Electrocution...

[chrisbishop]

Your thoughts on the matter, please, as I'm presently contemplating a plot bunny for a possible story:

Can a person - who had died from electrocution, no matter how it happened - be mysteronised by the Mysterons to their own end?

Would there be different circumstances in which it can or cannot happen. Exemple: if the person is still grounded, could he/she be mysteronised, or would the Mysterons need for that person to be removed from the electrical source?

Would there be consequences to this kind of mysteronisation; like would it be possible that this person retains a little more or her/his personality or freewill? Would this person be fighting the Mysterons' control?

Any thought is welcomed... And I don't think there isn't any bad answer as long as it's backed by a well-thought explanation.

[Doc Denim]

greetings all!

I'll not expound on this for long tonight (I've done so before) but perhaps I'll try to clarify a thought or two. (and again, I can only speak from the Classic Scarlet viewpoint...)

Seems to me that no matter how you think the Mysterons go about 'creating' their reconstruction of a person or object, no matter where they get their raw materials from to do so, they need to start out by taking a good look at it (I think from the sub-atomic level up) simply so that they'll be able to make "an exact likeness" thereof. So it shouldn't make any difference how the original 'dies' by electrocution or otherwise, so long as they've got the blueprint, they can build their copy as soon as the original is out of the way.

To do that I believe they really need to scan their targets down and 'template' them, and that's a process, sensibly, that should be done before the original is destroyed, so that you'll get a pristine copy of the live being or object: i.e. - if you scan down a corpse, all you'll be able to duplicate is another corpse and that doesn't strike me as being especially useful.

Just as a bit of evidence, I always took the 'special effect' that Captains Scarlet and Brown in their Saloon car were subjected to immediately before it crashed as the 'blueprint scan'. The two of them were killed and subsequently reconstructed in the opening episode of the original series. And of course there's often Captain Black with his binoculars spying on the targets, and eerie music to let us know that the Mysterons are 'there' even if you can't see them....

All for now.....

Doc Denim

[Marion]

I don't expect it matters how the target human is killed - we see them die in many ways on the screen.
We do usually see the Mysteron rings travelling over the corpse - so if the body was still in contact with the power source, it might result in a less than perfect copy. Scarlet and Brown were the only ones 'scanned' in the way Doc Denim describes - maybe they were the first humans the Mysterons tried to retrometabolise - we've had many discussions about whether Black's dead or not .
The proximity of electricity might make it harder for them to control their replicant - like the plane on 'Flight 104' but, presumably, once the replicant has moved away from the electricity, they would have as much control as usual?

[shaqui]

Although not considered canon by the like of Doc Denim, one of the 'TV21' strips had Colonel White considering 'suicide by electron gun' as a way of (possibly) ensuring he did not become a Mysteron agent.

That said, the 1990s strip 'Chessmaster' had a Mysteron killing himself by touching an electric eel, then being resurrecting as a combined creature, able to give out electric shocks himself.

[DartBrat701]

I've got one for all to ponder on;

In the episode "Operation Time", the Cerebral Pulsator used electrical impulses as a stimulus. Chances are, that it might not have produced enough current to effectively electrocute the mysteronized Dr. Magnus.

Sooooo, what amount of voltage/amperage would be required to electrocute a Mysteron? And what was the electrical output of the Mysteron guns?

[Kinggodzillak]

It was able to kill Scarlet easy enough...

[Marion]

Dartbrat701 said:
In the episode "Operation Time", the Cerebral Pulsator used electrical impulses as a stimulus. Chances are, that it might not have produced enough current to effectively electrocute the mysteronized Dr. Magnus.
KingGodzillak said:
It was able to kill Scarlet easy enough...

I don't think Dr Magnus came into contact with the cerebral pulsator - other than administering it to Scarlet. He was later killed by being electrocuted by some part of the Cloudbase engine - or that's what it looked like.
Incidently - this episode could be said to argue that Scarlet - whilst he WAS killed by the electrical pulse of the pulsator - is not likely to be killed by electricity - at least not permanently. He recovers, after all, doesn't he?

[Doc Denim]

Greetings All!

(Have been otherwise occupied lately - lots of new things going on...)

As regards the electricity issue: this is something that Doc Brown and I had a go at a while ago (I had to go looking for it, touring a few threads before I found it again.) The full discussion is located here for those who may be interested: http://spectrum-headquarters.com/v-web/ ... 36&start=0

The gist of the e-conversation was about the various effects electrical fields did/did not seem to have on Captain Scarlet; and Scarlet's demise by the cerebal pulsator in Operation Time and his 'death by electricity' was one of the items that came up:

at the time, Doc Denim wrote:

In the Magnus episode, when Dr. Fawn actually allows Dr. Magnus to use electricity (even in milli-amps) to zap Scarlet-as-Tiempo under the sheet, it doesn't 'break' the Mysteron influence - Scarlet is 'killed' and recovers.

and to which Doc Brown replied:

'Tis true that Magnus used electricity on Scarlet in "Operation Time" - apparently in a sufficient dose to kill him. But this wasn't an electrocution as such, was it - more a matter of terminally disrupting the operation of his brain. The voltage would have been nothing like that needed to wipe the Mysteron imprint from Scarlet's body (above which would under my theory kill him), and therefore Scarlet's natural healing process kicked in as usual after his "death".

I happen to agree with Doc Brown on this, insofar as the pulsator's voltage couldn't have been sufficient to permanently kill Scaret (as we soon saw was possible with Magnus and later saw was possible with the Mysteron gun. I rather imagine Fawn may have seriously questioned the request for Scarlet to volunteer as a stand-in for Tiempo once they realized that electricity was Mysteron-lethal...)

So, again - I have to think that when it comes to electricity it's a matter of degree, and as far as we ever saw on screen, Scarlet was never zapped with a fatal dose

Doc Denim

[DartBrat701]

Well I guess that answered a few of my questions regarding this subject. Thanks, Doc Denim!