Expo 2068
Encyclopedia
"Expo 2068" is the 25th episode of the Supermarionation
television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
It was first broadcast in the UK on on ATV Midlands, was written by Shane Rimmer
and directed by Leo Eaton. In this episode, the Mysteron
s steal a nuclear reactor
to bring devastation to the Atlantic Seaboard
of North America
, damaging Earth
's prestige.
to the Manicougan Power Complex is destroyed by the Mysteron
s, who reconstruct driver, vehicle and cargo as part of their plan to damage Earth
's prestige by destroying the Atlantic Seaboard
of North America
. Expo 2068, a futuristic building development, is under construction, with a fleet of Seneca remote-controlled helicopter
s ferrying various materials to the site. Captain Black
infiltrates the Seneca control room and holds the operator at gunpoint, forcing him to divert a helicopter to a woodland
clearing. The reconstructed driver transfers the reactor from the transporter to the helicopter's holding crate.
When a lumberjack
stumbles across the scene, the driver shoots him and leaves him for dead. Captains Scarlet
and Blue
have been pursuing the transporter in a Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle
and find the wounded man, who is taken into hospital. The thermal safety valve
on the reactor has been removed — without it, the reactor will overheat and explode. The officers continue to pursue the transporter but the driver, desperate to evade Spectrum, is killed when he crashes the vehicle. Finding that the reactor has disappeared, Scarlet and Blue remember that the lumberjack was muttering "Seneca", and rush to Expo 2068.
At the site, Black orders the operator to position the helicopter directly over the Expo Tower to ensure maximum destruction when the reactor, which is approaching critical temperature, detonates. When Scarlet and Blue arrive, he commands his hostage
to crash the helicopter immediately. The man refuses to comply and is shot, but Black's bullet damages the controls, causing the helicopter to become unsteady in flight. Wearing a jet pack
, Scarlet glides up to the cargo crate and cuts through the wood with a saw
. He ultimately succeeds in stabilising the reactor by disconnecting some external circuits, but the helicopter crashes with him inside. Blue returns Scarlet's body to Cloudbase
so that he can revive.
", "Model Spy
" and "Inferno".
and Blue
requisition their Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle
(number 442) at a village shop from a manager wearing a nightgown and a baseball cap. It is also explicitly stated that the Mysterons intend to lower Earth's prestige and destroy the Atlantic Seaboard by crashing the nuclear reactor into Expo 2068, the actual target of their threat, although in the completed episode a line of dialogue from Colonel White
suggests that the target is the Manicougan Power Complex. Barry Gray
composed a separate score
for this episode as opposed to reusing tracks from earlier episodes. The recording took place along with that for the later episode "Attack on Cloudbase
" on , as part of the final musical work completed for the series. One featured piece, "The Reactor", is included on the CD release of the Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons soundtracks.
recognises "Expo 2068" as one of several Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons scripts created by Tony Barwick
which prominently feature a theme of the dangers of nuclear technology
, describing this as a "favourite device
" of Barwick.
Supermarionation
Supermarionation is a puppetry technique devised in the 1960s by British production company AP Films. It was used extensively in the company's numerous Gerry and Sylvia Anderson-produced action-adventure series, the most famous of which was Thunderbirds...
television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often referred to as Captain Scarlet, is a 1960s British science-fiction television series produced by the Century 21 Productions company of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, John Read and Reg Hill...
It was first broadcast in the UK on on ATV Midlands, was written by Shane Rimmer
Shane Rimmer
Shane Rimmer is a Canadian actor and voice actor, probably best known as the voice of Scott Tracy in Thunderbirds.He has mostly performed in supporting roles, frequently in films and television series filmed in the United Kingdom, having relocated to England in the late 1950s, initially performing...
and directed by Leo Eaton. In this episode, the Mysteron
Mysteron
The Mysterons are a fictional race of extraterrestrials, native to the planet Mars, which appear in the British science fiction Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet, symbolised by ubiquitous projected green rings and the deep...
s steal a nuclear reactor
Nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
to bring devastation to the Atlantic Seaboard
Atlantic Seaboard
The Atlantic seaboard watershed is a watershed of North America along both*the Atlantic Canada coast south of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence Watershed &*the East Coast of the United States north of the watershed of the Okeechobee Waterway....
of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, damaging Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
's prestige.
Plot
A transporter delivering a nuclear reactorNuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
to the Manicougan Power Complex is destroyed by the Mysteron
Mysteron
The Mysterons are a fictional race of extraterrestrials, native to the planet Mars, which appear in the British science fiction Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet, symbolised by ubiquitous projected green rings and the deep...
s, who reconstruct driver, vehicle and cargo as part of their plan to damage Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
's prestige by destroying the Atlantic Seaboard
Atlantic Seaboard
The Atlantic seaboard watershed is a watershed of North America along both*the Atlantic Canada coast south of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence Watershed &*the East Coast of the United States north of the watershed of the Okeechobee Waterway....
of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. Expo 2068, a futuristic building development, is under construction, with a fleet of Seneca remote-controlled helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
s ferrying various materials to the site. Captain Black
Captain Black (Captain Scarlet)
Captain Black is the fictional nemesis of Captain Scarlet and recurring Mysteron agent in the 1960s British supermarionation science fiction television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and its CGI remake Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet...
infiltrates the Seneca control room and holds the operator at gunpoint, forcing him to divert a helicopter to a woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
clearing. The reconstructed driver transfers the reactor from the transporter to the helicopter's holding crate.
When a lumberjack
Lumberjack
A lumberjack is a worker in the logging industry who performs the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to a bygone era when hand tools were used in harvesting trees principally from virgin forest...
stumbles across the scene, the driver shoots him and leaves him for dead. Captains Scarlet
Captain Scarlet (character)
Captain Scarlet is the fictional main character in Gerry Anderson's British Supermarionation science fiction television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and its CGI remake Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet....
and Blue
Captain Blue (Captain Scarlet)
Captain Blue is a character in the 1967 Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. He is a senior officer of the Spectrum organisation and a close friend of Captain Scarlet....
have been pursuing the transporter in a Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle
Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle
The Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle is a fictional pursuit and attack vehicle from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's science fiction television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons .-Appearance in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons:...
and find the wounded man, who is taken into hospital. The thermal safety valve
Safety valve
A safety valve is a valve mechanism for the automatic release of a substance from a boiler, pressure vessel, or other system when the pressure or temperature exceeds preset limits....
on the reactor has been removed — without it, the reactor will overheat and explode. The officers continue to pursue the transporter but the driver, desperate to evade Spectrum, is killed when he crashes the vehicle. Finding that the reactor has disappeared, Scarlet and Blue remember that the lumberjack was muttering "Seneca", and rush to Expo 2068.
At the site, Black orders the operator to position the helicopter directly over the Expo Tower to ensure maximum destruction when the reactor, which is approaching critical temperature, detonates. When Scarlet and Blue arrive, he commands his hostage
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...
to crash the helicopter immediately. The man refuses to comply and is shot, but Black's bullet damages the controls, causing the helicopter to become unsteady in flight. Wearing a jet pack
Jet pack
Jet pack, rocket belt, rocket pack, and similar names are various types of devices, usually worn on the back, that are propelled by jets of escaping gases so as to allow a single user to fly....
, Scarlet glides up to the cargo crate and cuts through the wood with a saw
Saw
A saw is a tool that uses a hard blade or wire with an abrasive edge to cut through softer materials. The cutting edge of a saw is either a serrated blade or an abrasive...
. He ultimately succeeds in stabilising the reactor by disconnecting some external circuits, but the helicopter crashes with him inside. Blue returns Scarlet's body to Cloudbase
Cloudbase
Cloudbase is the fictional skyborne headquarters of international security organisation Spectrum, from Gerry Anderson's science fiction television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons .-Appearance in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons:...
so that he can revive.
Continuity
The Mysterons' vanishing power is seen again in this episode when they switch a signpost for a road diversion, causing the original transporter truck to fall into a ravine. It is also shown in "The Heart of New YorkThe Heart of New York
"The Heart of New York" is the 11th episode of the Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It was first broadcast in the UK on on ATV Midlands, was written by Tony Barwick and directed by Alan Perry...
", "Model Spy
Model Spy
"Model Spy" is the 14th episode of the Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It was first broadcast in the UK on on ATV Midlands, was written by Bill Hedley and directed by Ken Turner....
" and "Inferno".
Production
A number of plot changes were made in the transition from script to final edit. The original script for this episode includes a scene in which ScarletCaptain Scarlet (character)
Captain Scarlet is the fictional main character in Gerry Anderson's British Supermarionation science fiction television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and its CGI remake Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet....
and Blue
Captain Blue (Captain Scarlet)
Captain Blue is a character in the 1967 Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. He is a senior officer of the Spectrum organisation and a close friend of Captain Scarlet....
requisition their Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle
Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle
The Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle is a fictional pursuit and attack vehicle from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's science fiction television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons .-Appearance in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons:...
(number 442) at a village shop from a manager wearing a nightgown and a baseball cap. It is also explicitly stated that the Mysterons intend to lower Earth's prestige and destroy the Atlantic Seaboard by crashing the nuclear reactor into Expo 2068, the actual target of their threat, although in the completed episode a line of dialogue from Colonel White
Colonel White
Colonel White is a character in the 1960s Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. He is the commander-in-Chief of Spectrum, the security organisation dedicated to defending Earth against the Mysterons from Mars...
suggests that the target is the Manicougan Power Complex. Barry Gray
Barry Gray
Barry Gray was a British musician and composer who is best known for his work for Gerry Anderson.-Life:...
composed a separate score
Sheet music
Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
for this episode as opposed to reusing tracks from earlier episodes. The recording took place along with that for the later episode "Attack on Cloudbase
Attack on Cloudbase
"Attack on Cloudbase" is the 31st episode of the 1960s Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. The penultimate instalment of the series, it first aired in the United Kingdom on ATV Midlands on 7 May 1968...
" on , as part of the final musical work completed for the series. One featured piece, "The Reactor", is included on the CD release of the Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons soundtracks.
Reception
Historian Nicholas J. CullNicholas J. Cull
Professor Nicholas J. Cull is a historian and the director of the Master's in Public Diplomacy program at the University of Southern California.-Biography:...
recognises "Expo 2068" as one of several Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons scripts created by Tony Barwick
Tony Barwick
Tony Barwick was a British television scriptwriter who worked extensively on series created and produced by Gerry Anderson....
which prominently feature a theme of the dangers of nuclear technology
Nuclear technology
Nuclear technology is technology that involves the reactions of atomic nuclei. Among the notable nuclear technologies are nuclear power, nuclear medicine, and nuclear weapons...
, describing this as a "favourite device
Literary technique
A literary technique is any element or the entirety of elements a writer intentionally uses in the structure of their work...
" of Barwick.
External links
- "Expo 2068" at Fanderson.org.ukFandersonFanderson is the official appreciation society for the works of Gerry Anderson. It is a not-for-profit organisation endorsed by Anderson Entertainment Ltd, Gerry Anderson Productions plc and ITC Entertainment Group Ltd...
- "Expo 2068" at CliveBanks.co.uk
- "Expo 2068" at TheVervoid.com