Line #34 Series/CaptainScarletAndTheMysterons


1	[[quoteright:328:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/CaptainScarletDVD_1413.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:328:[[OpeningNarration This man will be our hero, for fate will make him indestructible.]]]]
3
4	->''"THIS IS THE VOICE OF THE MYSTERONS...\
5	WE KNOW YOU CAN HEAR US, EARTHMEN..."''
6
7	->''"The Mysterons. Sworn enemies of Earth. Possessing the ability to recreate an exact likeness of an object or person. But first, they must destroy...\
8	Leading the fight, one man fate has made indestructible. His name: Captain Scarlet."''
9	-->-- '''OpeningNarration'''
10
11	''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, tells the story of a "war of nerves" between humanity and a race of Martians called the Mysterons.
12
13	The aliens were never seen in person and would attack Earth by killing prominent humans and replacing them with superpowered duplicates who would attempt to perform terrorist attacks. Their [[TheDragon primary agent]] is Captain Black, a former Spectrum agent who was turned after accidentally starting the war by [[WeComeInPeaceShootToKill panicking and attacking them first]].
14
15	Opposing them were the Spectrum organisation, an international defence force whose best agent, Captain Scarlet, is killed and cloned in the first episode. He regains his humanity through HeroicWillpower and a convenient building collapse/[[LightningCanDoAnything jolt of electricity]] (depending on which version you watch). However, he still has the clone body's powers of {{Nigh Invulnerab\|le}}ility.
16
17	Like the earlier ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'', ''Captain Scarlet'' was produced by animatronics expert Creator/GerryAnderson. The difference here is that the puppeteers used an upgraded design that places the internal mechanisms in the chest area of the puppets as opposed to the head. This change allowed the creation of puppets to forgo the characteristic oversized heads of previous super-marionettes for more realistic proportions. As a result, the show looks a bit like the old 12" ''Franchise/GIJoe'' action figures have come to life, which Anderson later noted made them feel [[UncannyValley less lifelike]] as a result.
18
19	Followed by ''Series/Joe90''. For the 2005 CGI [[TheRemake Remake]], see ''WesternAnimation/GerryAndersonsNewCaptainScarlet''. See also ''Series/{{UFO\|1970}}'', the series' DarkerAndEdgier SpiritualSuccessor.
20
21	----
22	!!''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' provides examples of:
23
24	* ThirteenIsUnlucky:
25	** An early episode features Big Ben striking 13 times, which is a key plot point. If one is about a third of a mile from Big Ben with a radio tuned to a local station, the real chimes will be one "bong" behind those on the radio, giving the impression that the 12 chimes of midnight are actually 13. After Scarlet learns this, he says he'll consider it his "lucky number" from that point on.
26	** In the episode where Scarlet gets fired, the reason why was because he lost all his money playing roulette, his last act being to put it all on red -- the ball lands on 13 (black). And it's red vs black again. FridgeBrilliance: Scarlet was [[spoiler:trying to lose money as part of an undercover op, so he put it all on his lucky number.]][[invoked]]
27	* AcePilot: The Angels.
28	* AchillesHeel: In "Operation Time", Spectrum discovers two weaknesses in Mysteron-created doubles;
29	## As part of their invulnerability, they are radiation-opaque. This means they can be detected by x-ray photography, which shows how they look normally instead. Prior to this discovery, Scarlet himself was their only method of detecting infiltration via a vague "[[MySignificanceSenseIsTingling sense]]", which is why [[TheMainCharactersDoEverything he in general and Spectrum in particular]] was always sent to investigate Mysteron activity.
30	## Their indestructibility does not include electricity -- it just takes enough voltage to ''vaporize'' a normal human.
31	* AirborneAircraftCarrier: The Cloudbase. Only the second such vehicle in fiction, after S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarrier.
32	* AllJustADream: [[spoiler: "Attack on Cloudbase", where the Mysterons abandon subtlety and launch a direct attack on Spectrum. It ends with the entire team being killed, and Cloudbase crippled and seconds away from crashing.]]
33	* AllThereInTheManual:
34	** Most characters' real names and backgrounds are rarely if ever given in the show, only in print material. The CGI update notably tried to avoid this.
35	** The weekly magazine ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_Century_21 TV 21]]'' ran strips and such based on the series (a related publication, ''TV Tornado'', fleshed out the Mysterons' backstory), and the "annuals" (hard-backed yearly comic collections) would print [[SchematizedProp cutaway diagrams]] of, say, the Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle or Captain Scarlet's car.
36	** Spectrum's final victory took place in the comics after the series ended.
37	* AlmostOutOfOxygen: In "Avalanche," a network of missile complexes is attacked, and those inside are killed by what at first appears to be some sort of poison. The team sent in to investigate scans for all manner of poisonous gasses, but finds nothing. Then one of them takes off his breathing mask, and quickly discovers that all the oxygen has been removed, and the personnel died simply because they were in a vacuum.
38	* AmazonBrigade: The Angels, an all-female squadron of fighter pilots.
39	* AndStarring: After the first scene of each episode of the original version, the main characters are billed on screen "With Captain Blue" first. Also included: Destiny Angel, Colonel White, Symphony, Melody, Rhapsody and Harmony Angel, and "Mysteron Agent Captain Black".
40	* AtrociousAlias: "Why I gotta be Captain Magenta?"
41	* AwesomeButImpractical: Well, more mildly clever and innovative but impractical in the case of the aforementioned SPV's camera system, which was combined with ''rear-facing seats''. It might reduce the likelihood of injury in the event of a collision, but how anyone drove one for more than five minutes without having to pull over and throw up is a mystery for the ages. And also there was one time a Mysteron agent jammed the camera resulting in the SPV crashing. All of which is probably why the revival did away with this, allowing drivers of the SPV's successor, the Rhino, to face the right way.\
42	It was somewhat downplayed in the series but the SPV was supposedly an extremely heavily armored vehicle. Tank crews can be very seriously injured in a crash, as the hull does nothing to absorb or lessen the G-forces. Considering the SPV is a high-speed vehicle, the heavy bumper and rearward-facing seats are probably absolutely necessary. "Winged Assassin" shows that an SPV can plow through a brick building without sustaining great damage, but it will kill the driver in the process. The Rhino may have more advanced crash protection systems that make rearward-facing seats redundant.
43	* TheBadGuysWin: In numerous episodes, including one of the very earliest ones, just to establish that yes, Spectrum ''can'' lose. [[spoiler:The Mysterons succeed in "Winged Assassin", "The Heart of New York", "Shadow of Fear" and "Inferno". They also get a partial victory in "Noose of Ice".]]
44	* BatmanColdOpen: Each episode starts with an unknown gunman sneaking up on Captain Scarlet and unloading an entire magazine into him from a submachine gun [[NoSell to no effect]], before Captain Scarlet shoots him.
45	* BittersweetEnding: The first episode ends with the day saved and Captain Scarlet a hero again. Or more accurately, Captain Scarlet's alien duplicate that he was murdered to give birth to ''becomes'' a hero. The original human Scarlet, a man just as brave, heroic and friendly as this one, is still dead.
46	* BlessedWithSuck: Scarlet. [[WhoWantsToLiveForever Indestructibility's all very well and good]], but when it means that every other mission you do ends in your death or injury, it's not so great.
47	->''They crash him, and his body they burn/They smash him, but they know he'll return...to live again!''
48	* BraggingThemeTune: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXvfNJIOzxg ending theme.]]
49	-->''They smash him, but they know he'll return... [[DeathIsCheap to live again!]]''
50	* TheCaptain: Colonel White
51	* CatchPhrase:
52	** "S.I.G." -- "'''S'''pectrum '''I'''s '''G'''reen." Used to mean "acknowledged" or "Roger". The alternative warning-code, "S.I.R." -- "'''S'''pectrum '''I'''s '''R'''ed", was only mentioned in a couple of episodes. This sort of thing is an "Andersonism" dating back at least to his earlier series ''Stingray''.
53	** The Latin-American dubbing replaced the acronyms with ''Spectrum verde'' or ''Spectrum rojo'' for SIG and SIR respectively.
54	** Also the above "voice of the Mysterons" quote.
55	* ClipShow: "The Inquisition", where a man's grilling Captain Blue to prove his identity, after he supposedly went MIA for months.
56	* ClonesArePeopleToo: Captain Scarlet is readily accepted by his colleagues, and he shows nary a hint of angst about being a copy.
57	* CodeName: All of the main Spectrum agents were assigned code-names [[ThemeNaming based on colors]] -- Captain Blue, Lieutenant Green, Colonel White, and so forth. The Angels are code-named Destiny, Rhapsody, Melody, Harmony and Symphony. Long before the home computer era, this show introduced kids to the colour name "magenta". Who says kids' TV isn't educational?
58	* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Captain Scarlet is the good guy, Captain Black is TheDragon.
59	* CompilationMovie: Two, from 1980-1981, kick-starting the ''Super Space Theater'' project, in which episodes of other Gerry Anderson-produced series went through this.
60	** ''Captain Scarlet vs. the Mysterons'', featuring the episodes "The Mysterons", "Winged Assassin", "Seek and Destroy" and "Attack on Cloudbase". Aired in 1980.
61	** ''Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars'', featuring the episodes "Shadow of Fear", "Lunarville 7", "Crater 101" and "Dangerous Rendezvous." Aired in 1981. Notable for being the focus of the second-ever episode of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''.
62	** One of these films is notable for a tacked-on ending that suggests [[spoiler:the entire series was simply a dream!]]
63	* CoolCar: Lots of them. This is Gerry Anderson we're talking about.
64	* CoolPlane: Lots, but especially the Angels' Falcon interceptors.
65	* CriminalMindGames: The Mysterons would always announce their next target in advance (sometimes in very cryptic fashion).
66	* CrystalDragonJesus: Colonel White represents God, surrounded by his angels in his base in the clouds. Captain Scarlet is Jesus due to his willingness to sacrifice his own life to save others, and Captain Black is his EvilCounterpart the Devil.
67	* DarkerAndEdgier: Than the other Supermarionation series, partly due to the opening titles and partly due to the fact that the good guys sometimes lost. Captain Black has several close shaves with Spectrum but is never actually caught, for example. As well as how OncePerEpisode, the Mysterons would engineer somebody's death, then recreate him as a soulless construct to kill and endanger his former fellow humans. Not to mention the deaths; ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'' would hardly have an innocent getting murdered through crushing.
68	** And it doesn't just end with crushing. Other grisly deaths include a sailor being chained to a submarine - ''fully conscious'' by the way - as it dives into the sea. In another episode, Captain Black murders a gas station attendant by running over him backwards with his car. You even get to ''hear his bloodcurdling screams'' the whole time. How the series got past the British censors is bewildering.
69	* DeadPersonImpersonation: While pretty much every episode qualifies, "Treble Cross" has the Mysterons' victim of the week (Col. Gravener) be seemingly killed and replicated. However, he's found in time and revived, and when the clone is destroyed, the real Gravener agrees to impersonate his double. [[spoiler:It works, and the Mysteron plot is foiled]].
70	* DescendingCeiling: The episode "Spectrum Strikes Back" has White, Blue, and other Spectrum personnel face possible death due to the floor of a building above them slowly descending and threatening to crush them.
71	* DisproportionateRetribution: The Mysterons have reason to be angry since Captain Black destroyed their city, but since they could instantly rebuild it and there's no hint any Mysterons died, they seem to be rather irrational in their desire to destroy all life on Earth in retribution. When Spectrum apologises on behalf of mankind and asks for peace, the Mysterons [[spoiler:pretend to be ready to negotiate so they can set a trap, but actually never even consider making peace. They state explicitly they are not capable of forgiveness]].
72	* DoNotAdjustYourSet: Each episode starts with the Mysterons broadcasting a threat via radio.
73	* DoNotTryThisAtHome: A version of the opening titles included the statement "Captain Scarlet is indestructible. You are not. Remember this, do not try to imitate him."
74	* DutchAngle: Contemporary with the 1960s' ''Franchise/{{Batman}}''.
75	* EarnYourHappyEnding: "Spectrum Strikes Back," the heroes have a demonstration of new equipment they dearly hope can give some counter to the Mysterons' abilities. Despite being infiltrated and nearly killed by the Mysterons' agents, the President notes that however trying the day was, it was also a most satisfying one with a spectacularly successful field test that gives Earth a new hope to defend itself.
76	* EjectionSeat: The good guys ''always'' eject just in time. Except Scarlet, sometimes, who can survive it.
77	* EnergyBeings: The Mysterons, who are only seen as rings of moving light.
78	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Captain Black has stated on a few occasions that the Mysterons “are not without compassion”, actually releasing an Angel he had trapped in a chamber that would have been flooded with radiation. A spin-off tale also sees Black inform Blue that he has set the satellite Blue and Scarlet are on to explode so they won’t suffer the more drawn-out death of falling into the Sun (which gives Blue time to find another way out). These at least suggest that the Mysterons don’t get any sense of sadistic pleasure from killing, and it is notable that even their more extreme plans such as destroying London, or even blowing up most of North America, would have killed most of their potential victims relatively quickly.
79	* EveryCarIsAPinto: Almost every death involving a car crash of some sort will have the car(s) in the crash explode.
80	* EvilBrit: Both the Mysterons and their [[TheDragon Dragon]], Captain Black -- although both were voiced by Donald Gray, who was actually South-African.
81	* EvilSoundsDeep: Ooooooh, yeah...
82	* ExpositoryThemeTune: The ending credits theme, after the original instrumental version was replaced. It runs down the main character, his power of indestructibility, his allies, his villains, and their plan to conquer Earth. The opening has NoThemeTune as such (the characters are established over the Mysterons announcing their threat of the current episode), although it does have musical backing.
83	* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Amongst a series where people are shot on-screen and blown-up, one Mysteron agent gets graphically electrocuted to the point he ''catches fire''.
84	%%* FauxActionGirl: To some extent, ''all'' the Angels.
85	* TheFaceless: The Mysterons don't appear in person; all we see of them is the circles of their possession rays.
86	* TheFederation: The UN seems to function as a world federation of nations in the show's future.
87	* FinallyFoundTheBody: The tipoff that someone was really a Mysteron in a lot of episodes is that somebody found the vehicle the aliens wrecked in the cold open, and called it in to Spectrum.
88	* ForgottenPhlebotinum: It's established in the first episode that Mysteron copies are indestructible, but with the exception of Captain Scarlet, this was inconsistently applied throughout the series. Mainly, an early episode is about Spectrum being given weapons that allow them to reliably identify and kill Mysteron clones. Both are hardly ever used, and Spectrum agents usually have no problem killing alien agents with their regular weapons.
89	* {{Foreshadowing}}: During "Attack on Cloudbase", there are a few hints hints that the attack isn't actually real. Captain Scarlet actually dying and Captain Black appearing as Doctor Fawn's assistant to deliver the news to Captain Blue, who doesn't react in the slightest to Black.
90	* FunWithAcronyms: S.I.D., which stands for Space Intruder Detector.
91	* GeneralRipper: "Avalanche" had one who was determined to nuke Mars in retaliation if his bases kept being taken out by a Mysteron saboteur. Colonel White was determined not to let this happen, as he was afraid of what the Mysterons would do if they got mad enough to abandon their usual subterfuge.
92	* GlamorFailure: Mysteron invulnerability extends to being entirely opaque to X-rays, which allows Spectrum to develop a 'Mysteron detector' in the form of an X-ray camera that produces normal photographs of Mysterons (and Captain Scarlet) and X-rays of humans.
93	* GoingDownWithTheShip: [[spoiler:Colonel White's]] last transmission to Spectrum Headquarters, London in "Attack on Cloudbase" stated his intention to "go down with [his] command".
94	* GoneHorriblyWrong: In "The Heart Of New York," three criminals use the Mysterons to their advantage by pretending to be Mysteronised in a plot to rob the Second National Bank while the city's been evacuated. [[spoiler:Unfortunately that's the very place the Mysterons are targeting -- and they're trapped in the bank when it's blown up.]]
95	* HealingFactor: The nature of Captain Scarlet's indestructibility. Interestingly, the opening credits imply that it works instantly, able to effortlessly tank a machine gun at point blank range without feeling it. The first episode flies in the face of that completely by having him ''killed'' by a single bullet to the chest with visible agony on his face. The ending credits give a much more realistic interpretation of how his powers work. The rest of the Mysteron duplicates also never seem to have as strong a healing factor as Scarlet does even though they share the same weaknesses, implying that they decided it was too much of a risk in case anyone else switched sides and toned it down.
96	* HeroicWillpower: Captain Scarlet's sense of duty and force of will allowed him to regain control and personality when the Mysterons withdrew their mind control ray.
97	* HonorBeforeReason: Bluntly put, the best explanation for why Blue so often has to be explicitly ordered to let Scarlet do something on his own even when he knows that Scarlet will survive such an attack, where he can't.
98	* IdiotBall: "Uh-ey, Goise. let's send only two police cars to defend a truck containing an atomic bomb in the middle of London." Yeah, [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong nothing can go wrong with that]]...
99	* ImplacableMan: Captain Scarlet himself.
100	* ImprobablePilotingSkills: Scarlet can pilot almost any vehicle.
101	* AnInsert: Just like in ''Thunderbirds'' closeups of hands were depicted with actors wearing prosthetics to look like puppets instead of the puppets themselves. Inserts were also used for whenever the Mysterion-controlled vehicles needed closeups of the controls moving.
102	* ItsThePrincipleOfTheThing: After Spectrum mistakenly attacks the Mysteron city, they managed to near instantly regenerate it, but are still angry enough about being turned on that they declare war on all mankind.
103	* KillAndReplace: "The Mysterons, sworn enemies of Earth, [possess] the ability to recreate an exact likeness of an object or person. But first, they must destroy."
104	* MachineMonotone: Lunarville 7's main computer, Speech Intelligence Decoder (SID) that identifies humans via recognition disks.
105	* MediumBlending: Live-action closeups were sometimes used when they needed to show something complicated that required finer manipulation than offered by the puppets, like setting a timer or interacting with control panels.
106	* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Women are only killed and reconstructed as Mysteron agents twice, and only one of them was shown being killed again.
107	* MusicalThemeNaming: Apart from their leader Destiny, all the Angels have musical code names: Harmony, Melody, Symphony and Rhapsody.
108	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The whole War of Nerves starts when Captain Black and his co-pilot mistake the Mysterons' scanners for weapons and react by blasting their city into pieces, arousing their wrath.
109	* NiceJobFixingItVillain: In the episode ''Spectrum Strikes Back'', all the Mysterons accomplish trying to interfere with the presentation of new anti-Mysteron equipment is provide a spectacularly successful field demonstration of those gadgets.
110	* NoOSHACompliance: the episode ''Spectrum Strikes Back'' features a house that ''lowers in its entirety'' to reach the basement conference room, which as demonstrated in the episode, has the potential to crush anyone unfortunate enough to be working below if someone removes the key as there are no emergency cut-offs of any kind. Bonus points in that there is a perfectly functioning elevator... that shuts itself down once the house is in motion, preventing escape.
111	* NothingIsScarier: The Mysterons were never seen on-screen, represented visually by twin rings of green light that they cast onto the scenes of murder and destruction from which their facsimiles emerge.
112	* OddNameOut: Destiny Angel, the only Angel not named after a musical term.
113	* OffscreenTeleportation: Mysteron replacements appear this way, and Captain Black seems to be able to utilize BehindTheBlack as well.
114	* PhlebotinumRebel: Captain Scarlet
115	* PrinciplesZealot: Though the attack was under mistaken assumption, and they could instantly repair the damage, the Mysterons are outraged enough by Spectrum's open fire on their city that they maintain a steadfast open war on all mankind. They reject attempts at apologies and negotiations, and by the end of the series their war has likely caused a far greater damage count on both sides than the initial attack on them did.
116	* RainbowMotif: Spectrum, whose agents are all codenamed after a color.
117	* RasputinianDeath: In his original, Mysteron-controlled form, Captain Scarlet is shot by Captain Blue and falls off a high-rise car park, which then collapses on him due to damage from a helicopter crash.
118	* RealMenWearPink: Captain Magenta
119	* RecurringRiff: The kettle drum "bom-bom-bom bombombom bom!" that opened and closed the episodes, and was used in the distinctive back-and-forth SmashCut scene changes.
120	* RingsOfActivation: The Mysterons can create copies of their murder victims by casting twin green rings of light over their corpses.
121	* ScaryDogmaticAliens: The Mysterons.
122	* SoMuchForStealth: In the opening titles, the viewpoint character stalking Scarlet startles a cat which fatally alerts Scarlet to his presence.
123	* StatusQuoIsGod: [[spoiler: The episode "Shadow of Fear" is about an attempt to covertly spy on the Mysteron base. It's thwarted, with all equipment and personnel destroyed in a massive conflagration before they can learn anything that can alter the status quo.]]
124	* TheyKilledKennyAgain: Scarlet, thanks to his indestructibility, dies OnceAnEpisode.
125	* TitleThemeTune: In one version thereof, "Captain Scarlet (indestructible)" is the only lyric. As a bonus, the later theme -- the one with the lyrics -- was sung by a group called The Spectrum (which was not created for the series).
126	* ToTheBatpole: Anderson's puppet characters couldn't be made to walk convincingly, so typically moved around on chutes, conveyor-belts etc.
127	* UnexplainedRecovery: Scarlet, in almost every episode (albeit 'unexplained' from the perspective of anyone who isn't in Spectrum; most of the time outsiders are either allowed to assume that Scarlet's dead or he just shows up and lets them assume he got out somehow, depending on whether Scarlet's likely to encounter them again).
128	* VillainBall: Possibly averted. The Mysterons announce their plans in advance, albeit in riddles. However, there's some [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation speculation]] that they do this because they just enjoy tormenting the humans. At least once, the Mysterons stated point-blank that they were engaged in a "war of nerves" with Earth. They wanted to terrify us into self-destructive paranoia. A reason once mentioned was that the Mysteron Martian complex is an entertainment device (like the Shoreleave World of ''Franchise/StarTrek''), but for aliens with other priorities. Occasionally the clues were a XanatosGambit, where SPECTRUM winning turned out to further the Mysterons' plan in some other way.
129	* VoiceOfTheLegion: The Mysterons, an alien hive mind.
130	* TheWallsAreClosingIn: Although it was never shown in the series itself due to [[SpecialEffectFailure the limitations of puppets]], one of the paintings forming the backdrop to the ClosingCredits showed the title hero in a corridor, with the spiked walls closing in.
131	* WhatTheHellHero: In "White as Snow", Scarlet tells White that he pulled rank on Green to obtain the colonel's whereabouts, used his Spectrum ID to get through navy security and stowed away on the submarine before it left its base [[note]] Because the Mysterons has threatened to personally kill Colonel White, and Scarlet figured, correctly, that they'd still be able to send someone after him even if he hid out in a top-secret location. [[/note]]. White sentences Scarlet to death for gross insubordination but immediately grants him a reprieve, ruefully noting that the captain's indestructibility would make his execution pointless.
132	* WhyAmITicking: The Mysterons use their control over matter to explode a clone of [[spoiler:Captain Brown]].
133	----
134	->''Remember, Captain Scarlet is indestructible. You are not. [[DontTryThisAtHome Do not copy him]].''

Context Series / CaptainScarletAndTheMysterons