The Mysterons (Captain Scarlet episode)
Encyclopedia
"The Mysterons" is the first episode of the 1960s Supermarionation
television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
. It was first officially broadcast in the UK on ATV Midlands on , although it had been granted an unscheduled test transmission for the London
area on . It was written by series creators Gerry
and Sylvia Anderson
and directed by Desmond Saunders
. In this first episode, after their Martian
complex is attacked by Captain Black
, a race of extraterrestrials known as the "Mysteron
s" declare a "war of nerves" on Earth, with their first threat being to assassinate the World President
.
Filmed in January 1967, the final edit of the episode differs from a pilot
script that the Andersons submitted in August 1966, particularly regarding the nature of Captain Scarlet
's biology as a Mysteron agent. "The Mysterons" was enthusiastically received by members of the cast in 1967 while critics including British journalists James Rampton and Allison Pearson
also recommended the episode when it was repeated on BBC Two
in 1993. In addition to flashback
s in the later Captain Scarlet episodes "Winged Assassin
", "Dangerous Rendezvous
" and "Traitor", footage from "The Mysterons" was re-edited to introduce Captain Scarlet vs the Mysterons
, a Captain Scarlet compilation film, in 1980.
Martian Exploration Vehicle to find the source of unidentified radio signals. The point of origin is revealed to be a complex inhabited by the Mysteron
s, who rotate surveillance monitors to inspect the MEV. Mistaking these for weapons, Zero-X commander Captain Black
orders Lieutenant Dean to obliterate the complex with the MEV missile gun. However, in a process that the Mysterons call "reversing matter", a turret projects a light onto the wreckage and restores the complex to an undamaged state. Declaring war on Earth and seizing control of Black's mind, the Mysterons announce that their first act of retaliation for the unprovoked attack will be to assassinate the World President
. When the Zero-X returns to Earth, Black disappears without a trace.
Captains Scarlet
and Brown
are assigned to escort the President to the Spectrum Maximum Security Building in New York
. However, the officers are killed when the Mysterons engineer the crash of their Spectrum Saloon Car
. The dead bodies form biological templates for the creation of Mysteron reconstructions, programmed to execute the threat against the World President. As a first assassination attempt, the Brown duplicate physically detonates after arriving with the President at the Maximum Security Building, but an emergency door saves the target's life.
On Cloudbase
, Spectrum's airborne headquarters, Spectrum commander-in-chief Colonel White
rules that Brown was a traitor to Spectrum and had a bomb concealed on his person. He orders the reconstruction of Scarlet to fly the President to a second Maximum Security Building in London
. However, when the remains of the original Brown are found at the scene of the car crash, it dawns on White that the President is in the hands of an impostor, who is not human. Ignoring orders to return to Cloudbase, the Scarlet reconstruction ejects itself and the President from its Spectrum Jet, landing in southern England and setting off for London in a stolen car.
Spectrum officer Captain Blue
starts a ground pursuit in a Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle
. Meanwhile, the Angels interceptor squadron destroy a bridge to force the Scarlet reconstruction to a dead end at the top of the London Car-Vu, a car parking structure 800 feet (240 m) high. As Captain Black looks on from a derelict building, the Scarlet reconstruction awaits the arrival of Spectrum Helicopter A42, which has been hijacked by the Mysterons. When the helicopter shoots at Blue, Destiny Angel returns fire and the Car-Vu is crippled when the aircraft crashes just beneath the top level. Blue then shoots the Scarlet reconstruction, which falls from the Car-Vu to its death. Wearing a jet pack
, Blue lifts the President to safety just before the structure collapses.
The Mysteron plot thwarted, an epilogue reveals that the reconstruction has returned to life, but is no longer under Mysteron control and instead appears to contain the consciousness of the original, human Scarlet. Addressing his officers, White suggests that this healing factor
makes the reconstruction "indestructible", and that it is destined to become Spectrum's greatest asset as Earth prepares to defend itself against future attacks from Mars.
and Sylvia Anderson
, who devised the format and characters of each Supermarionation
series developed and generally produced the pilot teleplay. Captain Scarlet script editor
Tony Barwick
provided additional input. The script from which the first episode was filmed differed significantly from a pilot
treatment written by the Andersons in August 1966. It was originally conceived that the character of Captain Scarlet
would be revived by artificial means (an advanced computer) rather than returning to life naturally and with no on-screen explanation. The original script also offered greater insight into the precise nature of Scarlet's biology, specifying that after his resurrection he would no longer be truly human but a "mechanical man". In the series as broadcast, Scarlet's abilities are never explored in as much detail.
Another aspect that changed between pre-production
and filming was the production team's position on casting. Originally, each episode was to feature a guest star that would be voiced by a well-known 1960s actor. In the case of the series opener, the character of the World President
was initially due to be voiced by American-born actor Patrick McGoohan
, on whom the design of the puppet's face was based, but the idea was abandoned due to budgetary constraints. In his one production contribution to Captain Scarlet, filming was directed by Desmond Saunders
, one of the Andersons' long-serving collaborators, from after two months of pre-production. Incidental music
for "The Mysterons" was recorded by Barry Gray
on 16 March, with an orchestra of 16 members, in one four-hour studio session.
An opening sequence caption reads "Mars
— 2068 A.D." Although the title "The Mysterons" does not appear on-screen, the episode has been referred to under this name from the pre-production stage and is therefore accepted as the official title for the episode. Making a reappearance is the Martian Exploration Vehicle
, which had featured in the 1966 Thunderbirds
film, Thunderbirds Are Go
. Its presence at the start of the episode was intended to mark the transition between Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet, which are set in a common fictional universe
.
area alone and without linking advertisement. Viewing figures
for the official ATV Midlands premiere of "The Mysterons", transmitted at 5.25 pm on , were a promising 0.45 million. On its first network
broadcast on BBC Two
in 1993, it achieved an audience of four million, proving to be the third most-watched programme on that channel in the week of transmission. The episode was most recently screened in the UK as part of a Gerry Anderson
-themed night of programming on BBC Four
on , for which it attracted an audience of 0.35 million (a share of 1.54 per cent).
In the 1960s, footage from "The Mysterons" had reappeared in the form of flashbacks
in the subsequent Captain Scarlet episodes "Winged Assassin
", "Dangerous Rendezvous
" and "Traitor", but in 1980 the episode as a whole was re-edited to introduce a compilation film of Captain Scarlet stories, titled Captain Scarlet vs the Mysterons
. When the series was repeated on British Central Television later in the 1980s, alterations were made to the opening sequence of "The Mysterons" to cut out dialogue in which the Mysteron
voice states that it is a surveillance device that is being turned on the Martian Exploration Vehicle
. Since the device has the appearance of a weapon (as the Zero X astronauts mistake it for), the Mysterons appear to be more hostile in this re-edited version of the first episode.
, who provided the voice of Captain Scarlet
, recalls, "the moment we heard, 'This is the voice of the Mysteron
s,' my eldest son ran screaming from the room, but my other son just sat there riveted," and adds, "Reg
[Hill, producer] said, 'Oh my God, what have we done? We've made a series that no children are going to watch!'" The episode was also given a cinematic presentation at the Columbia Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue
, in London, which voice actor Gary Files
fondly remembers: "I looked at [the episode] with total and utter amazement ... Boy, you should have seen it on the wide screen! They had laid in an incredible soundtrack to go with it ... We all tottered out into the night, convinced that we were on to a winner."
Reviewers in 1993 were satisfied, if slightly bemused, by the first episode of the 25-year-old series. In a preview published on 1 October, the date of the episode's transmission on BBC Two
, James Rampton of The Independent
wrote, "The best thing about the programme is that it's just as ludicrous as you remembered: the lips bizarrely out of synch with the words, the strange uniformity of features (isn't that security guard Alan
from Thunderbirds
?), and the totally preposterous dialogue ('Despite his fatal injuries, he's returning to life'). Highly recommended." In her review dated 3 October and printed in the same newspaper, Allison Pearson
was comically critical of some of the design aspects, such as the surface of Mars
and the exterior of the Mysteron complex in the opening sequence, and described the London Car-Vu model as a "Philippe Starck
cake-stand". However, she also referred to the episode as being part of a "classic Sixties puppet show."
Supermarionation
historian Stephen La Rivière notes the violence of a few scenes in this episode, citing as examples the deaths of Captains Scarlet
and Brown
, the murdered Scarlet's bleeding body, the explosion of Brown's Mysteron double and the shooting of the reconstructed Scarlet and its fall from the Car-Vu. The British Board of Film Classification
, in its assessment dated , records one "very mild" instance of violence, passing the episode with a "U" certificate
.
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 officially broadcast in the UK on ATV Midlands on , although it had been granted an unscheduled test transmission for the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
area on . It was written by series creators Gerry
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
and Sylvia Anderson
Sylvia Anderson
Sylvia Anderson , born 25 March 1937, is a British voice artist and film producer, most notable for collaborations with Gerry Anderson, to whom she was married from 1962 to 1975....
and directed by Desmond Saunders
Desmond Saunders
Desmond Saunders is a British television director and film editor.He has a long association with producer Gerry Anderson, having served as a director for the series Supercar , Stingray , Thunderbirds , Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons , Joe 90 and Terrahawks...
. In this first episode, after their Martian
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
complex is attacked by 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...
, a race of extraterrestrials known as 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" declare a "war of nerves" on Earth, with their first threat being to assassinate the World President
World government in science fiction
In both science fiction and utopian/dystopian fiction, authors have made frequent use of the age-old idea of a global state and, accordingly, of world government.- Overview :...
.
Filmed in January 1967, the final edit of the episode differs from a pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
script that the Andersons submitted in August 1966, particularly regarding the nature of Captain 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....
's biology as a Mysteron agent. "The Mysterons" was enthusiastically received by members of the cast in 1967 while critics including British journalists James Rampton and Allison Pearson
Allison Pearson
Allison Pearson is a Welsh author and newspaper columnist. Her novel I Don't Know How She Does It, published in 2002, has sold four million copies and has been made into a movie of the same name starring Sarah Jessica Parker...
also recommended the episode when it was repeated on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
in 1993. In addition to flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
s in the later Captain Scarlet episodes "Winged Assassin
Winged Assassin
"Winged Assassin" is the second episode of the Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It was first broadcast in the UK on on ATV Midlands. It was written by Tony Barwick and directed by David Lane...
", "Dangerous Rendezvous
Dangerous Rendezvous
"Dangerous Rendezvous" is the 19th 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 Brian Burgess...
" and "Traitor", footage from "The Mysterons" was re-edited to introduce Captain Scarlet vs the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet vs the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet vs the Mysterons is a 1980 television film based on the 1967 British Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It is a compilation film incorporating re-edited footage from the series episodes "The Mysterons", "Winged Assassin", "Seek and Destroy" and...
, a Captain Scarlet compilation film, in 1980.
Plot
In 2068, astronauts are investigating the surface of Mars in the Zero-XZero-X
The Zero-X is a fictitious Earth spacecraft that appeared in two of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Supermarionation productions...
Martian Exploration Vehicle to find the source of unidentified radio signals. The point of origin is revealed to be a complex inhabited 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 rotate surveillance monitors to inspect the MEV. Mistaking these for weapons, Zero-X commander 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...
orders Lieutenant Dean to obliterate the complex with the MEV missile gun. However, in a process that the Mysterons call "reversing matter", a turret projects a light onto the wreckage and restores the complex to an undamaged state. Declaring war on Earth and seizing control of Black's mind, the Mysterons announce that their first act of retaliation for the unprovoked attack will be to assassinate the World President
World government in science fiction
In both science fiction and utopian/dystopian fiction, authors have made frequent use of the age-old idea of a global state and, accordingly, of world government.- Overview :...
. When the Zero-X returns to Earth, Black disappears without a trace.
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 Brown
Captain Brown
Captain Brown is a character in the 1967 Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. A Spectrum officer, he is killed by the Mysterons in the first episode of the series...
are assigned to escort the President to the Spectrum Maximum Security Building in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. However, the officers are killed when the Mysterons engineer the crash of their Spectrum Saloon Car
Spectrum Saloon Car (SSC)
The Spectrum Patrol Car or Spectrum Saloon Car is a fictional vehicle that appears in Gerry Anderson's science-fiction television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and in revamped form in the remake series Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet .-Appearance in Captain Scarlet and the...
. The dead bodies form biological templates for the creation of Mysteron reconstructions, programmed to execute the threat against the World President. As a first assassination attempt, the Brown duplicate physically detonates after arriving with the President at the Maximum Security Building, but an emergency door saves the target's life.
On 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:...
, Spectrum's airborne headquarters, Spectrum commander-in-chief 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...
rules that Brown was a traitor to Spectrum and had a bomb concealed on his person. He orders the reconstruction of Scarlet to fly the President to a second Maximum Security Building in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. However, when the remains of the original Brown are found at the scene of the car crash, it dawns on White that the President is in the hands of an impostor, who is not human. Ignoring orders to return to Cloudbase, the Scarlet reconstruction ejects itself and the President from its Spectrum Jet, landing in southern England and setting off for London in a stolen car.
Spectrum officer Captain 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....
starts a ground pursuit 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:...
. Meanwhile, the Angels interceptor squadron destroy a bridge to force the Scarlet reconstruction to a dead end at the top of the London Car-Vu, a car parking structure 800 feet (240 m) high. As Captain Black looks on from a derelict building, the Scarlet reconstruction awaits the arrival of Spectrum Helicopter A42, which has been hijacked by the Mysterons. When the helicopter shoots at Blue, Destiny Angel returns fire and the Car-Vu is crippled when the aircraft crashes just beneath the top level. Blue then shoots the Scarlet reconstruction, which falls from the Car-Vu to its death. 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....
, Blue lifts the President to safety just before the structure collapses.
The Mysteron plot thwarted, an epilogue reveals that the reconstruction has returned to life, but is no longer under Mysteron control and instead appears to contain the consciousness of the original, human Scarlet. Addressing his officers, White suggests that this healing factor
Healing factor
A healing factor is a term used to describe the ability of some characters in fiction to recover from bodily injuries or disease at a superhuman rate...
makes the reconstruction "indestructible", and that it is destined to become Spectrum's greatest asset as Earth prepares to defend itself against future attacks from Mars.
Production
The first episode of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons was written by the husband-and-wife team of GerryGerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
and Sylvia Anderson
Sylvia Anderson
Sylvia Anderson , born 25 March 1937, is a British voice artist and film producer, most notable for collaborations with Gerry Anderson, to whom she was married from 1962 to 1975....
, who devised the format and characters of each Supermarionation
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...
series developed and generally produced the pilot teleplay. Captain Scarlet script editor
Script editor
A script editor is a member of the production team of scripted television programmes, usually dramas and comedies. The script editor has many responsibilities including finding new script writers, developing storyline and series ideas with writers, ensuring that scripts are suitable for production...
Tony Barwick
Tony Barwick
Tony Barwick was a British television scriptwriter who worked extensively on series created and produced by Gerry Anderson....
provided additional input. The script from which the first episode was filmed differed significantly from a pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
treatment written by the Andersons in August 1966. It was originally conceived that the character of Captain 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....
would be revived by artificial means (an advanced computer) rather than returning to life naturally and with no on-screen explanation. The original script also offered greater insight into the precise nature of Scarlet's biology, specifying that after his resurrection he would no longer be truly human but a "mechanical man". In the series as broadcast, Scarlet's abilities are never explored in as much detail.
Another aspect that changed between pre-production
Pre-production
Pre-production or In Production is the process of preparing all the elements involved in a film, play, or other performance.- In film :...
and filming was the production team's position on casting. Originally, each episode was to feature a guest star that would be voiced by a well-known 1960s actor. In the case of the series opener, the character of the World President
World government in science fiction
In both science fiction and utopian/dystopian fiction, authors have made frequent use of the age-old idea of a global state and, accordingly, of world government.- Overview :...
was initially due to be voiced by American-born actor Patrick McGoohan
Patrick McGoohan
Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born actor, raised in Ireland and England, with an extensive stage and film career, most notably in the 1960s television series Danger Man , and The Prisoner, which he co-created...
, on whom the design of the puppet's face was based, but the idea was abandoned due to budgetary constraints. In his one production contribution to Captain Scarlet, filming was directed by Desmond Saunders
Desmond Saunders
Desmond Saunders is a British television director and film editor.He has a long association with producer Gerry Anderson, having served as a director for the series Supercar , Stingray , Thunderbirds , Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons , Joe 90 and Terrahawks...
, one of the Andersons' long-serving collaborators, from after two months of pre-production. Incidental music
Incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
for "The Mysterons" was recorded by Barry Gray
Barry Gray
Barry Gray was a British musician and composer who is best known for his work for Gerry Anderson.-Life:...
on 16 March, with an orchestra of 16 members, in one four-hour studio session.
An opening sequence caption reads "Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
— 2068 A.D." Although the title "The Mysterons" does not appear on-screen, the episode has been referred to under this name from the pre-production stage and is therefore accepted as the official title for the episode. Making a reappearance is the Martian Exploration Vehicle
Zero-X
The Zero-X is a fictitious Earth spacecraft that appeared in two of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Supermarionation productions...
, which had featured in the 1966 Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds (TV series)
Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation"...
film, Thunderbirds Are Go
Thunderbirds Are GO
Thunderbirds Are Go is a 1966 British science-fiction film based on Thunderbirds, a 1960s television series starring marionette puppets and featuring scale model effects in a filming process dubbed "Supermarionation"...
. Its presence at the start of the episode was intended to mark the transition between Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet, which are set in a common fictional universe
Fictional universe
A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....
.
Broadcast
The first transmission of "The Mysterons" was an unscheduled test, held late at night on , in the LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
area alone and without linking advertisement. Viewing figures
Audience measurement
Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites...
for the official ATV Midlands premiere of "The Mysterons", transmitted at 5.25 pm on , were a promising 0.45 million. On its first network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
broadcast on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
in 1993, it achieved an audience of four million, proving to be the third most-watched programme on that channel in the week of transmission. The episode was most recently screened in the UK as part of a Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
-themed night of programming on BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
on , for which it attracted an audience of 0.35 million (a share of 1.54 per cent).
In the 1960s, footage from "The Mysterons" had reappeared in the form of flashbacks
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
in the subsequent Captain Scarlet episodes "Winged Assassin
Winged Assassin
"Winged Assassin" is the second episode of the Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It was first broadcast in the UK on on ATV Midlands. It was written by Tony Barwick and directed by David Lane...
", "Dangerous Rendezvous
Dangerous Rendezvous
"Dangerous Rendezvous" is the 19th 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 Brian Burgess...
" and "Traitor", but in 1980 the episode as a whole was re-edited to introduce a compilation film of Captain Scarlet stories, titled Captain Scarlet vs the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet vs the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet vs the Mysterons is a 1980 television film based on the 1967 British Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It is a compilation film incorporating re-edited footage from the series episodes "The Mysterons", "Winged Assassin", "Seek and Destroy" and...
. When the series was repeated on British Central Television later in the 1980s, alterations were made to the opening sequence of "The Mysterons" to cut out dialogue in which 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...
voice states that it is a surveillance device that is being turned on the Martian Exploration Vehicle
Zero-X
The Zero-X is a fictitious Earth spacecraft that appeared in two of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Supermarionation productions...
. Since the device has the appearance of a weapon (as the Zero X astronauts mistake it for), the Mysterons appear to be more hostile in this re-edited version of the first episode.
Reception
In 1967, the episode was positively received by members of the voice cast and their families, who had attended a preview screening at the Century 21 Studios. Francis MatthewsFrancis Matthews (actor)
-Early life:Matthews attended St Michael's Jesuit College, Leeds and started his acting career with Leeds repertory theatre before service in the Royal Navy.-Career:...
, who provided the voice of Captain 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....
, recalls, "the moment we heard, 'This is the voice of 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,' my eldest son ran screaming from the room, but my other son just sat there riveted," and adds, "Reg
Reg Hill
Reginald E. Hill was a British television producer and was most prominently associated with the work of puppet animator Gerry Anderson.-Professional life:...
[Hill, producer] said, 'Oh my God, what have we done? We've made a series that no children are going to watch!'" The episode was also given a cinematic presentation at the Columbia Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue
Shaftesbury Avenue
Shaftesbury Avenue is a major street in central London, England, named after Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, that runs in a north-easterly direction from Piccadilly Circus to New Oxford Street, crossing Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus....
, in London, which voice actor Gary Files
Gary Files
Gary Files was born in Melbourne, Australia and is an Australian-Canadian actor, writer and director who has resided in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. He has lived in Australia since 1976.-Early life:...
fondly remembers: "I looked at [the episode] with total and utter amazement ... Boy, you should have seen it on the wide screen! They had laid in an incredible soundtrack to go with it ... We all tottered out into the night, convinced that we were on to a winner."
Reviewers in 1993 were satisfied, if slightly bemused, by the first episode of the 25-year-old series. In a preview published on 1 October, the date of the episode's transmission on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
, James Rampton of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
wrote, "The best thing about the programme is that it's just as ludicrous as you remembered: the lips bizarrely out of synch with the words, the strange uniformity of features (isn't that security guard Alan
Alan Tracy
Alan Tracy is a fictional character from Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation television show Thunderbirds and the subsequent films Thunderbirds Are GO and Thunderbird 6. The character also appeared in the 2004 live action movie Thunderbirds....
from Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds (TV series)
Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation"...
?), and the totally preposterous dialogue ('Despite his fatal injuries, he's returning to life'). Highly recommended." In her review dated 3 October and printed in the same newspaper, Allison Pearson
Allison Pearson
Allison Pearson is a Welsh author and newspaper columnist. Her novel I Don't Know How She Does It, published in 2002, has sold four million copies and has been made into a movie of the same name starring Sarah Jessica Parker...
was comically critical of some of the design aspects, such as the surface of Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
and the exterior of the Mysteron complex in the opening sequence, and described the London Car-Vu model as a "Philippe Starck
Philippe Starck
Philippe Patrick Starck is a French product designer and probably the best known designer in the New Design style...
cake-stand". However, she also referred to the episode as being part of a "classic Sixties puppet show."
Supermarionation
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...
historian Stephen La Rivière notes the violence of a few scenes in this episode, citing as examples the deaths of 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 Brown
Captain Brown
Captain Brown is a character in the 1967 Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. A Spectrum officer, he is killed by the Mysterons in the first episode of the series...
, the murdered Scarlet's bleeding body, the explosion of Brown's Mysteron double and the shooting of the reconstructed Scarlet and its fall from the Car-Vu. The British Board of Film Classification
British Board of Film Classification
The British Board of Film Classification , originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom...
, in its assessment dated , records one "very mild" instance of violence, passing the episode with a "U" certificate
History of British film certificates
-Overview:The UK's film ratings are decided by the British Board of Film Classification and have been since 1912. Previously, there were no agreed rating standards, and local councils imposed their own - often differing - conditions or restrictions...
.
External links
- "The Mysterons" at TheVervoid.com
- "The Mysterons" at TVCentury21.com: includes stills and design information