And there we have it: Captain Scarlet & the Mysterons. You know, I've really rather enjoyed writing this episode guide; whether I've been chronicling the adventures of the indestructible one, compiling the inanities of Colonel White, having a giggle at the mirthful lapses in plot logic, or yelling out that age old question, "Where the Hell is Dr. Fawn?", I've had fun. I hope you've had fun too. I know that this guide has some readers at two separate Internet forums - one a Captain Scarlet fansite and one the Planet Skaro forum where the majority of the writers who add their ramblings to the Verv' reside - but I'd like to think that elsewhere there have been readers I haven't even known about, and that there'll be new readers many times in the future. I'd like to think this mainly as I want publicity, exposure and devoted followers, but also because it allows me to feel that my trek has been fully and totally worthwhile. Bow to me, heathens.

One thing that watching this series "in depth" has done for me, as I've mentioned a couple of times in the guide itself, is that it's given me a greater appreciation for the series and for all those who made it. The sets, props and special effects are rarely anything else than 110% brilliant and the puppetry is so good you're rarely conscious of the fact that you are watching puppets and not actors. You just get fully immersed in this bizarre and great little world. It helps also that the voice acting is always of a high standard and I of course would have to single out Francis Matthews, Ed Bishop, Donald Gray and Cy Grant out for particular praise as the voices of Captain Scarlet, Captain Blue, Colonel White and Lieutenant Green respectively. Barry Gray's music also helps to build up the atmosphere and crank up the excitement, even if I'd have to admit that in general I prefer his work on Thunderbirds.

I couldn't finish this guide without some bits of pointless cumulative trivia and final mirthful mutterings. For a start, it's been even more apparent watching this series in order how silly the rate of Mysteron power-acquisitioning has been: they've gone from aliens who simply reanimate and duplicate matter to all-powerful super beings who really, really ought to be able to destroy the Earth in a few simple strokes which makes it all the more ludicrous that they, well, haven't. Over the course of this series, we've seen that the Mysterons can:

Added to this they are impervious to X-rays and their influence can be negated by the presence of high voltage electricity (which can also kill them). This isn't even counting the whole "Are Mysterons telepathic or what?" issue, nor Captain Scarlet's amazing ability to feel ill in the presence of a Mysteron agent aside from the billions of times when he doesn't. Just look at that list! It's silly, that's what it is, and I think I can be forgiven for making a few mistakes in the guide here and there in trying to remember all these things (for instance in the Flight 104 guide I got in a tizz about the Mysterons being able to control a vehicle they hadn’t blown up and duplicated yet, though they were clearly seen to do the same thing back in Big Ben Strikes Again).

And how do Spectrum fare out of all this? Well, according to the various lists I made over the course of the series, the Spectrum organisation can fully write off the following losses:

6 (or 7) x Angel Interceptors

5 x Spectrum Pursuit Vehicles

2 x maximum security buildings and staff

2 x Captains (Brown & Indigo)

2 x saloon cars

2 x personal jets

2 x jetpacks

2 x hovercrafts (and other vehicles and staff at Koala base)

1 x helicopter

1 x oil rig and some oil tanks

Plus the odd Spectrum random guard here and there and lots of money lost through casino ventures and air flight bookings.

And according to my cast listings, here’s a numeric guide to how many episodes each character was in (going by my "You only count if you speak some dialogue or leave Cloudbase via a method other than stock footage" guidelines):

Captain Scarlet: 32

Captain Blue: 32

Colonel White: 31

Lieutenant Green: 31

Captain Black: 25

Destiny Angel: 19

Captain Ochre: 12

Symphony Angel: 11

Melody Angel: 11

Harmony Angel: 8

Rhapsody Angel: 8

Captain Magenta: 7

Captain Grey: 4

Dr. Fawn: 2

I’m sure that’s fairly accurate. Despite Destiny Angel’s high profile position in the opening credits of each episode I’m still surprised she appeared in so many; my hazy memory was sure that Symphony Angel always seemed to be the "star" Angel, mainly as she was the only one given some characterisation (and had leading roles in two episodes). Melody Angel also gets more outings than I’d recalled, as does Captain Ochre. Despite my constant rantings about the guy, Captain Magenta only has a role to play in seven episodes (despite many cameo appearances), whilst lowly Captain Grey only struts his stuff four times and poor Dr. Fawn cops the worst deal of the lot, partly to do with the fact that he never leaves Cloudbase. Fawn only speaks in episodes 2 and 8 and doesn’t do all that much in either, though is the first to analyse Scarlet’s "indestructible" properties. As previously noted he seems to appear more often towards the end of the series when his voice actor was no longer present!

And, of course, the final score of the series lies at Spectrum winning the war of nerves by leaps and bounds with 26 victories, whilst the Mysterons trail behind with 6 (and that’s only because I was generous to them). The Mysteron victories occur in the following episodes:

- Episode 2, Winged Assassin: the murder of the Director General of the United Asian Republic, which occurred by pure chance;

- Episode 4, Manhunt: Captain Black successfully defeats Spectrum by not getting caught;

- Episode 11, The Heart of New York: the destruction of the Second National Bank of New York, when Spectrum gave up and left them to it;

- Episode 19, Shadow of Fear: the obliteration of the K-14 observatory;

- Episode 29, Inferno: the devastation of a desalinisation plant at the foot of the Andes mountains;

- Episode 30, Flight to Atlantica: the mass-knackering of a naval sea defence base, though I awarded a tie victory.

It’s a damn shame that Captain Scarlet was never given a definitive end: Attack on Cloudbase would have been perfect had it not been a dream (grrrr…) though perhaps it would have been too dark and pessimistic for the kiddies. Dramatically and narratively speaking, though, it would have been bloody marvellous.

Captain Scarlet has existed, much like Doctor Who, in various forms, such as annuals, comic strips, books and fanfiction. It also had some special audio episodes made for it which are presented on the DVDs, though when and why they were made I haven’t got a clue. Each lasts about 23 minutes but from the two I’ve listened to in the past they’re nothing to shout about. The first is basically a retread of the first telly episode (yes, another flashback to that bloody instalment) in which Colonel White explains the situation to a chairman who sounds exactly like Captain Blue to the extent that I thought it was Captain Blue until ol’ Blue-eyes himself turns up later, leading to a brief exchange where Ed Bishop is seemingly talking to himself. Also present is an official with a comedy voice who sounds like a South Park character ("Aaaaaaaaaaaangels, Colonel White?") and the only other things I bothered to note down at the time was the bristling description of the Angels as "girl pilots", and a mirth-inducing bit where the Colonel states that, "We keep two of them on standby at all times," following which we have what ought to be some rhubarb-rhubarb style mutterings, but instead we can clearly hear characters enthusiastically saying, "They keep two on standby!" "Very sensible idea!" The other episode I listened to involved Captain Black either trying to kidnap or kill some children, though I can’t remember much of it and Thunderbirds got there first with an episode where the Hood went to Australia to steal some photos and throw two kids down a mineshaft which exploded moments later.

Of course, Captain Scarlet has also returned to our telly screens in the form of a new CGI series, with episodes that originally aired during the Ministry of Mayhem morning TV programme. I have watched several episodes of this at varying times and it’s a competent enough series that manages to be fairly exciting and presents situations and special effects scenes that the original series could never have pulled off. The characterisation has also been kicked up a notch, with Scarlet and Destiny having some sort of romance whilst the Mysteron Captain Black apparently loved the girl back in the day as well. All of the original characters are present and correct though most have undergone complete revamps, whether they be changes in nationality, importance or even sex. The only character not around is Dr Fawn, who has now been replaced by a kindly old gent called Dr Gold who gets marginally more to do than his predecessor did. Scarlet is now an American whereas Captain Magenta has thrown aside his previous American/Irish roots to embrace his true Italian heritage, calling himself "Mario Moro" and trying it on with the ladies at every opportunity. Lieutenant Green and Captain Ochre have transformed into women, the latter with an appealing Oirish accent to be sure, and the Angels all seemed to have been confused with one another (American Symphony is now Asian, Asian Harmony is now a Southerner and Southerner Melody now has a completely indeterminate nationality and accent – and Destiny’s not French anymore, either). Spectrum’s ranks have even expanded to accommodate more Captains – yes, Captains Brown and Indigo are back from the dead to do even less than their puppet counterparts did, joined by new bloke Captain Orange (um…) – and they’ve even managed to recruit another Lieutenant! However, Kinggodzillak, who provided most of this info for me, seemed to sum it up best when he said that: "The new CGI Spectrum now has more people doing even less," which wouldn’t surprise me (apparently Captain Indigo’s contribution to the series is to assist in carrying a stretcher in one episode). However, despite all this, the new series isn’t a patch on the old stuff. I’m undoubtedly wearing rose-tinted specs but the old and occasionally clunky puppet show has a genuine charm and warmth about it that the CGI show hasn’t. I remember reading one review regarding episode 1 of the new show that said, "It all looked very nice but after ten minutes I was itching to press the Start button and begin the game," and that’s bang on, to be honest: it looks like a fab video game but doesn’t make for very gripping telly.

So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to stick with my puppets. They’ve given me a lot of fun over the years (stop sniggering, you dirty devils) and I’m not going to cast them aside now. Captain Scarlet was one of the silliest and most enjoyable television series ever made and I reckon it’s smashing.

Thanks for reading. This is the Secretive Bus saying S.I.G, y’all.