Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

CS&M's American-broadcast predecessors (Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds) prompted novelty, fun, and no small amount of wishful thinking on the part of this frustrated model railroader. Thunderbirds to me at least became a pleasurable engineering-problem-of-the-week. But CS&M was different, far different.

Invisible yet palpable evil was afoot. Characters that looked a lot more human got snuffed. Intentional catastrophes abounded or were openly threatened. And to confront this was SPECTRUM, sometimes arriving not quite in the nick of time.

It may have aimed for the kids, but it was adult fare, at times delivered with genuine style and suspense. (I suspect the producers later chose to tone things down, hence Joe 90 and The Secret Service.) And at all times it was delivered with outright craftsmanship, a superb meld of direction, stories, voice acting and characterization, photography and editing, production design, sound and musical score, and in-camera special effects.

If you're new to Supermarionation, don't mind the puppetry, kit-bashed models, tabletop explosions or rolling backgrounds, overlook the occasional wire and slot in the pavement, and just watch a show that has style. Because everything is scaled-down but filmed as realistically as practicable you'll get drawn into it faster than you think. For a sampler view the episodes "Winged Assassin," "Big Ben Strikes Again," "Manhunt," "Operation Time," "Shadow of Fear," "The Heart of New York," "Fire at Rig 15," "Traitor," "Noose of Ice" and "Attack on Cloudbase."

I don't quite know when I'll view the CGI successor series, but I suspect tastes have changed over time. CS&M's original premise has unquestionably grown spookier. Suffice it to say I've seen nothing like this before or since. Be surprised, and enjoy.

(UPDATE: I gradually view the new series' episodes. Though its imagery can dazzle, given the choice between "Hypermarionation" and, as another user puts it, "the luxuriously sedate menace of the 1967 original," I still prefer the latter.)

...No joke, as a 6 year old I watched this right after seeing Giant Robot, we were in heavon. Could NOT get enough, though those Mysterons and their 'Twin orbs of light' were enough to send us scurrying behind the couch...

Haven't seen it since though.

*** from memory.

Anderson's follow up to 'Thunderbirds' is far more brutal and pessimistic about the future. Virtually every episode begins with the Mysterons murdering someone to 'reconstruct' them under their control. The puppets are technically superior to ThunderBirds, Stingray etc and the special effects by Derek Meddings and co are excellent. There are some nice touches-the multi-racial, equal opportunity organisation 'Spectrum', the puppet 'guest stars',particularly the Robert Mitchum lookalike, and the fact that Colonel White, the Spectrum commander and the Mysterons share the same voice (is this symbolically significant as opposed to Anderson economising on actors?).However, overall it lacked the charm and innocent appeal of its predecessors. For pedants like me there were also some holes in the basic concept. It was quietly forgotten that Captain Scarlet himself was not the original but a Mysteron reconstruction. Was there no danger of him being taken over again? Like the workings of the Star Trek transporter the exact nature of his indestructibility was left vague. In the opening credits he is shown to be bullet proof, but in the series itself he just seems to be able to recover quickly from catastrophic injuries. Anyway, as far as I recall none of the other Mysteron agents were indestructible so why was he? Anderson is reputedly remaking the series as of 2003 so perhaps we'll learn some answers. Hope it's better than some of his latter day shows like 'Terrahawks' and the abysmal 'Space Precinct'

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!

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.