"The Place Of The Angels:" Illegal weapons?

[Parker Gabriel]

In Leo Eaton's installment, "The Place Of The Angels," in regard to the microbial culture that the Mysteron likeness of Judy Chapman stole from the lab in Manchester, England, in order to spike the water supply of Los Angeles, California, with it, was that lab engaged in the illegal development of microbial weapons?

If so, shouldn't it have had its accreditation revoked?

If NOT, then what was it doing developing that microbial culture in the first place?

These are not criticisms of the installment, but instead valid questions about it that I'm raising. Other members of this forum are welcome to provide me with the answers I'm looking for--and that especially holds true for the Colonel.

[chrisbishop]

I'm sorry, but I don't hold all the answers of those kinds of questions, which might simply be plot holes into the story - after all, it was written for a children show, so the authors probably didn't give all their attentions to details which might have either bug down a story that should be action-packed into 20-or-so minutes... or bore their target audience to death.

Perhaps it could be considered that the discovery of such dangerous was developped accidentally, following researches in, I don't know, a new cure for cancer or some other degenerative illness?

I'm just using my imagination to come up with an answer... anything else can be as easily valid. As I said, I don't have all the answers.

[Marion]

Sadly, there is money in offensive weapons of every kind, and following on from the Atomic War - and whatever else may have happened before 2068 - who is to say that 'microbial' weapons are still banned?
I agree with Chris - it could have been by accident. In my latest story I have a perfectly legal, non-armament company that 'accidently' develops something that is dangerous, in the process of working on a purely innocent project.
The thing about fanfic is that it is fiction - you make it up as you go along - within given perameters.
That's one reason I keep my 'plot bunnies' and story-worthy ideas about how and why things happened, to myself. Lord knows, it is hard enough to think of new twists and angles as it is!

[DartBrat701]

It's sad to say, that we can be foolish enough to mess around with something like biological weapons, especially if it ever falls into the wrong hands......and possibly subjecting mankind to the most apalling consequences!!!

[Clya Brown]

I'd guess that the laboratory in question was itself a government establishment - in which case the question of legality or otherwise doesn't really apply, since the government itself decides what is legal and what is not, and for whom. Government-controlled organisations can and do engage in activities that are totally illegal for anyone else, for example launching missiles (try doing that from your back garden on Sunday afternoon without getting arrested). There's also no point in appealing to "international law", since there's really no such thing: only agreements of mutual convenience between governments that can and will be torn up at any time by any party that believes they can get away with it. The "law" is really only whatever anyone who is strong enough to enforce it says it is.

The usual argument for engaging in dangerous activities like creating microbiological weapons is that if we don't do it then somebody else will - and that would put us at a disadvantage in a war, so we have to make sure we know at least as much about it as anybody else does (and preferably more, since that would give us the upper hand). "If you want peace, prepare for war", as the expression goes. Whether that argument would hold water in the sort of unified world order that Spectrum was apparently created to police is questionable - but then, I never really felt that Spectrum's existence in such an order was all that credible anyway. I mean, if there's an enemy out there that we need Spectrum to protect us from, then there isn't really a World Government, is there? Oh, I know we've got the Mysterons out there on Mars being a bit of a pain - but then Spectrum existed before they appeared on the scene. I think I'd see Spectrum as something of a hangover from a previous more turbulent era, which at the time of Captain Black's ill-fated expedition was struggling to find a role for itself, rather like Western intelligence organisations in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War - so perhaps the laboratory in question had its origins in the same era.

[Marion]

Well put, Doc Brown! A very cogent and thought provoking entry - as ever.
Why Spectrum exists at all is something we've discussed before, but I think the notion of it being a hang over from the turbulent wars earlier in the Anderverse, is a new one.
I like it.

[Sage]

I like that theory too.
It makes a lot of sense considering the context of CS; both in the sense of it's place in the Anderverse, and of the era it was created (i.e post-WWII, cold war, etc).

[James. C]

I used the "deadly chemical" plot in my upcoming Bond short film, Born To Die

[Marion]

In answer to the first point Parker Gabriel raised,

"The Place Of The Angels," in regard to the microbial culture that the Mysteron likeness of Judy Chapman stole from the lab in Manchester, England, in order to spike the water supply of Los Angeles, California, with it, was that lab engaged in the illegal development of microbial weapons?

I saw this in Chris Bentley's 'The Complete Book of Captain Scarlet' and I suppose it might have some validity - at least as 'informed fanon', as I don't remember it being explained on TV.

Medical science had taken great leaps forward with the development of gene replacement, synthetic histogenesis and sonic microsurgery. Recent pioneering work by Dr Theodore Magnus at London Hospital has seen the successful development of the cerebral pulsator which aims to eliminate the risk in brain operations, while at Slaton Hospital Dr Edward Mitchell and Dr Paul Baxter have perfected a recovery unit which maintains a patient in stasis until the vital functions can be restored. The Bacteriological Centre in Maryland and the Biological Research Centre in Manchester currently lead the field in viral research and the development of airborne anti-pathogens, which are expected to completely eliminate the incidence of fatal infection within a decade.

So maybe that is what they were doing?

[Captain Indigo]

Thing of it is, whilst the development of microbial weapons is illegal, labs are still allowed to carry cultures of potentially lethal bacteria and viruses to experiment upon. I believe the argument is that they are always available in case the disease crops up somewhere, sometime.

Whilst extinct in the UK, US and many other countries, labs still have stocks of smallpox for experimental purposes. Also, as recently highlighted in the UK, the Foot and Mouth virus is also kept in research labs.

I have always assumed that it was something along these lines that Ms Chapman stole.

As an aside (biologist alert!), the episode states that the culture in question was viral in nature, but also refers to it as a strain of baccilus, which is bacterial. It also mentions a cure for said virus, but viruses cannot be cured (as yet) due to their extreme rate of mutation.

So, in conclusion. we cannot rely on the scientific info in this ep as it is so clearly flawed. We have to remember that CS was written for children of the 1960s, and I am fairly certain that the writers did not intend for every last detail to be picked apart by adults in the 2000s.

Recommendation - Best taken with a pinch of salt.

[Parker Gabriel]

Why Spectrum exists at all is something we've discussed before, but I think the notion of it being a hangover from the turbulent wars earlier in the Anderverse, is a new one. I like it.

Marion is mistaken if she thinks the idea is a new one; it's very old. Indeed, it dates all the way back to when Captain Scarlet's experiences first began.

But it was a good idea even then, and still is.

[Marion]

Parker Gabriel said:
Marion is mistaken if she thinks the idea is a new one; it's very old. Indeed, it dates all the way back to when Captain Scarlet's experiences first began.
But it was a good idea even then, and still is.

Does it really? Well, there's a thing. Where does it come from? I don't claim to have seen or read everything, but I'm always interested to know the sources for anything that explains the raison detre behind Spectrum and the whole World Government scenario.
I don't think the idea had cropped up in our discussions before Doc B mentioned it in this thread though, and - as I said - it isn't one I'm aware of reading about before then.

[hazel]

From This is Spectrum, an article in the first Captain Scarlet annual:

THE year is 2065 . . . January. And the world is by no means at peace. The threat of war is great from underwater communities, from outer space and from the bandit races of Bereznik and the hostile Asian governments not aligned to the World Government.

The world of today is run by World Government. Under its control security is enforced by the World Aquanaut Security Patrol, the World Space Patrol and the Universal Secret Service. But the call is for a security force intent on keeping peace solely on the Earth, to take the burden from the specialised forces. For this reason Spectrum was formulated.

After that quote, the article goes on to talk about how the agents were recruited and there is no further mention of the reason for Spectrum's existence.

So - it does look as if the requirement for Spectrum grew out of potential wars, probably spurred on by recent ones.

[Intensity Angel]

Sometimes to find a cure, you must create the problem.

Maybe the Biological centre was trying to find a cure to something, i.e. Malaria. By creating something deadly, they can understand it, and work out how to create a multifunctioning antibody or something similar to not only destory that Virus but other Virus' too.