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!"

More of a "re-animation" of the original, rather than an original take on the original Captain Scarlet, Gerry Anderson is back with more of a whimper than a bang.

First of, its currently shown in a children's Saturday morning show (Ministry of Mayhem), split in two between games and with a preview at the start of the second part. Secondly the transmission times keep changing (anything from 10:30am to 11am) Thirdly, the episodes seem to be heavily edited as scenes jump from one to another without any real reason. Lastly, there is usually a fairly annoying scrolling message during the first showing of the program.

The CGI for the most part is pretty good, with detail on hair, engine thrusts etc. Unfortunately in parts its also pretty poor - lip animation seems to be very limited, with no real changes of mouth shapes, depending on what words are said.

The actual script is pretty good, although it can be a little tacky in parts.

Whether it would be better to wait until later in the year to get the DVD set, and hopefully a better transmission time, will depend on whether you can stand MoM.

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!

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...

Having just acquired access to the HD Animation channel through Dish Network in the US, I stumbled upon the New Captain Scarlet for the first time. So far, I have seen about 4 episodes. (It is shown daily on the HD Anime channel, followed by an episode of "Youri the Spaceman.") In 70" high definition, the New Captain Scarlet is absolutely spectacular ... the most impressive HD experience I have had so far in these past four weeks.

I am a fan of some of the early Supermarionation series (e.g. Fireball XL5, Stingray), and have always been impressed with the quality of direction and production, and of the respect that Anderson and company has apparently had for their juvenile audiences. Each series has had a level of detail and story exposition that goes far beyond any comparable juvenile adventure series here in the US at the time.

However, I was not a fan of the first Scarlet series. The puppets were just too stiff to maintain any involvement. At least Steve Zodiac and Venus went ice skating once in a while.

But I digress. The new series is impeccably detailed, and the action is superbly directed and genuinely exciting. In contrast with the original series, the characters can at least walk, and much more. The stories aren't much to speak of, but every other aspect of production is impressive.