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BACKGROUND DETAILS:
Captain
Black was with Scarlet on his mission to investigate the alien
signals on Mars. It was his mistaken
interpretation of a Mysteron sensor sweep as an attack
that led him to fire on the ghostly Mysteron city they both
had just discovered.
The
subsequent destruction - and then miraculous 'retrometabilisation'
before the eyes of the two men - triggered the war between Earth
and the Mysterons.
Black
was killed along with Scarlet, and when the Mysterons lose control
of their Scarlet replica they
re-animate Black and he becomes their spearhead in the war
against Earth.
Born
in Brooklyn, New Jersey, Black's family roots lie among the Greek
Islands and stretch back to the Byzantine
Empire. Conrad's father was an eighth
generation American presiding over a sleazy empire of crime.
Conrad wanted more from life than
providing muscle for his father's racketeering and the
only escape was the US Army. In the military, Conrad found a new
family, and a girlfriend – the
gorgeous, tough Simone Giraudoux. He also befriended Paul
Metcalfe, who was his commander in the Elite Unit Command of the
U.S. Special Forces.
The
three of them will become agents of Spectrum - Conrad being
assigned with the code name Captain Black, Paul, Captain Scarlet,
and Simone becoming Destiny Angel, the leader of the Spectrum
Angels.
The
street-wise skills that had been a part of his upbringing in tough
Brooklyn served Conrad well during his time on Skybase, turning
him into a skilled and ruthless killer.
As described in the
episode 'Instrument of Destruction, Part 1', Scarlet and
Black were sent on Mars to investigate the source of unexplained
signal. Upon discovering
the
Mysterons’ city, Black fired a destructive shot against it,
believing they were under attack. The two men watched in
astonishment as the city rebuilt itself, and tried to flee to
escape their fate, only to be killed afterwards.
Both
Scarlet and Black were replicated by the Mysterons, but while
Scarlet escaped that fate and regained his own persona, Black
remained an agent to his alien masters, with all of his killer
instincts. The only thing he has left behind
is his love for Destiny Angel - although it can be disputed that
he might still care for her in his own way, as suggested in a few
episodes.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS:
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Nigel Plaskitt |
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The features of the CGI Captain Black were based on those of the original
Captain Black
puppet. Scans of the head of the original character were
made and dozens of screen-grabs from the original 'Captain
Scarlet and the Mysterons' TV shows were also used, combined
with other elements from a variety of references that helped
refine the CGI character's features. Additionally, the CGI
Captain Black was given a much more murky characterisation.
Still as cold and calculating as the original character while
under Mysteron control, he also displays a chilling and cruel
sense of humour and shows distorted human emotions. He
still seems attracted to Destiny Angel, albeit in a very warped
way, and threatened to make her his personal slave in 'Skin
Deeps'. He is also not averted in playing on his
ex-colleagues' feelings, by manipulating them into believing he
is the same man as before, in order to escape capture (as in
'Instrument of Destruction, Part 2').
The voice of
Captain Black is provided by Nigel Plaskitt, and although he
does a perfect job for the characterisation, the voice doesn't
fit well with the background proposed by the official biography.
If Conrad Lefkon was brought up in Brooklyn, of Greek lineage,
he would probably not talk with cut-glass English accent.
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