El capitán Escarlata

Perhaps an entire generation was scarred by the voices of the Mysterons - between them and the Daleks I spent a good part of my childhood hiding behind the sofa. It was certainly a golden age for children with the prodigious talents of Gerry Anderson ensuring a constant stream of spectacular programmes for after school entertainment.

'Captain Scarlet' was a follow-on to the immensely successful 'Thunderbirds', and whilst technically superior it never achieved the same level of popularity. Why? I think the answer lies in 'Captain Scarlet' being a darker production, sometime after 'Thunderbirds' Gerry Anderson seems to have lost a lot of his faith in humanity. The Mysteron conflict is started by human stupidity. Technology goes horribly wrong - and this time people die as a consequence.

Or maybe it's just unpopular because the theme music isn't anywhere as catchy.

Storywise, well there is a common plot. The Mysterons kindly inform Earth of their latest plan by means of a cryptic clue, (obviously they are a race of frustrated Martian crossword compilers). Shortly afterwards they use their patented replication technology to make a copy of a person who then goes about fulfilling the Mysteron plans; think 'Invasion of the Bodysnatchers' remade for kids. The Mysteron chief agent on Earth was the creepy Captain Black who desperately needed a shave and somehow managed to escape every week. It's all up to Captain Scarlet and his colour-coordinated sidekicks to save the day in a nuclear-powered, high-rise, high-speed world.

It is clear that Gerry Anderson was just itching to move into live-action television (something he would achieve with the later 'UFO'), and was running into the limitations of puppets. Whilst technical advances between 'Thunderbirds' and 'Captain Scarlet' meant that it was possible to produce anatomically correctly proportioned puppets; string puppets could not be made to walk convincingly. So 'Captain Scarlet' is filled with shots of sitting people, moving walkways or head and shoulder shots. The use of much thinner strings on the puppets and insert shots for hands helps sell the illusion.

In the end the weaknesses don't matter. The Century 21 team had established the formula with 'Thunderbirds'. Mix some high speed chases, a perilous situation for the heroes and end it all with a satisfying explosion or two and you can ensure that 25 minutes whip past before anyone can nit-pick.

Like any Anderson production, the story used a lavish number of models and sets (almost all of which ended up in ruins by the end of the programme). Many of them are now classics - the SPV tank and the futuristic Spectrum Patrol Car were lovingly moulded into die-cast toys and were repeatedly crashed in living rooms around the country. If anyone has mine, please let me know! As always the special effects were of the very highest standard (many of the people involved went on to work with Kubrick on '2001') and still look good today.

Re-watching the programme, one thing I found particularly striking were the strong roles given to women characters people who weren't British or American. Spectrum agents are a mix of all nationalities and ethnicities, apparently Anderson wanted children of all races to have heroes and learn to play together - not a bad aim for the 1960s and something that more programmes could remember.

Looking at it today, 'Captain Scarlet' has survived much better than most programming of the era. Produced on a lavish budget and shot on film, it has been digitally remastered for re-broadcast and DVD and positively glows. Somehow the colours look richer than modern productions and the storytelling doesn't appear to be designed for the very stupid. Even down to the classic retro-futuristic fonts and the wonderful Century 21 logo it still looks modern.

In short, I still love it.

As they used to say at the end of each show; Captain Scarlet is indestructible. You are not. Remember this, do not try to imitate him.

When man reaches Mars for an exploratory mission, a misunderstanding leads to an alien race called the Mysterons being attacked and responding with a cold war against Earth. Their main power is to duplicate humans and kill the real one without anyone noticing. With one of the original astronauts (Captain Black) under their control the Mysterons plot their attacks on Earth. Only the international intelligence organisation Spectrum stands in their way with their lead agent Captain Scarlet who has become indestructible having survived an attempt by the Mysterons to duplicate him.

I will completely acknowledge that the fact that I have watched this series since I was a child will colour my opinion of it and blind me to its failings, but my review is as fair as I can be! Tea-times on a Friday evening had me polishing my uniform for BB while watching this series (and then Man from Uncle) and I have probably seen the whole series several times (but am not such a fanboy as to own a copy). The plot is simple – each week the Mysterons come up with a plan to strike at Earth like terrorists, hitting small but high profile targets for maximum effect and each week the agents of Spectrum race to stop them. It is simple but effective and, at only 25 or so minutes long, it never has to stretch to fill its time.

The reason I prefer it to Anderson's other shows is a combination of things.

The theme music is wonderful and is known to everyone – memorable, cool and cheesy it is a perfect way to end each episode. The opening sequence is always creepy and is a good example of how this series is a little darker than Anderson's other stuff. While still being a million miles from being aimed at adults, the series is more interesting looking back on it; for me the most adult aspect of it is the fact that the hero can die every week which, for those of us with a love for the morbid, is a great attraction in the midst of all those shiny toys and colourful uniforms!

Of course it is still an Anderson series and it is entirely puppets – with all the limitations that that creates. The puppets move slowly and the models don't look real but all this you know before you even tune in! The actors are typically gruff (for the men) or feminine (for the Angels) and the puppets are good for what they are. The most memorable one is Scarlet who looks great and only benefits (in my book) for having much more than a passing resemblance to Cary Grant.

Overall this is very much of its time but it continues to get child viewers even if, one suspects, it is a viewing choice suggested by their parents. The model work and puppets are typically Anderson and the writing is frequently good, producing tight and enjoyable 20 minute episodes for the vast majority of the series and the creepy Mysterons acting as very effective bad guys and a great common plot device. As an adult it is my favourite of Anderson's series because of its darker edge. Scarlet may be indestructible but his death and sacrifice many times is still effective and the dark writing can be seen right down to the fact that the Mysterons are not inherently 'bad' and that this whole war of nerves is off the back of a human mistake! I'm not implying that this is complex but it is certainly interesting. A very cool series with a darker edge for adults and one that will always have me reminiscing!

I grew up with this TV-series. Perhaps I was like 5-6 when I saw it the first time. Totally loved it. I had most of the episodes recorded on VHS and saw them until the cassettes hardly were working anymore. To this day Captain Scarlet remains one of my favourite TV-series of all time, no actually scratch that, it is my favourite of all time. Even now as a grown up I can still see it from time to time. Just as entertaining as it always has been. I have seen several of Gerry Anderson's works like Stingray and Thunderbirds of course. But Captain Scarlet has always been his definitive highpoint for me.

So about the actual series. Captain Scarlet must be one of the most brutal programs aimed at children. There is a lot of violence in it but also the story and themes are dark and serious. Characters die and a lot of them. Sure it's puppets but still very dark atmosphere over it all. There is blood and innocent people getting killed, in cruel ways. The action scenes are thrilling a brilliantly done. Like we knew from his previous shows Gerry Anderson likes to make explosions and Captain Scarlet is no exception. At least one explosion in every episode and sometimes things just blow up for no reason or unrealistically easy. So entertaining. Why are explosions so fun to watch? Compared to Thunderbirds that came before it the episodes in Captain Scarlet were shorter but I don't find that to be any major flaw. The plots are complicated enough and I feel that there is actually real depth in the characters. Far more than one would expect. I actually feel more for these characters than any of Anderson's others or even many other characters I've seen. Very impressive to achieve that in just 32 episodes of 25 minutes. Another proof of the greatness of Anderson. Could it have been even better if the episodes had been at Thunderbirds length, I don't know. The characters are great and so is the voice acting. All voices fit perfectly, which yes is partly because the puppets were modelled after the actors. But also the performance of the voice actors is probably the best in any of Andersons series. Captain Scarlet was the coolest action hero I knew. They changed the look of the puppets to more realistic proportions compared to Thunderbirds and Stingray. Some have pointed out that they don't move as much and more slowly. That is true but it's no problem. They use creative ways to get around these restrictions. In a way this style, not just the appearance of the puppets but also the slower staler movements fit the feel of the show. Having aliens as the villains in a puppet series could have turned out goofy and silly. Could have looked like the aquatic aliens in Stingray. I don't mean that Stingray is sillier in a bad way, not at all it totally fits for that series. Camp can work fine if that is the type of show. It's all a consideration for the filmmakers. Captain Scarlet like I said is of a different more serious type. Making the Mysterons this mostly unseen force and often just an intimidating voice was a masterstroke by Anderson. Less is more is a trick that I've often found to work for the better. Not always showing and explaining everything can make the viewer even more hooked. Just like all of Andersons shows the music is also genius and plays an essential role for the atmosphere and feel. Composer Barry Gray was an absolute master in the field. I can't explain just what a defining role the music scores and sound effects play in all Gerry Andersons productions. So I wrote earlier that the plots are just enough for the show. Still I can admit that now that I'm older one does recognise that a lot don't make sense and many of the episodes have more than one plot hole and a lot of events and actions by characters defy logic. But in some way this just doesn't matter. Too bad that there are just 32 episodes. All of Gerry Andersons shows are short in number of episodes. It seems like he got an idea and worked with it for a while, like a year and then began on something new. Instead of sticking with one like many would he made ten puppet shows. In a way it makes sense to do like that, try different things. Still I which there were more many more. If you have seen the series, you will understand.

Could some of my love for this series be due to nostalgia? Sure I guess. But still I will say that this is an amazing show. Gerry Anderson was a genius. Captain Scarlet is a show that has it all: likable characters, intimidating villains, tense plot and cool action.

Simple stories are probably the result of budget and material restrictions, which is what makes this show so great. Each has some basis in science, technology, or military. All fascinating subjects for "cool" television shows. It is as though a ten year old boy imagined 24 minute plot-lines and had an unlimited amount of model-builders to create a world in which those action figures live out his stories. If you ever played with toys and honed your skills enough to see your "controlling" hands disappear, you'll love Captain Scarlett. However, like watching Knight Rider as a kid, you may not love it so much now because that was a really dumb show. You've got to be able set your frame of mind, again, to that of childhood.

I LOVE CAPTAION SCARLET!! it is one of the best TV programs i have ever seen, they don't make AMAZING things like this anymore, i have all of the dvds and the New Captain Scarlet coming in the post, i love both but i love the old ones a bit more :D Gerry Anderson was a Amazing Person and made my childhood awesome ! I watched these 3 series when i was a kid, Captain Scarlet,Stingray and Thunderbirds! as a kid i remember always wanting to be Captain Scarlet :) i just wish Gerry didn't have to go :( R.I.P Gerry Anderson :( We miss you so much!! !! !!

Review by S.D.James