Noose of Ice

"Noose of Ice"
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episode
Episode no.	Episode 24
Directed by	Ken Turner
Written by	Tony Barwick
Cinematography by	Julien Lugrin
Editing by	Bob Dearberg
Production code	26
Original air date	12 March 1968 (1968-03-12)
Guest stars
Voices of: Gary Files as Neilson Martin King as Hotspot Controller Hotspot Guard David Healy as General Rebus Jeremy Wilkin as Rhodes
Episode chronology
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List of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episodes

"Noose of Ice" is the 24th episode of the Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It was first broadcast in the UK on 12 March 1968 (1968-03-12) on ATV Midlands, was written by Tony Barwick and directed by Ken Turner. In this episode, the Mysterons target a facility mining vital metal for a new Earth Space Fleet.

Plot

A new Earth Space Fleet is under construction to take the "war of nerves" directly to the Mysterons on Mars. To reduce transit time, each vessel will need to withstand higher stresses, so the rare and strong metal Tritonium is being used as hull fortification. Usually a laboratory element, the Space Administration has started to mine a natural supply of Tritonium on the ocean floor at the North Pole. When the Mysterons threaten to sabotage the Space Fleet, Colonel White sends Captains Scarlet and Blue from Cloudbase to be briefed by the Space Administration commander-in-chief, General Rebus, in New York. The officers then travel to Hotspot Tower mine in the Arctic and are introduced to the controller, Rhodes.

The seawater around the mine is prevented from freezing and crushing Hotspot Tower by electrical heating elements powered from Eskimo Booster Station. However, a maintenance engineer, Neilson, is a Mysteron reconstruction whose human template died in a recent blizzard and was buried in the snow. At Eskimo Booster Station, the reconstruction sabotages the power to the heating elements on the telepathic orders of Captain Black. The freezing seawater forms a "noose of ice" which closes in on Hotspot Tower.

With the lifts inoperative, Scarlet risks decompression sickness to float to the surface in a diving suit. He just manages to cross over the ice in a Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle before the bridge is crushed, but is confronted by the Neilson reconstruction at Eskimo. As the double shoots Scarlet, the officer throws a loose high-voltage cable which hits the metal stairwell on which the double is standing, causing horrific electrocution. Wounded, Scarlet reconnects the uncoupled cables and raises the voltage to the heating elements, ultimately saving Hotspot Tower. However, the Mysterons have had a partial success: damage to the mine means that it will be out of operation for at least six months.

External links

• "Noose of Ice" at TV.com
• "Noose of Ice" at Fanderson.org.uk
• "Noose of Ice" at CliveBanks.co.uk
• "Noose of Ice" at TheVervoid.com