- Model Spy
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"Model Spy" Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episode Episode no. Episode 14 Directed by Ken Turner Written by Bill Hedley Cinematography by Julien Lugrin Editing by John Beaton Production code 18 Original air date 29 December 1967 Guest stars Voices of:
Liz Morgan as
Helga
Sylvia Anderson as
Gabrielle
Jeremy Wilkin as
Verdain
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"Seek and Destroy"List of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episodes "Model Spy" is the 14th episode of the Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It was first broadcast in the UK on 29 December 1967 on ATV Midlands, was written by Bill Hedley and directed by Ken Turner.
In this episode, when the Mysterons threaten to kill a French intelligence agent posing as a fashion designer, Captains Scarlet and Blue and Destiny and Symphony Angels go undercover to protect the target.
Contents
Plot
The Mysterons threaten to assassinate André Verdain. Publicly, Verdain is a little-known French fashion designer, but privately, he is the Controller of the European Area Intelligence Service in Paris. Colonel White suspects that an attempt on Verdain's life will most likely be made during a fashion show that he is due to host in Monte Carlo the next week. White assigns Captains Scarlet and Blue and Destiny and Symphony Angels to an undercover mission to protect Verdain.
Scarlet poses as a PR officer, Blue a photographer, and Destiny and Symphony models attached to the House of Verdain. The Spectrum agents fly directly to Monte Carlo after Paris proves to be fog-bound. They are not the only ones acting undercover, however: two of Verdain's models, Helga and Gabrielle, have secretly been killed in a train derailment and reconstructed in the service of the Mysterons. When the Spectrum agents accompany Verdain on a luxury yacht cruise around Monte Carlo bay the next morning, Gabrielle sabotages a fuel release in the engine room. The heat from the motors causes the fuel to ignite, and all onboard just manage to abandon ship before the yacht explodes.
Although Scarlet advises that it be postponed, Verdain decides to go ahead with a press reception scheduled for that evening at the Hotel Imperial. An agent resembling Captain Black has recently been sighted in Europe, and Verdain is confident that he will make an appearance. At a cocktail party prior to the reception, Scarlet receives positive proof that Gabrielle is a Mysteron agent when the model mentions that she and Helga flew to Monte Carlo from Paris the previous day when it was in fact fog-bound. At this moment, Black, stationed on a maintenance cradle outside a window, shoots Verdain with a tranquilliser gun and Helga turns off the lights: in the confusion, Black and his accomplice, abducting Verdain, escape the Hotel Imperial in a saloon car.
The Spectrum agents converge on the position of the Mysteron agents with the aid of a homing drug that Scarlet slipped into Verdain's drink. Although Black throws a grenade into the path of Scarlet's convertible, Blue collects his comrade in a Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle, while Destiny and Symphony follow the course of the enemy car in a helicopter. Black and Helga notice that they are trapped between the Spectrum team and a police roadblock. Helga throws Verdain out of the car and the hostage regains consciousness in time to see Black, Helga and the car vanish due to the influence of the Mysterons. Later, Verdain expresses his gratitude to his protectors, presenting Destiny and Symphony with gowns courtesy of the House of Verdain.
Continuity
The Mysteron's vanishing power is seen again in this episode. It is first seen in "The Heart of New York" and is seen again in "Inferno".Lieutenant Green is seen for the first and only time onboard cloudbase wearing his spectrum cap when he is talking to Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue about the Mysteron threat.
Production
The model of Monte Carlo bay had previously featured in the Thunderbirds episode "The Man From MI.5"[1] and would make another reappearance in the Joe 90 episode "The Race". In a four-hour[2] studio session held on 27 August 1967,[2] incidental music for both this episode and "The Trap"[2] was recorded by Barry Gray with an orchestra of 16 musicians.[2] Two pieces, "Models on a Train"[3][4] and "Cocktail Music",[3][4] are included on the commercial CD release of the Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons soundtracks.
Reception
Critics Chris Drake and Graeme Bassett write that "Model Spy"'s theme of undercover espionage[5] and its Monte Carlo setting[5] add up to a "Man from UNCLE-type episode"[5] which is a "break from the routine".[5] Drake and Bassett also praise the technical work during the climactic closing car chase sequence,[5] which features "under control" Supermarionation puppets controlled by levers from underneath as opposed to strings from above: there are "convincing antics from a couple of stringless puppets towards the end."[5]
References
- ^ Bentley, Chris (2001). The Complete Book of Captain Scarlet. London: Carlton Books. p. 76. ISBN 1-84222-405-0.
- ^ a b c d de Klerk, Theo (25 December 2003). "Complete studio-recording list of Barry Gray". tvcentury21.com. Archived from the original on 13 December 2009. 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.
- ^ a b "Captain Scarlet Music CD Release Information". soundtrack-express.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2006. http://www.soundtrack-express.com/osts/captainscarlet.htm. Retrieved 20 March 2010.
- ^ a b Peter, Marsh (17 November 2003). "Barry Gray: Captain Scarlet Original Soundtrack Review". BBC Online. Archived from the original on 17 March 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5oIr6wtZE. Retrieved 20 March 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f Drake, Chris; Bassett, Graeme (1993). Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. London: Boxtree. p. 60. ISBN 1-85283-403-X.
External links
- "Model Spy" at TV.com
- "Model Spy" at Fanderson.org.uk
- "Model Spy" at CliveBanks.co.uk
- "Model Spy" at TheVervoid.com
Categories:- 1967 television episodes
- Captain Scarlet episodes
- France in fiction
- Monte Carlo in fiction
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