The Storm at the End of the World

[Serena Lewis]

This episode is so strong, on the whole, that, although it has very little Green and Ochre in, I really enjoyed it.

Pros

1. The whole collapsing town. It may have looked a little 'folding cardboardish' occasionally, but was still mostly impressive. And I loved the toll of the church bell as it hit the roof of a house.
2. 'And when it comes down to it, so are you.' Ouch. Is Mysteron guy picking on Scarlet for having feelings? Cruel.
3. The snow. It looked so real! Not that I've seen too much snow (Damn you, Global Warming!!), but it still looked great!
4. The whole story line. It reties the friendship bond between Scarlet and Blue. It's just...run out of words, sorry...
5. Ending. I must confess I...well...had tears in my eyes watching Blue utter his last words, the first time I saw it. But it was a little cheesy, all the same. 'Don't let them win...'

Cons

1. 'Come on, baby, come on!'
Oh no...so macho, so...blokeish. Why do men do that? It's a car for God's sake! IT'S A CAR!!
2. The neck break. Eurgh, that sound. And it was unnecessary for kids TV.
3. And now, what I think is one of the stupidest things to happen in the entire series, the bit where Scarlet and Blue are tied up, and Blue goes 'Do you see what I see?'
Well, obviously! A selection of tools are positioned in a neat little cluster about half a metre away so you can pick which one you want to use to escape! Then Scarlet replies, 'Can you reach it?'
These Spectrum men; they may look good (in Original and New versions), but they have absolutely zilch brains...

Bloopers

1. When Scarlet and Blue are in the Druzynik, Scarlets belt disappears.
2. Blue has no eyebrows several times this episode.
3. Scarlet and Blues zips, and 'Doc's buttons seem to undo and redo themselves, disappear and reappear all the time.
4. The ties on Katies apron go through her dress a few times.

Little Things

1. The clock in the cafe actually keeps time.
2. How exactly do Katie and the Doc die? They just seem to fall over...
3. In the crowd scenes through out the episode, I spotted;
The motorbike guy from Duel
Celine Kowpalski from Mercury Falling
Commander Lewis from The Homecoming
Cadet Johnson from Trap for a Rhino
...and a Harmony lookalike

Rating: 9/10

xx

[MMK]

These Spectrum men; they may look good (in Original and New versions), but they have absolutely zilch brains...

Men these days...

3. In the crowd scenes through out the episode, I spotted;
The motorbike guy from Duel

Which one?

[Serena Lewis]

The black guy with the dreads and silly sunglasses.

[Skybase Girl]

Ummm.....
Not sure about this. I watched it again last night and thought the production was excellent. Even thought, like Serena, that the friendship with Scarlet and Blue was brought to the fore, which maybe surprised even them. Scarlet's agony when he realised he couldn't save his friend even with all his unusual abilities, was touching. Blue can't give up the gung-ho bit, can he ? "Don't let them win" ! Ha ! What about "say goodbye to Serena for me " ?
Ok, scratch that, it could have been even more cheesy.

I didn't have a problem with the neck-snapping bit. In fact I didn't even notice it the first time around. I seriously doubt it would have been a problem to the kiddie-winkies. They've probably seen a lot worse on Doctor Who. Scarlet was in US Special Forces prior to Spectrum - these guys don't mess around.

[Serena Lewis]

Blue can't give up the gung-ho bit, can he ? "Don't let them win" ! Ha ! What about "say goodbye to Serena for me " ?
Ok, scratch that, it could have been even more cheesy.

Oh, great minds think alike! (I bet you hope I'm not some raving loonie...)
That is exactly, and I mean down to a 'T', what I was hoping he would say (I mean, I know you weren't hoping it, but you were thinking it!). And yes, it would of been cheesy, but really nice, and developed the whole Green/Blue angle of it all...

xx

[Skybase Girl]

Well, this is what annoys me about some of these scripts.....

They're supposed to be human, whether they're puppets or CGI images. In times of stress, down with the sycophantic cliches !. If Blue thinks he's dying, you'd imagine he would want to say things other than "Don't let them win".

It's a bit like Destiny handing in her resignation in "Instrument of Destruction" - she says "I put my emotions before my duty" or something idiotic like that. In other words, I am a worthless human being, because, after receiving the shock of my life seeing dead boyfriend not only resurrected in Lazarus-like fashion, but seemingly back to normal, I didn't instantly pump him full of lead. Court-martial me for reacting like a person !

[Father Unwin]

The idea of Mysteronising an entire town was very satisfying and made this one stand out from the rest. I particularly enjoyed the work done by the CGI Team in creating the various shops, buildings and snowy streets. How different the world seems when everything is under a blanket of snow – quite magical!

The night scenes were also great and it was nice to see the liberal use of tracks in the snow made by the power sledges and other vehicles. The lighting reminded me of a Christmas a long time ago when my parents took us to my cousin’s house to open our presents and we had to walk along footpaths between high banks of snow under a starlit sky.

It was good to see the Druzynik again, which is probably my favourite vehicle from the entire NCS series. I have one of those Bandai mini-vehicle plastic ones and it is such a pity that lack of interest in the series has meant that no die-cast version has been produced by the toy manufacturers.

This was, in my opinion, one of those rare episodes when the second half was as good and eventful as the first. Here is a rough guide loaded with spoilers!

First Half:
1. Destruction of Ragnarok by the Druzynik
2. Search for the Druzynik
3. Drinking Katie’s drugged coffee
4. Escape attempts from the mine
5. Finding of the lethal spores

Second Half:
1. Escape in the mining railway truck
2. Attack by the Mysterons on their power sledges
3. Scarlet gets to the Druzynik and takes out the plane
4. Scarlet destroys Ragnarok a second time
5. Blue dying

Finally, there was one minor ‘plot accelerator’ when Scarlet and Blue were searching for the missing Druzynik at the beginning of the episode. “Maybe it can demolish a mountain but it’s not that fast”. “So that would place it about… There!” What other tv series progresses the action so quickly?

[shadokp]

The Story - Thsi was always one of my favorites. There is plenty of action, some good drama and just overall well paced story. I did notice a few things (perhaps I am in a picky mood right now). When the town is Mysteronized, the buildings as well as the people (I take it all those people were living above the stores and in the church) and when Mysteronized, wouldn't most of them be in Pjs and nightgowns, many were in uniform and regular clothes. Also, at the end Scarlet destroys the town (was he really sure that everyone had been Mysteronized?) Why Scarlet did not detect that an entire town was Mysteronized is a bit odd.

On a positive note I remember most people, while not truly believing that they would kill off Blue, wasn't too sure. The reason for this was that it seemed the bar was raised for this one. More violence, bigger stakes and some good dialog, if not a little melodramatic. I almost expected the following dialog -

Blue: "Its getting dark Paul, I can't see..."
Scarlet: "That's because the sun is setting."
Blue: "Its not so bad.. dying..."
Scarlet: "Adam, its just a flesh wound and the doctor is here, he says your fine...."
Blue: "Oh..... okay,...sorry, lets go."

The Animation - I love most of what we see in this episode, especially when the snowmobiles first appear and the sky shots. Great atmosphere in this one.

Other - I think Specturm, with all their technology, need to work on find craft that can enter a snow storm, they always have their hands tied when the weather gets bad

Green: "Sir, weather report states they are in for a light drizzle.."
White: "Recall all craft... they are on their own now!!"

On screen Death Count - Only two initially but a whole town and tank crew - some pretty ruthless deaths as well.


KP

[Serena Lewis]

Green: "Sir, weather report states they are in for a light drizzle.."
White: "Recall all craft... they are on their own now!!"

LOL...
'It's spitting, it's spitting! Get inside! Come on, save yourselves!!'

I do agree about the weather thing. Spectrum are hopeless when any form of it appears.

xx

P.S. I hope someone recognises the quote...

[Kambei]

Okay, a bit late for a two year review of the episode, but what the heck.

I haven't watched this episode for a couple of years and had completely forgotten the plot, so it was almost like watching it again for the first time, if that makes any sense.

I really enjoyed it. The tank rolling through the twon and completely destroying it, the church bell, trapping Scarlet and Blue: all excellent. Okay, the dialogue was a bit corny in places, but I enjoyed the reference to one of my favourite classic sci-fi films: 'The Thing From Another World'

[lee evens]

I really like this episode, it was really well done, the CGI was fantastic as usal.
I loved the hat Adam wore, very sexy!!
I think what Adam said at the end "dont let them win" is something Adam would say, hes gun-ho too a T!
Destroying the whole city was a fantastic idea, it really worked!!
It wasa just the great imagination GA has!
God i cryed when Adsam got shot!!