And the verdict is... ? (Instrument of Destruction review)

[Clya Brown]

This last point raises the whole question of the actual purpose of the Mysteron threat in the original series. Was it to demonstrate their superiority over us? Was it to give us a chance to counter it? Or was it to minimise the carnage?

It can't have been an opportunity to minimise the carnage. If it was that, then all the threats in the original series would have been delivered in unambiguous plain English - which they weren't. All that stuff about killing time, destroying the city of the angels and all that was designed specifically to tease and confuse, not to inform, so they certainly weren't trying to present themselves as "decent chaps" - at least, not as we would understand the term.

You do get instances of terrorist groups providing warnings of impending explosions in real life, but whereas supporters of the terrorists might interpret them as proof that their agents were trying to minimise loss of life caused by their actions, the security services would see them simply as a mechanism for creating as much chaos as possible by forcing them to try to evacuate the area under almost impossible circumstances. However that discussion doesn't apply here, because the Mysterons don't have any sympathisers to whom they might want to demonstrate their "regard for human life" - at least, none that have ever been identified in any of the TV shows. And anyway, they demonstrably have no regard for human life at all: they take it whenever and wherever it suits them.

Speaking personally, I don't regret the decision to drop the weekly threat. I thought it was just a little bit silly, though I could see the point in it if you viewed it purely as a challenge to a species that is regarded as hopelessly inferior ("See if you can work this one out, pathetic earthlings!"). The trouble is that as Kambei says, these Mysterons are rather more vicious than the last incarnation. They play to win - and that raises questions in my mind about just how realistic that scenario is. Why? Because - and I've also said this elsewhere - they've already demonstrated capabilities that can't realistically be countered. If they wanted to destroy us utterly, they could do it. Cloudbase/Skybase is a phenomenally complex piece of engineering: assimilate just one key component of it, and/or a few key humans on board it, and you could almost certainly destroy it within minutes - and the same argument applies to any of the mountains of WMDs that mankind has accumulated around the globe over the years. The major population centres of Earth could be reduced to toxic piles of radioctive rubble in no time flat.

I have to believe therefore in both the original series and the new one that the Mysterons aren't really serious about this war at all. It's a nasty little game they're playing, for reasons that have never properly been explained - and to me, that one point is the single most unsatisfactory aspect of the concept of the Mysterons as they're portrayed in the new series. In the original series I could accept the situation presented, albeit with a large pinch of salt, but not really in the new one. It seems to me that either it should be made clear that the Mysterons are voluntarily limiting their actions, or it should be established that Spectrum have developed the means to prevent them (if they try hard enough) from initiating any truly apocalyptic scenarios.

[shaqui]

I thought it fairly well established that the 'War of Nerves' scenario in the original was because a 'real war scenario' was totally out of the question because of the physical limitations of the puppets. Making the war 'psychological' meant a/ the writers could play on the suspense and b/ limit action pieces to the hardware.

'New Captain Scarlet' doesn't have these limitations regarding physicality, so a 'real covert war' is being played out.

[Clya Brown]

I'd not heard that reasoning before. It seems to me though that both Stingray and Thunderbirds managed to pack enough general destruction into their episodes to portray a fairly realistic war should the need arise, and Scarlet could easily have followed suit had the scriptwriters wished. More likely it had to do with the budget made available to create the series, I'd have thought. Invisible aliens cost less than visible ones, and this uncanny ability to recreate an exact likeness saves a lot of cash when it comes to making new puppets. Now I could believe that without any difficulty at all!

[Marion]

That seems the most likely reasoning to me too, Doc. Gerry Anderson - on the DVD interview, I believe - says they made the Mysterons invisible, in case anyone found real life on Mars and it didn't look like the lifeform they had created - which seems very far-sighted to me!
They certainly had found no difficulty in creating a real enough war between the Terraneans and the Aquaphibians in 'Stingray' - although it has to be said that X20's plots were quite as inept as some of the ones devised by the Mysterons (in both series) Still, I guess you don't really want to send the youthful target audience off to bed with the screaming abdabs by having too scary monsters - especially invisible ones, coming to get them! An invisible 'something' is a lot scarier than something you can see the strings on
I think the 'war of nerves' quite effectively allows the Mysterons to take pot shots at anyone or anything, with no real reasoning behind it - they are meant to be out to wrong-foot everyone. The weekly threats - however implausible and open to debate as to their effectiveness - at least allowed for the plot to get under way pretty quickly and the rest of the programme to be spent combating it and thwarting the Mysterons... which even lacking the physicality of the CGI characters, the classic series did with aplomb - more often than not.

[Kambei]

That seems the most likely reasoning to me too, Doc. Gerry Anderson - on the DVD interview, I believe - says they made the Mysterons invisible, in case anyone found real life on Mars and it didn't look like the lifeform they had created - which seems very far-sighted to me!

I have to disagree. The Mysterons in the original series were not native to Mars. In the case of the new series, we have not yet seen inside the city.
Actually, I have been thinking about this. The Mysterons say that they have been watching us for a long time. But how long? And how long is it measured in their time scale? Is it possible that the base on mras is merely a stging post for a 'foothold' operation? That they are watching us with an option to invasion?
Lots of questions here. I don't have the answers, but there are some very talented writers on this site. I hope at the least that I have given someone ideas for fanfic.

[shaqui]

I have to disagree. The Mysterons in the original series were not native to Mars.

Rubbish - it was never established in the series itself that the Mysterons were not native to Mars.

The idea they were not was a 'TV21' creation.

[Kambei]

I have to disagree. The Mysterons in the original series were not native to Mars.

Rubbish - it was never established in the series itself that the Mysterons were not native to Mars.

The idea they were not was a 'TV21' creation.

Okay, if you are going to be like that, prove to me that they are native to Mars. I respect people who can argue their point, but not those that flame.

[shaqui]

Okay, if you are going to be like that, prove to me that they are native to Mars. I respect people who can argue their point, but not those that flame.

Then argue yours - if you're that certain there is more proof for your case, than the fact it is never mentioned in the original series itself.

There is a hell of a lot of conjecture about the Mysterons, including from what little is contained in the original pilot script - that the Mysterons are computers, that they are invisible and/or energy, that they didn't originate on Mars...

ALL of it comes from 'TV21', spun-off in a quite wonderful but non-canon way. I've spent the last three years unwinding the original series formats from the printed merchandise. I love both but to me, one is clearly the series, the other clearly merchandise. Different writers (though I have it on good account at least one questioned script-editor Tony Barwick about the format) and very, very, different takes on what was going on.

That's my case.

What's yours?

[chrisbishop]

Er... Not wanting to aggravate any situation here but... I don't think that there is any real proof, that either the Mysterons are or are not from Mars. Whatever the sources of the information could be (TV 21 or otherwise), I think it's open to suggestion. It's a 'two schools of thoughts' subject, I'm afraid. Like wondering if Black (classic series) has been killed and mysteronised or not and if the Mysterons (still classic) are the 'real Mysterons' or computers created by them.

I think both ideas are valid - and which makes it interesting is when people debate them and present their own argument in favour of each theory.

Just don't forget to stay civil, though!

Chris

PS: By the way, what Marion mentioned about Gerry's reason to create the Mysterons as invisible beings, is absolutely true. Not only did he say it in this interview, on the DVD, but I read it at least on two others articles, either online or in a mag. That said, as it is but the technical explanation of that decision, the rest is still open to debate!

[Doc Denim]

just a quick comment from across the pond....

Shaqui wrote:
There is a hell of a lot of conjecture about the Mysterons, including from what little is contained in the original pilot script - that the Mysterons are computers, that they are invisible and/or energy, that they didn't originate on Mars...

ALL of it comes from 'TV21', spun-off in a quite wonderful but non-canon way.

but I have to disagree there - as a kid I had virtually NO access to any of the TV21 stuff - not comics, not annuals (well, just one) no merchandise, and only one of the John Theydon novels. Everything else I 'conjectured' (in terms of my own fan-fic) was pulled from the TV series - so there was, I think 'enough' background clues concerning the Mysterons presented on the airwaves to construe all of those things without getting it from 'other media' sources.

Just a bit of commentary....

Doc Denim

[shaqui]

PS: By the way, what Marion mentioned about Gerry's reason to create the Mysterons as invisible beings, is absolutely true. Not only did he say it in this interview, on the DVD, but I read it at least on two others articles, either online or in a mag. That said, as it is but the technical explanation of that decision, the rest is still open to debate!

Indeed. The original draft script describes them as 'a force which we cannot see but nevertheless a force with an extremely high intelligence level.

[shadokp]

Looks like you guys really covered a lot during the original airings but now I wonder after watching them on DVD, if there will be more to talk about.

My take - While I enjoyed the first two episodes and thought that there were some great scenes, and looking at hindsight, the first two episodes really don't fit in with the rest of the series and everytime I review or mention the series to someone, I always state that after the first two episodes, things get better. Not only the animation, but the stories improve as I thought the first two parter had too much going on - very ambitious and a good set-up for the series, but not representative of the rest of the series.

It was good to finally see the Blue/Scarlet fight that was excised from the TV airing!!

Animation high point - The Angel flyby Skybase
Story highpoint - Racing to save Col. White.
Story low point - If the explosion was going to destroy the Earth, why did Black bother running away and why a timer?

5/10

KP