Today I learned that there was a planned episode of Captain Scarlet which was not made because it was deemed too scary
Now 1960's puppet adventure series from Gerry Anderson, "Captain Scarlet" (his creative follow up to the classic "Thunderbirds") and it's 2005 remake were both DARK shows.
Our heroes were agents of SPECTRUM, a global peacekeeping force, with all members named after colours. (Apart from the pilots of Angel Squadron: Destiny, Symphony, Rhapsody, Harmony and Melody)
The villains of the piece were the Mysterons, mysterious unseen aliens with the ability to basically restructure matter on a whim. Once they destroyed something they could instantly recreate anything and the recreation would be under their control.
They sought revenge on Earth because on their first encounter when the first humans visited Mars and found their outpost, SPECTRUM's overly tense Captain Black mistook a scan for an attack and retaliated against the innocent Mysterons. The Mysterons simply rebuilt the outpost in seconds, and killed Captain Black before turning them into their first construct, and primary Earth agent.
Despite their powers meaning they could destroy humanity fairly easily, the Mysterons preferred a war of nerves. They would deliberately alert SPECTRUM to their next plan, to see how they would react. Usually it was a threat to assassinate a particular person, or disrupt a specific meeting, or destroy an entire city, and always involved fatalities, as they selected their new targets to become constructs for this particular plan, murdering them to do so.
If SPECTRUM could stop them, then the Mysterons would "play fair" and not retaliate further, until their next plan. They seemed to enjoy the "sport".
Our eponymous hero codenamed "Captain Scarlet" was killed as part of their plan in the first episode, and brought back to life as a construct himself. Through a freak accident he regained control of his mind, but retained the power of retro-metabolism the Mysterons gave their constructs to allow them to recover from any injury, even fatal ones. This made him effectively indestructible as no matter what happened to his body, it would fix itself.
As the almost worryingly jaunty earworm of a theme song made clear
So, the 2005 CGI remake was the same basic idea, with only a few minor tweaks added in. A couple of characters were genderflipped to show us female agents who weren't Angel pilots. Destiny Angel became a more active participant in stoylines rather than "just" a crack pilot. But otherwise mostly the same.
If anything it slightly amped up the angst as Scarlet grappled a ittle more with realising that he was no longer entirely human.
Anyway, it's a great series that got utterly crap TV distribution in the UK, and is easy to find you youtube if you seek it out.
The final two episodes of the series are sightly odd.
The second to last "one "Dominion" is superb. Captain Black, long the mindless puppet of the Mysterons, comes back to his own personality and, though guilt-ridden by all he had done as a Mysteron agent, seeks out SPECTRUM to suggest a way to neutralise the Mysterons permanently, by going back to Mars. There is a LOT of distrust here o course, but as he and Scarlet, who had been best friends in the past, work together, they reconnect and each can sympathise with each other's plight a little.
It turns out that the whole thing was a trap by the Mysterons of course, but when Scarlet rounds on Black for betraying him, the Mysterons casually point out that, no, they actually DID completely release him from their control, that was part of their plan, and Scarlet has to watch the newly freed Black fall back into their control, and be aware of it the whole time. Talk about twisting the emotional knife.
As an endpiece to the series it would have been perfect, highlighting everyone's characters beautfiully.
Which is why it NOT being the final episode is such a surprise.
The actual final episode is incredibly run of the mill by comparison, focussing on a bioweapon and a biker gang. It's definitely a whimper not a bang.
But I recently discovered (though it had been long known among more serious fans) that the reason the final episode was THAT one was because an earlier episode had been vetoed, so they had to come up with something new and it took longer than planned, so they had to screen the planned finale first.
The original episode "House of Dolls" would have featured Paul Metcalfe (Scarlet's real name) on a camping holiday with his sister and nephew who are his only remaining family. They know he does something hush-hush with SPECTRUM, but not the details like him being Captain Scarlet, nor that he's no longer exactly human.
They Mysterons ambush them (After murdering the pilot of a crop duster plane and having his duplicate crash into an oil tanker on the road Metcalfe was driving along) which leaves Scarlet dead and his sister, a medical doctor, deeply disturbed when he's walking around again a few minutes later.
They seek refuge in an old mansion, which they discover is owned by an eccentric, elderly man who is a noted toymaker responsible for many famous toys, some of which even Scarlet remembers from his childhood. The place is awash with puppets and toys that he has created or is working on.
That night, the toymaker is killed by one of his own creations, a clown marionette who the Mysterons have brought to life (it uses the strings that used to hold it up to strangle the old man) and, though Scarlet is able to prevent the toymaker being brought back as a Mysteron agent, then spends most of the rest of the episode being hunted through the corridors of the dark mansion by hordes of now animate, and homicidal, toys led by the giggling clown puppet.
Even when it all gets sorted out in the end, you can see why Gerry Anderson himself might have through this might be a little bit more than even the average Captain Scarlet viewer might have been expecting!
The cast of New Captain Scarlet did a script readthrough a few years ago which apparently used to be on youtube, but isn't any more.
But more interestingly, the official Gerry Anderson social media accounts have hinted something about this episode being announced on 20th March this week, following a recent reunion of the New Captain Scarlet cast.
It's unlikely to be a new episode, but could it be a proper audiobook/performance of the story perhaps? A fanfilm? Who knows, but we'll find out!
