ALL SCI-FI

[Pow]

From The Complete Gerry Anderson by Chris Bentley.

Format: In the year 2068, peace on Earth is maintained by the Spectrum organization, a super-efficient security organization headquartered in the vast floating aircraft carrier Cloudbase, hovering on the edge of Earth's atmosphere and manned by agents recruited from various World Government services, each assigned color code names to protect their identities.

But then an ill-fated mission to locate the source of alien signals originating on Mars unleashed the power of the Mysterons, ruthless sentient computers created by an alien race to protect their Martian Complex.

Spectrum's personnel and facilities are now mobilized solely to combat the threat of the Mysterons.

[Bud Brewster]

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Fascinating premise for this exciting sci-fi series, Mike!

I'll confess that I've never been a fan of the Gerry Anderson puppet series, but I'm pretty damned gunge-ho about the CGI versions, like Thunderbirds are Go!

And this series has a CGI version as well. The designs of the futuristic machinery and interiors are absolutely gorgeous! Here's a sample, the two part episode called Instrument of Destruction.

_Captain Scarlet | E1 | Instrument Of Destruction Part 1


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_Captain Scarlet | E2 | Instrument Of Destruction Part 2


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And here's a video of the complete season 1 (4 hours 38 minutes). The DVDs offered on Amazon are all Region 2, so they won't run on most US players. So, I've downloaded it from YouTube, and I'm look forward to watching the 2.9 GB video.

__________________Captain Scarlet season 1


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

I agree with you, Bruce, the puppets appeal only to the kids even though the premises for the various Anderson' shows were always imaginative.

What was so cool about the Gerry & Sylvia Anderson puppet shows were the various designs for the numerous futuristic vehicles by the incredible Derek Meddings. So many of 'em are fantastic looking to this day.

I also enjoyed the CGI version of Captain Scarlet as well as Thunderbirds Are Go! Whoever designed the vehicles and equipment for those two series deserves a visual effects award.

[Bud Brewster]

[scotpens]

[Pow]

Scotpens, if you kiss lady Penelope all you do is get splinters in your lips.

I will say that Sophia Myles who played the good lady in that horrendous 2004 live action Thunderbird movie was a dish.

[Pow]

From Chris Bentley's book

The new series presented the Century 21 team with the opportunity to abandon the disproportionate caricatured puppets that had been used on the previous series in favor of new, perfectly proportioned 1/3 scale marionettes with the voice mechanism solenoids relocated from the head to the chest.

Aside from the puppets of the regular characters, a full repertory cast of more than 50 revamp puppets were created to appear in guest character roles or as background extras, and the puppet workshop team also constructed a number of under-control puppets that could be operated from beneath the puppet set like sophisticated hand puppets, rather than from above on wires.

Filming on Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons began on Monday, January 2nd, 1967. As with Stingray & Thunderbirds, two puppet units each shot separate episodes in 11 working days so that filming of the 32 episodes could be completed in eight months.

However, the complications of filming the series back to back with a second Thunderbirds feature film, Thunderbird 6 (1967), caused various delays and the last episodes were not completed until the end of October 1967.

[Pow]

The face and voice of Captain Scarlet is based upon Cary Grant.

Destiny Angel is based upon Ursula Andress, Melody Angel is based upon Eartha Kitt.

Background info: Captain Scarlet takes place a few years after the events of Stingray, with some Spectrum agents as veterans of Stingray's W.A.S.P. organization. None of this is mentioned on any episodes of Captain Scarlet.

[johnnybear]

I've always loved the original Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons myself.

The Mysterons on Mars were not computers, I thought, but energy beings encased in mechanical devices and globes, although some of the human Mysterons did seem to be semi-robotic!

The Martian exploratory mission encounters a complex buried in the hills and carefully approaches. The Mysterons within are also interested and eager to meet other races of the universe, but when they try to make contact, the humans, led by Captain Black of Spectrum, open fire upon the city and obliterate it totally. But they're unaware of the Martian's ability to recreate themselves and their city by retrometabolism!

They then take over Black, making him their puppet (yes I did say that) as they believe humanity is an evil, warlike race and decide to annihilate Earth in retaliation for the attack! It really did become a big hit back in the sixties and seventies and I think it passes Thunderbirds in interest and story telling, plus the puppets are years better than the Tracy family, as the heads are suited to the bodies they are placed on!
JB

[johnnybear]

Funny Roger Moore said that Captain Scarlet was based upon his likeness. Francis Matthews, who did Scarlet's voice, always spoke in a Cary Grant style, a bit like Ian Ogilvy did when he played Simon Templar in the Return of The Saint series!
JB