Captain Scarlet

Having just acquired access to the HD Animation channel through Dish Network in the US, I stumbled upon the New Captain Scarlet for the first time. So far, I have seen about 4 episodes. (It is shown daily on the HD Anime channel, followed by an episode of "Youri the Spaceman.") In 70" high definition, the New Captain Scarlet is absolutely spectacular ... the most impressive HD experience I have had so far in these past four weeks.

I am a fan of some of the early Supermarionation series (e.g. Fireball XL5, Stingray), and have always been impressed with the quality of direction and production, and of the respect that Anderson and company has apparently had for their juvenile audiences. Each series has had a level of detail and story exposition that goes far beyond any comparable juvenile adventure series here in the US at the time.

However, I was not a fan of the first Scarlet series. The puppets were just too stiff to maintain any involvement. At least Steve Zodiac and Venus went ice skating once in a while.

But I digress. The new series is impeccably detailed, and the action is superbly directed and genuinely exciting. In contrast with the original series, the characters can at least walk, and much more. The stories aren't much to speak of, but every other aspect of production is impressive.

The New Captain Scarlet is an excellent TV series with not only some great story telling and superb action, but the animation is impressive. I was only expecting perhaps good action and maybe some good vehicle animation but what we got was a production that excelled every expectation. Are you looking for excellent CG animation? This show has it. Using state of the art motion capture technology in a studio specifically built at Pinewood, series creator Gerry Anderson (Thunderbirds, UFO, Space: 1999) has produced one of his best series ever. The animation just continued to impress every week.

The stories and characters would probably suffer, right? No!! I am surprised that there is quite a bit of character study, not enough to slow it down, but enough to keep the characters interesting and enhance the action and events that happen on screen. Oh yea, the action (explosions, etc) is fantastic.

The series is said to be made for kids but really the target audience expands to any fan of Sci-Fi action and animation. There is so much to like in this series that instead of going on and on I would suggest watching it for yourself!

Many years ago captain scarlet and the mysterons was an old childhood favourite. I remember never getting tired of the angel's accent into their jets nor the long winded intro. Not to mention having laughs a when they used real people's hands for certain shots (the puppets couldn't grip things).

Ah memories. I think my first reaction when I heard of this new cgi remake was the same as any other scarlet fan. The outrage. How could they do this to scarlet? And so on. But were our worries confirmed? No.

Instead a new captain scarlet, up to date, action packed, displaying all things that tend to lack in children's TV these days. A complete re-invention. Characters with expressions for a change. Faster, more tense, episodes. New story lines. Great new gadgets. I'd even go so far to say this is better then the original but that's debatable.

This show took me aback when I first saw it. It wasn't bad it was brilliant. Just imagine all the restraints working with puppets caused now imagine the old show without them. Now you see where I'm coming from.

True the mysterons lack their creepiness. Lieutenant Green has been replaced. The driving backwards inside SPV's is gone. But does that really matter? If you have a kid boy at home aged say 5-10 there is a strong chance he'll love it as well as you (whatever age you are). Remember if you prefer the original Scarlet, this show is for the young viewer. To them this will be better.

This is one of those shows you need to give a chance. Don't copy my brother and hate it even though you've never watched a complete episode.

What a welcome return for Cap Scarlet.What a shock it was for me to switch on the TV with a huge hang over to see such a welcome spectacle up on screen It does the original show great justice and brings Scarlet at Hyper drive into the 'Naughties'.

I guess its a bit of a gripe that we have to put up with MOM,but I'm sure its a good show caser for the first run shows just to get it out there noticed .Take note ITV .... you have a potential Monster of a hit here ...be brave .. a Tea time spot on Sunday will be cult viewing for old and young .

The Icing on the cake would be to spice up the Score ...bring back the Bary Gray Bongs and strings and this show will be near perfect .

Last Summer I thought Mr Anderson was being a bit of a grumpy Old Man,complaining the way Thunderbirds the Movie was going . Now I understand where he was coming from . So bring it on . Lets have all the Classics in 'HYPOMARRIANATION'....'Thunderbirds , Stingray ....the lot ..

More of a "re-animation" of the original, rather than an original take on the original Captain Scarlet, Gerry Anderson is back with more of a whimper than a bang.

First of, its currently shown in a children's Saturday morning show (Ministry of Mayhem), split in two between games and with a preview at the start of the second part. Secondly the transmission times keep changing (anything from 10:30am to 11am) Thirdly, the episodes seem to be heavily edited as scenes jump from one to another without any real reason. Lastly, there is usually a fairly annoying scrolling message during the first showing of the program.

The CGI for the most part is pretty good, with detail on hair, engine thrusts etc. Unfortunately in parts its also pretty poor - lip animation seems to be very limited, with no real changes of mouth shapes, depending on what words are said.

The actual script is pretty good, although it can be a little tacky in parts.

Whether it would be better to wait until later in the year to get the DVD set, and hopefully a better transmission time, will depend on whether you can stand MoM.