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The New Captain Scarlet

As a big fan of the original, I expected that I would hate this – yet I was pleasantly surprised. I liked how the CGI characters had kept the look of the original puppets (not trying desperately to update it as with Thunderbirds), and I liked how they kept the plot line largely similar to the original. Though, having said that, I haven’t seen their hats being used very much, and in the original series Captain Scarlet was Court Martialed for removing his on a mission. I also wasn’t too keen on the freaky eyes of the Mysteron characters (surely that’d give away the difference between normal people and Mysterons far too easily?) and the inadequate explanation for how Captain Scarlet became indestructable but not (permanently) evil.

The new musical score was excellent, and the whole show had a lot more glossy drama about it than the puppet series, which actually added to the show, particularly with the much greater use of characters’ first names.

Lieutenant Green’s sex change came as a bit of a shock, and really makes you question how far we’ve come in the past few decades – the original Lieutenant Green was the token black character, whereas now he’s the token woman, in a typically subserviant and almost secretarial role to Colonel White. Are we moving forwards or backwards here?

I was very happy with the new version of this. It’s almost as good as the original (better in some ways), and if it wasn’t shown at a time when I’m normally in bed, then I would watch it regularly.

This post was filed under: Reviews.

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Comments and responses

Comment from Lydia Sillito


    16.20, 09/07/2005

This new CGI version rocks! It didn’t come as a shock to me about Green or Ochre (Who is a woman as well now) because, as soon as I heard it was coming out, I went on the internet and researched it!
Loads of differences though:
1. Lieutenant Green is now a woman: Serena Lewis.
2. So is Captain Ochre: Elaine McGee.
3. The logo has been changed.
4. The theme music is different.
5. Captain Black’s surname, Turner, has been changed to Lefkon.
6. The vehicles are extensively different, and have animal names e.g. Rhino, Falcon, Swift, Cheetah.
7. Doctor Fawn’s name has been changed to Doctor Gold.
8. Cloudbase is now called Skybase.
9. Two words. New uniforms.
10. There are now seven captains ( but one is mysteronised), twelve Angels ( six active, six stand by), two lieutenants ( one fills in when other has break), one doctor, one colonel and numerous assistants.
11. No strings obviously!
12. The bodies actually have different, distinctive features.
13. The dun-dun bit is changed.
14. Names are different e.g. Juliette Pointon is now Simone Giraudoux.
15. Destiny Angel was romantically involved with Captain Black before mysteronisation.
16. Destiny Angel gets a boost as a more central character and definite leader of the Angel Squadron.
17. New characters: Lieutenant Silver and Captain Orange.
18. The base now hovers at 60,000ft and all take offs and landings are supervised by a totally cute robot.
19. Destiny’s eyes are now blue, not brown.
20. Old Scarlet was clean-shaven, new one isn’t.


Comment from sjhoward (author of the post)


    16.46, 09/07/2005

I’ve not had as much chance to see this new version as I’d liked. Hopefullly I’ll catch it when it comes out on DVD or something. Thanks for the list, Lydia, I wasn’t aware of all of those… definitely not keen on ‘Skybase’, nor ‘Dr Gold’.


Comment from Lydia Sillito


    21.34, 28/07/2005

Good site to visit is Model mart. I typed ‘Model mart- new Captain Scarlet’ in Google, and it came up with a page that is quite humourous in parts. It also has plotlines for the next 13 episodes to be shown in Autumn. Brill!


Comment from Lydia Sillito


    21.36, 28/07/2005

Also, what I mean by ‘Dun-Dun bit’ (its hard to describe) is the musical piece between two pictures…


Comment from sjhoward (author of the post)


    21.42, 28/07/2005

Thanks for the tip – I understood what you meant by the ‘Dun-Dun’ bit, but thanks for the explanation anyway. I’d have called it the ‘Duh-dum dum, duh duh duh dum’ bit, but I think yours is snappier 😉


Comment from Lydia Sillito


    18.47, 30/07/2005

Personnel Names

Colonel White: Sir Charles Grey
Captain Scarlet: Paul Metcalfe
Captain Blue: Adam Svenson
Captain Black: Conrad Lefkon
Captain Magenta: Mario Moro
Captain Indigo: John Roach
Captain Ochre: Elaine Mcgee
Captain Orange: Unnamed
Destiny Angel: Simone Giraudoux
Melody Angel: Esther Jackson
Rhapsody Angel: Caroline Foster-Finch
Harmony Angel: Rebecca Drake
Symphony Angel: Yoko Inukai
Dr Gold: Dr Mason Frost
Lieutenant Green: Serena Lewis
Lieutenant Silver: Unnamed

Vehicle Names ( Old name first, then new one)

Spectrum Patrol Car: Cheetah
Spectrum Pursuit vehicle: Rhino
Angel Interceptor: White Falcon Interceptor
Spectrum Helicopter: Hummingbird
Spectrum Passenger Jet: Swift
Martian Exploration Vehicle: Bison

Completely New Vehicles

Stallion Raid Bike: A very cool motorbike that can jump directly from Skybase, aided by a pair of wings, that detach when it hits the ground.
Albatross: Strange thing somewhere between helicpter and plane, that deloys the Bison onto the ground.
Condor: A multi-functional transport plane.


Comment from Lydia Sillito


    20.43, 30/07/2005

Sorry, when I said ‘deploys the bison’, I meant Rhino…


Comment from Lydia Sillito


    16.10, 27/08/2005

Newsflash: The second series of Captain Scarlet is going to be shown on Ministry of Mayhem starting Saturday, 3rd September, and continuing with one episode every Saturday after that. I can just hope that its as good as series one!


Comment from sjhoward (author of the post)


    16.45, 27/08/2005

Is there any news on a DVD release yet?


Comment from sjhoward (author of the post)


    16.50, 27/08/2005

Answering my own question… The first series is released on 17th October, and can be preordered here from Amazon.co.uk


Comment from Lydia Sillito


    23.18, 01/09/2005

Just wondering, who are your favourite male and female characters? Mine are Lieutenant Green and Captain Blue(and i definately think something is going on between them)


Comment from Lydia Sillito


    00.14, 02/09/2005

Please tell me who you think will get together as the series goes on (I’m obsessed!)

I think Destiny and Scarlet for definate, but I’d really love to see Blue and Green together (as I have mentioned before). Unfortunatly I don’t think they actually will date, although there may be a few more nods toward it.

Also, have you noticed that Green and Density (Whoops),Destiny are supposed to be close friends, but they seem to hate each other?
Here’s a list of reasons:
1.Green smirks when Destiny says she can see insects surrounding her Falcon. (Swarm)
2.Green dosen’t seem bothered at all when Destiny is in mortal peril.(Swarm)
3.Greens laugh when an assistant says,’I’d switch places with him(Scarlet). He’s with Destiny, isn’t he?’ is somewhat strained, and her espression isn’t exactly heavenly. (Swarm)
4.Destiny never actually does anything for Green, it’s always Blue(but maybe thats just so Blue and Green can have a bit of a flirt)(Numerous episodes)
5.Destiny seems very pleased when she has to blow up a building with Green and Scarlet in it(She knows that Scarlet will survive this attack, as it isn’t nuclear or anything, but poor Serena, she’ll die!)(The Homecoming)
6.Green dosen’t look particually suprised when Scarlet tells her that the angels(led by Destiny, of course) are going to blow up the building.(The Homecoming)
7. Destiny looks quite dissapointed when the attack is aborted.(The Homecoming)
8.When her father wakes up, Green is at the medical ‘campus’ with the Doctor(As, of course, he can’t leave), The Colonel(It is really his business, in a way…),Blue(emotional support), Scarlet(for some unknown reason. He didn’t NEED to be there), but, where is Destiny? Surely Greens best friend would be there? (The Homecoming
9.When Green, erm,’gets rid of’ the connection with Destinys cheetah, she does an odd jerky head movement, and rolls her eyes.(Skin Deep)

Some are VERY hard to spot, and you have to wind the video back several times. There are more, i think, but they are the ones I remember.


Comment from Lydia Sillito


    00.32, 02/09/2005

And, just for the record, here’s Blue and Greens flirty moments…
1.The whole,’Thanks for coming to look for me’ thing. Plus, Green and Blue are getting some odd looks off Scarlet and Destiny. (Swarm)
2.Blue practically demands that he look for Green, and he pauses when he says ‘Well, I…I’ve got an idea.’ He looks like he was going to say something else.(Swarm)
3. Blue gets Green from her quarters when her father wakes up(not Scarlet, not white…Blue)(The Homecoming)
4. When he fetches her, Blue very quickly checks Green out. (The Homecoming)
5.When Commander Lewis has her, and turns her toward Scarlet and Blue, Green dosen’t look at Scarlet, she looks at Blue the whole time, pleading with her eyes(And I could swear she mouthes ‘Adam’) Then, when shes getting dragged in the building, she smiles an ‘I’ll be okay’ smile at him.(The Homecoming)
6. Blue looks particularly thrilled when Scarlet gives Green to him, to ‘look after’ (The Homecoming)
7. Green always smiles when shes talking to him, even when he can’t see her (Cap communicator) (Numerous Episodes)
8. Plus, I read something Gerry Anderson himself had written, and, to quote the exact words, it said,’She(Green) holds a torch for Captain Blue’

Right, I’m getting tired, so thats all I can remember for now. Please reply in seperate posts, else I won’t be able to tell where one thing ends, and another starts!


Comment from sjhoward (author of the post)


    19.17, 02/09/2005

To be honest, I haven’t really seen enough of the programme to judge the characters, or whether anything’s going on between them etc. I’m sure I’ll have a much better idea when I’ve sat down with the DVD in October…


Comment from Lydia Sillito


    13.32, 03/09/2005

Did you see the episode today on MOM? It was still split in two parts(worst luck)but was still absoulutely brilliant! I must admit that I didn’t think the production team would get away with Dana and Danny’s(scientist and reporter)extremely intense kiss. That sort of thing could almost have got a PG-13 rating! Also, I was severely ‘grossed out’ by the Male scientist’s eyes rolling back in his head when he gave the Mysteron message, and the way peoples veins showed when they got the touch. I liked how everyone had changed slightly(e.g. Dr Golds hair is now white, instead of that naff silver), and there were appearances by some lesser characters:
Captain Magenta(Second appearance)
Captain Indigo(First appearance. I like how he looked;black and built like a tank)
Captain Ochre(Second appearance)
Captain Orange(Second appearance)
Captain Grey(Third appearance)
And, unless I am very much mistaken, was that Captain Brown standing in the background in one shot? I didn’t even know he was going to be in the new series!


Comment from Lydia Sillito


    12.50, 10/09/2005

OH MY GOD! Destiny and Scarlet! I was right! They kissed again this morning (Virus). Really good episode. The whole virus thing with everyone being affected made a change. Usually only one or two people were affected by something. I love this episode. It is my fave. I guess Destiny can’t be all bad. She did save Serena’s life.
Something that made me laugh was when Serena and Mario were in the Lounge together. The whole ‘What say we work up a sweat together?’ then, when Serena was hynotised and walked away, Mario goes ‘Guess thats a no then’ and looked dead put out. Ha ha ha!


Comment from Anonymous


    17.21, 27/10/2005

Did you see Proteus? Amazing! The fight scenes were brill and the story line rocked! I never knew Gren was such a flight. I knew I should have predicted it because of Virus, but what you gonna do.


Comment from sjhoward (author of the post)


    12.00, 29/10/2005

I didn’t see Proteus – I’m still working my way through the first series dvd box set – it’ll be getting a full posted review when I eventually get through it. So far, I’m really enjoying it.


Comment from Lydia Sillito


    14.59, 28/05/2006

Have you watched series one yet? Say when you have so I know when to comment!


Comment from sjhoward (author of the post)


    18.50, 28/05/2006

I have indeed – though never quite got round to posting a full review!


Comment from Lydia Sillito


    20.06, 28/05/2006

A few questions to answer if you please…

1. Which is your fave episode and fave character?
2. Why do you like that particular episode/character?
3. What relationships are… erm… happening or hinted?
4. What was your least fave episode and why?

Sorry to bother you!:-)


Comment from sjhoward (author of the post)


    13.08, 29/05/2006

Righty ho…

Not sure what my favourite episode is, but my favourite character is definitely Colonel White – though in many ways, I preferred his puppet incarnation. I like his perfect mix of old-fashioned wisdom with a glint of humour keeping things ticking over. He’s the model of the British Army General, updated for the 21st century.

The only relationship I saw was Destiny and Scarlet, which was developing rapidly through the series.

I didn’t really have a least-favourite episode, but my least favourite aspect of the update is that the questionable morality of the action taken by SPECTRUM, reflecting the Cold War, is now much more clear-cut. The Mysterons are now unquestionably evil, whereas in the puppet incarnation it was more up for debate.

On the good side, the musical score in each episode is absolutely fantastic.

Sorry I couldn’t answer all your questions, but I hope that helps!


Comment from Lydia Sillito


    19.32, 01/06/2006

You only spotted Destiny/Scarlet realationship!?
Watch ‘Swarm’ and ‘The Homecoming’again. Blue and Green definately have something happening. Loads of people on Spectrum Headquarters Forums agree with me.
No worries though. I was just suprised…


Comment from sjhoward (author of the post)


    07.24, 02/06/2006

I didn’t really notice, but then I wasn’t particularly looking out for it 😉


Comment from Lydia Sillito


    16.23, 18/07/2006

FINALLY. The ‘second series’ of New Captain Scarlet will be released in the UK on September 18th. This will consist of the final(?) 13 episodes of the show. The first 13 episodes were released some time back and it certainly has been a long time coming. The new set sells for £30 but for those wise enough to hold off on buying the first series will really reap the benefit as they can get both series for only £35. Way to stick it to the fans. Either way you look at it, its a great show and well worth picking up. You can pre-order the series 2 DVD from Amazon UK for only £22.49.
This is official copied information from TVcentury21. Woohooo!!!!


Comment from sjhoward (author of the post)


    16.30, 18/07/2006

Thanks, Lydia! Here’s a link to the Amazon page where you can pre-order the series.


Comment from foster


    21.06, 01/11/2006

isn’t the relationships just great? Really has a nice subplot to keep people interested.


Comment from sjhoward (author of the post)


    21.04, 02/11/2006

Absolutely!


Comment from Lydia Sillito


    15.47, 04/11/2006

To be perfectly honest, I can’t STAND the Scarlet/Destiny relationship…that may be because Destiny annoys me so much. I much, much, much prefer the hints (Green/Blue, Ochre/Colt) they are more subtle, but kinda nice…


Comment from Alice


    22.29, 16/09/2008

Hi, my names Alice (AS u can see lol) em…. OH YEH!!! my mum was sayin there was a captain scarlet series three but i cant see it anywheres so…basiclly (cant spell) was there?
P.S.
ABSOULOUTLY (cant spell YET again lol) LOVE THE 3RD DISC IN SERIES ONE IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO COOL!!!!!!! great thanks to John Brown and Phil Ford who wrote my favroute episodes!!!
THANKS!!!!!!! BYE!!!


Comment from Lydia Sheridan


    19.05, 17/09/2008

No there wasn’t. There’s a Series 1 and a Series 2.
I’m not as keen as you on the third disc. I prefer…err…random episodes, but that disc wasn’t one of my faves…

xx




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