Operation Time

"Operation Time"
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episode
Episode no.	Episode 08
Directed by	Ken Turner
Written by	Richard Conway Stephen J. Mattick
Cinematography by	Julien Lugrin
Editing by	John Beaton
Production code	06
Original air date	17 November 1967 (1967-11-17)
Guest stars
Voices of: Martin King as Dr Magnus Paul Maxwell as General J. F. Tiempo Porter Benson Gary Files as Dr Turner 1st Medical Student Charles Tingwell as Nurse Morgan Jeremy Wilkin as 2nd Medical Student Radiographer Liz Morgan as Nurse
Episode chronology
← Previous "The Trap" Next → "Spectrum Strikes Back"
List of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episodes

"Operation Time" is the eighth episode of the Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It was first broadcast in the UK on 17 November 1967 (1967-11-17) on ATV Midlands, was written by Richard Conway and Stephen J. Mattick and directed by Ken Turner.

In this episode, when the Mysterons threaten to "kill time", Spectrum is baffled until they discover that the target is a military general due to receive revolutionary neurosurgery.The Mysteron weaknesses discovered in "Operation Time" are developed in "Spectrum Strikes Back", its sequel.

Plot

When Spectrum receives a puzzling Mysteron threat to "kill time", Colonel White dispatches his senior officers to major cities to watch for potential targets. Nothing significant comes up until Captain Magenta learns that General Tiempo, the Commander of Western Region World Defence, whose surname means "time" in Spanish, is shortly due to receive a brain operation from leading neurosurgeon Dr Magnus of London Hospital. After Magnus is flown to Cloudbase along with Tiempo and a surgical team, he insists that the procedure — to be carried out with the aid of the pioneering technology of a "Cerebral Pulsator" — be performed immediately as scheduled, despite security concerns in view of the Mysteron threat. Spectrum is unaware that the real Magnus is dead — killed in a car accident brought about by Captain Black — and that a Mysteron reconstruction has taken his place.

In the operating room, the duplicate deliberately overruns the Cerebral Pulsator, using the resulting seizure to kill the patient. However, since their face was covered during the operation, the reconstructed Magnus had no way of knowing that Tiempo has been replaced by Captain Scarlet. Magnus manages to escape from Sick Bay, but Captain Blue tracks him down to the Cloudbase generator room where he is fatally electrocuted by an uncovered cable. During this time, a strange phenomenon has appeared in one of Tiempo's head X-rays: Magnus's hand, which was inadvertently also X-rayed, has not been penetrated by the scan and is instead registering as a plain photographic image. Later, after Scarlet has been revived, Colonel White announces that Spectrum will develop devices to exploit the Mysteron weaknesses of imperviousness to X-rays and apparent vulnerability to electricity.

Production

Writers Richard Conway and Stephen J. Mattick named Dr Magnus's colleague Dr Turner after the director for this episode, Ken Turner.^[1] In the script, it was proposed that the sequences presenting the development of Tiempo's cranial X-rays be filmed on location at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough,^[1] a short distance from the Century 21 Studios, but this ultimately proved to be unnecessary.^[1] Incidental music for "Operation Time" was recorded by Barry Gray on 14 May 1967 (1967-05-14)^[2] with tracks for the later episode "Renegade Rocket"^[2] in a session which ran for four hours and 30 minutes^[2] and used a 12-musician orchestra.^[2]. This is also the only episode where all the Spectrum male staff get speaking roles in the same episode (Captain Scarlet, Captain Blue, Lieutenant Green, Colonel White, Captain Black, Dr.Fawn, Captain Ochre, Captain Magenta, Captain Grey). The episode also marks the first appearance of actor Gary Files, who at the time was unable to be involved with the recordings for the first five episodes. This is because he was currently providing voices for the film Thunderbird 6, which was a "try-out" for Captain Scarlet.^[3]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Bentley, Chris (2001). The Complete Book of Captain Scarlet. London: Carlton Books. p. 64. ISBN 1-84222-405-0. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} de Klerk, Theo (25 December 2003 (2003-12-25)). "Complete studio-recording list of Barry Gray". tvcentury21.com. Archived from the original on 13 December 2009 (2009-12-13). http://www.tvcentury21.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=67:complete-studio-recording-list-of-barry-gray&catid=116:barry-gray&Itemid=182. Retrieved 20 March 2010 (2010-03-20). 
3. ^ "Gary Files Interview". thevervoid.com. Archived from the original on 26 June 2008. http://www.thevervoid.com/media/scarlet_interview.htm. Retrieved 11 November 2011. 

External links

• "Operation Time" at TV.com
• "Operation Time" at Fanderson.org.uk
• "Operation Time" at CliveBanks.co.uk
• "Operation Time" at TheVervoid.com