Touch of the Reaper

by **shaqui** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 11:31 am

Whoa! Great intro to the 2nd series!

by **Aegis** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 11:46 am

Oops! Missed it :oops:

- glad you liked it though Shaqui! If memory serves correctly, that was the last episode Blue Team did - strange that it's the first shown..?

by **JamesMagenta** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 11:47 am

WOW, Great episode, One of the best.
The story was good and when people got infected with the virus it was freaky, So was when they took the doctor prisoner and when his eyes rolled to the top of his head and the voice of the Mysterons came out of his mouth.
Plus I liked the flying Cheetah and the fight between Blue and the Doctor, And the one Between Scarlet and the news reporter was great.
Also the ending was tense.

The CGI was some of the best I have see of New Captain Scarlet and it looked like alot of motion-capture was used.
And the faces looked alot better.
Also while not perfect the lip-syncing was a lot better.
Plus no Destiny. :-D

The only problem I had was that the male doctor at the start who got infected sounded too much like Captain Black, But he did not have many lines so it was not that big a problem.

Also did anyone notice the purple guy when they were watching the surveillance tape.
It lookes like there is a Captain or Lieutenant purple.

If the rest of the episodes are of this quality, I think I can safely say the second series is looking to be better that the first.

by **Scarlet Lady** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 12:06 pm

That was fantastic! It was so exciting and fast-paced, I'm still reeling from it! Woo!

by **shaqui** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 12:31 pm

JamesMagenta wrote:Also did anyone notice the purple guy when they were watching the surveillance tape.
It lookes like there is a Captain or Lieutenant purple.

It could be Captain Magenta - though oddly, Scaret looked a bit pink in that scene. Quite a few other Captains (or other ranks - that was a little unclear) there too...

by **captain orange** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 5:18 pm

wow, my first post. .

cracking first episode for the second series, it had most of the point people had been missing in the new series, espicially the way the doctors were taken over at the begining in the lab.

I enjoyed the skybase scene too, it reminded me of the breifing scenes from the original captain scarlet, could see ochre, grey, magenta and silver there and what looked like a new reincarnation of captain brown as well as a new purple captain. was also a nice change to see melody (?) angel present and no destiny in the whole episode.

nice to see there not shying away from a little gore too :lol:

captain orange

by **JamesMagenta** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 5:55 pm

shaqui wrote:
JamesMagenta wrote:Also did anyone notice the purple guy when they were watching the surveillance tape.
It lookes like there is a Captain or Lieutenant purple.

It could be Captain Magenta - though oddly, Scaret looked a bit pink in that scene. Quite a few other Captains (or other ranks - that was a little unclear) there too...

It was not Captain Magenta.
Captain Magenta was standing next to this Purple guy.

by **Chris C** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 8:49 pm

What a great episode, good story and the CGI was fantastic. It was great to see all the captains briefly, and really good to see Captain Blue actually getting a meaty role for a change. The fight scene between him and the scientist was excellent!! There was also a really brilliant bit of CGI when Captain Scarlet jumped off the cheetah onto the landing gear of airforce one, with his face and hair being buffeted around. And I liked the little touch with the shot of his hat flying off into the distance! The episode was far more creepy than any previously, unfortunately it proved too much for my 4 year old, he hated the 'virus' effects, and when poor old Scarlet succumbed he couldn't watch it any more. Oddly enough the zombie-like doctor didn't upset him, but I think some kids would have found it pretty scary!!

I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series!!

by **zero-x** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 10:34 pm

Wow, just watched it now and... wow! :grin:

by **steviep** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 10:48 am

I'm a long-standing fan (being old enough to have seen the original series the first time around!) and I must say that I'm absolutely thrilled by the new series.

Anyway....

Reaper was fantastic! The story was so well-crafted, I think it could easily have been fleshed out a little, strung out for an hour and sill have lost none of its impact.

The attention to detail with regard to the animation is amazing. Like Chris C mentioned, the Airforce 1 chase was a particular golden nugget. I also love the blink and you miss them shadows and reflections, such as when Blue is chatting to Scarlet at the end. When he rises from the isolation tube to walk away, the tube seems to reform from the weight from his body. Wow!

Blue is really starting to become the most likeable character too - he seems to get all the best lines and it's nice to see the contemplative moments between him and Scarlet.

As mentioned, No Destiny! Hurrah!

I hadn't noticed King having the same voice as Black until I watched it again. I did notice Scarlet piloting Airforce 1 however...

One small brickbat from me. Sometimes, characters' arms seem to have funny joints (shoulders and elbows). I suppse this is a limitation of the software but it spoils the imagery for me. When the Mysteron reporter was hanging onto the ledge of Airforce 1's cargo bay, he looked suspiciously like someone out of Thunderbirds....!

Just a couple more notes of interest....

What a great briefing room scene! I spotted White, Scarlet, Blue, Green, Ochre, Silver, Grey, Magenta, Purple, Gold and two white-suited operatives (didn't spot an Angel). Lets hope some of the new characters get a look in!

Isn't it time Blue and Scarlet had a piece of elastic tied to their guns? Neither of them seem to be able to hang on to them for for more than a few seconds before having them knocked away... ! :wink:

Till next time, happy watching, everyone!

by **Lieutenant Green** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 1:51 pm

Wow! Probably the best episode so far in my books, and what an amazing start to Season 2.

Aegis mentioned previously on this forum that the second season would be a notch above the first, with each episode being like a mini movie. Well, this one certainly fits into that category. Even Holly Willoughby of MOM referred to it being "like an epic movie in itself" at the end. If the rest of the season carries on this way, surely NCS will go down as the best CGI TV series ever made to date.

The CGI and the attention to detail was superb (Scarlet's hat flying off in the distance, his hair and face affected by the wind when boarding Air Force 1, etc).

And what about the car chase scene down the freeway with all the extra vehicles- Spectacular stuff!!

Plenty of Pros in this episode.

The only Cons for me would be;

1. Seeing the Cheetah flying. I thought this was a bit far fetched. We know it can leap over obstacles, but to fly? Come on! I would have preferred it if Scarlet was able to board Air Force 1 whilst the wheels of the plane were still on the ground, it would have made it a bit more realistic. But hey, I guess you can get away with things in animation that you can't get away with in live action.

2. The voice of the Captain of Air Force 1 being exactly the same as Scarlet. Surely that should have been rectified before the final edits to the episode was complete.

Anyway, a brilliant episode. Can't wait for next Saturday.

by **shaqui** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 2:02 pm

Lieutenant Green wrote:The only Cons for me would be;

1. Seeing the Cheetah flying. I thought this was a bit far fetched. We know it can leap over obstacles, but to fly? .

Yeah, Kim made the same point. I would say that the Chetah can probably make longer 'hops' if it has the speed and distance - which it had on this runway. In all other cases, they have simply been 'hops' with very little 'run-up'...

:wink:

But would love to know what Blue had to say to the guards after!

by **CAClark** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 2:03 am

Bugger, I missed it to, I like to try and catch all the episodes I worked on. And i never saw this one at the studio either.

Cheers!

by **shadokp** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 3:09 pm

Finally caught this episode. The Cheetah flying did seem a bit of a stretch but it did lose its engine power toward the end so there are limitations on what it can do.

This episode seemed to have a lot of story telling elements - retelling the whole premise of the series. This one may make a good episode to show someone for the first time as an introduction.

KP

by **shaqui** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 6:03 pm

Just caught this on the CITV re-run - no banners, no annoying presenters, no hacked about titles... a great episode as it should have been seen!