Captain Scarlett treated children as adults who could handle difficult subject material & enjoy it. It didn’t dumb things down or avoid difficult subjects or truths. It was & remains brilliant. Not without faults but far better than much that had happened since.
I was about to say the same thing, we knew the difference between stories and reality and understood how to learn from stories and apply that knowledge to reality. For anyone who disagrees consider this - I am 50 and I have NEVER tried to blow up a rabbit with dynamite or dropped an anvil on a roadrunner, we always knew the difference between reality and fantasy.
@@carlchapman4053I watched Captain Scarlet etc in the 60’s and never felt the need to do any of those things either 😂. What young people today always forget/ignore is that it was only twenty years after WW2 and adults and kids alike had seen much worse than a bit of fake blood on a puppet. I’m not saying they were hardened to violence, just that they could tell the difference between real and make believe
Us kids were fairly advanced viewers back in the day. Nothing shocked us. We grew up on cowboys and indian movies, war movies and monster movies. Captain Scarlet we ate for breakfast.
I never got into Thunderbirds myself, but the dark tone of Captain Scarlet, UFO and the first season of Space: 1999 were right up my street - definitely peak Gerry Anderson in my books.
As a kid I thoroughly enjoyed it. And the Angels were just great. It’s too dark for modern kids. Frankly, every kids show from the sixties and seventies would be too dark for modern kids. Bagpuss would probably give them nightmares.
Have to disagree about today's kids being less able to handle dark themes. What with the Internet they have far more access to information than we ever could back in the 60s and 70s.
@@colinstock325 very true your comment about Bagpuss, I showed my grown up and teenage children Hartley hare from Pitkins last year and they described him as scary roadkill, and was surprised our generation grew up as normal kids watching such weird programs.
Dear Retro, Another more advanced element of Capt. Scarlet was that this was one of the first children's series where occasionally the bad guys won. Frank.
@@johnridout6540 Dear John, I was referring to the Mysterons, but it could be argued that since the Zero X crew fired the first shots we were in the wrong. It's been a long time since I watched episode 1, but I thought the Mysterons mentioned having observed earth for a while. If that's the case, I wondered why they never attempted to alert the Earth to their presence. Frank.
@@johnridout6540 Dear John, I often wondered that the reason we have had no visits or contacts from aliens was due to them picking up our tv and radio transmissions. Frank.
Not many realize that Gerry Anderson was a futuristic visionary, the complex, very detailed sets and the script were revolutionary back in the 60's when the series came out. The imagination and creative minds of all involved along with the special effects and the orchestrated musical score, brought this series to life. While there was a space race the world was involved in, that set the tone for this series, the wonder of what existed in outer space. Here in the U.S, there were issues in the broadcasting of this series due to the fact there was no cable TV, television signal reception was not always reliable and that sensor ship of violence was strict. To fully appreciate the series, it requires a DVD player and purchase of the complete series.
As a 9 year old after watching Capt Scarlet for several years nothing ever frightened me again, I loved the mysterons voice and the 2 moving circles, satanic?
My oldest son (now 28) loved the show when the BBC decided to rerun it when he was little, he had all the toys and watched the videos all the time. When asked by an elderly relative why he loved the show so much he replied “ I like Captain Scarlet because there’s no killing in Thunderbirds and it’s boring” not the answer our relative was expecting 😂
As a bloke born in 1958 I'll give you some cultural context. Got to school in 1963 (April birthday so only 1 term only in Reception not like today). First thing I was asked by other boys was "What did your dad do in the war?" [WWII of course] and first game at playtime was being a Spitfire! Violent content was perfectly normal; we watched war films every weekend on TV and Doctor Who became a cult immediately the Daleks started gunning everyone down . After Thunderbirds (which was great, but where every episode had a happy ending) Captain Scarlet was a revelation. Suddenly we saw that every so often among the heroic victories was a shocking defeat. We were totally gripped and I was very disappointed when it was cancelled. It did have major flaws however. Leaving aside the issue that Spectrum is weirdly secret yet overtly military, the essential problem with the format was that, unlike Thunderbirds, where the crisis is often an isolated vehicle/location, or we are told there has been an complete evacuation, the world of Captain Scarlet is strangely empty. Roads are deserted, cities don't bustle, extras are thin on the ground. A modern version could cure this easily with CGI and a budget, but if I were rebooting I'd be tempted to either do a bit of a Battlestar Galactica and remove much of the population in an early Mysteron counterstrike, or humanity being a relatively few survivors having endured the climate apocalypse. This would raise the ante (humanity's survival), make an empty, decaying world part of the creepiness, explain why Spectrum (it's a bit authoritarian) has got such a grip on the world and why having most of their resources kept hidden makes sense. So, what about that?
@@minicle426 Similar scenario, but they never really established the exact nature of the threat to my satisfaction (were they similar humanoids or time travelers?). Some great stuff however. More contemporary than CS I think.
@@derekp2674 Yes, UFO was very much a reworking of CAPTAIN SCARLET as many elements were recycled from that. Consider the following: Ed Bishop with a blond wig as though he was playing a live action version of Captain Blue as the SHADO Moonbase Women were the equivalents to the Angel Interceptor pilots: the Moon Hopper from the CS episodes LUNARVILLE 7 and CRATER 101 turned up on UFO: the Aliens had the capabilities to inherit their intelligence into the minds of humans, like what the Mysterons did to Captain Black: and in both series, the extraterrestrial antagonists mostly defeated SPECTRUM and SHADO respectively.
In the last 30 years have been crushed by a forklift truck and have had 6 vertebrae broken in my neck when a 500kg steel structure fell off a truck onto me and survived. That's why I use that name.😂
Kids back then seemed to be made of sterner stuff than many appear to be nowadays. Doctor Who in the 60s and 70s (up to the end of the Philip Hinchcliffe era) had some pretty challenging moments, and there were many others in that same vein, such as The Owl Service (1969), The Changes (1975), Children Of The Stones (1977) etc. Even the likes of Catweazle and The Tomorrow People had some element of weirdness and danger.
A CGI show does not has the magic, reality and story telling of the original. They are fabulous even today. Recently met one of the team who are creating new stories using original techniques - the creativity is amazing.
Agreed. There needs to be physical action, The _Thunderbirds Are Go_ series from 2015-20 used model sets and CG'd the characters, which I think works better than pure CG
The CGI may look outdated now, but the stories and the action are spot on and why shouldn't they be? The series was produced by Gerry Anderson himself - he even made it in HD before it went mainstream, in an attempt to future-proof it a bit. Such a shame it never caught on - I always wanted a Rhino (new SPV) as a toy lol. And an updated Angel Interceptor. Suspend your disbelief and give it another go - there are some pretty deep episodes in there.
@@timothybarnett1006 There's plenty of action in the CGI version, though - they used motion capture to get realistic body movements. You hardly ever saw anyone's legs in the original, because they could never get a convincing gait out of a string puppet.
@@wowbaggertheinfinitelyprol6262 The original was awesome. I watched the more recent CGI remakes - they just did not have the same level of engagement.
Outstanding programme, I made a Cap Scarlet fancy dress costume, it took bloody ages, but it was outstanding, I even spray painted some wellies red. I wish I knew what happened to it.
And don't forget the brilliant special effects for Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet were down to Derek Meddings who went on to do the special effects for several James Bond films. I'm old enough to remember seeing Fireball XL5 and Stingray first time around, Gerry Anderson was a genius.
The makers of Captain Scarlet (and also The Thunderbirds) were able to show fear and tension, which really did lift the stories and take us with them. They were just superb entertainment and still watchable 50 years later.
Speaking as an American kid when the show was first broadcast here in the U.S., I loved the show. It was definitely more "adult" than Thunderbirds and any previous Anderson shows, but it was puppets and sci-fi and adventure... and I still loved it. Remember, this was all around the time The Invaders and U.F.O. were on and also along similar lines to Captain Scarlet, so I was into those shows, too. I ate it all up. 😄
Speaking of THE INVADERS: after the series was cancelled, Roy Thinnes and his real life wife Lynn Loring flew to England in the summer of 1968 to star in the live action Gerry and Sylvia Anderson film JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN (alternative title: DOPPELGÄNGER). Do you remember that one? It was UFO’s cinematic predecessor. Many of the supporting cast in small roles were in the series, and some of Barry Gray’s music score, props, spacesuits, futuristic cars and the PHOENIX Rocket launch sequence was featured in one episode: THE MAN WHO NEVER CAME BACK.
@@MarkFoster321789 - Yes, I certainly do remember JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN. I remember seeing it when it first aired here on TV. Made a fan out of me. It did have a distinct Gerry Anderson feel to it. Ya know, with his Supermarionation shows and their characters getting more and more realistic-looking and less and less cartoony, it seemed a natural progression for Anderson to make the leap to actual flesh-and-blood actors.
Back in the early 80s a workmate brought an ex police Austin Allegro , it was fitted with a PA system and a spotlight , after finishing a late shift he would shine the spotlight on people leaving work and play the " This is the Voice of the Mysterons " tape over the PA .
I loved Captain Scarlet. The beautiful colours, the genuinely scary atmosphere - and the fact that they are obviously puppets doesn't really matter when you're a kid, which is strange considering how slow it makes the action. The Andersons got a lot out of very little, really.
I am now 65 and was just 8 when I first saw Captain Scarlet. My 3 channel black and white world was one where I was exposed to all kinds of televisual mayhem. Westerns were very popular at the time and the body count in those shows had a tendency to be high. 1967 was only 22 years after WW2 ended so the channels were also full of war films. It was not unusual for me to witness over the weekend torpedoed Royal Navy vessels, the carnage of Dunkirk or D Day and RAF action against Ruhr dams. And I soaked it in and loved it. There was no critical analysis on my part. It was just action packed telly. So Scarlet held no horrors or fears for me. By the time UFO came round in 1970 my critical awareness was no more honed than earlier and that show, which really should have gone out in an adult slot, was just as entertaining if not more so. I mean, was 1980 really going to be this futuristic? Tragically not as it turned out.
Couple of weeks ago at work cleaner left his floor cleaning machine running on the spot. It has two 10" maybe 12" diameter brushes and when he finally got it moving again I looked down, pointed at two very clean circles and said Mysterons. Sad to report he didn't get it. Feeling old now.
I made Tracy Island from paper mashing 40 years ago for my boy,,it had the swimming pool and everything I played with it more than him,, Thank you blue peter
Would love to see Captain Scarlet made in to a film. I watched it in the 1970's a a young kid and thought they were real people as they didn't look like the obvious puppets I'd seen in Thunderbirds and Stingray. It was more adult themed and scary, but I loved it. Then in the early 1990's i introduced my niece to it as they re-ran it on BBC2 on a Friday. I personally think Tom Hardy would fit well as the Titular character of Captain Scarlet. But that's just me. I've said many times on TH-cam that Captain Scarlet needs to be brought to the big screen,just not as a kids film. It needs to be as dark as the tv series.
Must have been kids who watched the later re-runs! 😉 Mind you Sapphire and Steel had its moments, and as for Children of the Stones well that would have really freaked them out! 🤣
Kids love pretty much what adults love, yes they like to be entertained, but they also like a bit of grit and realism to their fantasy/fiction, that's why the later Harry Potter books and films and Game of Thrones and the Witcher are so popular. I'd love to see a Captain Scarlet re-boot with modern 3d animation or even live action with special effects.
I'm amazed no one has made a live action movie of Scarlet. Great action premise, massively suitable to a toy line and the whole rainbow spectrum is very easily flipped into a DEI friendly point scorer. It's still has some brand recognition thanks to the animated show and even the potential for a shared universe. Imagine Cloudbase damaged by the mysteron's and having to be bailed out by Thunderbirds.
Captain Scarlet was the only series from the Gerry Anderson stable where the puppet's heads were in scale with their bodies. This added to the 'realism' and reinforced the gravity of the show. Grew up on it in the late 60's/early 70's when kids were apparently much smarter than kids today and could handle nuance and character development.
@jamesrowden303To be fair. Frakes isn't entirely at fault here. Much of the problems with the movie were down to executive meddling. He just did the best with what he was given.
As a kid Captain Scarlet was my go to program, there was even a club through one of the magazines at the time, (think it was Speed and Power but please don’t quote me) I had all the vehicles from the show including the Angel interceptor and of course an 8 yo crush on destiny angel…
Captain Scarlet. Showing a black woman flying a fighter plane on sixties television. Eat your heart out, LT Uhura. Edit: Certain 'idiots' apparently missed the joke, that Melody Angel had a far cooler job, rather than what show predates what... 🙄
Yes, he lasted a lot longer than poor Captain Indigo, who got bumped off in one episode I saw recently, it's currently on TPTV in the UK, Freeview Channel 82, Saturdays, 3 pm.. Unfortunately Indigo wasn't indestructible, like Captain Scarlet, so we never saw him again. Other colours which featured occasionally were Captains Magenta and Ochre, I think also there was a Captain Grey (not sure about that one), along with the more regular members, Colonel White, Lieutenant Green and Captains Scarlet, Blue and Black
Every car I ever purchased was influenced by Gerry Anderson’s production team’s vehicles. My Mazda MX-3 was inspired by the UFO TV series. I actually had and still have a “Nehru” jacket I wore when driving the car - and with the UFO theme blaring out of the boombox in the boot…!!! 😅 My existing car has electric propulsion, is red in colour and has an aerodynamic looking front reminiscent of a Red Spectrum Patrol Car. Thank you Mr Anderson! 😊
The comic 2000AD came out in 1977, I was 9 when it came out. These were the following strips: A trigger happy fascist future cop. Dinosaurs that ate time travelling ranchers. A Russian invasion of the UK in the near future where the resistance included a lorry driver who shot the invaders mercilessly with a pump action shotgun. A secret agent who had been enhanced to have the power of 50 men and threw foreign enemies out of aeroplanes and killed people with karate chops. A future death sport where the teams flew around on jetpacks trying to beat each other up. A revived 1950s comic strip where the hero was transformed from gentlemanly space pilot into an antihero who battled monstrous looking biological spaceships and astronauts got crushed to a dot on high gravity planets. All of this very graphic and very violent. How it got past the censors, I have no idea but us kids love it!
@@trevormillar1576 yeh, it got banned, didn't it. Wasn't that into it, tbh. Thought 2000AD was way better but I've always loved scifi. Pat Mills, reckons that's why 2000AD flew under the radar and Action didn't.
I grew up with Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds, Joe 90, Sting Ray. Until I saw your TH-cam video, I never thought about just how violent they were. Anyway fond memories of them.
Nice to see someone from your generation giving this show the credit it deserves. I watched CS in 1967 at the age of 4 and was obsessed. It was moody, sinister even a bit psychedelic, especially the music and sound design. When I was growing up I hated kids' shows that had kids in, and the great thing about the Gerry Anderson shows is they didn't infantilise everything. Also they often featured non-white people like me in heroic positions in stark contrast to rest of 60's/70's UK TV.
Kid's shows were different then. I watched Johnny Quest as a kid and never thought twice about it. Watching it as an adult, I was shocked by how much murder and dark content there was. Honestly, the fact that it didn't register with my child-brain tells me that adults overthink these things, and assume that any violent content will spawn mass-murderers by the ton. Watching today's banal cartoons is more likely to generate homicidal maniacs. I'll have to check out Captain Scarlet - maybe he's the redemption story the world needs today... :)
I LOVE captain Scarlet, both original puppet series and modern CGI version. both scared the life out of me both as a kid in the 1970's, and with the even darker modern series. I have the original late 1960' Captain Scarlet Annuals, and was always puzzled by who the officer was in off-white in the group photo around Colonel White's command chair, as I thought only Col. White wore white, only to later find out is was Doctor Fawn, a less well known character, later replaced by Doctor Gold in the later CGI series. As kids in the late 1960's and early 1970's, we had so many TV series that today would have to be toned down or have trigger warnings pasted all over the start, as they were extremely violent, dark, and had body counts that most war movies would struggle to keep up with today. I never really liked Captain Blue for some reason, but always wanted to see more of the other Captains (Captain Indigo was hardly ever mentioned, let alone seen in the puppet version, and only once in the CGI series), especially Captain Ochre, as his biography in the comic book Annual was pretty dynamic. In the comic book annual they also introduced Major Emerald, Lieutenants Gold, Sepia and Brass, and showed the Spectrum security guards too. TV 21 comic also introduced other Captains from different areas of the UK, created for the fans, which was wonderful at the time, as most of us kids wanted our own Spectrum Agent to play in our games. Oddly enough, Captain Scarlet was the only Anderson Productions puppet series to have puppet heads that were scaled to the right size for the bodies, according to Gerry Anderson's autobiography. Still love to watch both versions of this, even at my age of almost 60 years, and it still gets me excited to this day. I love how they now have female Spectrum Agents in the CGI series, with Captain Ochre now being an Irish woman, but at least they kept the Angels in character. Thanks for posting this video, as it shows so much honesty about the classic puppet show, and the difference in the content from way back then to what kids see today.
I never noticed but yong people nowadays think bunny rabbits in fluffy slippers are seen as dark and menacing. Ironically we have real dark and dangerous people living amongst us. .
I’m 55 and watched the episodes back in the 70s and loved it! The “darkness” you spoke about didn’t come through when I was a kid! To be fair I was amazed by the scenery and the story lines were secondary to it all.
I watched the show on its original airing, even had a Spectrum badge courtesy of the comic TV21, and always considered it the best of Anderson’s puppet shows.
my favourite programme as a child, when my son was about 6 I showed him an episode and he cried and hid behind the sofa when he heard the mysterons voices. Different generation I guess
I had only vague memories of a few of the original episodes, but I remember one of the CGI episodes I watched randomly a few years ago. In that episode Black was chasing Scarlet to kill him and chased him into an underground cave system (I think). There was a cave in or something and they were cut off from their reinforcements. The interesting thing was, the control signal the Mysterons were constantly using to control Black was also cut off and he reverted back to the heroic best friend of Scarlet. They worked together and talked about old times, knowing full well that if Scarlet escaped then Black would revert to being mind controlled. They tried to prevent this but it happened anyway. The pathos of Black was brilliantly done, showing how he was not a villain but a victim, and how he wanted to die rather than be used as a weapon again, but he willingly risked it to save his friend's life.
Used to watch this show loads as a kid in the 90s, I look back now and see how violent some of the deaths are and how the show itself is quite dark and suspenseful at times, especially during the close-up shots where a real hand is used to fire a gun etc.
Still watch Captain Scarlet to this day. In fact, I just finished rewatching the original series and the New Captain Scarlet CGI version. Still awesome after all of these years. Like some others here, I would like a live action movie, but I am fearful it will not live up to expectations.
I’m a 2000s kid, and i watched Captain Scarlet (along with Thunderbirds and Stingray) earlier this year with my Mum - It’s bloody awesome. I love the explosions and special effects, they’re incredible. Scarlet is probably my favourite mainly because i watched it first.
I was 7 years old when Captain Scarlet came on Saturday morning after Scooby-Doo. I loved it and especially the beginning with the brick alleyway gunfight that looked like the alleyway view from my room in our inner city Harlem apartment.
This is the first time I've seen your channel and I really liked this video introduction to Captain Scarlet. I'm a child of the 80's so things like Thunderbirds, this and Terrahawks were often on between 5-6 in the evening and sometimes at weekends. It was treated as a separate thing from the regular children's programming on BBC and ITV. The live-action UFO series would make an amazing accompaniment to this video.
Captain Scarlett treated children as adults who could handle difficult subject material & enjoy it. It didn’t dumb things down or avoid difficult subjects or truths. It was & remains brilliant. Not without faults but far better than much that had happened since.
I was about to say the same thing, we knew the difference between stories and reality and understood how to learn from stories and apply that knowledge to reality. For anyone who disagrees consider this - I am 50 and I have NEVER tried to blow up a rabbit with dynamite or dropped an anvil on a roadrunner, we always knew the difference between reality and fantasy.
@@carlchapman4053I watched Captain Scarlet etc in the 60’s and never felt the need to do any of those things either 😂. What young people today always forget/ignore is that it was only twenty years after WW2 and adults and kids alike had seen much worse than a bit of fake blood on a puppet. I’m not saying they were hardened to violence, just that they could tell the difference between real and make believe
Ditto
" its a puppet " as Brian Donnelly would say many years later, although, Dr Who was different, you were allowed to be scared by that 😂
Kids are treated as snowflakes. Fine, most people go , Essential,' but the trouble is:
One day they have to meet the real world.
Captain Scarlet had a body count that would have shocked Quentin Tarantino!
Thats a good one, Trevor. 🤣
Lol. What about a capt S directed film by Tarantino?
What, everyone in dark glassrs, pop-cultural in-jokes proliferating, a torrent of f-words, and buckets of stage blood? Hmmmm, perhaps.....
Its amasing the kids from the 60's survived, violent TV, allowed to go outside and fall over.
And we weren't' drunk at all.
Amasing?
Us kids were fairly advanced viewers back in the day. Nothing shocked us. We grew up on cowboys and indian movies, war movies and monster movies. Captain Scarlet we ate for breakfast.
20 years after WW2. nothing shocked us!
@@richardw64 Absolutely, todays sanitised TV has lost some of the adventure and peril 🙂
@leeeastwood6368 This was also during the Cold War as well.
Yes, reboot
Don't forget, we also had the Banana Splits
Watched all these in the 60's as a kid. Loved every minute!
I loved Capt Scarlet as a kiddy and still have my battered fifty-something-year-old Dinky 101 SPV on the shelf behind me.
@@tonybmw5785 yep got a Spectrum Patrol Car, Security Car and SPV...
@@andrewpotter5956 I've still got my FAB1 and TB2 (a blue one) which are as treasured as the SPV.
.
@@tonybmw5785 got FAB 1,with figures and TB2with pod...,
Several Thunderbirds Rescue craft on my shelf - especially several Thunderbird 2’s. Also have a Spectrum SPV somewhere still in good condition! 😊
The SPV was the schizz. That pop out side door, so cool.
I never got into Thunderbirds myself, but the dark tone of Captain Scarlet, UFO and the first season of Space: 1999 were right up my street - definitely peak Gerry Anderson in my books.
I agree! UFO has some genuinely creepy moments. Saturday morning chills.
Anybody remember supercar fireballxl5, or even stingray,anyone.
Yes, and also Four Feather Falls
And secret service , Joe 90… also UFO.. that was Anderson 👍
And one of the strangest; The Investigators.
Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Roberta Leigh’s rival Space Patrol, are all being shown again on Talking Pictures TV.
"ON OUR WAY 'OME,"
Captain scarlet was great ! The “ mysterones” scared the shit outta me, when I was 10
As a kid I thoroughly enjoyed it. And the Angels were just great. It’s too dark for modern kids. Frankly, every kids show from the sixties and seventies would be too dark for modern kids. Bagpuss would probably give them nightmares.
Imagine snowflak3 kids of today watching the intro and theme to the Tomorrow People. They would lose their sh1t.
Catweazle was reshown a couple years ago on the Talking Pictures channel it came with a warning 'unsuitable for younger children'
Noseybonk...
Have to disagree about today's kids being less able to handle dark themes. What with the Internet they have far more access to information than we ever could back in the 60s and 70s.
@@colinstock325 very true your comment about Bagpuss, I showed my grown up and teenage children Hartley hare from Pitkins last year and they described him as scary roadkill, and was surprised our generation grew up as normal kids watching such weird programs.
Dear Retro,
Another more advanced element of Capt. Scarlet was that this was one of the first children's series where occasionally the bad guys won.
Frank.
Got to give Spectrum their day too.
When you say the "bad guys", which side do you mean?
@@johnridout6540
Dear John,
I was referring to the Mysterons, but it could be argued that since the Zero X crew fired the first shots we were in the wrong.
It's been a long time since I watched episode 1, but I thought the Mysterons mentioned having observed earth for a while. If that's the case, I wondered why they never attempted to alert the Earth to their presence.
Frank.
@@frankberry6220 Dear Frank,
Having observed the Earth myself, I think they made the obvious choice. ;)
@@johnridout6540
Dear John,
I often wondered that the reason we have had no visits or contacts from aliens was due to them picking up our tv and radio transmissions.
Frank.
I really liked Captain Scarlet. I remember at school someone said that I looked a bit like him, I just thought YES!!!
he was based on roger moore (the face) and cary grant (the voice).
Captain Black was the guy they sent round to break your legs if you failed to pay the firm.
More like your neck, the great thing is, the firn would resurect you and make you pay
Nowadays he manages Arsenal.
I saw this series the first time around and I LOVED it. Still have great memories of ALL Gerry Anderson productions
Not many realize that Gerry Anderson was a futuristic visionary, the complex, very detailed sets and the script were revolutionary back in the 60's when the series came out. The imagination and creative minds of all involved along with the special effects and the orchestrated musical score, brought this series to life. While there was a space race the world was involved in, that set the tone for this series, the wonder of what existed in outer space. Here in the U.S, there were issues in the broadcasting of this series due to the fact there was no cable TV, television signal reception was not always reliable and that sensor ship of violence was strict. To fully appreciate the series, it requires a DVD player and purchase of the complete series.
The end credits of Captain Scarlet were memorable and how they got away with them in the 60s I dont know, but back as a kid I loved this show .
I grew up in Englandland in the 70's and 80's and LOVED it when Cpt Scarlet was re run. At school I always played Cpt Black.
lol its edited and still it has englandland
@@johnjames4834 Yes I'm an proud Enlglandlander 😁
As a 9 year old after watching Capt Scarlet for several years nothing ever frightened me again, I loved the mysterons voice and the 2 moving circles, satanic?
see my post further up - the mysterons seem to allude to hindus (and spectrum to christians).
My oldest son (now 28) loved the show when the BBC decided to rerun it when he was little, he had all the toys and watched the videos all the time. When asked by an elderly relative why he loved the show so much he replied “ I like Captain Scarlet because there’s no killing in Thunderbirds and it’s boring” not the answer our relative was expecting 😂
no killing but still getting shot for filming the craft
As a bloke born in 1958 I'll give you some cultural context.
Got to school in 1963 (April birthday so only 1 term only in Reception not like today). First thing I was asked by other boys was "What did your dad do in the war?" [WWII of course] and first game at playtime was being a Spitfire!
Violent content was perfectly normal; we watched war films every weekend on TV and Doctor Who became a cult immediately the Daleks started gunning everyone down . After Thunderbirds (which was great, but where every episode had a happy ending) Captain Scarlet was a revelation. Suddenly we saw that every so often among the heroic victories was a shocking defeat. We were totally gripped and I was very disappointed when it was cancelled.
It did have major flaws however. Leaving aside the issue that Spectrum is weirdly secret yet overtly military, the essential problem with the format was that, unlike Thunderbirds, where the crisis is often an isolated vehicle/location, or we are told there has been an complete evacuation, the world of Captain Scarlet is strangely empty. Roads are deserted, cities don't bustle, extras are thin on the ground.
A modern version could cure this easily with CGI and a budget, but if I were rebooting I'd be tempted to either do a bit of a Battlestar Galactica and remove much of the population in an early Mysteron counterstrike, or humanity being a relatively few survivors having endured the climate apocalypse.
This would raise the ante (humanity's survival), make an empty, decaying world part of the creepiness, explain why Spectrum (it's a bit authoritarian) has got such a grip on the world and why having most of their resources kept hidden makes sense.
So, what about that?
That sounds a bit Evangelion. Which to look at did have a strong Gerry Anderson influence.
I think I'd prefer something more in line with UFO. Which was something of a spiritual successor to Captain Scarlet.
@@minicle426 Similar scenario, but they never really established the exact nature of the threat to my satisfaction (were they similar humanoids or time travelers?). Some great stuff however. More contemporary than CS I think.
My French teacher, in the Comprehensive, had fought at the Somme. Two of my instructors in college were WW2 Aircrew, one was a Hurricane pilot.
Alan, since you have written the treatment, you should go ahead with writing the Pilot!
None of us watching thought this deeply about the show, we just loved it!
The intro of Captain Black every episode in the credits was legit scary!
Complete turnaround for the Anderson's. Following a show about saving lives, with one where at least one character dies every episode.
I loved Captain Scarlet. I would love a live action film of it!
Wasn't UFO almost that?
If its like the Thunderbirds movie . No Thanks that was💩
@@derekp2674
Yes, UFO was very much a reworking of CAPTAIN SCARLET as many elements were recycled from that. Consider the following:
Ed Bishop with a blond wig as though he was playing a live action version of Captain Blue as the SHADO Moonbase Women were the equivalents to the Angel Interceptor pilots: the Moon Hopper from the CS episodes LUNARVILLE 7 and CRATER 101 turned up on UFO: the Aliens had the capabilities to inherit their intelligence into the minds of humans, like what the Mysterons did to Captain Black: and in both series, the extraterrestrial antagonists mostly defeated SPECTRUM and SHADO respectively.
It would be butchered if made today.
I always thought Charlie Sheen would have made a great live action Captain Scarlet (before he went weird, that is).
I loved Thunderbirds as a kid but when Captain Scarlet came out that was my new no. 1 (hence the mysteron logo as my thumbnail! )
Stingray without Atlantis and and a woman from Atlantis
In the last 30 years have been crushed by a forklift truck and have had 6 vertebrae broken in my neck when a 500kg steel structure fell off a truck onto me and survived. That's why I use that name.😂
Be careful here, Earthman. LOL.
Me too.. absolutely identical, madman.
Thunderbirds was the first TV show to depict:
A nuclear meltdown,
An aircraft hijacking!
And Captain Scarlet opening with a $uicide bomber! was that a 'first' as well?
And lady Penelope was a babe so that helped.
Kids back then seemed to be made of sterner stuff than many appear to be nowadays. Doctor Who in the 60s and 70s (up to the end of the Philip Hinchcliffe era) had some pretty challenging moments, and there were many others in that same vein, such as The Owl Service (1969), The Changes (1975), Children Of The Stones (1977) etc. Even the likes of Catweazle and The Tomorrow People had some element of weirdness and danger.
Children of the Stones was a little scary especially the title music - all that whispering and shrieking 😂
@@38Munchie I'll take that over the likes of Gravity falls anyway.
Always loved the intro and music to Captain Scarlet
A CGI show does not has the magic, reality and story telling of the original. They are fabulous even today. Recently met one of the team who are creating new stories using original techniques - the creativity is amazing.
Agreed. There needs to be physical action, The _Thunderbirds Are Go_ series from 2015-20 used model sets and CG'd the characters, which I think works better than pure CG
I agree. I actually found the CGI less convincing than Supermarionation!
The CGI may look outdated now, but the stories and the action are spot on and why shouldn't they be? The series was produced by Gerry Anderson himself - he even made it in HD before it went mainstream, in an attempt to future-proof it a bit. Such a shame it never caught on - I always wanted a Rhino (new SPV) as a toy lol. And an updated Angel Interceptor.
Suspend your disbelief and give it another go - there are some pretty deep episodes in there.
@@timothybarnett1006 There's plenty of action in the CGI version, though - they used motion capture to get realistic body movements. You hardly ever saw anyone's legs in the original, because they could never get a convincing gait out of a string puppet.
@@wowbaggertheinfinitelyprol6262 The original was awesome. I watched the more recent CGI remakes - they just did not have the same level of engagement.
Outstanding programme, I made a Cap Scarlet fancy dress costume, it took bloody ages, but it was outstanding, I even spray painted some wellies red. I wish I knew what happened to it.
And don't forget the brilliant special effects for Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet were down to Derek Meddings who went on to do the special effects for several James Bond films. I'm old enough to remember seeing Fireball XL5 and Stingray first time around, Gerry Anderson was a genius.
The makers of Captain Scarlet (and also The Thunderbirds) were able to show fear and tension, which really did lift the stories and take us with them.
They were just superb entertainment and still watchable 50 years later.
Speaking as an American kid when the show was first broadcast here in the U.S., I loved the show. It was definitely more "adult" than Thunderbirds and any previous Anderson shows, but it was puppets and sci-fi and adventure... and I still loved it. Remember, this was all around the time The Invaders and U.F.O. were on and also along similar lines to Captain Scarlet, so I was into those shows, too. I ate it all up. 😄
Speaking of THE INVADERS: after the series was cancelled, Roy Thinnes and his real life wife Lynn Loring flew to England in the summer of 1968 to star in the live action Gerry and Sylvia Anderson film JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN (alternative title: DOPPELGÄNGER).
Do you remember that one? It was UFO’s cinematic predecessor. Many of the supporting cast in small roles were in the series, and some of Barry Gray’s music score, props, spacesuits, futuristic cars and the PHOENIX Rocket launch sequence was featured in one episode: THE MAN WHO NEVER CAME BACK.
@@MarkFoster321789 - Yes, I certainly do remember JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN. I remember seeing it when it first aired here on TV. Made a fan out of me. It did have a distinct Gerry Anderson feel to it. Ya know, with his Supermarionation shows and their characters getting more and more realistic-looking and less and less cartoony, it seemed a natural progression for Anderson to make the leap to actual flesh-and-blood actors.
Back in the early 80s a workmate brought an ex police Austin Allegro , it was fitted with a PA system and a spotlight , after finishing a late shift he would shine the spotlight on people leaving work and play the " This is the Voice of the Mysterons " tape over the PA .
Bwahahahahaha….!!! Epic! 😅
I bet that scared the shit out of anyone who hadn't watched the TV series...
I loved Captain Scarlet. The beautiful colours, the genuinely scary atmosphere - and the fact that they are obviously puppets doesn't really matter when you're a kid, which is strange considering how slow it makes the action.
The Andersons got a lot out of very little, really.
In an era of Captain Pugwash all of the Gerry Anderson shows were just good clean fun
I am now 65 and was just 8 when I first saw Captain Scarlet. My 3 channel black and white world was one where I was exposed to all kinds of televisual mayhem. Westerns were very popular at the time and the body count in those shows had a tendency to be high. 1967 was only 22 years after WW2 ended so the channels were also full of war films. It was not unusual for me to witness over the weekend torpedoed Royal Navy vessels, the carnage of Dunkirk or D Day and RAF action against Ruhr dams. And I soaked it in and loved it. There was no critical analysis on my part. It was just action packed telly. So Scarlet held no horrors or fears for me. By the time UFO came round in 1970 my critical awareness was no more honed than earlier and that show, which really should have gone out in an adult slot, was just as entertaining if not more so. I mean, was 1980 really going to be this futuristic? Tragically not as it turned out.
I always preferred Captain Scarlet to The Thunderbirds. Loved the theme tune. 👍🏻😎❤️
Couple of weeks ago at work cleaner left his floor cleaning machine running on the spot. It has two 10" maybe 12" diameter brushes and when he finally got it moving again I looked down, pointed at two very clean circles and said Mysterons. Sad to report he didn't get it. Feeling old now.
I remember this, Thunderbirds and Terrahawks as my 80s go to shows.
Loved Captain Scarlet and I'm now in my 60's, Still got my Dinky SPV 👍
I made Tracy Island from paper mashing 40 years ago for my boy,,it had the swimming pool and everything
I played with it more than him,,
Thank you blue peter
As a small boy I found the ‘Angels’ particularly alluring 😮
Would love to see Captain Scarlet made in to a film. I watched it in the 1970's a a young kid and thought they were real people as they didn't look like the obvious puppets I'd seen in Thunderbirds and Stingray. It was more adult themed and scary, but I loved it. Then in the early 1990's i introduced my niece to it as they re-ran it on BBC2 on a Friday.
I personally think Tom Hardy would fit well as the Titular character of Captain Scarlet. But that's just me.
I've said many times on TH-cam that Captain Scarlet needs to be brought to the big screen,just not as a kids film. It needs to be as dark as the tv series.
I was once caught by the mysterons. Brought tears to my eyes.
Remember watching this as a kid back in the day (I’m 62 now!) Cant say I was ever frighted or shocked by any of this? Quite surprised some kids were
Must have been kids who watched the later re-runs! 😉
Mind you Sapphire and Steel had its moments, and as for Children of the Stones well that would have really freaked them out! 🤣
Captain Scarlet was my hero when I was young, back in 1967. Also loved all the female pilots, the Angels. SIG...
👍
Kids love pretty much what adults love, yes they like to be entertained, but they also like a bit of grit and realism to their fantasy/fiction, that's why the later Harry Potter books and films and Game of Thrones and the Witcher are so popular. I'd love to see a Captain Scarlet re-boot with modern 3d animation or even live action with special effects.
I'm amazed no one has made a live action movie of Scarlet. Great action premise, massively suitable to a toy line and the whole rainbow spectrum is very easily flipped into a DEI friendly point scorer. It's still has some brand recognition thanks to the animated show and even the potential for a shared universe. Imagine Cloudbase damaged by the mysteron's and having to be bailed out by Thunderbirds.
Been South African I got to see all the Gerry Anderson productions in Afrikaans and Zulu ❤
Captain Scarlet was the only series from the Gerry Anderson stable where the puppet's heads were in scale with their bodies. This added to the 'realism' and reinforced the gravity of the show. Grew up on it in the late 60's/early 70's when kids were apparently much smarter than kids today and could handle nuance and character development.
Not forgetting the sexy Angels aswell.
Harmony, Rhapsody, Melody and Destiny 😍
@@andrewmorgan1819 Angel Flight FTW!
Captain Scarlet was a great pundit on Match Of The Day.
Better than Jermaine Jenas? In all probability, the answer would be yes.
eric bischoff was better (as an alan hansen lookalike).
How has Captain Scarlett not made it to the cinema as a big budget live action film.
Well, look what happened when they tried that with Thunderbirds...
@jamesrowden303To be fair. Frakes isn't entirely at fault here. Much of the problems with the movie were down to executive meddling. He just did the best with what he was given.
As a kid Captain Scarlet was my go to program, there was even a club through one of the magazines at the time, (think it was Speed and Power but please don’t quote me) I had all the vehicles from the show including the Angel interceptor and of course an 8 yo crush on destiny angel…
Everybody had a crush on Destiny 😍
Captain Scarlet. Showing a black woman flying a fighter plane on sixties television.
Eat your heart out, LT Uhura.
Edit: Certain 'idiots' apparently missed the joke, that Melody Angel had a far cooler job, rather than what show predates what... 🙄
Like someone once said, Uhuru was just the receptionist.
@@BillSilver-kg8hs And that someone obviously never actually watched the original series.
Well we would have to understand both shows were produced at the same time.
Uhura was IN the 1960s.
Use to run home from school Monday - Friday to watch this. Never missed an episode. 😁
Captain Black was my favourite character! Loved his dark and sinister side, very intimidating.
Yes, he lasted a lot longer than poor Captain Indigo, who got bumped off in one episode I saw recently, it's currently on TPTV in the UK, Freeview Channel 82, Saturdays, 3 pm.. Unfortunately Indigo wasn't indestructible, like Captain Scarlet, so we never saw him again. Other colours which featured occasionally were Captains Magenta and Ochre, I think also there was a Captain Grey (not sure about that one), along with the more regular members, Colonel White, Lieutenant Green and Captains Scarlet, Blue and Black
Brilliant show, blew me away as a kid in the 1970s. I'd love to see a proper reboot of it
Anyone else try to make their own Thunderbird 2 ??!
Probably every single one of us who ever watched Thunderbirds as a kid.
@@Taladar2003mine never came out that great, but I tried I tried !! 😂
@@LeeWestwick no, but I had the Dinky toy but in blue, not green, lol
Zero X out of Lego.
Every car I ever purchased was influenced by Gerry Anderson’s production team’s vehicles. My Mazda MX-3 was inspired by the UFO TV series. I actually had and still have a “Nehru” jacket I wore when driving the car - and with the UFO theme blaring out of the boombox in the boot…!!! 😅
My existing car has electric propulsion, is red in colour and has an aerodynamic looking front reminiscent of a Red Spectrum Patrol Car.
Thank you Mr Anderson! 😊
The comic 2000AD came out in 1977, I was 9 when it came out. These were the following strips:
A trigger happy fascist future cop.
Dinosaurs that ate time travelling ranchers.
A Russian invasion of the UK in the near future where the resistance included a lorry driver who shot the invaders mercilessly with a pump action shotgun.
A secret agent who had been enhanced to have the power of 50 men and threw foreign enemies out of aeroplanes and killed people with karate chops.
A future death sport where the teams flew around on jetpacks trying to beat each other up.
A revived 1950s comic strip where the hero was transformed from gentlemanly space pilot into an antihero who battled monstrous looking biological spaceships and astronauts got crushed to a dot on high gravity planets.
All of this very graphic and very violent.
How it got past the censors, I have no idea but us kids love it!
You think that was violent?
Did you ever read "Action"?
They called it "The Seven-pence Nightmare"!
@@trevormillar1576 yeh, it got banned, didn't it. Wasn't that into it, tbh. Thought 2000AD was way better but I've always loved scifi. Pat Mills, reckons that's why 2000AD flew under the radar and Action didn't.
And of course we grew up on the war antics of our fathers with Commando magazine.
Loved that comic with Hookjaw etc.
Look at The Punisher comic in 1974.
I grew up with Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds, Joe 90, Sting Ray. Until I saw your TH-cam video, I never thought about just how violent they were. Anyway fond memories of them.
Nice to see someone from your generation giving this show the credit it deserves. I watched CS in 1967 at the age of 4 and was obsessed. It was moody, sinister even a bit psychedelic, especially the music and sound design. When I was growing up I hated kids' shows that had kids in, and the great thing about the Gerry Anderson shows is they didn't infantilise everything. Also they often featured non-white people like me in heroic positions in stark contrast to rest of 60's/70's UK TV.
Loved this show - would love to see it with live actors
Can't say I ever found anything jarring about Captain Scarlet at the time. What is jarring is the amazing prissiness of the 2020s.
Woke culture. Glad i grew up back then 😂
Fantastic!!!!
We should make a proper movie of captain scarlet!!!!!
Kids were built different in those days!
Captain Brown was the first ever suicide bomber on TV!
Kid's shows were different then. I watched Johnny Quest as a kid and never thought twice about it. Watching it as an adult, I was shocked by how much murder and dark content there was. Honestly, the fact that it didn't register with my child-brain tells me that adults overthink these things, and assume that any violent content will spawn mass-murderers by the ton. Watching today's banal cartoons is more likely to generate homicidal maniacs. I'll have to check out Captain Scarlet - maybe he's the redemption story the world needs today... :)
I grew up in the US in the 70s and I loved Captain Scarlet. My mom would watch it with me sometimes.
I LOVE captain Scarlet, both original puppet series and modern CGI version.
both scared the life out of me both as a kid in the 1970's, and with the even darker modern series.
I have the original late 1960' Captain Scarlet Annuals, and was always puzzled by who the officer was in off-white in the group photo around Colonel White's command chair, as I thought only Col. White wore white, only to later find out is was Doctor Fawn, a less well known character, later replaced by Doctor Gold in the later CGI series.
As kids in the late 1960's and early 1970's, we had so many TV series that today would have to be toned down or have trigger warnings pasted all over the start, as they were extremely violent, dark, and had body counts that most war movies would struggle to keep up with today.
I never really liked Captain Blue for some reason, but always wanted to see more of the other Captains (Captain Indigo was hardly ever mentioned, let alone seen in the puppet version, and only once in the CGI series), especially Captain Ochre, as his biography in the comic book Annual was pretty dynamic.
In the comic book annual they also introduced Major Emerald, Lieutenants Gold, Sepia and Brass, and showed the Spectrum security guards too.
TV 21 comic also introduced other Captains from different areas of the UK, created for the fans, which was wonderful at the time, as most of us kids wanted our own Spectrum Agent to play in our games.
Oddly enough, Captain Scarlet was the only Anderson Productions puppet series to have puppet heads that were scaled to the right size for the bodies, according to Gerry Anderson's autobiography.
Still love to watch both versions of this, even at my age of almost 60 years, and it still gets me excited to this day.
I love how they now have female Spectrum Agents in the CGI series, with Captain Ochre now being an Irish woman, but at least they kept the Angels in character.
Thanks for posting this video, as it shows so much honesty about the classic puppet show, and the difference in the content from way back then to what kids see today.
Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds and Star Trek is all mind control for our galactic future. NOTHING is random
Pre programming. Yep, Tavistock.
When kids were built not molly coddled
I never noticed but yong people nowadays think bunny rabbits in fluffy slippers are seen as dark and menacing. Ironically we have real dark and dangerous people living amongst us. .
Young people think Gravity Falls is dark and mature...
My favourite of Gerry Anderson’s wonderful work! Stingray and Thunderbirds are tied for second place. Love them both as well ❤
I’m 55 and watched the episodes back in the 70s and loved it! The “darkness” you spoke about didn’t come through when I was a kid! To be fair I was amazed by the scenery and the story lines were secondary to it all.
Brilliant show . Still my favourite along with UFO
Captain Scarlet is one of my favourite programs from when I was a child. I even have the end credits as my ringtone on my phone.
Captain Brown Bursting into flame and then exploding freaked me out as a kid. Lol! Still one of my favourite ever shows.
I watched the show on its original airing, even had a Spectrum badge courtesy of the comic TV21, and always considered it the best of Anderson’s puppet shows.
my favourite programme as a child, when my son was about 6 I showed him an episode and he cried and hid behind the sofa when he heard the mysterons voices. Different generation I guess
I hid behind the sofa when I first saw the darleks in doctor who😂
Wicked video, would love to see more about kooky old shows like this
It is amazing how life like Jimmy Carr was when he was younger.
😂😂😂😂
Learned to love this show on the old Sci-Fi channel.
Rushed home from school to watch this , loved it .
The mysterons terrified the f out of me as a child!
I had only vague memories of a few of the original episodes, but I remember one of the CGI episodes I watched randomly a few years ago. In that episode Black was chasing Scarlet to kill him and chased him into an underground cave system (I think). There was a cave in or something and they were cut off from their reinforcements. The interesting thing was, the control signal the Mysterons were constantly using to control Black was also cut off and he reverted back to the heroic best friend of Scarlet. They worked together and talked about old times, knowing full well that if Scarlet escaped then Black would revert to being mind controlled. They tried to prevent this but it happened anyway. The pathos of Black was brilliantly done, showing how he was not a villain but a victim, and how he wanted to die rather than be used as a weapon again, but he willingly risked it to save his friend's life.
Used to watch this show loads as a kid in the 90s, I look back now and see how violent some of the deaths are and how the show itself is quite dark and suspenseful at times, especially during the close-up shots where a real hand is used to fire a gun etc.
Captain Scarlet is my favourite childhood 'puppet' show. The 2005 version with CGI and no puppet strings, was crap!
When I was a kid, I loved watching repeats of Stingray. My brother was the Captain Scarlet fan, and my other brother enjoyed Thunderbirds.
I used to watch it when I was 8 years old. I didn’t understand what was going on, but it scared the crap out of me.
as a kid captain scarlet was my fav.
Still watch Captain Scarlet to this day. In fact, I just finished rewatching the original series and the New Captain Scarlet CGI version. Still awesome after all of these years. Like some others here, I would like a live action movie, but I am fearful it will not live up to expectations.
Loved both of these shows. Im 64 and have both of these on blue Ray. Often put them on and go back to being a little boy again!
I LOVED it in the Sixties and the reruns with my son in the 90’s! Clever and slightly dark folk the Andersons.
Great programme used to love watching this a kid, and later on got the DVD's too.
My all time favourite. Grew up with in in 1960s/70s
SIG
As a kid at the time watching this I loved it .
Kids these days eh ? 🤣
I’m a 2000s kid, and i watched Captain Scarlet (along with Thunderbirds and Stingray) earlier this year with my Mum - It’s bloody awesome. I love the explosions and special effects, they’re incredible. Scarlet is probably my favourite mainly because i watched it first.
I was 7 years old when Captain Scarlet came on Saturday morning after Scooby-Doo. I loved it and especially the beginning with the brick alleyway gunfight that looked like the alleyway view from my room in our inner city Harlem apartment.
I loved it. Probably my favourite TV show as a kid.
Loved my Airfix model of the Angel Fighter!
This is the first time I've seen your channel and I really liked this video introduction to Captain Scarlet. I'm a child of the 80's so things like Thunderbirds, this and Terrahawks were often on between 5-6 in the evening and sometimes at weekends. It was treated as a separate thing from the regular children's programming on BBC and ITV. The live-action UFO series would make an amazing accompaniment to this video.