Traitor (Captain Scarlet episode)

Infobox Television episode
Title = Traitor
Series = Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Season = 1
Episode = 29
Airdate = April 23, 1968
Production = 24
Writer = Tony Barwick
Director = Alan Perry
Episode list = List of "Captain Scarlet" episodes
Prev = Inferno
Next = Flight to Atlantica

"Traitor" is the 29th episode of the Supermarionation television series "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons". Its original UK air date was April 23, 1968 on ATV Midlands.

ynopsis

Following a series of Spectrum hovercraft crashes in the Australian outback, the Mysterons announce that there is a traitor in the organisation.

Plot

The Mysterons announce that there is a traitor in Spectrum. In light of a number of unexplained hovercraft crashes in the Australian outback, Colonel White sends Captains Scarlet and Blue to investigate Koala Base, where he believes that the vehicles are being sabotaged by a double agent.

Scarlet and Blue arrive at the base ostensibly to give a series of lectures to the cadets. One of them, Machin, is suspected by his patrol partner, Johnson, and the base commander, Major Stone, to be responsible for the hovercraft accidents, but Machin questions Scarlet's loyalty to Spectrum after Blue describes how the officer was under the control of the Mysterons when they tried to assassinate the World President ("The Mysterons"). A fire in Scarlet and Blue's room, seemingly started deliberately, leaves Machin's guilt apparently even more obvious.

The next day, while Scarlet and Blue are accompanying Johnson and Machin in a hovercraft, the vehicle again begins to go out of control. Machin declares Scarlet the traitor and briefly threatens him with a gun, but is disarmed by the shaky ride of the craft. All four men, including Scarlet with the hovercraft's control unit, jump to safety before the hovercraft crashes and explodes. From the unit, it is discovered that a valve in the craft's mechanics caused all the accidents; although presumably being placed by the Mysterons, it was the "traitor" in a figurative sense.

Cast

Regular voice cast

*Captain Scarlet — Francis Matthews
*Captain Blue — Ed Bishop
*Colonel White — Donald Gray
*Lieutenant Green — Cy Grant
*Destiny Angel — Liz Morgan (featured in "The Mysterons" flashback)
*Melody Angel — Sylvia Anderson (featured in "The Mysterons" flashback)
*Harmony Angel — Lian Shin (featured in "The Mysterons" flashback)
*Captain Black — Donald Gray (featured in "The Mysterons" flashback)
*Voice of the Mysterons — Donald Gray

Guest voice cast

In speaking order:

*Joe Johnson — Jeremy Wilkin
*Phil Machin — Gary Files
*Major Stone — David Healy
*Helicopter A42 Pilot (voice) — Charles Tingwell (featured in "The Mysterons" flashback)

Notes

*This episode was originally scheduled to be broadcast as episode 16 on January 19, 1968, but was instead broadcast as episode 29 on April 23, 1968.

External links

* [http://www.fanderson.org.uk/epguides/scarleteg3.html#Episode%20Twenty%20Four Fanderson.org.uk: "Captain Scarlet" Episode Guide: "Traitor"]
* [http://www.clivebanks.co.uk/Capt%20Scarlet%20Timeline.htm# Clivebanks.co.uk: "Captain Scarlet" Episode Guide]