Actually, they don’t have a plan. The voice at the beginning just goes over all the old "You started this with your unprovoked attack, so nyah!" shtick but doesn’t bother to detail any spot of nefariousness.

Captain Black is hanging around at the Culver Atomic Station – for what reason we’re never told – and in hiding from the guards exposes himself to radiation. Though not harmful, the irradiated Captain Black is now detectable by conventional Geiger counters for 48 hours. The hunt is on to find Captain Black!

No new Mysteron abilities shown off here, though it’s interesting to note that Black states that "The Mysterons also have compassion."

The first episode in which Captain Scarlet doesn’t kill himself. Gosh.

The Captains allow the SPV to escape the atomic complex, shooting at it rather ineffectually. And Symphony Angel allows herself to get captured, I suppose.

Well, the Mysterons didn’t have a plan, but Spectrum did – to catch Captain Black. And they failed. So now it’s:

Spectrum: 2 Mysterons: 2

The beginning of the episode consists of Captain Scarlet giving the Colonel a written report of recent activities in Australia:

"Captain Blue and I investigated reported Mysteron activities in Sydney, Australia but found no reason or evidence to suppose any Mysteron present. During the cause of the enquiries I received slight injuries detailed in a medical report to Dr. Fawn."

Aside from the fact that it’s so laughably lacking in detail that it seems more like a kid’s "Wot I did on Holiday" summary than an officer’s military report, and that it contains no info that Scarlet himself couldn’t impart vocally within a span of approximately seven seconds, the real killer comes when, following an eight second hold on it to allow the audience to read it, the Colonel goes "Hmm…" looks up and says, "I see from this that you were injured, Captain Scarlet!" in a way that makes us think we ought to give him a cookie for being able to read simple sentences. It’s then followed by another slide that reads:

"We must conclude from our enquiries that there was no Mysteron activities and it was in fact a false alarm.

Captain Scarlet"

Was no activities? He can rejuvenate himself following any physical mishap, but the guy’s bloody awful at grammar.

___

The main characters discuss how Captain Black got himself out of the situation at the end of the episode in turgid detail, despite the fact that it’s obvious to a five-year-old what had happened.

___

"This is the work of the Mysterons!"

OK, this isn’t rude or anything, but it’s an instance of quite happy dialogue that doesn’t belong anywhere else:

BLUE: "This medallion… it’s Symphony’s! … It is, I tell you! I gave it to her on her birthday!"

So, Blue has a thing for Symphony, eh? Doesn’t explain why he was taking Destiny Angel out in the last episode, though. Bah! I sense trouble afoot.

___

There’s also an instance of a genuinely funny line. When Captain Scarlet calls in to tell the Colonel that Symphony Angel has disobeyed her orders and landed her plane to find Black, Lieutenant Green mumbles a very cheesed-off, "Huh, ‘use your initiative’ they say…" Nice bit of characterisation, that, showing Green’s more rebellious side. Colonel White puts a bit of a dampener on things with "Initiative should never clash with discipline!" though.

Scarlet likes his first port of call: "Hmm, aptly named… Stone Point Village. SPV!" I’m not sure if this line is meant to be funny or not, but it’s a stinker whichever way you slice it.

___

Our first end-of-episode bit of frivolity occurs here:

GREEN: "Symphony… one thing puzzles me. Why didn’t you stop the SPV just outside the gate?"

SYMPHONY: "Don’t tell anyone, Lieutenant, but that’s the first time I’ve ever driven an SPV!"

Ha ha ha ha. Away with you.

"I feel sure that they are planning to continue their war of nerves!" says the Colonel - at the beginning of the episode. He ends it with "The Mysterons are capable of making mistakes. Let us take consolation from this in the continuing fight."

"Sir, can I fly down and help in the manhunt?" pleads Lieutenant Green. "No, Leftenant, I need you here," comes the Colonel’s reply. Apparently it’s vital that Central Control remains fully manned. Personally I just think the Colonel would feel lonely otherwise and just wants a friend. Awww.

___

A Mysteron car mechanic pretends to search for the keys to an SPV when Scarlet suddenly shoots him dead. "You knew it was a trap?" asks Captain Blue. "I suspected it," replies our stoic hero, "He didn’t ask for our identification." Blimey. Shoot first, ask questions later, eh? I’d hate to think what would happen if a Spectrum agent ever had a slight lapse of memory, or even just said, "Oh, sod it, I know who you are, take the bloody thing."

___

BLACK: "I am sorry, Symphony Angel, but you leave me no choice."

SYMPHONY: "That voice…"

I’ve never really understood that remark. Is she just commenting on the fact that Black’s voice is quite weird, or has she heard it somewhere before? Or has she just realised that the voice artist for Captain Black and the Mysterons is exactly the same as that for Colonel White?

The manhunt for Captain Black doesn’t seem particularly expansive – about seven or eight trucks with long distance Geiger counter equipment driving about the countryside with Symphony Angel flying overhead. Still, Captain Grey gets another outing here, once again supervising operations. I’m actually quite surprised to see the guy appearing so often in these early episodes, though I’m fairly sure that he seems to disappear off the face of the planet after this initial batch of episodes. Captain Ochre’s on guard duty, too, next to a pretty flimsy looking road barrier. Lieutenant Green asks permission to go down there twice but gets denied each time. Bah! Oh well. He gets to go on a mission in the next episode. Still no sign of Captain Magenta yet, though.

Perhaps the nastiest Mysteron-inflicted death ever in this episode, when Captain Black comes across a garage, inside of which is a mechanic working on a car on a vehicle ramp. One flick of a switch and the lift goes right up to the ceiling, crushing car, mechanic and all…

Later on, Black begins to irradiate Symphony Angel – "The radiation will kill you in three minutes." He really is a nasty piece of work, isn’t he?

And once again Spectrum loses nothing. In fact the only cash to be lashed out will be on getting the dent out of that SPV and giving it a bit of a buff.

An SPV crashes into a tree, but that’s your lot.

No explosions in this episode, really. A bit of dust gets kicked up during the event described above, but that’s all.

"Adam?"

"Yeah, yeah, I’m fine…"

Hurrah! Our first instance of forename usage, heard when Scarlet attempts to console his Blue colleague with the affirmation Symphony will be all right. There’s definitely something going on between those two. Blue and Symphony, I mean, not Blue and Scarlet. Because Scarlet quite clearly fancies Colonel White. Mmm. Oh yes.

It might just be me but the puppet used for Colonel White seems happier than usual. Still not the "happy face" I’m thinking of, but he’s certainly chirpier here than he usually is.

The title for the episode takes some time to appear – 6 minutes 45 seconds.

The atomic station in which the episode is set looks remarkably like that seen every week in the opening credits for Thunderbirds in which it kept getting blown to pieces behind a "SUPERMATIONATION!" logo.

There’s some particularly good puppetry in this episode. An early scene in which a guard hears a movement behind him and leaps round to see who it is looks remarkably human. It doesn’t sound much written down but, trust me, it’s the little things like this that jump out at you when you’re watching puppets. Actually, maybe it’s just me and the fact that I grew up on Thunderbirds and the like but when I sit down to watch a Supermarionation show I almost completely forget the fact that I’m watching puppets at all – I just get engrossed in the story and characters that it just doesn’t pop into my ahead that I’m not actually watching actors. The voice artistry must go some way to achieving this, though the fact that the puppets themselves achieve a certain degree of physical realism in this series is another point in favour. It probably also has something to do with the direction in general; for instance, a guard getting knocked unconscious in this episode is achieved by using a POV shot of the guard in question which works absolutely splendidly.

There’s a nice sense of continuity here with Captain Blue being surprised that Captain Black is still alive by this episode, and Colonel White only now realising that Black is a Mysteron agent. You kind of forget that Black hasn’t actually been seen by any Spectrum members since the ill-fated Mars mission – he’s always been hiding in the shadows (or standing in broad daylight at an airport).

Why do the Mysterons advise Captain Black, who’s travelling in a stolen and heavily armoured SPV, to avoid the roadblock and to go back to the research centre? The "block" consists of a single wooden beam, a saloon car and Captain Ochre with a small handgun. It’s not as if Black couldn’t just bash into the lot of them and make good his escape.

Despite the culmination of the episode taking place at night, a shot of Captain Grey’s Geiger van is quite clearly taken during daylight.

A smashing little episode despite the fact that the plot itself is surprisingly slight, a surprise after the more experimental Big Ben Strikes Again. What I like about it is the fact that the extra breathing room allows the characters to be fleshed out a bit, which is quite a rare thing in a Supermarionation show. It’s not much, but it’s still there; the revelation that Blue fancies Symphony Angel; Lieutenant Green’s reluctance to obey the Colonel’s orders; Colonel White’s more ruthless side, stating that a military operation won’t be affected by concern over any one individual; Captain Black showing a small ounce of compassion towards the end; and the first time that an Angel has ever really been involved in a plotline. There’s a lot going on here. It’s also a very grim episode; despite Black showing a nicer side he still brutally kills an innocent earlier on and utters the phrase "Prepare to die." Truly great stuff for what’s meant to be a silly kids’ puppet show.

There’s a bloke trapped in there, y’know. Not pleasant, is it?

The Perils of Symphony Angel

Captain Grey and his sidekick Sergeant Whatshisface