Captain Indigo's background

by **chrisbishop** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 11:38 pm

Received e-mail with the following question:

May I ask, why you have information on all of Spectrum's personnel except Captain Indigo?

Thanks

Martin B.

Well, for starters, there was never anything "official," i.e. the original series or the annuals. He was in one episode only, and was shot about 5 minutes in. Shot again about 20 mins later. Poor bugger was barely around long enough to have a codename, let alone a back story.

One of our members remembers seeing something in one of the more recent publications that "personal details on him were being withheld by request of his family" - more like what was written for Captain Brown, apparently.

However, the Thunderbirds comics provided fans with their own idea for the good captain ID in issue number 67, May 13, 1994. But that should, at the very least, be considered unofficial.

Information as followed:

Captain Indigo

Real name: Andrew Laurence
Born: 01/09/2033, Little Rock, Arkansas

Andrew was only a few months old when his parents were killed in an air crash. He was adopted by an Irish family and spent his early life in Dublin.

After studying physics and biology at college, he decided to join the police force, specialising in forensic and ballistic science. His crime solving abilities soon brought him to the notice of Spectrum. Given the code name Captain Indigo, he was put in charge of the Spectrum ground forces intelligence service.

On special assignment at Spectrum’s security lodge in Africa, Indigo was shot by Captain Black and Mysteronised. Only the second Spectrum Captain to die this way. Now under Mysteron control he attempted to kill the World President, Colonel White and Captain Blue by trying to crush them under the lodge.

Whilst making his escape, he was pursued by Captain Scarlet who ‘killed’ him using the new anti-Mysteron Electron gun – a weapon Captain Indigo himself had been involved with developing.

Note that another issue from the same comic strips series also provided a 'biography' of Captain Brown - biography that wasn't mentioned on the site because, like for Captain Indigo, this information should be deemed unofficial. That's why while writing fanfiction, I'm quite happy with using the name 'Steve Blackburn' instead, which was created by Mary J. Rudy.

However, just as a kind of tribute for the work done by the creators of the comics magazine, I decided a little while ago to 'borrow' the name they have given to Captain Indigo to include it in my story 'Parallax View' - for the Captain Indigo of an alternate world.

by **chrisbishop** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 3:07 pm

Reply to previous post:

Thanks for the quick reply to my question. The biography is very interesting. DId you notice this lint though:

"On special assignment at Spectrum's security lodge in Africa, Indigo was shot by Captain Black and Mysteronised. Only the second Spectrum Captain to die this way".

Surely he would have been the fourth to die this way after Black, Brown and the original Scarlet. Strange that they would make that error, especially as two of the other three appear in the same episode.

Martin

Well spotted, Martin!

. While it's not quite sure that Black was actually killed in the original TV series (the writers conveniently left that question vague...), or if he is simply mind-controlled by the Mysterons (note the difference between Black and other Mysteron agents), it certainly is true for both Brown AND Scarlet. Thus that will make Indigo either the third or fourth Spectrum officers to be killed and Mysteronised by the Mysterons.

by **Marion** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 8:56 pm

Perhaps they merely mean the second Spectrum agent to die and be eliminated from further conflict? Black we can argue was never killed - I tend to that theory - but Scarlet was killed and then Mysteronised - he fell from the Car-Vu, and must have been dead then - but because of whatever made him unique amongst all Mysteronised subjects - he recovered without their assistance, to take part in many further skirmishes on the side of humanity.
A weak argument? Yep - and subject to rebuttal and dispute - but it might explain the text quoted above.
Either that, or the comic guys simply couldn't count - or knew less about the TV series than we do! :wink:

Which do you think?

by **DartBrat701** » Mon May 15, 2006 12:50 am

Poor Capt. Indigo, to be finally destroyed by the very weapon he helped develop, such bitter irony! :shock:

by **mb2000** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 7:44 pm

He doesn't look too bad in a Spectrum uniform does he?

by **chrisbishop** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 7:49 pm

Looks more like Captain Purple to me - Indigo being a very dark shade of blue. But you are right, he doesn't look too bad at all! :grin:

by **mb2000** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 11:16 pm

I darkened him down a bit.

Website · by **Sage** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 11:53 pm

Oh yes that's better, looks great

by **DartBrat701** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:47 am

Oh yes! Very nice job! :grin:

by **chrisbishop** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 3:58 am

Splendid, mb2000!

I believe you'll be asked by some of our fanfic writers for permission to use this pic eventually!

by **gojohnniegogo** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 6:39 pm

How did you create the image? As I'm sure a few of us are interested in the technique :grin:

by **chrisbishop** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:05 pm

I don't know which program mb2000 used for his pic, but a lot of programs exist that can be used to touch up pictures - and sometimes build an image from scratches.

I know that some of us use Adobe Photoshop for their works (such as for those magnificent pics from our annual calendar (thanks Carrie!). Me, I use the old Adobe PhotoDeluxe program. I think it's not available anymore, except in old copies from the web. The pics on this page have been made with it:

http://spectrum-headquarters.com/v-web/ ... t=dinosaur

What program did you use, mb2000?

by **mb2000** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:30 am

I used Adobe Photoshop 7. The image is a blending of a screencap of Captain Blue from "Operation Time" just before he kills Magnus and a screencap from "Spectrum Strikes Back" of Indigo just after his Mysteron appeared. These are the caps used:

The lack of good shots of Indigo in "SSB" limited what sort angles he could be shown at, but luckily Blue stood in the right place in the previous episode, but anyone stood in roughly that position would have worked. The gun was a bonus I though.

To put them togather, I started by cutting Blue's head out using the Lasso and copied all the blue of his uniform to a separate layer to make colour changing easier later. Then I cut Indigo's head out, flipped it, and placed that behind the uniform layer to give the appear he was wearing it (it also saved having to blend the collar etc as his neck just sit behind it) I shortened the Blue pic a little as Blue has a tall head and made a few adjustments to the surounding background to make sure you couldn't see the hole left by Blue's head. Lastly, I changed the clour of the uniform by adjusting the Hue settings. And there you go. Captain Indigo in uniform in 10 minutes!

by **gojohnniegogo** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 3:51 am

Brilliant MB, that's exactly what I was looking for, very well explained! Kudos to you, done, very, very well if I may say so! I dont seem to have had much luck when playing with photoshop, I'm having a play around with CS2, but not that good with it to be honest! I should get better, just takes a little mastering I guess! :-D

by **Matt Crowther** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 8:53 pm

Drat, if only that pic had been around when I wrote "Indigo"!

Never mind. Anyway, I only wish I knew how to get screenshots so I could get some of Magenta and one of Cloudbase in "Attack of Cloudbase" as 'cover' pics for two of my fan fic.