ESSAY
Previously
presented on the
RED ALERT!
website
Published on the
Spectrum Headquarters
website
with the gracious
permission of
Mike Adamson
CONTINUITY
AND MIXED UNIVERSES
by
Thunderbird 9
With
the much-discussed CS revamp, the issue of continuity needs some
consideration.
In
the short promo film the new material is seen as sequelling the original,
not replacing it — I believe a statement is made giving a space of some
years since Mysteron activity curtailed, leaving Spectrum perhaps none the
wiser. (I have not had the opportunity to see the film.)
One
might expect, in the context of the original series, that such a situation
would have tempted humankind back to the Red Planet rather quickly. It
would be entirely reasonable to expect a second Spectrum Zero-X sortie,
probably with our heroes on board, to find out what's happened — ie.,
return to the Mysteron complex... And for this to take place within
months, certainly the first year, of the cessation of Mysteron activity.
If this has not occurred, one must ask why?
This
also raises the issue of mixed universes. It has been mooted in the past
that Zero-X was used in Captain Scarlet simply as a marketing ploy,
to perpetuate interest in a sub-category of Thunderbirds
merchandising, and that no other cross-connection exists, or should be
implied. This is a fair assumption, yet the ship is there on screen and
played a pivotal role in the foundation of the series, and — let's face
it — it constitutes a really meaty piece of hardware and brings with it
a whole associated thematic universe. It cross-connects Thunderbirds
and Captain Scarlet in a very convincing way — they are
technologically and conceptually close enough to easily inhabit the same
"real life" world, and Zero-X was a creation inside that world.
So
we have three distinct Anderson subjects cohabiting comfortably, with very
little in the way of jarring, certainly nothing that can't be patched up
with minimal creative input.
What
about other crossovers? In TV-21, Alan Fennell crossed CS with Fireball,
and this is surely out of the question. Fireball was a starship, and would
be the technological descendant of one or even two centuries more
development over Zero-X, even assuming Zero-X to be up-engined and fitted
with some embryonic warp/spacefold system such as would rationalise the TV-21
adventures in which she was seen encountering alien races amongst the
stars. In a classic Ron Embleton adventure we saw the "Mysteron Agent
at Marineville," and this was quite logical. The WASPs seem able to
inhabit the same world as Spectrum and International Rescue without much
difficulty, certainly none at a conceptual level. Only when the Space
Patrol again appeared in the same story was there a jar.
So,
if the new CS is to follow directly, by implication it includes the
reality and existence of Zero-X, and by that virtue opens the door to
connection with Thunderbirds. The WASPs are an easy background
factor too. In this way the new show "almost" breathes life back
into half the classic Anderson series in one stroke!
I
hope Gerry is keenly aware of these elements, and sees the potential that
Alan Fennell discovered and mined for all it was worth so long ago, in a
form that has remained accessible to the fans and well-loved ever since.
Cheers all,
Thunderbird 9
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