Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons is a 1967 British science-fiction thriller puppet film directed by Robert Lynn and written and produced by Sylvia Anderson, from a story by the Andersons. Featuring the voices of Francis Matthews, Ed Bishop, Donald Gray and Cy Grant, Captain Scarlet follows the "war of nerves" between Earth and the Mysterons, a race of Martians who possess partial control over matter. When a misunderstanding causes human astronauts to attack their city on Mars, the Mysterons vow revenge and launch reprisals against Earth. These are countered by Spectrum, a worldwide security organisation. Spectrum agent Captain Scarlet acquires the Mysterons' self-healing power of "retrometabolism" and is thus rendered "indestructible", being able to recover from otherwise fatal injuries. In this way, Scarlet becomes Spectrum's top asset in its fight against the Mysterons.
Executive produced by Gerry Anderson and filmed by the Andersons' production company Century 21 Cinema Productions, the film premiered in the 20th Cannes Film Festival on 1 May 1967 and was released in the United Kingdom by Paramount Pictures on 10 May. Compared to Thunderbirds and earlier Anderson productions, Captain Scarlet is generally considered "darker" in tone and less suited to child audiences due to its violent content and themes of alien aggression and interplanetary war. The change in puppet design has divided opinion, while the wisdom of making the protagonist "indestructible" has also been questioned. However, its commercial success has spawned a TV series, toy cars, action figures, audio plays and original novels, as well as strips in the weekly children's comic TV Century 21.
Plot[]
In 2068, the crew of the Zero-X spacecraft are investigating the surface of Mars in their lander, the Martian Exploration Vehicle (MEV), to locate the source of unidentified radio signals detected by the Spectrum security organisation on Earth. The source is revealed to be an alien city inhabited by the Mysterons, a collective artificial intelligence with partial control over matter. The astronauts mistake the Mysterons' surveillance devices for gun batteries, and the mission leader, Spectrum officer Captain Black, orders his men to fire on the city with the MEV's rocket launcher. Although the city is obliterated, the Mysterons use their powers to undo the damage. They then seize control of Black and declare a "war of nerves" on Earth, stating that their first retaliatory act will be to assassinate the World President. When the Zero-X returns to Earth, Black mysteriously disappears.
Captains Scarlet and Brown are assigned to escort the President to the Spectrum Maximum Security Building in New York City but are both killed when the Mysterons engineer the crash of their Spectrum Patrol Car. From the officers' corpses, the Mysterons create living doubles programmed to carry out their threat against the President. The aliens make their first attempt on the target's life by using Brown as a physical bomb, detonating him inside the Maximum Security Building. Although the building is destroyed, the President escapes unhurt.
On Spectrum's airborne headquarters, Cloudbase, the organisation's commander-in-chief Colonel White concludes that Brown had a bomb on his person. Unaware that the original Scarlet is dead, White orders his double to fly the President in a Spectrum Passenger Jet to a second Maximum Security Building in London. However, when Brown's body is discovered at the scene of the car crash, White realises that the President is in the hands of an impostor and orders Scarlet to return to Cloudbase. Ignoring the command, Scarlet ejects himself and the President over southern England, steals a car and sets off towards London holding the President hostage.
Arriving at a garage, Captain Blue exchanges his patrol car for a Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle (SPV) and begins to follow Scarlet. Meanwhile, Spectrum's Angel fighter squadron destroy a bridge to force Scarlet to a dead end at the top of the London Car-Vu, an 800-foot-tall (240 m) car parking structure comprising a spiral road that leads up to an open-top parking platform. Watching from a nearby building, Captain Black telepathically instructs Scarlet to await the arrival of Spectrum Helicopter A42, which has been hi-jacked by the Mysterons and will pick up Scarlet and the President. Reaching the top of the Car-Vu, Blue dons a jet pack and engages Scarlet in a gunfight. He is fired on by the helicopter, which is shot down by Destiny Angel and crashes into the Car-Vu, fatally damaging the structure. Blue shoots Scarlet, who falls off the Car-Vu to his death. Blue lifts the President to safety just before the Car-Vu collapses.
On Cloudbase, White addresses his staff, announcing that the Mysteron plot has been thwarted. He then reveals that Scarlet's double has inexplicably recovered from his fatal injuries and is seemingly no longer under Mysteron control. White suggests that Scarlet's powers of self-repair make him virtually "indestructible" and that he is destined to become Spectrum's greatest asset against the Mysterons.
Transmitting to Earth, the Mysterons warn Spectrum that they intend to kill Xian Yoh, the Director General of the United Asian Republic, who is currently in London on a state visit. An assassination attempt in the Director General's hotel room is thwarted by Captain Grey.
Maximum security is imposed at London International Airport, from which the Director General is due to leave the country. At the request of Colonel White, the resurrected Mysteron double of Captain Scarlet – whom Dr Fawn has determined to be free of Mysteron control and effectively "indestructible" after the Mysterons' failure to assassinate the World President – returns to duty to help lead the operation. Accompanied by the Angel fighter squadron, Scarlet and Captain Blue depart Cloudbase in a Spectrum Passenger Jet and fly to London.
Meanwhile, the Mysterons use their powers to create a massive systems failure on board an airliner, Flight DT-19, causing it to crash into the ocean and explode. A Mysteron reconstruction of the plane, devoid of crew and passengers, continues on the original flight path from New York to London.
As a double of the Director General is driven in to London Airport in a decoy motorcade, the real Xian Yoh arrives in Spectrum's "Yellow Fox" – a secure transport disguised as an aircraft fuel tanker – and discreetly boards his private jet. As DT-19 lands, Scarlet, watching the operation from the control tower with Blue, experiences a sudden nausea that he interprets as a warning that the Director General is in danger. At that moment, DT-19 breaks away from the terminal and rushes towards the jet.
Ordering the jet to take off immediately, Scarlet and Blue intercept DT-19 in their Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle. The plane is unhindered by the Angels' airstrikes, and when the captains target its undercarriage with the SPV's rockets, the launch mechanism jams. Shouting down Blue's objections, Scarlet ejects him and rams DT-19's wheels, destroying them and bringing the plane to a crashing halt. He is fatally injured when the SPV collides with a radar bunker. Meanwhile, the jet takes off but hits one of DT-19's wings and crashes into a field, killing the Director General and everyone else on board. As Scarlet's body is taken away in an ambulance, the airport chief assumes that he is dead, to which Blue replies: "Maybe he didn't die... in vain."
The Mysterons announce that they intend to destroy London. Aided by Captain Black, they use their powers to seize control of a transporter truck carrying a nuclear device through the city. The transporter and its driver, Macey, are sealed inside Park View, an underground car park. Macey, who was knocked out during the hijack, wakes up not knowing where he is. Turning on his radio to hear Big Ben strike midnight, he is surprised to hear 13 chimes instead of 12. The Mysterons start the nuclear device's 12-hour detonation countdown then knock Macey out for a second time and dump him in a side street.
In response to the device's disappearance, Spectrum is put on red alert. Macey is found by Captain Scarlet and taken to Cloudbase to relate his ordeal to Colonel White. Although there are more than 2,000 car parks in London that match Macey's description of Park View, Captain Blue narrows these down to Park View and one other after remembering Macey's claim that Big Ben struck 13 and calculating that the car park must be within one mile of Big Ben.
With less than an hour to go before detonation, Scarlet and Blue fly to London, proceed to Park View in a Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle and locate the device. As the defusing procedure would take too long, White orders the captains to drive the transporter to its intended destination – a nearby construction site – and leave the device to detonate in a specially-prepared underground excavation. With just minutes to spare, Scarlet and Blue reach the site and Blue lowers the transporter, driven by Scarlet, into the excavation using a large elevator. Scarlet abandons the transporter and begins his ascent, but seconds later the device explodes, obliterating the elevator shaft. Scarlet is fatally injured but recovers thanks to his powers of accelerated healing.
Later, while dining at a restaurant with Scarlet, Melody Angel and Destiny Angel, Blue explains how he was able to work out the car park's approximate location and why Macey thought he heard Big Ben strike 13. In reality, Macey was hearing two sets of chimes: one on the air, the other on his radio. However, the former were delayed by the speed of sound, so the "thirteenth" chime was actually a repeat of the twelfth that had already sounded over the radio. Following this explanation, Scarlet decides to make 13 his "lucky number".
Captain Black breaks into the Culver Atomic Centre but is discovered by security guards. While making his escape he is forced to enter a radioactive area, where he is exposed to an isotope that renders him detectable on long-range Geiger counters for the next 48 hours. In a bid to capture the Mysteron agent, Spectrum search the surrounding area using a fleet of Detector Trucks aided by the Angel fighter squadron.
Trapped inside the search area, Black murders a filling station mechanic to steal the hidden Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle that he is guarding. When Captains Scarlet and Blue arrive to requisition the SPV, they encounter the Mysteron reconstruction of the mechanic, who pulls a gun on them but is shot dead by Scarlet. The Detector Trucks pick up Black's trace as he speeds down a highway in the SPV. Captain Ochre sets up a roadblock to stop him. However, the Mysterons warn Black and order him to return to the atomic centre, where the background radiation will make him undetectable to Spectrum. Sighting the SPV from the air, Symphony Angel lands her fighter. She is captured by Black, who uses the SPV to crash the atomic centre's gates and takes Symphony deep into the complex.
The Spectrum forces converge on the atomic centre. Black attempts to kill Symphony by exposing her to increasing levels of radiation, but ultimately chooses to spare her life. He instead forces the Angel, who is now radioactive herself, to drive out of the complex alone in the SPV. Thinking that Black is the driver, the Spectrum forces begin a pursuit. The entrance to the complex is left unguarded, and Black decontaminates himself and slips away. Symphony crashes the SPV and Spectrum discover too late that they have been tricked. After Colonel White's debriefing, Lieutenant Green discreetly asks Symphony why she did not alert the Captains of her presence during Black's escape; she admits that she had never driven an SPV before and did not want to bypass the opportunity.
Communications satellite TVR-17 is destroyed after Captain Black infiltrates ground control and alters the spacecraft's flight path, causing it to prematurely re-enter the atmosphere and blow up. Re-creating TVR-17 and its crew, the Mysterons lock the satellite on a collision course with Cloudbase. It is shot down by Symphony Angel on the orders of Colonel White despite the protests of Captain Scarlet, who questions whether the satellite was really under Mysteron control.
When the Mysterons threaten to assassinate him, White realises that TVR-17's run at Cloudbase was targeted at him personally and decides to leave the base to protect its personnel. He appoints Captain Blue acting base commander when Scarlet, still indignant at White's decision to destroy the satellite, refuses the role. After White departs, the wreckage of the original TVR-17 is discovered and Scarlet, realising that he was wrong, regrets his earlier behaviour. He asks Lieutenant Green if he knows White's destination, but Green replies that he has been ordered to remain silent.
Posing as a deep-sea fisherman called Robert Snow, White takes up quarters on the World Navy submarine USS Panther II. As the submarine moves out to sea and prepares to dive, Ensign Soames gets his foot caught in a chain on the open deck and drowns as the Panther II submerges. Soames' Mysteron replacement is made White's steward and enters the colonel's cabin with a gun. After a struggle, he fatally shoots the occupant, but with a last effort his victim returns fire and guns down Soames. It is then discovered the man in the cabin is not White, who is found tied up and gagged in a storage locker, but Scarlet, who was killed while disguised as the colonel.
Back on Cloudbase, the revived 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. 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.
Broadcasting to Earth from Lunarville 7, the Lunar Controller declares the Moon a neutral power in humanity's war with the Mysterons. Colonel White sends Captain Scarlet, Captain Blue and Lieutenant Green to the colony to present the World President's written response to this surprise announcement. Scarlet, Blue and Green are also ordered to investigate the Humboldt Sea on the Moon's far side, where orbital surveillance indicates that a new, unauthorised colony is being built.
On arrival at Lunarville 7, the officers are met by the Controller and his assistant, Orson. They are also introduced to the colony's main computer, an artificial intelligence called "Speech Intelligence Decoder" (SID) that identifies humans through recognition discs. After the officers hand over the President's letter, Orson agrees to take them on a trip in a Moonmobile, a vehicle that uses the Moon's low gravity to jump and glide over the lunar surface. However, when Scarlet suggests visiting the Humboldt Sea, Orson abruptly refuses and returns them to Lunarville 7. While retiring for the night, the officers find that their accommodation has been bugged.
Rising early, Scarlet attempts to request a Moonmobile from SID but discovers that the Controller has re-programmed the computer to accept only his commands. Scarlet also learns that the Controller has declared a state of emergency and ordered the evacuation of Lunarville 7. Scarlet switches recognition discs with the sleeping Controller to trick SID into giving him, Blue and Green a Moonmobile. Travelling to the Humboldt Sea, the officers discover a Mysteron installation under construction in a crater numbered "101".
Returning to Lunarville 7, Scarlet, Blue and Green confront the Controller and Orson, who appear to be Mysteron reconstructions. Scarlet, still wearing the Controller's disc, instructs SID to prepare an Earth-bound shuttle for immediate departure. When SID rejects the Controller's order to lock down the colony, the Controller produces a handgun and repeatedly shoots SID, causing an explosion that obliterates the control room. Scarlet, Blue and Green blast off in the shuttle before further explosions destroy the whole colony.
On 7 July, Captain Scarlet holds an unauthorised champagne party on Cloudbase to mark the first anniversary of the founding of Spectrum. The gathering is broken up by Colonel White, who reprimands the personnel for their indiscipline.
Transmitting to Earth, the Mysterons vow to destroy the undersea World Navy base Atlantica. In view of this threat, Spectrum take over an operation to bomb and disperse a wreck that is drifting towards the base. Captains Blue and Ochre (voiced by Ed Bishop and Jeremy Wilkin) are selected to carry out the mission and briefed at Maxwell Field, where they conduct themselves with uncharacteristic flippancy and absent-mindedness. Before taking off in their V17 bomber, they encounter a man whom they fail to recognise as Captain Black, who switches their flight plan.
Meanwhile, on Cloudbase, everyone except White and Scarlet falls into a trance-like state. White and Scarlet realise that the champagne consumed at the party is to blame and that they are both unaffected because neither of them drank any (White did not attend and Blue accidentally knocked over Scarlet's glass). They discover that the Mysterons have used their powers to spike the champagne with a pest control chemical that is known to cause amnesia and reckless behaviour.
Not realising the consequences of their new flight plan, the intoxicated Blue and Ochre take the V17 into Atlantica's airspace and bomb the base's defence control tower. Alerted by Maxwell Field, White and Scarlet intercept Blue and Ochre in a Spectrum Passenger Jet and fire an air-to-air missile at the V17, crippling the aircraft just before Blue and Ochre can bomb Atlantica itself. Blue finally comes to his senses and ejects himself and Ochre moments before the V17 crashes into the ocean and explodes on the seabed.
Despite the Mysterons' partial success, the Cloudbase personnel have cause for celebration on 10 July, for this is Spectrum's true anniversary: although its charter was drawn up on 7 July the previous year, the organisation was not officially created until the World President signed the document three days later. To mark the occasion, White arranges a second, fully sanctioned party with several more bottles of champagne – which, to Scarlet's delight, have his codename emblazoned on the label.
Following the destruction of Lunarville 7, Spectrum and the lunar authorities have made plans for the Mysteron complex in Crater 101, on the far side of the Moon, to be destroyed with an atomic device. However, to prevent the complex from being reconstructed, its power source will need to be removed first.
Volunteering for the mission, Captain Scarlet, Captain Blue and Lieutenant Green travel to Lunarville 6, where they are briefed by Controller Linda Nolan and her colleague Shroeder before departing for Crater 101 in a Moonmobile. Reaching the crater, they transfer to a Lunar Tractor. Automated sentry vehicles move to attack them but are immobilised when Green destroys the control vehicle with the tractor's rocket launcher. Donning space suits and entering the complex, they discover the power source to be a pulsating crystal embedded in machinery. However, unknown to the Spectrum officers, the Mysterons have killed and reconstructed Frazer, a Lunarville 6 colonist who has transported the atomic device to Crater 101 by Lunar Tank. Frazer has rigged the device to detonate two hours early to ensure the failure of the mission.
Learning of Frazer's sabotage, Nolan and Shroeder realise that they have no way of warning the Spectrum officers because Crater 101 is beyond radio range. They instead try to send a signal by firing an unarmed CB29 rocket into the crater. The CB29's arrival reminds Scarlet of the inscription on a good luck charm that Nolan gave him: in 2058, Nolan oversaw the launch of a Neptune-bound CB29 space probe that reached its destination "ahead of schedule". Repeating this phrase, Scarlet realises that the atomic device will detonate prematurely. He orders Blue and Green to return to the Moonmobile and clear the area while he attempts to extract the crystal. After much effort, Scarlet succeeds and escapes in the Lunar Tractor seconds before the nuclear explosion engulfs the crater and destroys the Mysteron complex. Scarlet, Blue and Green return to Earth with the crystal.
While on patrol over the Sahara, Spectrum fighter pilot Symphony Angel is forced to eject after the tail of her aircraft mysteriously explodes. On the ground, she is overcome by heat stroke and passes out. In a transmission from Mars, the Mysterons warn Spectrum that they intend to destroy its airborne headquarters, Cloudbase.
Cloudbase is placed on red alert and isolated from all external contact. Destiny Angel has been launched to search for Symphony but is recalled by base commander Colonel White in view of the Mysteron threat. This action leads to a heated exchange between White and Captain Blue, who admits that he has romantic feelings for Symphony. However, White refuses to let Blue join the ground search.
Night falls, and Captain Magenta detects a large object on Cloudbase's radar. Rhapsody Angel is launched to investigate and discovers a spinning Mysteron spacecraft that destroys her fighter in mid-air. When more craft arrive, Captain Scarlet volunteers to challenge the Mysterons in Destiny's place. However, his fighter is damaged and he crash-lands on the Cloudbase flight deck, seriously injured.
As the Mysterons open fire on Cloudbase itself, medical officer Dr Fawn is killed. Posing as his assistant, Mysteron agent Captain Black reports that Scarlet's powers of self-repair have failed him and that he is therefore permanently dead. The Mysteron attack intensifies, resulting in the deaths of everyone else on board except White, Blue and Lieutenant Green. As the stricken Cloudbase loses altitude, another explosion kills Green and cripples Blue. Resolving to go down with his command, White stands to attention and salutes.
As Cloudbase is heard crashing to Earth, Symphony wakes up in the desert facing Scarlet and Blue, who are part of the ground forces that have been sent to rescue her. In the final scene, it is revealed that Symphony merely dreamt the attack on Cloudbase in a nightmare brought on by the desert heat.
Voice cast[]
- Francis Matthews as Captain Scarlet
- Ed Bishop as Captain Blue
- Donald Gray as Colonel White / Captain Black / The Mysterons
- Jeremy Wilkin as Captain Ochre / Shroeder
- Paul Maxwell as Captain Grey
- Gary Files as Captain Magneta
- Cy Grant as Lieutenant Green
- Janna Hill as Symphony Angel / Intercontinental Airlines Tannoy
- Liz Morgan as Destiny Angel / Rhapsody Angel
- Lian-Shin Yang as Harmony Angel
- Charles Tingwell as Macey / Security Guard Harris
- Martin King as Orson
- Sylvia Anderson as Linda Nolan
- David Healy as Frazer
- Gerry Anderson as S.I.D. (Space Intruder Detector)