Spectrum Strikes Back

Infobox Television episode
Title = Spectrum Strikes Back
Series = Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Season = 1
Episode = 9
Airdate = November 24, 1967
Production = 10
Writer = Tony Barwick
Director = Ken Turner
Episode list = List of "Captain Scarlet" episodes
Prev = Operation Time
Next = Special Assignment

"Spectrum Strikes Back" is the ninth episode of the Supermarionation television series "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons". It was first broadcast in the UK November 24, 1967 on ATV Midlands. It was written by Tony Barwick and directed by Ken Turner.

ynopsis

Following on from "Operation Time", Spectrum unveils two devices that it has developed to counter the Mysterons at a top-secret conference. However, a Mysteron agent leaves the delegates in mortal danger.

Plot

Colonel White, Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue leave Cloudbase to attend a conference, secretly held underneath a lodge in an African game reserve. The other delegates are the World President, General Peterson and Dr Giadello, who has developed two devices to combat the Mysterons based on the discoveries that Spectrum made during its operation to prevent the assassination of General Tiempo ("Operation Time"). One device is the "Mysteron Gun", a weapon that fires electrons to kill Mysteron agents by exploiting their weakness to electricity. Meanwhile, the "Mysteron Detector" produces X-ray images to which Mysteron agents, unlike humans, are impervious, making it possible to identify them.

However, Captain Indigo, the Spectrum officer who is the waiter of the lodge, has been murdered by Captain Black and reconstructed by the Mysterons. When this is revealed by the Mysteron Detector, the reconstruction sabotages the conference by locking the lodge in its descent setting. He then escapes in a car with the key to the control mechanism, leaving the delegates to be crushed by the building above.

Armed with the Mysteron Gun, Scarlet uses a lift to reach the ground floor. However, the lift does not operate when the lodge is moving, leaving Scarlet no option but to go after and retrieve the key from Indigo if the others are to be saved. Underground, Blue manages to slow the downward progress of the lodge by firing his gun at the spot where the control mechanism is located, damaging it.

With the help of a game warden, Scarlet stops Indigo's getaway. However, Indigo is only wounded by the warden's rifle, so Scarlet has to use the Mysteron gun to kill him. Speeding back to the lodge with the key, he just manages to reverse the descent before the men below are crushed. Later, the group agree that while the day was a trying experience, it had a most satisfying conclusion with the gun and the detector having passed this unexpected field test with excellent results.

Cast

Regular voice cast

*Captain Scarlet — Francis Matthews
*Captain Blue — Ed Bishop
*Colonel White — Donald Gray
*Lieutenant Green — Cy Grant
*Destiny Angel — Liz Morgan
*Symphony Angel — Janna Hill
*Rhapsody Angel — Liz Morgan
*Captain Black / Voice of the Mysterons — Donald Gray

Guest voice cast

*Captain Indigo — Gary Files
*World President — Paul Maxwell
*General Peterson — Charles Tingwell
*Dr Giadello — Jeremy Wilkin
*1st Warden — Gary Files
*2nd Warden — Martin King
*3rd Warden — Gary Files / Martin King

Notes

*"Spectrum Strikes Back" marks the second appearance of the World President, who was threatened with assassination in "The Mysterons".
*Dr Giadello previously appeared as Morton in "The Trap".

External links

* [http://www.fanderson.org.uk/epguides/scarleteg.html#Episode%20Ten Fanderson.org.uk: "Captain Scarlet" Episode Guide: "Spectrum Strikes Back"]
* [http://www.clivebanks.co.uk/Capt%20Scarlet%20Timeline.htm# Clivebanks.co.uk: "Captain Scarlet" Episode Guide]