitable US market.
Stephen La Rivière suggests that Century 21 had been encouraged to give greater prominence to British characters due to the transatlantic success of British programmes like ''
The Avengers'', ''
The Baron'' and ''
The Saint
The Saint may refer to:
Fiction
* Simon Templar, also known as "The Saint", the protagonist of a book series by Leslie Charteris and subsequent adaptations:
** ''The Saint'' (film series) (1938–43), starring Louis Hayward, George Sanders an ...
'', which had made it "altogether more acceptable to have English lead characters". Chris Drake and Graeme Bassett argue that the general style of the voice acting in ''Captain Scarlet'' was less exaggerated than before, relating this increased realism to the puppets' transition from caricatured to natural proportions.
[Drake and Bassett, p. 240.] According to
Simon Archer and Marcus Hearn, the proliferation of British accents between ''Thunderbirds'' and ''Captain Scarlet'' changed the sound of Supermarionation and its impression on the viewer.
Francis Matthews, who supplied the voice of Captain Scarlet, had turned down offers to voice characters in ''Thunderbirds''.
[Bentley 2001, p. 23.] According to Matthews, Gerry Anderson went to great lengths to cast him after being impressed by his imitation of
Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...
in a radio programme, and indeed the actor based the voice of Scarlet on Grant's
Mid-Atlantic tones.
[Archer 1993, p. 43.] Anderson, however, stated in his biography that the Grant impression was Matthews' choice at audition, and that while it was not the voice that had been intended for Scarlet the production was happy to use it.
[Archer and Hearn, p. 153.]
Matthews' co-star in the film ''
Dracula: Prince of Darkness'' (1966) had been
Charles Tingwell
Charles William Tingwell AM (3 January 1923 – 15 May 2009), known professionally as Bud Tingwell or Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, was an Australian film, television, theatre and radio actor. One of the veterans of Australian film, he acted in his ...
, who was chosen to voice Cloudbase medical officer Dr Fawn. Tingwell, who had provided voices for Series Two of ''Thunderbirds'' as well as the feature film ''
Thunderbirds Are Go'', had been recommended by fellow Australian
Ray Barrett
Raymond Charles Barrett (2 May 19278 September 2009) was an Australian actor. During the 1960s, he was a leading actor on British television, where he was best known for his appearances in ''The Troubleshooters'' (1965–1971). From the 1970s, ...
, a regular voice artist on ''Stingray'' and ''Thunderbirds''.
[Bentley 2001, p. 29.] Due to theatre commitments, Tingwell left the series following the completion of the first 12 episodes.
Departing at the same time was
Paul Maxwell
Paul Maxwell (born Maxim Popovich; November 12, 1921December 19, 1991) was a Canadian actor who worked mostly in British cinema and television, in which he was usually cast as American characters. In terms of audience, his most notable role w ...
, the voice of Captain Grey (and previously Steve Zodiac in ''
Fireball XL5
''Fireball XL5'' is a 1960s British children's science-fiction puppet television series about the missions of ''Fireball XL5'', a vessel of the World Space Patrol that polices the cosmos in the year 2062. Commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac, ''XL5' ...
'' and Captain Travers in ''Thunderbirds Are Go''), who left to take up the role of
Steve Tanner in ''
Coronation Street''.
In Tingwell and Maxwell's absence, Fawn and Grey's roles were reduced to a handful of non-speaking appearances, though guest characters voiced by the actors can be heard in
flashbacks to earlier episodes.
Cy Grant, the voice of Lieutenant Green, was known to the Andersons for his appearances on ''
Tonight
Tonight may refer to:
Television
* ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC
* ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...
'', in which he sang
calypsos inspired by current affairs.
The casting of Grant led to that of Ed Bishop as Captain Blue. Bishop, who was working in theatre and had the same agent as Grant, recalled in an interview: "And
y agent's representativesaid, 'Oh, by the way, Mr Anderson, we've just taken on a new, young American actor' – shows you how long ago it was – 'a new American actor, name of Edward Bishop. And we know how much you like American voices. Would you like to meet him as well?'"
Donald Gray
Donald Gray (born Eldred Owermann Tidbury, 3 March 1914 – 7 April 1978) was a South African actor, well known for his starring role in the British TV series ''Mark Saber'', for providing the voices of Colonel White, Captain Black and the ...
, who had found himself
typecast
In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...
after playing the lead role of detective Mark Saber in ''
The Vise
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'', was having to resort to voice work to sustain his acting career.
[Bentley 2001, p. 25.] He had three regular roles in ''Captain Scarlet'': Colonel White, the Mysterons and Captain Black (who, after being taken over by the Mysterons, speaks in their voice). The deep, echoing tones of Black and the Mysterons were created by recording Gray's lines at high speed and then playing them back at normal speed.
The voice of Captain Ochre was provided by
Jeremy Wilkin
David Jeremy Wilkin (6 June 1930 – 19 December 2017) was an English actor, best known for his contributions to the television productions of Gerry Anderson.
Born in Byfleet, Surrey, Wilkin emigrated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada after completi ...
, who had voiced
Virgil Tracy
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...
in ''Thunderbirds'' Series Two. Captain Magenta, meanwhile, was voiced by
Gary Files
Gary Files is an Australian-Canadian actor, theatre director and radio writer who has worked in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. Resident in Australia since 1976, Files is noted for the accentual versatility of his radio-based voice a ...
, who had provided supporting voices in ''Thunderbird 6''.
Liz Morgan was new to the Anderson productions and voiced Destiny Angel, leader of the Angel squadron, and one of her comrades, Rhapsody Angel. Sylvia Anderson, the voice of
Lady Penelope
Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward is a fictional character introduced in the British 1960s Supermarionation television series '' Thunderbirds'', which was produced by AP Films (APF) for ITC Entertainment. The character also appears in the film seque ...
in ''Thunderbirds,'' took the role of Melody, while Canadian actress Janna Hill voiced Symphony. Morgan was additionally cast as Harmony Angel and voiced the character in five episodes. About a third of the way through the dialogue recording sessions, the role was reassigned to Chinese actress Lian-Shin, who voiced the character in only one episode ("
The Launching") but was credited for 20.
[Bentley 2001, p. 27.]
Supporting character voices were performed by Anderson, Files, Hill, Maxwell, Morgan, Tingwell and Wilkin. Completing the credited cast were
David Healy and
Martin King.
Shane Rimmer, previously heard as
Scott Tracy
Scott Tracy is a fictional character in Gerry Anderson's 1960s Supermarionation television series '' Thunderbirds'', the subsequent films '' Thunderbirds Are Go'' (1966) and '' Thunderbird 6'' (1968) and the TV remake ''Thunderbirds Are Go!''. ...
in ''Thunderbirds'', made a number of uncredited vocal contributions besides writing for the series.
Neil McCallum voiced guest characters in four episodes but was also uncredited. After ''Captain Scarlet'', six members of the voice cast would continue their association with Century 21. Healy voiced Shane Weston in ''Joe 90'' and Files voiced Matthew Harding in ''The Secret Service''. Wilkin, Morgan and King all had various supporting roles in these two series. Bishop later appeared in the lead role of Commander
Ed Straker in ''
UFO
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
'', the Andersons' first live-action series.
Character dialogue was recorded once a fortnight, at up to four episodes a session, at the Anvil Films Recording Studio (now
Denham Film Studios
Denham Film Studios was a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952, founded by Alexander Korda.
Notable films made at Denham include ''Brief Encounter'' and David Lean's ''Great Expectations''. From the 1950s to the 1970s th ...
) in Denham, Buckinghamshire.
[ Anvil Films Recording Studio: (dialogue recording)] Each actor was paid 15
guineas
The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...
(15 pounds and 15
shillings
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or ...
; ) per episode, plus repeat fees, no matter how many lines he or she spoke.
[Bentley 2001, p. 24.] They were not given the opportunity to tour the Century 21 studios in Slough until their work was finished and therefore had no visualisation of their characters during the recording sessions.
This was to Morgan's regret: "We all said that we wished we had seen the puppets before doing the dialogue, as it would have been helpful to have something physical to base the voices on. I knew that Destiny was French and that Rhapsody had to be frightfully '
Sloaney', but that was about it."
Music
The music for ''Captain Scarlet'' was composed by
Barry Gray
Barry Gray (born John Livesey Eccles; 18 July 1908 – 26 April 1984) was a British musician and composer best known for his collaborations with television and film producer Gerry Anderson.
Life and career
Born into a musical family in Blackburn ...
, who had scored all prior Supermarionation series. The opening theme – titled "The Mysterons" – was produced electronically and accompanied by a seven-note staccato drumbeat to introduce the protagonist, Scarlet.
[Bentley 2001, p. 40.] Gerry Anderson, who had intended this to be more a traditional
fanfare, said of his initial reaction: "I thought, 'Christ, is this all he could produce?' Looking back on it, however, I can see that what he came up with worked very well."
The drumbeat also had two other functions: to
cut
Cut may refer to:
Common uses
* The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely-directed force
** A type of wound
** Cut (archaeology), a hole dug in the past
** Cut (clothing), the style or shape of a garment
** Cut (ea ...
from one scene to another, with the shot alternating between the previous scene and the next in time with each beat; and to cut into and out of each episode's midpoint advert break, where it was accompanied by a zooming image of the Spectrum logo (a stylised "S" on a background of concentric rings in the colours of the rainbow).
[Archer and Hearn, p. 156.]
Two versions of the closing theme – "Captain Scarlet" – were recorded. The first version, used on the first 14 episodes, was mostly instrumental with the words "Captain Scarlet!" sung at intervals by a group of vocalists including
Ken Barrie
Leslie Hulme (9 January 1933 – 29 July 2016), known professionally as Ken Barrie, was an English voice actor and singer. He was best known for singing the theme tune of the BBC television programmes ''Hi-de-Hi!'', ''Postman Pat'' and ''Charli ...
; each instance was followed by
vocoded repetition supplied by Gray himself.
It was later reworked as a song with lyrics performed by The Spectrum, a London
boy band who happened to share their name with the fictional Spectrum Organisation. Originally formed in 1960, at the time of their involvement with ''Captain Scarlet'' the group were signed to
RCA Victor and being promoted as an English imitation of
The Monkees
The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was con ...
.
[Archer and Hearn, p. 157.] They were brought to the Andersons' attention by Gerry's chauffeur, who had heard them on
pirate radio
Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license.
In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially ...
, and signed a contract with Century 21 worth £100,000.
As well as the opening and closing themes, between March and December 1967 Gray recorded
incidental music for 18 episodes.
Music for the other 14 was supplied by re-using these scores, supplemented by excerpts of music originally produced for earlier Anderson series.
Compared to ''Thunderbirds'', the incidental music for ''Captain Scarlet'' was recorded using smaller
ensembles: no episode featured more than 16 instruments.
[Bentley 2017, p. 96.]
In their notes on the CD release, Ralph Titterton and Tim Mallett write that the ''Captain Scarlet'' soundtrack has a "
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
feel" that favours percussion, brass and wind instruments, contrasting with the full orchestral sound of ''Thunderbirds''.
Gray preferred traditional instruments for much of the action, generally restricting his use of electronic music to scenes set in outer space as well as a four-note echoing
motif used to identify the Mysterons.
Scarlet's motif, used in incidental music as well as both versions of the closing theme, is a
variation emphasising the captain's nature as an ex-Mysteron.
Gray performed some of the series' electronic music himself.
Reviewing the soundtrack, Bruce Eder of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
describes the collection of theme and incidental music as "a strange mix of otherworldly '
music of the spheres
The ''musica universalis'' (literally universal music), also called music of the spheres or harmony of the spheres, is a philosophical concept that regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies – the Sun, Moon, and planets – as a fo ...
', late–50s/early–60s '
space-age pop', '
British Invasion
The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on ...
' beat, Scottish folk-inspired tunes, kids-style 'Mickey Mouse' scoring, martial music, light jazz, and light classical". He singles out the two versions of "White as Snow" from the
episode of the same name, "Cocktail Music" from the episode "
Model Spy
"Model Spy" is the 18th episode of ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry Anderson, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions. Written by ...
" and a piano piece from "
The Inquisition
The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...
" (which Gray performed himself) for particular praise.
In his
BBC Online
BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...
review, Peter Marsh suggests that the music's grim tone reflects the series' use of realistic puppets and presentation of death as well as its frightening alien villains and lack of humour, noting that "dissonant
vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...
chords shimmer under hovering, tremulous strings contrasted with urgent, militaristic drums and pulsing brass – driving the action ever onto its climax (and, no doubt, a big explosion)."
Commercial releases
In 1967, Century 21 Records (a label founded by Century 21 and
Pye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherho ...
) released an
extended play
An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. titled ''TV Themes from Captain Scarlet'', which included commercial re-recordings of the series' opening and closing theme music. The soundtrack has since had two CD releases: the first by Silva Screen Records, the second by
Fanderson, the official Gerry Anderson fan club. Fanderson's version was available exclusively to club members and contained music from every episode except "
The Heart of New York" and "
Treble Cross" (which contain no original music) and "
Traitor
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
" (whose cue recordings are lost). Both CD releases' tracks are listed below.
Silva Screen Records (2003)
Fanderson (2015)
Title sequences and end credits
All episodes, except the first, incorporate two title sequences. The first of these, incorporating the
title card
In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...
and principal production credits, is set in a run-down alleyway and presented from the point of view of an unseen gunman; turning a corner, he comes face to face with Captain Scarlet and opens fire, only to be shot dead by a single round from the captain's handgun. The words "Captain Scarlet" appear letter by letter in time with the seven strikes of the series' signature drumbeat composed by Barry Gray. This sequence is intended to demonstrate Scarlet's indestructibility, the bullets from the assassin's machine gun having no effect on the captain.
[Drake and Bassett, p. 244.]
The sequence is accompanied by a voiceover from
Ed Bishop that states:
A number of variations have been used. In the first episode, the voiceover runs:
An alternative version, rarely used, runs: "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."
Later prints feature an additional voiceover by
Donald Gray
Donald Gray (born Eldred Owermann Tidbury, 3 March 1914 – 7 April 1978) was a South African actor, well known for his starring role in the British TV series ''Mark Saber'', for providing the voices of Colonel White, Captain Black and the ...
, warning the audience: "Captain Scarlet is indestructible. You are not. Remember this. Do not try to imitate him."
This served to establish the background to the series and warn younger viewers not to put themselves at risk by copying Scarlet's actions.
[Cull 2006 (August), p. 200.] It was used either on its own or following Bishop's "One man ..." voiceover.
From the second episode, "
Winged Assassin
"Winged Assassin" is the second episode of ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions. Written by Tony B ...
", the establishing scenes are followed by a secondary title sequence introducing Captain Blue, Colonel White, the Angels and Captain Black. As the Mysterons announce their latest threat against Earth, the Mysteron rings pass over the characters in various environments, thus demonstrating the aliens' omnipresence.
At the same time, the characters' codenames are flashed on-screen. The Mysterons invariably begin their threats with the words: "This is the voice of the Mysterons. We know that you can hear us, Earthmen."
The closing titles were originally intended to feature images of
printed circuit boards and other electronic components to reflect the Andersons' initial conception of Scarlet as a "mechanical man".
In the finished sequence, these were replaced with a series of paintings depicting Scarlet in various moments of peril. In earlier episodes, the paintings are accompanied by the instrumental version of the ''Captain Scarlet'' theme music; in later episodes, this was substituted by a lyrical version sung by The Spectrum. The paintings were created by comic artist
Ron Embleton
Ronald Sydney Embleton (6 October 1930 – 13 February 1988) was a British illustrator who gained fame as a comics artist. In the 1950s and 1960s, Embleton also pursued a career as an oil painter, and he exhibited his works widely in Britain, Ge ...
, who would later illustrate the adult comic strips ''
Oh, Wicked Wanda!'' and ''Sweet Chastity'' for ''
Penthouse
Penthouse most often refers to:
*Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building
*Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine
*Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...
'' magazine.
[Bentley 2001, p. 102.] In 2005, the Animation Art Gallery in London released limited-edition prints of the paintings signed by Francis Matthews.
In Japan, the original opening titles were replaced with a montage of action clips from various episodes accompanied by an upbeat song performed by children. This version is included in the special features of the ''Captain Scarlet'' DVD box set.
Broadcast history
''Captain Scarlet'' had its official UK premiere on 29 September 1967 on the
ATV Midlands
Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and ...
franchise of the
ITV network
ITV is a British free-to-air public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the ol ...
. The
first episode
A series premiere is the first aired installment of an episodic entertainment series, most often a television series. In the United States, many series premieres are aired in the fall time or, for mid-season replacements, either in the spring or ...
was seen by an estimated 450,000 people, a number considered promising.
[Bentley 2001, p. 118.] Exactly five months earlier, this episode had been broadcast in the London area as an unscheduled late-night test transmission.
The series officially debuted in London and Scotland on 1 October, with the
Granada,
Anglia,
Channel
Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to:
Geography
* Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water.
Australia
* Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...
,
Southern and
Westward franchises all following later that month.
[Drake and Bassett, p. 207.] By the end of 1967, 4.95 million UK households – the equivalent of 10.9 million people – were watching the series. In the Midlands, viewing figures had risen to 1.1 million halfway through the run.
By the start of the 1968, ''Captain Scarlet'' was being broadcast in all parts of the UK.
The series was also shown in more than 40 other countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
[Bentley 2001, p. 119.] In the United States, it aired in
first-run syndication.
Only six episodes were shown in the Netherlands.
[Drake and Bassett, p. 282.]
UK
re-run
A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. There are two types of reruns – those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated.
Variations
In the United Kingdom, the word ...
s varied markedly by franchise. Granada,
Harlech
Harlech () is a seaside resort and community in Gwynedd, north Wales and formerly in the historic county of Merionethshire. It lies on Tremadog Bay in the Snowdonia National Park. Before 1966, it belonged to the Meirionydd District of the 19 ...
and
Tyne Tees Television
ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire.
Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from studios at a converte ...
repeated the series until 1972,
[Drake and Bassett, p. 283.] while in the Midlands, it aired four times in colour between 1969 and 1974.
By contrast,
Yorkshire Television
ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...
did not show any repeats until the mid-1980s, when the series was re-broadcast on Saturday and Sunday mornings by various franchises across the network.
[Drake and Bassett, p. 286.] The series was later shown in segmented form on
Night Network
''Night Network'', ''Night Time'' and ''Night Shift'' were names given to the overnight (usually between 12 and 6am) schedule of the ITV network in the United Kingdom. The first ITV company began 24-hour broadcasting in 1986, with all of the co ...
.
''Captain Scarlet'' was subsequently acquired by the BBC, which on 1 October 1993 began the series' first UK-wide network run on
BBC2.
[Bentley 2001, p. 122.] The first episode drew an audience of four million, the channel's third-highest viewing figure of the week.
In September 2001, the BBC started repeating the series in digitally-remastered form.
[Bentley 2001, p. 125.] Following the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
, the episode order was changed: "
Winged Assassin
"Winged Assassin" is the second episode of ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions. Written by Tony B ...
" (in which the Mysterons destroy an airliner) and "
Big Ben Strikes Again
"Big Ben Strikes Again" is the third episode of ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Written by Tony Barwick and directed by Brian Burgess, it was first broadc ...
" (in which they hi-jack a nuclear device), were postponed due to perceived similarities between the plots and real-world events. These episodes were eventually broadcast in November and December 2001.
[Bentley 2017, p. 204.]
Reception
Although ''Thunderbirds'' had run for two series, Grade's unexpected cancellation of that production led Gerry Anderson to assume that there was no possibility of ''Captain Scarlet'' lasting more than one.
[Drake and Bassett, p. 280.] In Anderson's words: "I didn't expect it to continue. I simply went to Lew and asked, 'What's the next thing you want us to do?
[Archer and Hearn, p. 166.]
''Captain Scarlet'' is widely regarded as "darker" or more "mature" in tone than earlier Supermarionation productions.
According to
Andrew Billen
Andrew William Scott Billen (born 30 December 1957) is a British journalist, children's author, and staff feature writer on ''The Times'' newspaper.
Early life
Andrew Billen was born in London on 30 December 1957 and brought up in Brentwood, E ...
: "Whereas ''Thunderbirds'' was about rescuing people, ''Scarlet'' was about damnation, the soul of a resurrected man being fought for between Captain Scarlet and the equally indestructible Captain Black. It was Anderson's
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
period." Marcus Hearn writes that the series has a "militaristic" feel, with less emphasis on "characterisation and charm" compared to its precursors and ''Joe 90''.
For Jim Sangster and Paul Condon, the optimism of ''Stingray'' and ''Thunderbirds'' is noticeably absent, the heroism and unqualified victories in those series being replaced by desperate games of "damage limitation" as Scarlet and Spectrum rush to counter every Mysteron move, sometimes unsuccessfully.
Discussion of the series' presentation of death and destruction has led some commentators to question its suitability for younger viewers: media historian Daniel O'Brien notes that ''Captain Scarlet'' is "rated by some as the most violently destructive children's show ever".
The horror of the Mysterons has also been recognised: in 2003, the depiction of the aliens was ranked 82nd in
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
's list show ''100 Greatest Scary Moments''.
Commentators have drawn parallels with the state of international relations at the time the series was made.
Robert Sellers
Robert Sellers (born 3 February 1965 in Leeds) is an English writer and author, known for his show-business biographies and works on popular culture including ''Cult TV'' and ''The Battle for Bond'', an analysis of the Fleming plagiarism trial ...
writes that ''Captain Scarlet'' arose from "1960s sci-fi obsession with alien forces infiltrating society", which he suggests were derived from fears about the
Cold War and
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
. For
Nicholas J. Cull
Nicholas J. Cull (born 1964) is a historian and professor in the Master's in Public Diplomacy program at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. He was the founding director of this pro ...
, the "war of nerves" between Earth and Mars is a reflection of contemporary geopolitical conflict, while the "enemy within" scenario of Martians taking over human beings is comparabe to plots of films such as ''
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' is a 1956 American science fiction horror film produced by Walter Wanger, directed by Don Siegel, and starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. The black-and-white film was shot in Superscope and in the film ...
'' (1956).
Mark Bould argues that the series "seemed in tune with a decade of civil disobedience and
anti-imperialist
Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...
guerrilla wars" – a view echoed by Rebecca Feasey of the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
, who regards it as one of several series that "exploited the fears of 1960s America" in its portrayal of "civil disobedience and the potentially negative impact of new technologies".
Since 2001, comparisons have also been made to the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
and the ensuing
War on Terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...
.
[Sellers, p. 102.] Sangster and Condon argue that for a 1960s series, ''Captain Scarlet'' was "incredibly perceptive" in its conception of the Mysterons, whose tactics they liken to terrorism.
To others, ''Captain Scarlet'' remains a "
camp
Camp may refer to:
Outdoor accommodation and recreation
* Campsite or campground, a recreational outdoor sleeping and eating site
* a temporary settlement for nomads
* Camp, a term used in New England, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick to descri ...
classic". According to Bould, it is one of several Anderson productions to depict "a
utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island societ ...
n future benefiting from world government, high technology, ethnic diversity, and a generally positive sense of
Americanisation
Americanization or Americanisation (see spelling differences) is the influence of American culture and business on other countries outside the United States of America, including their media, cuisine, business practices, popular culture, te ...
. They articulate the commonly made connection between technological developments and economic prosperity."
He also writes that the series espouses "Euro-cool
consumerism
Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the su ...
".
A recurring concept in the Supermarionation productions, world government was inspired by Gerry Anderson's thoughts on the subject: "I had all sorts of fancy ideas about the future ... we had the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
and I imagined that the world would come together and there would be a world government." On the depiction of technology, Peter Wright notes the "qualified
technophilia
Technophilia (from Greek τέχνη - ''technē'', "art, skill, craft" and φίλος - ''philos'', "beloved, dear, friend") refers generally to a strong enthusiasm for technology, especially new technologies such as personal computers, the Int ...
" that ''Captain Scarlet'' shares with ''Thunderbirds''.
The series has been criticised for its camerawork, which some view as too static due to the crew's inability to move the puppets convincingly.
Criticism has also been directed at the characterisation and writing. Sangster and Condon consider the plots uncomplicated and the characters perhaps "even more simplistic" than those of ''Stingray''.
Some have blamed the return to 25-minute episodes, coming after ''Thunderbirds'' 50-minute format, for a lack of subplots and perceived drop in the quality of the storytelling.
In a 1986 interview, script editor
Tony Barwick described ''Captain Scarlet'' as "hard-nosed stuff" that lacked humour, adding: "It was all for the American market and to that extent there was no deep characterisation.
he charactersall balanced one against the other."
Sylvia Anderson likened the presentation to that of a "comic strip", arguing that the action format came at the expense of the character development. In contrast,
Jeff Evans believes the characters to be "more detailed" than before, arguing that ''Captain Scarlet'' was the first Anderson production to give them "private lives and real identities".
Paul Cornell
Paul Douglas Cornell (born 18 July 1967) is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as ''Doctor Who'' fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield.
As well as ''Docto ...
,
Martin Day and
Keith Topping
Keith Andrew Topping (born 26 October 1963 in Walker, Tyneside) is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He is most well known for his work relating to the BBC Television series ''Doctor Who'' and for writing numerous official and unofficial g ...
praise the writing, judging it "neither as silly as previous Anderson efforts, nor as po-faced as later ones".
In a comparison to ''Thunderbirds'', writer
John Peel sums up ''Captain Scarlet'' as "better puppets, bigger action and a huge step backwards in stories", arguing that the advances in Century 21's special effects were to the detriment of the writing. He compares this to the relative failure of ''
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'' following the success of ''
Raiders of the Lost Ark'': "Anderson made the same mistake that
George Lucas made, assuming that if the effects were praised in ''Thunderbirds'', the public wanted a show with more effects."
Peel also finds fault with Scarlet himself, arguing that an "indestructible" hero who freely risks his safety to foil the enemy served as a poor role model for children and made the episode endings too predictable.
Sangster and Condon echo the latter point, writing that Scarlet's abilities weaken the suspense and make him "a difficult hero to believe in".
Considered a
cult programme by some, ''Captain Scarlet'' came 33rd in a 2007 ''
Radio Times'' poll to determine the greatest science fiction series of all time. It was ranked 51st in Channel 4's 2001 list show ''100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows''. Cornell, Day and Topping argue that the series is perhaps Gerry Anderson's best production.
However, Anderson's own verdict was clear: "Nothing was as successful as ''Thunderbirds''. ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' was very successful, but once you've had a smash hit, everything tends to look less successful in comparison."
Race, gender and symbolism
''Captain Scarlet'' has attracted both positive and negative commentary on its use of female and mixed ethnicity characters – an aspect that according to Daniel O'Brien gives the series a "more cosmopolitan" feel compared to ''Thunderbirds''.
During its 1993 re-run on BBC2, the series drew some criticism for its use of the codenames "Black" and "White" in reference to the benevolent Colonel White and the villainous Captain Black, which some commentators interpreted as a form of negative
black-and-white dualism
The contrast of white and black (light and darkness, day and night) has a long tradition of metaphorical usage, traceable to the Ancient Near East, and explicitly in the Pythagorean '' Table of Opposites''.
In Western culture as well as in Co ...
.
[La Rivière 2009, p. 160.] Defending the series against claims of racist stereotyping, Gerry Anderson pointed out that it features heroic non-white characters in the form of Lieutenant Green and Melody and Harmony Angels.
Green is the only black male regular character in any of the Supermarionation series.
[Archer 1993, p. 32iii.]
For Sellers, the inclusion of Green and especially Melody Angel, a black female character, shows that ''Captain Scarlet'' was "actually ahead of its time in respect to race relations". He also regards the Angel squad's all-female composition as significant from a point of view of
women's emancipation
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
. O'Brien is less complimentary on this latter point, arguing that while it was progressive for the 1960s, to newer audiences it comes across more as a "conventionally sexist male fantasy".
The diversity of the characters in terms of race and gender has been viewed highly in academic publications.
Bould praises the "beautiful, multi-ethnic, female Angel fighter pilots" and "secondary roles played by capable women".
In a 2003 interview, Anderson noted the effort made to feature ethnic minorities: "... I think people who make television programmes have a responsibility, particularly when children are watching avidly and you know their minds can be affected almost irreversibly as they grow up. We were very conscious of introducing different ethnic backgrounds."
[Cull 2006, p. 127.]
Cy Grant
Cyril Ewart Lionel "Cy" Grant (8 November 1919 – 13 February 2010) was a Guyanese actor, musician, writer, and poet. In the 1950s, he became the first black person to be featured regularly on television in Britain,Kurt Barling '' The Inde ...
, the voice of Green, believed that ''Captain Scarlet'' had both positive multicultural value and an
allegorical
As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory t ...
nature. He argued that religious symbolism was implied, with Colonel White serving as an analogue for
God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
, Captain Black as the
Devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...
and Scarlet as the
Son of God; the allegory extended to Cloudbase, which represented
Heaven and was guarded by a fleet of fighters codenamed "Angels". On dualism, he argued: "The 'darkness' of the Mysterons is most easily seen as the psychological rift – the struggle of
'good' and 'evil' – of the Western world as personified by Colonel White and his team. Dark and light are but aspects of each other. Incidentally, green is the colour of nature that can heal that rift."
Other media
![Dinky Toys 103 Spectrum Patrol Car-Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Dinky_Toys_103_Spectrum_Patrol_Car-Captain_Scarlet_and_the_Mysterons.jpg)
The ATV game show ''
The Golden Shot'', hosted by
Bob Monkhouse
Robert Alan Monkhouse (1 June 1928 – 29 December 2003) was an English comedian, writer and actor. He was the host of television game shows including ''The Golden Shot'', '' Celebrity Squares'', '' Family Fortunes'' and '' ''Wipeout'.
Ear ...
, used ''Captain Scarlet'' as the theme for its 1967 Christmas special. Broadcast live on 23 December, the programme featured guest appearances from Francis Matthews and The Spectrum.
[Bentley 2001, p. 94.]
Since its first appearance, the TV series has been supplemented by merchandise ranging from toy
action figure
An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually mark ...
s to video games. Among the early tie-ins were a series of five
audio play
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...
s released by Century 21 Records in 1967. Taking the form of a vinyl
EP record, each play was approximately 21 minutes long and featured the voice cast from the TV series.
[Bentley 2001, p. 93.] Angus P. Allan
Angus Peter Allan (22 July 1936 – 16 July 2007) was a British comic strip writer and magazine editor who worked on ''TV Century 21'' in the 1960s and ''Look-in'' magazine during the 1970s. Most commonly known as Angus Allan and sometimes credit ...
wrote the first play, ''Introducing Captain Scarlet'' (set during the denouement of the first TV episode) as well as ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' and ''Captain Scarlet of Spectrum''.
The other two – ''Captain Scarlet is Indestructible'' and ''Captain Scarlet versus Captain Black'' – were written by his assistant, Richard O'Neill.
To mark ''Captain Scarlet''s 50th anniversary in 2017,
Big Finish Productions digitally remastered the plays and re-released them on CD; the seven-disc set also includes audio adaptations of eight of the TV episodes with narration by Ed Bishop as Captain Blue.
During the 1960s, Century 21 granted more than 60 licences for ''Captain Scarlet'' products and released a range of
friction-drive model vehicles through its subsidiary Century 21 Toys.
Meccano Ltd
Meccano Ltd was a British toy manufacturing company, established in 1908 by Frank Hornby in Liverpool, England, to manufacture and distribute Meccano and other model toys and kits created by the company. During the 1920s and 1930s it became th ...
manufactured ''Captain Scarlet''
Dinky Toys
Dinky Toys was the brand name for a range of die-cast zamak zinc alloy scale model vehicles produced by British toy company Meccano Ltd. They were made in England from 1934 to 1979, at a factory in Binns Road in Liverpool.
Dinky Toys were am ...
to great success: its SPV was its best-selling
die-cast
Die casting is a metal casting process that is characterized by forcing molten metal under high pressure into a mold cavity. The mold cavity is created using two hardened tool steel dies which have been machined into shape and work similarly t ...
toy of all time and continued to be produced until 1976.
Waddingtons
Waddingtons was a British manufacturer of card and board games. The company was founded by John Waddington of Leeds, England and the manager, actor and playwright Wilson Barrett, under the name ''Waddingtons Limited''. The name was changed in ...
released a ''Captain Scarlet'' board game based on
snakes and ladders. In 1993,
Vivid Imaginations
Vivid Imaginations is a British toy manufacturer, distributor and wholesale company, based in Guildford, Surrey.
Founded in 1992, one of the company's first toy lines it manufactured was Captain Scarlet, which has since been followed by Thund ...
launched a new range of toys to coincide with the BBC2 repeats.
Books and comics
Between 1967 and 1968,
Armada Books
Armada Books was a British publishing imprint that used to publish paperback titles from 1962 until 1995. Created by Gordon Landsborough as the paperback imprint of May Fair Books
May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregoria ...
published three ''Captain Scarlet'' children's novels by John William Jennison (who wrote under the pseudonym "John Theydon"): ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', ''Captain Scarlet and the Silent Saboteur'' and ''The Angels and the Creeping Enemy''. As implied by its title, the third novel features the Spectrum Angels as the main characters. In 1993,
Young Corgi Books released children's novelisations of "
The Mysterons
"The Mysterons" (sometimes referred to incorrectly as "Mars2068 A.D.") is the first episode of ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their produc ...
", "
Lunarville 7
"Lunarville 7" is the 15th episode of ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and produced by their company Century 21 Productions. Written by Tony Barwick and di ...
", "
Noose of Ice
"Noose of Ice" is the 23rd episode of ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry Anderson, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions. Written ...
" and "
The Launching".
From September 1967, comic strips based on the series were printed in ''
TV Century 21
''TV Century 21'', later renamed ''TV21'', ''TV21 and Tornado'', ''TV21 and Joe 90'', and ''TV21'' again, was a weekly British children's comic published by City Magazines during the latter half of the 1960s. Originally produced in partnership ...
'' (later ''TV21''), published by
City Magazines
City Magazines was a British publisher of weekly comics and men's magazines that operated from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. The company's most notable publications were comics magazines based on licensed television properties, including '' TV ...
in association with Century 21.
The comic had already featured ''Fireball XL5'', ''Stingray'' and ''Thunderbirds'' strips as well as
crossovers
Crossover may refer to:
Entertainment
Albums and songs
* ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album)
* ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987
* ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album)
* ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album)
* ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...
between the three, indicating that they were set in a shared fictional world of the 2060s; ''Captain Scarlet'' was integrated into this setting. Elements of the new series, including Captain Black, had been introduced as early as June 1967. The initial ''Captain Scarlet'' strips were drawn by
Ron Embleton
Ronald Sydney Embleton (6 October 1930 – 13 February 1988) was a British illustrator who gained fame as a comics artist. In the 1950s and 1960s, Embleton also pursued a career as an oil painter, and he exhibited his works widely in Britain, Ge ...
, succeeded first by
Mike Noble
Mike Noble (17 September 1930 – 15 November 2018) was a People of the United Kingdom, British comic artist and illustrator, best known for drawing strips like ''Fireball XL5'' for ''TV Century 21''.
Biography
Noble's father was a stockbroker's ...
and then
Jim Watson. After the TV series finished its original run, the comic continued the story of Spectrum and the Mysterons, with subsequent adventures showing that the Mysterons deactivate their city on Mars and relinquish their control over Black while Scarlet leaves Spectrum to fight Earth-bound threats. The Mysterons eventually reawaken, prompting Scarlet and Spectrum to resume their struggle.
''Captain Scarlet'' was also featured in ''TV21'' and Century 21
annuals for 1967, 1968 and 1969.
In September 1969, the series was dropped from ''TV21''.
The series' ''TV21'' debut had been preceded by spin-off adventures in the sister comics ''
Lady Penelope
Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward is a fictional character introduced in the British 1960s Supermarionation television series '' Thunderbirds'', which was produced by AP Films (APF) for ITC Entertainment. The character also appears in the film seque ...
'' and ''Solo''. In January 1967, ''Lady Penelope'' launched a comic strip about the Angel pilots; this ran until May 1968 but introduced no elements of the Spectrum Organisation until August 1967. ''Solo'' printed two strips: the first from June to September 1967; the second, following a merger with City Magazine's ''TV Tornado'', from September 1967 to February 1968. The first, ''The Mark of the Mysterons'', bore little relation to ''Captain Scarlet'' besides featuring the Mysterons as villains; it was set in the 1960s and the presentation was similar to that of ''
The Invaders
''The Invaders'' is an American science-fiction television series created by Larry Cohen that aired on ABC for two seasons, from 1967 to 1968. Roy Thinnes stars as David Vincent, who after stumbling across evidence of an in-progress invas ...
''. The second, simply titled ''The Mysterons'', saw the aliens travelling to the
Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy (IPA: ), also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224 and originally the Andromeda Nebula, is a barred spiral galaxy with the diameter of about approximately from Earth and the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way. The gal ...
on a campaign of conquest.
After the series' discontinuation in Century 21 and City titles,
Polystyle Publications
Polystyle Publications Ltd was a British publisher of children's comics and books that operated from 1960 to 1997, publishing such titles as ''TV Comic'', '' I-Spy'', ''Pippin'', '' Countdown/TV Action'', and ''BEEB''.
The company's registered o ...
printed further strips in ''
Countdown
A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...
'' comic and annuals between 1971 and 1972. From 1993 to 1994,
Fleetway Editions
Fleetway Publications was a magazine publishing company based in London. It was founded in 1959 when the Mirror Group acquired the Amalgamated Press, then based at Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London. It was one of the companies that merg ...
published a dedicated ''Captain Scarlet'' comic to coincide with the series' first run on BBC2. New annuals were published by Grandreams in 1993 and 1994 and
Carlton Books
Welbeck Publishing Group, formerly Carlton Publishing Group, is a London-based independent book publisher of fiction, narrative and illustrated non-fiction, as well as gift and children's books. Established in 2019 by Executive Directors Mark Sm ...
in 2001.
In Japan, ''
Weekly Shōnen Sunday
is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, ...
'' serialised a
manga adaptation of ''Captain Scarlet'' between 1967 and 1968. A separate adaptation was published in ''
Shōnen Book
was a manga magazine by Shueisha, which debuted March 1958 and ended in April 1969. ''Shōnen Book'' was originally a spin-off of Shueisha's . ''Shōnen Book'' is famously known in Japan for being the predecessor to the company's famous '' Weekl ...
'' from January to August 1968.
Home video
The series' first VHS release in the UK was by Precision Video in 1982. Precision was later acquired by Channel 5 Video (a partnership of
PolyGram and
Heron International
Heron International is a British property development company. Founded in 1957 by the Ronson family, it came to prominence in the 1980s as the UK's second largest private company. After over extending itself in the 1990s, it was revived by Gerald R ...
), which issued further ''Captain Scarlet'' cassettes over the course of the 1980s.
[Bentley 2001, p. 121.] Between 2001 and 2002,
Carlton Video
ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadca ...
re-released the series in volumes and as a box set.
[Bentley 2001, p. 128.] These featured the remastered picture and sound quality that had been introduced for the 2000s repeats.
The box set includes an extra tape containing ''Captain Scarlet: The Indestructible'', a behind-the-scenes feature.
Since September 2001, ''Captain Scarlet'' has also been available on
Region 2 DVD in both its original
mono
Mono may refer to:
Common meanings
* Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease"
* Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono
* Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single
Music Performers
* Mono (Japanese b ...
soundtrack and new Dolby Digital surround sound.
Bonus features include audio commentaries by Gerry Anderson on two episodes, "The Mysterons" and "
Attack on Cloudbase
"Attack on Cloudbase" is the 31st episode of ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions for ITC Enterta ...
", as well as the five audio adventures from the 1960s. As with the VHS releases, the DVDs have also been released as a box set; this includes an extra disc featuring a production documentary, ''Captain Scarlet S.I.G.'', along with a set of five alternative title sequences.
A Region 1 box set by
A&E Home Video
A&E Networks (stylized as A+E NETWORKS) is an American multinational broadcasting company that is a 50–50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company through its General Entertainment Content division. The company o ...
was released in 2002.
In 2004,
Imavision
Imavision, also known as Imavision Distribution, Imavision Productions and Imavision.com, was a Canadian company recognized for the acquisition of entertainment content for DVD distribution on retail and institutional markets in Canada, the United ...
released a French-language box set for the Canadian market.
On the series' 50th anniversary in September 2017, British company Network Distributing announced that it was releasing ''Captain Scarlet'' on
Blu-ray Disc with all episodes remastered in high definition using the original 35 mm film
negatives.
The Blu-ray range was released between 2017 and 2018 both in volumes and as a box set.
UK remastered VHS releases by Carlton Video
UK DVD first releases by Carlton Video
UK Blu-ray releases by Network Distributing
Video games
Between 2002 and 2006, three ''Captain Scarlet'' video games were released. A further game was cancelled.
Later productions
Since the 1980s, the rights to the ITC catalogue have changed hands a number of times. They were acquired first by
PolyGram Entertainment
PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...
, then, following a partial sale to the BBC, by
Carlton International.
[Archer and Hearn, p. 260.] In 2004, Carlton merged with
Granada to form
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom.
ITV plc is listed on the ...
;
the rights to ''Captain Scarlet'' and other Anderson series now reside with its subsidiary
ITV Studios
ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadca ...
.
In the early 1980s,
Robert Mandell
Robert Mandell is an American animated series and film writer, director and producer. Mandell headed New Frontier Productions/New Frontier Entertainment and Red Sky Entertainment. He is now the head of the company Voyager.
Robert Mandell is ...
and ITC New York combined several episodes of ''Captain Scarlet'' to create two
compilation film
A compilation film, or compilation movie is a film composed of scenes and shots taken from two or more prior films and edited together so as to make a new film, whether on the same or a different subject. The most common example would be a docum ...
s: ''
Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars
''Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars'' is a 1981 television film based on the 1960s British puppet TV series ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Produced by the New York office of the series' distributor, ...
'' and ''
Captain Scarlet vs. the Mysterons''. Promoted as "Super Space Theater", these were broadcast on American cable TV with the aim of reviving transatlantic
syndication
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
sales.
Other Anderson productions, including ''Stingray'' and ''Thunderbirds'', received similar treatments.
[Bentley 2008, p. 361.] Released on British VHS in January 1982, ''Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars'' was ''Captain Scarlet''s UK home video debut. In November 1988, it aired as the second episode of the movie-mocking series ''
Mystery Science Theater 3000'' on Minnesota TV station
KTMA
WUCW (channel 23) is a television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, serving the Twin Cities area as an affiliate of The CW. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station maintains studios in the Pence Building on 8th S ...
.
Plans for a live-action film adaptation of ''Captain Scarlet'', announced by Gerry Anderson in 2000 and 2002, remain undeveloped.
Remake
In 1999, Anderson supervised the production of a computer-animated test film, ''Captain Scarlet and the Return of the Mysterons'', to explore the possibility of updating some of his 1960s puppet series for a 21st-century audience.
[Bentley 2001, p. 123.] Produced by the
Moving Picture Company
The Moving Picture Company (MPC) is a multinational company providing visual effects, CGI, animation, motion design and other services for the film, TV, brand experience and advertising industries.
Their artists have produced Academy Award W ...
under the working title ''Captain Scarlet – The New Millennium'', the four-minute film was made using a combination of
Maya
Maya may refer to:
Civilizations
* Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America
** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples
** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples
* Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...
animation software and
motion capture technology and saw Francis Matthews and Ed Bishop reprise the voices of Captains Scarlet and Blue.
Set a few years after the Mysterons apparently cease hostilities against Earth, the film features the reappearance of Captain Black, setting the stage for a revival of the war with Mars.
[Bentley 2001, p. 124.] The film was screened at a
Fanderson convention in 2000 and a science lecture in 2001.
It was released on Blu-ray in 2017.
Plans for a full computer-animated ''Captain Scarlet'' series eventually resulted in ''
Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet
''Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet'' (more commonly ''New Captain Scarlet'' or ''NCS'') is a British computer generated action-adventure reboot of the 1967 Supermarionation series, ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons''. Both series were ...
''. A
reboot
In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
of the original, this was first broadcast on the ITV children's show ''
Ministry of Mayhem
''Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown'' (previously titled ''Ministry of Mayhem'' and ''MoM'') was a British children's entertainment programme, which was broadcast on ITV (later CITV) from 10 January 2004 to 1 July 2006.
Overview
''Ministry ...
'' in 2005. In a nod to Supermarionation, the animation used to make the series was promoted as "
Hypermarionation".
[Bentley 2008, pp. 281–282.] ''New Captain Scarlet'' was the last TV series to be produced by Anderson, who died in 2012.
Notes
References
Primary sources
Secondary sources
Works cited
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*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
**''Captain Scarlet'' volume originally published separately as:
*
Production locations
External links
''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons''at the official Gerry Anderson website
*
*
– "''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'': ''TV21'', 1967–68"
*
{{ITC Distributions Chronology
1960s British children's television series
1960s British science fiction television series
1967 British television series debuts
1968 British television series endings
British children's action television series
British children's science fiction television series
British television shows featuring puppetry
English-language television shows
Fiction set in 2068
First-run syndicated television programs in the United States
ITV children's television shows
Marionette films
Space adventure television series
Television series by ITC Entertainment
Television series set in the 2060s
Television shows adapted into comics
Television shows adapted into novels
Television shows adapted into video games
Articles containing video clips