Created by Gerry Anderson

The Story: I don't have a lot of warm and fluffy memories of childhood. I'm not saying that I didn't have a good childhood, my droogies....after all, I wasn't born in the Divine Comedy that is The Inferno....I was cast into it. But there was a time when I dreamed the dreams of youths and fantasized about adventures unheard of. During that time I also watched a lot of TV. Remember (if you're old enough too) back when TV after school was filled with cartoons? Even if it was a local cable station, you could be sure to catch reruns of The Flintstones, The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island and Speed Racer. If you were lucky you also got to see some cool imported shows like Star Blazers, 8th Man, Speed Racer and this show...Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons.

Captain Scarlet was created by Gerry Anderson, the creator of Space 1999 and The Thunderbirds. If you're old enough to remember The thunderbirds and Stingray you might have seen this show on TV. It was done in "Super-Marionation" which is basically saying it was done with elaborate puppets and sets. Personally I'm impressed that kids show went to such lengths. It may seem simple, but after listening to Mr. Anderson's commentary on the first disc, I'm sure that creating the sets and the puppets was a lot of hard work.

The tale is this...in the year 2068, after an atomic war and all the other nonsense that we usually find in future stories, Earth has finally gotten its act together enough to send an expedition to Mars. SPECTRUM, a world security organization heads up this mission, by sending a team led by Captain Black to investigate alien signals coming from the Red Planet. SPECTRUM agents are all named after various hues. Coming from all nations and backgrounds the best of the best are chosen to be in SPECTRUM and given color codenames. It turns out that Conrad Turner may have some predestination in his codename of Captain Black. (Conrad Turner is Captain Black's real name.....you can look up SPECTRUM  personnel files at this website.)

You see, when Black and his crew stumble across a Martian city, Black panics and fires on it. The inhabitants...the Mysterons...were at first glad to see that earth men had finally come to them...but after the unexpected attack, they're really pissed off. The Mysterons swear to get revenge and demonstrate their superior technology by recreating the destroyed base. They claim to have the ability to reverse matter and they can recreate any object that's been destroyed and employ it to their own needs. The Mysterons also take control of Captain Black, using him as an unwilling zombie slave in their war on Earth. But like all powerful TV foes, the Mysterons have an Achilles' heel; they can't keep their Martian mouths shut. They announce their first target to SPECTRUM....they intend to kill the World President.

SPECTRUM scrambles two of its best agents to thwart this new threat....Captain Brown and Captain Scarlet. But the Mysterons are already on the ball. They arrange a car wreck, killing Brown and Scarlet, recreating them as Mysteron agents! Captain Brown is turned into a living bomb, but his attempt at the president's life fails. Colonel White, the commander of SPECTRUM, assigns Captain Scarlet to the President, not realizing that Scarlet is under Mysteron control. When he finds out its almost too late. White sends Captain Blue after Scarlet and high atop a large parking structure Captain Blue confronts the bedeviled Scarlet to save the President. In the series and some fan fiction on the 'net you get the idea that Captain Blue was Captain Scarlet's close friend...if that's so, Blue is a cold blooded dude...he doesn't have too much trouble shooting his buddy and sending him to his apparent death from an 800 foot fall! (Hey, I'd do the same, but Captain Blue doesn't seem to take it as more than a days work).

However!.....Captain Scarlet's body is taken back to SPECTRUM HQ...a floating carrier called Cloud Base....where miraculously he comes back to life...albeit, not under Mysteron Control. Captain Scarlet retains some of the Mysteron characteristics...he is human again, but can regenerate from fatal wounds. He is now indestructible!

Colonel White theorizes that Captain Scarlet will be SPECTRUM's greatest asset in the war against the Mysterons. He may well be, but Captain Scarlet and SPECTRUM are far from infallible. Throughout the series there are episodes where the Mysterons actually win. The very second episode, as a matter of fact, is a Mysteron Victory. But it does establish that Captain Scarlet will come back to life after being horribly killed. Even though he is the star of the show, most of the episodes don't focus on Scarlet. There's very little characterization throughout the series for that matter. We know that Scarlet is the hero, and that Captain Blue is his buddy...we find that Lt. Green is eager and energetic, and that Colonel White is a bit of a martinet. Captain Scarlet himself is far from the ideal hero. He disobeys orders as much as...well, Captain Kirk from Star Trek...and he doesn't always succeeded in his missions....but other than that we learn little else about the characters. We learn even less about the Mysterons. They are never seen....except for two circles of light that appear when they reanimate a person or object. Gerry Anderson did that on purpose., Back when the show was first made, the possibility that there was life on Mars was a hot topic. Anderson didn't want to paint himself into a corner by predicting what that life would look like so he made the Mysterons invisible. They're only seen through their human proxies. Even with that explanation I find it that to be a great idea....it makes the Mysterons...mysterious....

And well they should be! The Mysterons have sworn to gain a vengeance on the earth for the unprovoked attack, but lets be serious...they can recreate any person or object and put it under their control...FROM MARS. I think they could have destroyed SPECTRUM and Earth within a few episodes if they really wanted too. (Hell, they GIVE SPECTRUM CLUES!) Colonel White calls the Martian vendetta a war of nerves but I think the Mysterons are really just teaching us a lesson about uncontrolled aggression. The characters say repeatedly throughout the series that Mysterons have powers that they can barely hope to understand....yep, I agree. The Mysterons are toying with Earth, and the ultimate outcome is never seen onscreen.

Nope, sorry...after 32 episodes, the series ends with no real resolution. Its a shame too, because it was a really good  series...its a lot better than the crap we show kids nowadays. I've heard that a new CGI version of Captain Scarlet was being made, but I have no new info on it. If anyone else does, please inform the Inferno. I sent a box set of this series to my niece and her family as a gift....her husband loved it! So at least I know there's one more Captain Scarlet fan out there besides myself!

Best Lines: "Its easy to be brave....when you're indestructible." - A hint of jealousy whispered by Lt. Green.

"This is Captain Black, relaying instructions from the Mysterons....You Know What You Must Do." -Captain Black to one of the Mysteron replacements.

 Are you kidding me?

1.) The entire blame for Earth's war with the Mysterons really belongs to Captain Black. But if Spectrum Agents are handpicked because they're the best, most reliable and resourceful men and women on Earth, how did they miss Black's tendency to shoot first and ask questions later? Did he have pictures of government officials screwing farm animals or something in order to get the job? Look at this way.....EVEN if the Mysteron telescope was a weapon of some kind, wouldn't it just be natural for them to point it at an unknown vehicle approaching their complex? They've had no contact with Earth so they may have just been putting up a defense.

2.) I just thought of something silly. Dr. Fawn tells the newly indestructible Captain Scarlet that he is exactly as he was before he was killed by the Mysterons. What if Captain Scarlet had a raging hangover when he was killed? Would his "retro metabolism" return him to his state of post drunkenness every time he came back to life?

3.) Gerry Anderson does deserve some kudos for his choice to include female fighter pilots and non-white characters in Captain Scarlet. It was thought when he created the series that the Angels (being women pilots) would be too unbelievable. It was also said that having black characters would ruin the syndication of the show in the American South during the 1960's. But still the Angels and the characters of Lt. Green, Melody Angel and Harmony Angel were in the series. (Green and Melody are black, Harmony is Asian)

4.) The Mysterons must be pissed! Colonel White communicates with them, offering peace on behalf of the world and still they attack. Considering that the Mysterons must be highly advanced, they must have understood White's message. So basically they said "Screw you, You guys pissed us off, so now we're gonna kick your asses!".

5.) In a few episodes when Captain Scarlet is about to undertake a fatal task Captain Blue will protest (Like in "Big Ben Strikes Again" or "Flight 104") as if he feels he should be the one to do it. Its my assertion that Captain Blue has a Death Wish. He knows Captain Scarlet will come back to life when killed so the risk is...heck, it ain't no risk. So why does Captain Blue get upset about not being chosen for Operation: Certain F***ing Death? I'd be like "Hell yeah, let the indestructible dude handle it!".

6.) Just how much authority does Colonel White and SPECTRUM have? In the episode "Avalanche" General Ward threatens to fire missiles at Mars and the Mysterons before SPECTRUM can solve the problem at the Frost Line Defense Ring. If SPECTRUM is the agency chosen to head the fight against the Mysterons, shouldn't Colonel White be able to tell the general to ease off his throttle? Doesn't General Ward have to get some kind of authorization from a higher command to fire missiles at Mars?

7.) There's a saying in the military...."[unwrite] up and Move up". Captain Scarlet may be the hero of this series but he fits the example. On at least 3 different occasions he defied orders and got away with it. He openly disobeyed Colonel White in "White as Snow", and he and Captain Blue ignored an order to evacuate in "Renegade Rocket". To make it worse, Captain Scarlet broke SPECTRUM regulations in the episode "Flight to Atlantica", an error that caused billions of dollars in destruction to an undersea base and almost caused the deaths of Captains Blue and Ochre. Guess what? Colonel White served him champagne afterwards! I need to go work for SPECTRUM!

Nudity and Sex: None. They're puppets so there ain't nothin' to see anyways.

Huh?:

The Mysterons are even dumber than Batman's foe, the Riddler. At least the Riddler was just a crook...the Mysterons want to destroy humanity. Yet they give SPECTRUM clues before they launch an attack in the War of Nerves! Every episode begins with the aliens taunting SPECTRUM. They might as well say "This is the voice of the Mysterons...we know that you can hear us, Earth-Men. We are going to launch an attack on the biggest computer complex on Earth. Included as an attachment to this message are the dates, times and personnel we intend to use. Also, blood samples, fingerprints and dossiers of our agents on Earth.". Think I'm exaggerating? In the Episode "Dangerous Rendezvous" the Mysterons tell SPECTRUM that they intend to destroy Cloud Base at Midnight! Golly, why not just tell them how you plan on doing it while you're at it, Mysterons?

One thing that really freaked me out about this show as a kid...people die. I mean, ordinary people. Gas station attendants, innocent bystanders, etc. Just people sitting around. They get killed so the Mysterons can resurrect them as slaves. As a child I was a little surprised to see people like that run over by cars, shot outright and forced into car crashes.

Cloud Base has some flimsy security. They have only five pilots and apparently with apparently only three aircraft for the base.

At the beginning of the series, Captain Scarlet used to get an ill feeling when he was near a Mysteron. In later episodes, this doesn't apply. I guess it screwed up some of the stories having Scarlet instantly know he was near a Mysteron replacement.

Also at the beginning of the series, Captain Scarlet is said to be indestructible...but later on we find that a strong electrical charge can kill him forever. (making him less than indestructible). I suppose he had to have a weakness in order to make the show dramatic.

No one seems to concerned about Captain Scarlet's pain. Yeah, he comes back to life when killed, but even Dr. Fawn says he feels the pain of being killed. Lets face it...being crushed, blown up, shot and smashed every so often has got to hurt really bad. I don't care if I could instantly come back to life, I wouldn't want to be hit by a bus to prove it.

Whenever SPECTRUM is close to capturing Captain Black the Mysterons teleport him away. If they can do things like that NONE of their plots should fail! I'm telling ya, they're just toying with us!

The Final Judgment: The Captain Scarlet Box set contains all of the original episodes of the show, and special features. This includes personnel files of SPECTRUM and a commentary by Gerry Anderson. The Inferno awards this set a full five devils. Its enjoyable for those of us old enough to remember the show and intriguing enough to gather the interest of your kids. Just remember....Captain Scarlet is indestructible...you are not. Don't try this at home!