'Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons' - 50th Anniversary Box Set Review

For many years now, Big Finish have been producing audio dramas based on cult properties such as Doctor Who, Sapphire And Steel, The Avengers, Blake's 7, and The Prisoner, among others. But one range of programmes that they have never touched are the Supermarionation series' produced by Gerry Anderson throughout the 1960s. After a successful three boxset revival of Terrahawks in 2015-17, it wasn't going to be long before Big Finish turned their attention to another Anderson property. And now, in time for the programme's 50th anniversary, we have our answer, in the form of four special releases centered on Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons. The successor to Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons is probably one of the Supermarionation programmes that has stood the test of time and endured in the public consciousness, so it's fitting that Big Finish get the chance to do something to celebrate the programmes' anniversary. The first of these sets is a bumper collection of the various mini-LP's that were released to tie in with the series during it's original transmission run. Available from Century 21 Records, these mini-albums are now highly sort after collectors pieces, so a CD boxset collecting all these titles together would be a highly anticipated release, and one that contains enough nostalgia to make any fan of the programme giddy with joy.

The Original-To-Audio LP's

Possibly the most exciting part of this set for any fan who wasn't lucky enough to get the LP's at the time, or came to the show after its 1960s run, will be the first two discs of the set, featuring the original-to-audio stories. This was commonplace around this time (both Stingray and Thunderbirds had been released as audios), so Scarlet wasn't unique in this regard. It was certainly the programme to feature the most original audios released, with five titles in total. The interest in these titles is still rife: mostly because they're so rare to obtain nowadays, and they featured a lot of the original casts of these audios, who are sadly no longer with us, in stories which are still to this day mostly unknown by fans. The interest for these stories is still there: in 2015, when fans planned to make one of the Thunderbirds LP's into a full-length episode, fans stumped up enough cash to make not just the one episode, but all three Thunderbirds original-to-audio LP's. So this part of the set will be the one that excites fans the most. And they're certainly an interesting listen: they offer a glimpse of the show you remember, but are also rather different in a number of interesting and unusual ways. All five episodes are written by either Angus P Allan or Richard O'Neill, writers who never penned a script for TV and, as such, they don't quite get the feel of the show as broadcast on TV. The scope of the stories is smaller; particularly "Spectrum" feels vastly understaffed, even more so than the TV series did. And some of the Mysteron plans are even more bizarre than the odder episodes of the TV series. That being said, there are some where you can see the same skill and sophistication that the TV series was famed for coming through: Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons, for example, is a tense thriller piece that sees the Mysterons hijacking an experimental fighter jet in order to destroy the world's largest airport. The only option Spectrum have to deal with the Mysteron threat is for Captain Scarlet and one of the technicians who designed the jet to parachute onto it, in order to find a way to divert its course. It's probably the best of the original to audio stories, as it manages to tell a brisk, engaging story effectively, without too much descriptive dialogue, yet still fitting in broadly with the continuity of the show. The other fairly strong release is "Captain Scarlet Versus Captain Black," mostly because it finally depicts a proper confrontation between Captains Scarlet and Black, something we were denied in the TV show proper. Despite a plot that, if you stop to think about it, makes absolutely no sense (why the hell would the Mysterons be attacking Cornwall? Does part of their war of nerves involve the destruction of the tourist trade?), the confrontation is worth it, and O'Neill (writer) throws up an interesting point about the off-used Mysteron Gun: if Captain Scarlet is shot with it, will he die, his power of retro-metabolism unable to heal him? The rest of the stories are fairly forgettable: Introducing Captain Scarlet is set during the closing minutes of The Mysterons, and is basically a recap of the events of the first episode, told by Colonel White (Donald Gray) and Captain Blue (Ed Bishop). It's ok for what it is, but, viewed in a modern context, with the episodes available on demand, on DVD and now on Blu-Ray as well, it feels a little pointless. "Captain Scarlet Of Spectrum" is simply a combination of "Noose Of Ice" and "Shadow Of Fear," with a bizarre Mysteron plot to destroy the moon. There's some intrigue regarding Lieutenant Green and Colonel White possibly being turned into Mysteron agents, but it isn't really followed through on. And finally, there's "Captain Scarlet Is Indestructible," which possibly features the strangest Mysteron target of the series: the Mysterons decide to kill the members of the World's Culture Committee. While it does fill in a gap in the world building of the Earth of the series, it still feels very odd for the Mysterons to even consider them a target. What does carry all these releases is the absolute conviction of the cast and the peerless use of sound and music from the show itself, maintaining the link to the TV series that spawned these stories. The restoration of these audios is fantastic as well, particularly in the case of "Captain Scarlet Versus Captain Black," as most copies of the LP featured a defect which meant that the record got steadily slower the further into the story you got. This has been corrected by Benji Clifford, meaning we can now enjoy the story as intended. And there are even some treats in between episodes for real die-hard fans as well. But I'll leave that to you to find out what they are.

The Narrated Soundtracks

The bulk of this set consists of eight TV episodes, whose soundtrack was released in the same form as the original audios were. Of course, you couldn't just take the soundtrack and stick it on a Vinyl disc, so, like the BBC releases of the missing Doctor Who episode soundtracks, they came up with linking narration to cover the more visual elements. This is all done in character as Captain Blue, by Ed Bishop, who keeps the action moving along very well. The narration is never intrusive, and despite the fact that these were soundtracks to accompany visuals we all know so well, it somehow works incredibly well, soon making you forget that there was ever visuals in the first place. And, of course, if you were a fan of Captain Scarlet in the 1960s, these were the only way you could enjoy these episodes again after they had been transmitted (repeats were infrequent, if at all, and the domestic video recorder hadn't even been invented yet). To a modern audience, you may wonder what the point is: after all, Scarlet is available on DVD, on high-definition Blu-Ray, even on digital download. You can watch it anywhere, anytime. But, back in the 1960s, this was one of only a few ways you could re-experience an old episode. However, I'll be honest: the choices they made are a little surprising. While they translate well onto audio (for the most part), they're not the most exciting of the show's episodes. There are two personal favourites in the mix: "Manhunt" and "The Heart Of New York." "Manhunt" is the episode where Spectrum turn the tables on the Mysterons, and features some of the darkest scenes in the series, particularly where Captain Black is concerned, and is very different to anything else the series tried in its 32 episode run. "The Heart Of New York" is, again, an unusual one, in that Spectrum don't really have a lot to do in it. However, I think it more than makes up for it with some of the best guest characters the show created in the form of the three crooks. And, despite its message being a little too on the nose, and the Mysterons plan making no sense in their wider plan to destroy humanity, I still enjoy it, possibly more so on audio than on screen. The rest, sadly, aren't the best Scarlet episodes, or even the most essential ones. "Big Ben Strikes Again," while well liked by the Scarlet fandom, feels half-finished to me, and has never really been a personal favourite, with a bizarre leap of logic in the middle really jarring my enjoyment of it. "The Launching," while having a clever idea regarding its Mysteron target, is frankly dull, and is basically just a repeat of "Point 783," which is far more enjoyable. "Model Spy" seems interesting, on the surface, but there's something distinctly lacking in the execution that means the whole thing just feels dull and bland. Probably due to the fact that this type of story relies on having interesting guest characters, which this doesn't. "Special Assignment," again, has an interesting idea at its core, but falls down in one key area: why do the Mysteron doubles trust Scarlet at all? Surely the Mysterons know that their Scarlet turned against them after its death in the first episode? And why do they even need an SPV, really? Sure, it's a good idea, and the character drama it presents is interesting, but the story is so full of plot holes and contradictions that it is impossible to ignore. "The Trap" is the obligatory Scottish episode (all Anderson shows have an obligatory Scottish episode), and, while quite fun, features none of the local character that would make such an episode interesting. And, while "Flight 104" is a decent episode, one wonders why it was selected for inclusion, since it's neither the most inspiring nor the most original episode. It's easy to say, looking back with hindsight, that they should have done things differently, but there were better and more important episodes that could, and should, have been selected for audio treatment ("Operation Time," "Winged Assassin," "The Crater 101" trilogy, Attack On Cloudbase," "Flight To Atlantica," "Avalanche"). So, while this section is fun, mostly thanks to Ed Bishop's narration and "Manhunt" and "The Heart Of New York's" inclusion, you can't help but come away feeling like the selection isn't really representative of the show as a whole. However, you can't blame the team at Big Finish for that, and they do a splendid job with the restoration of the audios. They're just working with slightly misguided choices from Century 21 Records.

The Retrospective Documentary

Undoubtedly the best feature of this box set is the final disc, which consists of an hour-long documentary dedicated to celebrating the series. With pretty much all of the series' major players no longer with us, this might have been a hard job, but thanks to the determination of producer and narrator Jamie Anderson, he manages to create something that truly celebrates the series, and looks at the impact it has had across its 50 year existence. While we do have archive interviews with key production personnel like Gerry Anderson and Derek Meddings, as well as a new interview with the last surviving cast member, Liz Morgan, there are a number of interviews with various people who were simply backroom staff. Some of the most fascinating are with Leo Eaton (writer and director) and Shane Rimmer (better known for his work on Thunderbirds, but was a writer and guest actor on Captain Scarlet), who provide a real insight into how the series was shaped and developed. However, for the most part, it's a chance for a variety of creatives, and people who fans who have helped keep the series alive in the years since it finished, looking back and talking about why there was such a passion for it, why it has developed a cult following, and why it has endured for so long. Because, while Thunderbirds will be Gerry's defining legacy, Captain Scarlet will stand as possibly the most sophisticated, the most instantly compelling, and certainly the darkest of all the Supermarionation shows. In fact, it was so good that Gerry made it twice.

In Conclusion

While the quality of the stories that this box set contains may be debatable, what is certain is that the level of work put into making this set as nostalgic and as wholesome a product as possible cannot be overstated. This is certainly a product for the die-hard Captain Scarlet, there's no doubt about that, however, for those who do choose to invest, you'll find yourselves rewarded with a collection that simply embodies the spirit of Captain Scarlet in a way few products since the show's heyday have managed. The retrospective documentary, in particular, is something special, and deserves to be heard, simply for the glowing praise heaped upon the show's influence. Big Finish have certainly pulled out all the stops with this box set, and produced a worthy celebration of this fantastic show. Happy anniversary, Captain Scarlet!