Captain Scarlet, superman?

[Marion]

Okay, so I don't catch on that quickly.
I was watching a clip of the opening credits on 'You Tube' - as you do - when the words of Doctor Fawn filtered into my addled brain.
(Paraphrasing here as everything's still packed away)
'A bullet will kill you, you will still feel the pain'... etc.
But there in front of my eyes stands Captain Scarlet, trapped down the dead-end alleyway with the cat and the milk bottle, while some unseen Plug-Ugly baddy, riddles him with bullets.
Does our hero grimace (which we know he can do - see the Car-Vu incident and Glegarry Castle) and stagger a bit, yet still nobly, bravely and heroically manage to terminate the baddy with one deadly accurate shot?
Does he heck.
He stands there without an expression on his face and no sign of his neat little uniform having been shredded under fire.

So - how come? I mean, what gives? How come Scarlet is suddenly as invulnerable as Superman, without even having to wear his underwear over his tights?

[Sage]

LOL I've been wondering that since I was eight, and still no closer to figuring it out.

[MMK]

As far as I can remember... and I've just checked the video on YouTube too... the

Plug-Ugly baddy

is a shot... there's not a single bullet hole in Scarlet's uniform... not a very good shot, are they?

[Parker Gabriel]

The bullet holes in Captain Scarlet's sleeveless scarlet suede doublet are indeed there--you just couldn't see them on that petty a scale. And he does indeed grimace in pain as he's being shot--it was just that his agonized expressions couldn't be shown with the super-marionation puppet head used.

I refer you to The Passengersfor Marion Woods's explanation; it refers to a sequence near the conclusion.

[MMK]

The bullet holes in Captain Scarlet's sleeveless scarlet suede doublet are indeed there--you just couldn't see them on that petty a scale. And he does indeed grimace in pain as he's being shot--it was just that his agonized expressions couldn't be shown with the super-marionation puppet head used.

I refer you to The Passengersfor Marion Woods's explanation; it refers to a sequence near the conclusion.

I NOT trying to persuade any OCS fans into liking NCS, but what Parker what is one of the disadvantages of doing a show with puppets. *prepares to hide*

...puppets... by god, where have all the 'good old' cartoons gone?

[Marion]

I think all the supermarionation series were a great advance on 'cartoons' and the puppets were - and remain - part of their charm.
Face it, even the CGI is basically a cartoon drawn by computers. It can leap about and pull faces, it can drive swanky cars and supersonic planes in (IMHO) mundane and boring car chases. But it is just a cartoon and remains firmly 2 dimensional.
The puppets had 'depth'- okay so they walked funny and their faces were static, but with the clever use of different 'expressive' heads, and excellent editing, the programme makers were still able to create a sense of real emotion and movement.
I also happen to think that the deficiencies of the supermarionation techniques, meant that more importance was given to the scripts - maybe because the dialogue had to compensate for the lack of visual emotion?
Anyway, that's how I see it.
I was probably being a bit facetious in my comments about the opening credits - which I've always admired as quite thrilling and 'grown-up' for a childrens' TV show. Quite possibly today - in our era that depicts far more graphic violence - even a puppet Scarlet would look bashed about a bit, but in 1967 I suspect they were more considerate of their viewers.

[Clya Brown]

That original opening sequence really was a bit of a mistake, wasn't it. I mean, the events shown there simply can't be reconciled with the contents of the actual episodes, beginning with the climax of the very first one in which Blue shoots Scarlet off the Car-Vu: agonized face, falls sideways, tumbles to nasty death etc etc. We've also seen other Mysteron constructs shot by Spectrum agents, and they do actually collapse: it's just that they don't stay dead, that's all.

One way out might be to postulate that the assassin did actually miss (though goodness knows how) which would also explain why Scarlet wasn't hurled backwards by the force of the bullets. But then.... that doesn't really ring true either, since Scarlet doesn't react at all. Now I don't know about you, but I'd react if somebody projected an unexpected ping-pong ball at me, let alone the entire contents of a machine-gun clip. It doesn't even work if you theorise that the Scarlet shown there was a Mysteron at the time (and perhaps therefore not suspectible to human reactions) because again we saw how he reacted to being shot by Captain Blue off the Car-Vu, at a time when he was controlled by the Mysterons.

How about the Mysterons jamming the machine-gun at a time when Scarlet was under their control? I suppose that's a possibility - it's well within their powers to pull off a stunt like that - though we do see what appear to be bullets ricochetting off the wall to either side of him, and it's also debatable as to when such a sequence of events might have taken place. But wait a minute - it could have been between his original mysteronisation and the next scene in which he's shown back on Cloudbase again, still (but unknown to Spectrum) under Mysteron control. Perhaps he was keeping an appointment with Captain Black while the Mysterons were still formulating their plans concerning the World President - remember that bit when Black reminded him later that they wanted the WP alive, suggesting a rather deeper plot than a simple assassination? Maybe there's a piece of fanfic there for anybody who wants to tackle it - assuming that it hasn't been done already, of course.

[MMK]

But wait a minute - it could have been between his original mysteronisation and the next scene in which he's shown back on Cloudbase again, still (but unknown to Spectrum) under Mysteron control. Perhaps he was keeping an appointment with Captain Black while the Mysterons were still formulating their plans concerning the World President - remember that bit when Black reminded him later that they wanted the WP alive, suggesting a rather deeper plot than a simple assassination? Maybe there's a piece of fanfic there for anybody who wants to tackle it - assuming that it hasn't been done already, of course.

I haven't read any like that (on this site) ... my fan fic total is currently 241 (I'm not reading as many per day as I used to..)... so if there are any then their hiding amongst the hundred or more that I haven't read... yet . I'll 'keep an eye out' for any stories like this, anyway... just in case.

So:
*plot bunny alert*

[chrisbishop]

I have a theory - and it's worth what's it's worth...

How about that opening scene was indeed based on the original plot plan to make Captain Scarlet a kind of 'robot', saved from the Mysterons, and then controlled by computers on Cloudbase? Could be explaining quite a lot: impassible expression, no wounds, no tumbling...

[MMK]

How about that opening scene was indeed based on the original plot plan to make Captain Scarlet a kind of 'robot', saved from the Mysterons, and then controlled by computers on Cloudbase?

So, its basically a summary of what happens to Scarlet.
Colonel, you deserve a round of applause.

[chrisbishop]

No, actually what I meant is this:

The background that we all know and love about Captain Scarlet was not part of the original plan by the writers.

The original plot for "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" was this: "Mysteronisation" meant for him to be transformed into some kind of robot, under the Mysterons control. As it is, following the plot, the Mysterons lose control over him, but he doesn't actually regain his 'human persona'. He stays that robot, and Doctor Fawn, from Cloudbase, is able to somehow hook him to specially designed computers that permits Spectrum to keep control over him.

The powers that be at the studio - probably from Gerry or someone from his creative team - realised that having a 'human robot' as the hero of their show - which was starring MARIONETTES - wasn't that good idea, so they decide to go with the human angle. Which was, in retrospect, a better plan.

However some tidbits of this original plot remain today, in the first audio-adventure that Century 21 created - and apparently, that seems to have stayed too with the opening credits of the series.

Ah, and I have the original script of the first episode, as it was written at the time, somewhere in my archives. I should dig it up eventually and make it available.

[MMK]

Was the opening credits made before or after the script? or at the same time?
If it was made before then it would explain the change of angle from making Scarlet into a robot-like being into 'someone' more human.

[chrisbishop]

That I wouldn't be able to tell your with certainty. That's why as far as I'm concerned, it's only a theory . But obviously, it might explains most of the inconsistency presented by that opening scene.

[MMK]

And I still say you deserve a round of applause... or a round of drinks, perhaps? your choice

[Captain Indigo]

I was going to put this bullet thing down to artistic license, but I think Colonel Chris' explanation is better.