Captain Scarlet

Did you know the only show the BBC cancelled because of inappropriate content on the night of 9/11 was Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons? Obvious why when you think about it.

Twelve years after seeing this on scratchy analogue TV I found the DVD in a charity shop and watched it again in jaw dropping digital clarity. It hasn't dated and retains the compelling sense of dark threat.

Everything about this works, the action, the characters and of course the tech stuff. Cleverly it makes no direct reference to the internet, which was still a bit new and shiny in 2005, thus future proofing itself in a way the 60's puppet series didn't.

There are some minor 'update irritations' from the original puppets, which I saw first time round BTW, the the music is disappointing and the drum sting (paradiddle?) between scenes is not the same or as good. I would have preferred Leutenant Green to have become a black woman, if only because of its currency with the transgender debate and Captain Blue borders on the prissy at times.

But look, this is as good and probably better than the Thunderbirds are Go! reboot. Enjoyable expertly made Gerry Anderson magic.

It was just a shame our great TV companies were a little too scared of the subject matter to not hide it away in a younger kids show topped and tailed with embarrassed and diminishing comments.

"incoming on the holo-screen Colonel" "What is it Leutenant?" "Looks like a full scale HD Blue Ray release, ETA September 2017, sir" "Alert all agents, telly binge round at mine!" "SIG!"

Gerry Anderson's "New Captain Scarlet" began its 26 episode run on the morning of Saturday 12th February 2005 on CITV although, to be honest, I wish it wasn't part of "Ministry of Mayhem"! Why are ITV afraid to try for a bigger audience late afternoon/early evening? Also, in "MOM", the gap between the two halves of each episode is much longer than a regular commercial break would be!

I'd like to know the thinking behind changing Lt. Green from a black male to a white female especially as there are already five female characters in the shape of the Angels although, of the five, we only meet Destiny in the first episode. The suggestion is that, like Councillor Troi when "Star Trek: The Next Generation" began, she is the character through which the emotional content of an episode will be channelled.

I'm also curious about the change of name from Cloudbase to Skybase? That aside, it moved at a furious pace and, in so-doing, lost the luxuriously sedate menace of the 1967 original. The Supermarionation version was much aided by Barry Gray's music whereas the score for the new CGI series meanders rather nondescriptly, instantly forgotten. I wonder what the closing credits are like? We weren't given the chance to see or even hear them on CITV!

There was much to recommend the new show. Particularly impressive were the Angel flight sequences and Black's resurrection, fist through the coffin lid! This made him come across as some vampire-like figure and the great coat swirling behind him reminded me of "Blade Runner" though younger viewers would probably have associated it with Spike from "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer"!

What would be nice is for those younger viewers to want to discover the beauty of the original puppet series which, for all its woodenness, still felt three dimensional; something you just don't seem to get from computer generated material. Even so, I enjoyed it and will stay with the series both now and when it returns later in the year...

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.

I was pleasantly surprised recently to stumble across this TV series as I was a fan of the original and am glad that the characters can now do so much more in the CGI format. The new stories are great. I bought the series 1 box set on DVD and enjoy watching and re-watching my favorite episodes! This box set only covers the first 13 episodes which aired on UK TV in 2005, but am hoping that the series 2 box set will be available before too long as they finished airing in November of 2005. I regret having missed seeing those episodes at the time as we do get that channel over here in Ireland. The DVD has some decent bonus features... I recommend checking it out! Any true Captain Scarlet/Gerry Anderson fan owes it to themselves! Cheers!

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!