Scarlet-22 CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE MYSTERONS remains my favorite of Gerry Anderson's many puppet productions, in part because its story is both superhero-esquire and scarily timeless. Envisioned as a Cold War fable and set in a world at war with a merciless enemy who views their cause as just because they are retaliating for an unprovoked attack, the story works even better in the post-9/11 era, where your next-door neighbor you've known for years suddenly and without warning turns into a suicide bomber/hijacker/terrorist without you ever seeing the change in them or understanding why they picked your neighborhood/office/bus/train/etc.The premise is surprisingly dark for a kid's show: Vowing revenge for an unprovoked attack on their Martian complex by an overzealous team of outer space explorers led by Spectrum officer Captain Black (the heavily processed voice of Donald Gray), the Mysterons--an unseen race of creatures with the power to recreate a destroyed item through a process called "retrometabolism"--abduct Black and turn him into their slave, then ruthlessly kill two more Spectrum agents, Captain Brown and Captain Scarlet (the impressive Cary Grant impersonation belongs to British stage actor Francis Matthews). Brown is turned into a suicide bomber--he literally blows up and nearly kills World President James Younger (INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE's Paul Maxwell)--while Scarlet is turned into an ice-cold assassin who abducts President Younger. But in a strange turn of events, a fall from the London Car-Vu breaks the Mysterons' hold over Scarlet, and he becomes Spectrum's greatest asset, an "indestructible man" who can recover even from fatal wounds and who can take on suicidal missions against the seemingly unstoppable Mysterons.The outstanding cast, led by Matthews and UFO's Ed Bishop as his partner, Captain Blue, and the incredibly detailed sets and intricate storytelling truly elevate this series far above the average Saturday morning kid program, and even farther above Anderson's already lofty THUNDERBIRDS. This is stark, harsh, dark, and sometimes scary stuff. The good guys don't always win--in fact, sometimes they lose BIG. The Mysterons are seemingly unstoppable, not caring who gets hurt or how in their quest to destroy the Earth (again, the terrorism parallels are guaranteed to give you chills, especially when you watch an exploding Mysteron take out an entire building). And in practically every episode, Captain Scarlet dies. Really, he dies. He revives thanks to his retrometabolism, but he gets really, really bloodied and banged up in most episodes; parents, please think twice before letting really young children watch this show.The fact that this show is now on DVD makes it possible to introduce the fantastic intricacies of this now-defunct style of children's' programming to a new generation. If you've never seen this show and like your superheroes dark, moody, and mysterious, check this one out. You won't regret it.

Markhoni Anderson's follow up to 'Thunderbirds' is far more brutal and pessimistic about the future. Virtually every episode begins with the Mysterons murdering someone to 'reconstruct' them under their control. The puppets are technically superior to ThunderBirds, Stingray etc and the special effects by Derek Meddings and co are excellent. There are some nice touches-the multi-racial, equal opportunity organisation 'Spectrum', the puppet 'guest stars',particularly the Robert Mitchum lookalike, and the fact that Colonel White, the Spectrum commander and the Mysterons share the same voice (is this symbolically significant as opposed to Anderson economising on actors?).However, overall it lacked the charm and innocent appeal of its predecessors. For pedants like me there were also some holes in the basic concept. It was quietly forgotten that Captain Scarlet himself was not the original but a Mysteron reconstruction. Was there no danger of him being taken over again? Like the workings of the Star Trek transporter the exact nature of his indestructibility was left vague. In the opening credits he is shown to be bullet proof, but in the series itself he just seems to be able to recover quickly from catastrophic injuries. Anyway, as far as I recall none of the other Mysteron agents were indestructible so why was he? Anderson is reputedly remaking the series as of 2003 so perhaps we'll learn some answers. Hope it's better than some of his latter day shows like 'Terrahawks' and the abysmal 'Space Precinct'

michael autin And what puppetry mastery it is. The time it took to make this show holds up well over time. The storylines are challenging, though as I age the repetitive nature of most TV and movies are wearing thin on my opinions of new things. Old stuff always holds up well. UFO keeps the same spirit, Space 1999 is showing wear and tear...But Captain Scarlet presents an old idea in a new and fresh manner.

gazzo-2 ...No joke, as a 6 year old I watched this right after seeing Giant Robot, we were in heavon. Could NOT get enough, though those Mysterons and their 'Twin orbs of light' were enough to send us scurrying behind the couch...Haven't seen it since though.*** from memory.