Rain of Terror

[Serena Lewis]

This one I liked better than the last two. I can't really explain why...but...it was better in my eyes...

Pros

1. The Avalanche and explosion at the start. True Anderson style.
2. Meerkats. They were cute, if a little over skinny.
3. Close up of Susan in the Swift showed that she was given absolutely beautiful eyes. Hey, I'm an eye person...don't diss...
4. The echoes and reverberating shot when Susan fires her gun in the Hangar Deck. Nice touch.
5. Susans screams as she died. Thy just sounded natural. Oh dear, that makes me sound horribly morbid doesn't it...?
6. White remembers his injured arm at the end.
7. The grave. So cool!

Cons

1. Susan. She was okay, but a bit too preppy for me.
2. 'Rather like your eyes'...eww...
3. The weird looking towel. I always see the little things, and take BIG note of them!
4. If Destiny had shot the Condor, would it have spread the chemical into the air by accident? Just a thought...
5. Would one little tub of waterproof cream protect the Colonel?

Bloopers

1. At the start of the episode, Blacks eyes are greenish-blue instead of brown. It's when he's wearing the balaclava.
2. Whites blood sort of goes in one big...splodge when he gets shot, then it simply disappears. I know they can't show profuse bleeding on this show, but it made me wonder what happened to it.
3. When White drops his champagne glass, the liquid doesn't spill, it stays inside the glass, the wrong way round.
4. Whites radio is supposed to be ripped out, but when he is confronted by Scarlet it is shown intact several times.

Little Things

1. Is Susan the only character in the series to wear earrings?
2. When the rain tests work, Susan starts jumping up and down, then suddenly does that victory signal thing with her hands, her face solemn. Odd. I thought she'd be smiling as she did it. Still, nice thing to add.
3. The reflection in the rain water when White walks towards Scarlet at the end. Beautiful...

Rating: 7/10

xx

[Aegis]

OK, Here's some trivia for you...

'Rain of Terror' was the first episode put into production after Instrument of Destruction Pts. 1 & 2 and was directed by Mark Woollard.

Whilst making IOD, pretty much the whole CG studio collaborated in getting shots ready for the show - after IOD was finished, the artists were split into teams - Scarlet, Green, White and Blue.

Rain of Terror was made by 'Scarlet' team, headed up by Mark Harrison - Mark also worked on the original New Captain Scarlet trailer that was made by AudioMotion to help raise finance for the series.

Scarlet team were responsible for many of NCS' best looking shows including Rat Trap, Achilles Messenger and Shapeshifter.

During the making of Rain of Terror, the character department was still finialising the look of the new, improved characters and deciding how things like hair would be done - Susan Todd was rushed somewhat which is why her hair looks so flat and also why she animates a little strangely - her neck in particular.

The grave scene was lit by Adrian Thompson - he also did all the grass and some remodelling - that was probably the shot that took the longest to do in Rain of Terror - more because of technical issues than anything else.

Rain of Terror was the first episode to be pushed through in an 8-week development phase - had Scarlet team been late in delivering, it would have given all the other teams an excuse to be late with their episodes. It took nine weeks of hard work in the end which set the pace for the rest of the studio.

Artist Paul Herbert was responsible for the wonderful rain effects in this episode.

I worked on remodelling and tweaking the Hummingbird helicopter for this episode including adding the guns and making the landing wheels work properly - after I finished up on Rain of Terror I moved to White team to work on 'Chiller'.

[shadokp]

The Story - A fairly interesting Sci-fi type of idea with a good confrontation scene between Black and Scarlet. The grim feeling of the series begins to take shape with the upsetting death of an innocent and likeable character of Susan Todd. The method of showing her paranoia was well executed (I am unsure if I had noticed the shark missiles the first time I had seen this episode.). Black is ruthless - it is not enough to take the truck out with an avalance, but he had to blow it up as well.

The Animation - Some highlights include the helicopter battle, the scenic Scarlet in the desert scenes and the Memorial shot at the end. This being the first of the new method of animating the characters, one can see an overall improvement and I really have no major issues with it at all. I also liked the shot when Destiny had just fired a warning shot near the Condor. We see the Condor fly through the residue smoke and the smoke dissapates nicely around the wing of the plane - nice little touch.

Other Points - Not sure about the waterproof cream. Perhaps the small container he had on him was a touch up supply and there is an empty gallon jug in the Colonel's quarters. I am not the biggest fan of Colonel White in this one because he always seemed paranoid and almost knowing that the rain was the problem from point one.

The Ongoing Tally

Someone falling off ledge or cliff - 1 (Susan Todd in Hangar Bay)

On screen Death Count - 9 (Susan, 2 people in truck and 6 Meerkats - well we actually only see 5 dead)


KP

[Father Unwin]

This episode has a lot to recommend it and some distinctive touches including several excellent full screen closeups of people's faces. At least 3 closeups of Captain Black and others of Scarlet and Colonel White. The closeup of Black when he takes off his balaclava is really cool and I used that as my avatar for some time.

The best and most remarkable closeup in the whole series is that of Conrad's jaw and lower face when he answers the phone. The detail showed every pore in his face and what a brilliant voice performance by Nigel Plaskitt! "The test was a success? That's fantastic!" The excitement and menace in his suppressed low key tones was thrilling and, of course, so was the viewer's realisation that this is Captain Black in disguise.

I agree about the rain effects and lighting which were the equal of effects in any episode. The lowering skys, brownish lighting of the clouds and rain effects were wonderful. Great scenes included where White was looking troubled as the clouds rolled and darkened above him and also the cloud effects providing a backdrop to the helicopter gun fight.

I will continue to look for examples of my little hobbyhorse, namely plot accelerators which fast forward the action a bit. I noticed 2 examples in this week's episode.

1. Scarlet goes back to the laboratory to look for clues and specifically evidence that the rain caused the problems with Professor Todd. After touching the 'unnatural' blue towel he spots a video recording of the rain experiment.

Fortunately for him, the camera is pointed more at the ground than the sky and within a few seconds he has spotted that the meerkats were also soaked. A quick walk outside and he sees evidence of the rain's effects - death and madness to already mad meerkats!

2. White visits Hydra Laboratories looking for evidence of Mysteron activity. Luckily, there is a confidential Personnel file with a nice photo of Conrad just sitting there on Van Damm's desk. As in the case of Scarlet, the very first thing White sees provides the answer to his suspicions!

Don't get me wrong - I love this sort of thing about NCS and how else could you possibly get so much action into those 22 minutes.

[shadokp]

One of the things I noticed in this episode which is a general statement about many TV shows is when a series uses the same music over and over again, sometimes it takes away from the excitement of a scene. For example - the helicopter battle had the main theme and while the main theme can be extended and drawn out to cover a longer action scene, in ths one the battle lasted as long as the piece of music and therefore we knew when the fight would be over because the music was ending. Does that make sense?

In other words when you here that main theme music again and it goes into that final few notes, you know that the on screen action is about ready to wrap up and therefore some of the surprise may be gone.

Its late - must go to sleep

KP

[Skybase Girl]

I wasn't keen on this episode when I first saw it, it seemed a bit nondescript. However, liked it a lot more on second viewing.

The graphics were great, especially the grave scene at the end. Not sure where this scene fitted in on a time scale, though. Scarlet and Colonel White gave the impression that they had just strolled over to pay their respects as soon as the Mysteron threat was vanquished. I would have thought it would take time to construct the grave with th pool and presumably Susan would have had a proper funeral ? The desert around the grave looked rather lush and green, which you would think would take a fair amount of time to happen, even with regular rain. Maybe we're just supposed to suspend disbelief about these things !

I take Aegis's point about Susan's hair. It did rather look like someone had painted her with lemon curd, and her ponytail was a different colour to the rest of her hair. Incidentally, what is it about Scarlet and women with ponytails ? I've heard of men who go for breasts and men who are attracted to good legs, but ponytails ? Perhaps Rhapsody Angel should get rid of her plait and opt for the ( usually) pink rubber band. Then she could give Destiny a run for her money and it would be reminiscent of OCS !

The scene in the hangar was excellent and very realistic. While I wasn't too keen on Susan, I didn't want her to plunge to her death like that. I imagine not being able to save the love interest would screw Scarlet up for a while, although I don't think she's ever mentioned in subsequent episodes. Thought the fact that he thinks he's in love with her after a rather brief relationship in which she doesn't even call him by his Christian name, indicates some emotional instability. However, if we take it that this episode takes place fairly early on in the war with the Mysterons, maybe he's just in denial about his altered state and is over compensating.

I think Colonel White took the little tub of cream with him as a back up. Presumably, he would have completely covered himself before going into the desert. Not too sure how he came to lose his sling in the tussle with Black, but he did seem to be treating the injured arm rather gingerly, so I don't think he forgot he'd been shot !

[Serena Lewis]

I've heard of men who go for breasts and men who are attracted to good legs, but ponytails ?

Men are strange creatures. I know one who's attracted to small ears. I rest my case...

[gojohnniegogo]

Right, where to start? Some lovely close-ups of the characters, one of my favourites being White when he wakes up after being unconscious. Agree with you guys on the Todd memorial - beautifully lit, must have been a painstaking task! Also agree with the little music note too (for OCS, Barry Gray scored the first 12 episodes, then they ran out of cash for that part of the budget, so he had to just re-jig some of his existing pieces to fit!). The more times I've watched it, the more I've come to appreciate it! It wasn't one of my favourites first time around. Favourite scene: Scarlet's chopper receiving a few hits from Black. Also really liked the phone conversation with Black, and the snappy 'resignation' line too! No voice of the Mysterons though

[Father Unwin]

Yes, the resignation scene was just great! Good to see that Black upholds the code of the baddie by delivering his blow with the back of his hand.

This scene was cut when the show was first broadcast on Ministry Of Mayhem so I guess it counts as a sort of bonus extra when you buy the DVD.

[Skybase Girl]

I hadn't realised what had been cut and what hadn't, but it seems to me that there's a good case for releasing a DVD with all the scary bits which had previously been cut out ( on account of the kiddies' sensibilities ). Bearing in mind that it didn't seem to take off where children were concerned, they could give it a 15 certificate and we grown-ups could have a treat !

We might even see some of House of Dolls ! ( OK, I know I'm dreaming, since it didn't actually make it production status. Still, you never know.....)

[gojohnniegogo]

MoM also cut an audio piece out, but as the shot cut away, you didnt notice as the shot was on a piece of equipment - when Colonel White discovers that his personal radio has been wrecked in his cap he says 'damn!'

[luvmylops]

I must admit this was not one of my favorite episodes when I first watched the DVD's, but it does have its good points. I thought both the character and animation were an overall improvement on IoD (I still WANT a Bison, though!)

I particularly liked the look on Scarlet's face when Susan pulls away from his hand while they are flying to Skybase in the Swift. (I had to play it frame by frame, but you can see the uncertainty and hurt).

I was assuming the Colonel White would only need to cover his exposed skin such as face and hands with the waterproof cream as his uniform would protect the rest of his body (I am assuming the uniforms are waterproof).

Pros for the great effect with the storms and rain. Loved the helicopter battle in the middle of the storm. Another pro - no pushy, angry Captian Blue to be found!

Cons - Why was Scarlet calling Dr Todd Susan before entering the experiment site control office and then switched to Dr Todd only to be told to "call me Susan"? Continuity error?

[MMK]

Bloopers:
When White is contacting Scarlet, after White pulls out the half-hidden personal file of Black, there is a shot of White talking 'to' Scarlet but his cap mike is back in its upright position.

When Black knocks out White and White falls to the floor, the cap mike is in its upright position then too... I'm not sure if the cap mike would've swung back up automatically (so might not exactly be a blooper), but I thought I'd mention it anyway