This is the voice of the Mysterons – Intro, Captain Scarlet
Review by Iain Delaney: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterions is the 1967 follow-up to Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s phenomenally successful Thunderbirds series. The show followed the attempts of the Spectrum organization to foil the attacks of the Mysterons from Mars. Captain Scarlet, an agent of Spectrum, was rendered indestructible after the Mysterons took him over and later fell to his death. (Just go with it, okay? This show has a lot of plot holes.)
Spectrum had a lot of futuristic vehicles: cars, planes, helicopters, hovercraft. That’s a lot of potential toys, and the Andersons had a great marketing team. They released a huge number of toys during the initial run, and almost as many when the series ran again in the UK in the early 1990’s. And they keep trickling out to this day.
Corgi toys has been making die-cast toys in the UK since 1956. They make the best-selling toy car of all time: the James Bond Aston Martin DB5. They have recently released several toys based on vehicles from the Andersons’ TV series, including Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet, with more to come in the new year.
The Spectrum organization was headquartered in a flying aircraft carrier called ’Cloudbase’. (Pedants note: the S.H.I.E.L.D. Heli carrier from the Marvel comics pre-dates Cloudbase by about three years.) The carrier is home to a squadron of Angel Interceptor fighter jets, flown by female pilots, the Angels.
The Angel Interceptor from Corgi is a die-cast metal model about six inches long with a 2-inch wingspan. There’s a clear plastic canopy covering the cockpit with a detailed pilot inside. The overall level of detail is very impressive. The aircraft is covered in little markings the same way real aircraft are. The model has a very solid, heavy feel to it. The only disappointing part of this model is that it has no parts. Nothing moves and nothing can be attached or detached. I would have preferred to be able to remove the front landing gear and put the model on a flying stand, but I guess Corgi was worried that the part would get lost.
Overall, though, I really like this model and the window box it comes in. It is definitely worth picking up by fans of the series.
The Captain Scarlet Angel Interceptor costs £29.95 and is available at stores in the UK and from UK websites. It may also be available from local importers.
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Mm certainly many feel that Gerry Anderson’s “Captain Scarlet” was more “adult” orientated (in that it had some violence and actual deaths, therein) as opposed to many of his previous “Supermarionation” puppet shows. Those tended to show just humiliation of the various characters (eg blackened faces etc) when depicted as the enemy (eg Masterspy in “Thunderbirds”). Anderson’s many ground-breaking TV shows, with strong SF elements, comprised both puppet series (including “Stingray”-the very 1st all-in-colour TV show made in the UK, when Britain still only had B+W TV, and the follow-on, the famed “Thunderbirds”) plus his later, live action, shows: eg the (IMO) wonderful “UFO”. These were all financed by the famous ITC Entertainment Co. This, a wholly owned subsidiary of ATV (one of the UK’s major ITV Cos), and headed up the iconic Lew Grade, also made many other non-Anderson TV shows (including The Saint and ahem The Prisoner). ITCs legacy of cult TV shows remains unassailable and its catalogue is now owned by ITV plc. And many have been issued on DVD (here in the UK by Network). Indeed, just very recently, there has been a large book devoted to ITC , as a whole, issued here in the UK by Jaz Wiseman. It is getting good reviews.
I have one of the new Eagles from Anderson Entertainment due to arrive tomorrow. Best craft from an Anderson show by a mile. It’ll be interesting to see how it compare to Eaglemoss’ and Sixteen12’s…
Captain Scarlet was killed and rebuilt by the Mysterons – that’s how they got their agents. On his first(?) mission Mysteron-Scarlet got hurt/damaged/something and his human side became dominant. He went back to working for Spectrum and discovered he was indestructible. This turned out to be quite a useful attribute.
Mm… slight correction of mine: “Masterspy” was of course in Anderson’s very 1st Supermarionation puppet show for ITC and in B+W: “Supercar” (1961). The evil one in “Thunderbirds” (1965) and in full colour, was of course “The Hood”..!! Best…..and as they say in probably ITC’s ultimate mega cult TV show (tho many of the others, including Gerry A’s many shows, also have huge followings) ….”The Prisoner” : … BCNU!!