Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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55 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Indestructable!, August 18, 2002
What a fantastic set. All of the episodes of Captain Scarlet in one set and restored to near perfection! BBC Resources restored the episodes for a 2001 TV run and the restored masters were used for the DVD releases in the US and the UK. These look far more sharp and colorful than the ones run on the SciFi channel a few years ago. The sound is great, and includes a new Dolby 5.1 soundtrack, which isn't too bad. Being a purist, I prefer the original, mono soundtrack.The extras included, for the most part, are pretty good, except for the photo gallery section, which consists of screen grabs from various episodes. There is a very nice production photo section, though, which shows a lot of the things that happened behind the scenes. The vehicle diagrams are great, too. 2 episodes, the pilot 'The Mysterons' and one of the last episodes, 'Attack on Cloudbase'. have commentary by the series co-creator, Gerry Anderson. Gerry isn't very exciting to listen to, but his commentaries are very informative. Gerry, for the most part, gives credit where credit is due to such people as Barry Gray, who composed the music and Derek Meddings, who did the visual effects work. However, he gives no credit or even acknowledges the work of his ex-wife, Sylvia. She co-created the show with him and did many female charater voices, too. The bio of Gerry Anderson refers to a 'bitter divorce' from Sylvia in 1975. I realize that many people never completely heal, emotionally and in other respects, after a divorce. However, I think it is rotten for Gerry to completely ignore Sylvia's contribution to the series. Another thing that I should note is that A&E put the episodes on the discs in a random order. They didn't use the original transmission order or Carlton Media's recomended broadcast order. Not a big deal for the most part, at least they did put the 1st episode first on disc one. However, there is a trilogy of stories about the Mysterons on the moon, the first of which is on disc 2 and the other 2 on disc 3. The first episode of the 3, 'Lunarville 7' is fine on disc 2. The other two are in reverse order on disc 3, with the last episode of the trio, 'Dangerous Rendezvous' being on the disc before the second one, 'Crater 101'. Watch 'Crater 101' first, as 'Dangerous Rendezvous' refers to events that happen in 'Crater'. 'Scarlet' is my favorite Supermarionation series. Not a boring episode in the lot. Very exciting and different from anything that has come before, or since. I like the fact that the Spectrum people don't come out on top every time. The show's realism is one of its strong points. A nice companion to this set, which is available elsewhere on Amazon, is the book 'The Complete Captain Scarlet' by Chris Bentley. The book goes in to a lot of detail about the series, including an episode guide, behind the scenes stories, information about 'Scarlet' merchandise', and stills from a 4 minute CGI pilot for a new Captain Scarlet series which might hit TV screens in 2004. I think A&E made a wise choice in releasing these in one set, as Captain Scarlet didn't enjoy the same popularity as Thunderbirds in the US. This set is missing some of the extras that were on the British DVDs, but A&E would have had to make this a 5 disc set to include everything that was in that set. ...
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33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Everything Old Is New Again, September 7, 2002
In the post-9/11 world, how do you educate kids about certain ugly realities in a not-unsettling - and even genuinely entertaining - manner? Why, with Captain Scarlet, of course. I recently re-watched this entire series, and was amazed how relevant it's suddenly become. Of all Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's kid's puppet shows, this was always the most adult, and now more than ever performs remarkably well.Set in 2068, the series story concerns man's first landing on Mars, where expedition leader Captain Black misunderstands a friendly overture from the locals - the ubiquitous but never-seen "Mysterons" - and orders a destructive strike on one of their cities. The Mysterons are not amused. With their superior technology, they can reconstruct any destroyed person or object for their own purposes, and they use this ability to engage Earth Defense Forces (called Spectrum, whose members go by color-coded secret names) in an ongoing terrorist war of nerves. From episode to episode, the Mysterons begin by announcing in Tokyo Rose style what their next intended target will be, and Spectrum applies its resources to preventing the coming attack. Title character Captain Scarlet is the only man upon whom Mysteron takeover has failed, leaving him with the unique ability to regenerate from nearly any otherwise fatal wound and making him Earth's best single defense against the invisible threat of the Mysterons. This is a beautifully produced show, especially given that its primary audience is kids. It broaches the ugly subject matter of terrorism in the best of all possible ways, which is to emphasize courage, companionable solidarity, and good moral human values in opposing it. Ironically, it also doesn't paint the protagonists and antagonists entirely in black-and-white terms, but maturely demonstrates that bad decision making even on the part of good people - or nations - can have disastrous consequences. But best of all, Captain Scarlet isn't so simplistic that the adults won't enjoy it too. It's gorgeous to look at, and is surprisingly entertaining - for all ages, in different ways.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A childhood fantasy relived!, September 15, 2003
The year is 2068. On an exploration of the Martian landscape, SPECTRUM agent Captain Black mistakenly fires on and decimates a Martian city. The residents of the city are the Mysterons. An invisible race that now declares war on the inhabitants of Earth. After they destroy Captain Black and his team, the Mysterons use their powers to re-create Captain Black and set out to lay waste to mankind. The Mysterons are able to recreate anyone and everything they destroy. Their first target is the President of the World Government. Captains Scarlet and Brown, agents of the Global protection agency SPECTRUM are en route to provide protection for the President, but before they arrive, they are killed by the Mysterons. Their perfect replacements pick up where they left off and escort the President to the World Government HQ. Once there Captain Brown attempts to kill the President but to no avail. Captain Scarlet also tries but is shot by Captain Blue and plummets 800 feet to what is sure to be his death. Amazingly, Captain Scarlet recovers from his injuries and becomes Spectrum's most valuable agent in the fight against the Mysterons! September of 1967 saw the introduction of Gerry Anderson's most adult oriented and easily most ambitious series to date. Unlike Stingray and The Thunderbirds Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons introduced graphic violent content including the deaths of several characters in each episode. Anderson has been a staple of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for almost 40 years. In that time he has produced twenty series, five of which made it to American Television (XL5 in 1963, Thunderbirds in 1994 and Space 1999, UFO and Captain Scarlet in the 1970's). One of the hallmarks of Anderson's series was the use of something called "Supermarionation". Essentially, the coolest puppets in the world coupled with the coolest miniature sets, made children's imaginations run wild, not too mention bringing their wildest dreams to life. In the Stingray, and the Thunderbirds series, the heads of the marionettes were clearly out of proportion to their bodies, which while not distracting did give a more fanciful look to the production. In Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons the process of Supermarionation was perfected in that the heads of the puppets could now be made proportionally correct as the solenoid chips (computer controlling elements that controlled the synchronization of the mouths of the puppets with the dialogue) that were once housed in the heads of the puppets were now small enough to fit in the chest cavity of each marionette. Given the current improvements the puppets were now 1/3rd human scale. Newer problems however, arose, as these new "stringless" puppets controlled from the bottom of the stage as opposed to the ceiling could not be made to walk convincingly. The problem was fixed by the incorporation of moving sidewalks, differing camera angles and the addition of sounds of movement. I.E. shoes "clicking" on pavement. Supermarionation was a resounding success and Captain Scarlet went on to become one of Anderson's highest rated entries. A&E has again put together a fabulous multi-disc (four) entry. Available in the U.K. for some time, on PAL encoded VHS and recently DVD, Captain Scarlet has finally made it to America and in the best shape since its original run. The original soundtrack for Captain Scarlet is included as well as a beefed up DD5.1 platform. The 5.1 presentation is on par with that of the platform for the Thunderbirds. The surrounds are used for both atmospheric and directional movement and the sub tends to be very active. The dialog is all very clear and easily understood. There are two commentary tracks provided by series creator Gerry Anderson. The first is on the pilot episode "The Mysterons" and the second is on the 30th episode entitled "Attack on Cloudbase". The commentaries sound scripted and tend to fall on the dry side. They're informative but not very interesting. The video is presented in its original 1:33.1 full frame. The colors are all rich and vibrant. Black levels are good and saturation levels are good. There are a few moments of artifacting throughout the series but they don't at all detract from the visual presentation. The extras included on the discs are photo galleries, character bios, vehicle guides and SPECTRUM ID cards for all of the Spectrum agents including Captain Black and DVD-ROM interactive vehicle diagrams. 32 episodes in all, Captain Scarlet has been never before been made available on this side of the pond. The "truest treat", if you will, is this domestic release of the entire series. As a kid this was always my favorite TV show. Now that they have finally landed in Region 1 in a most handsome 4-DVD set, I am ecstatic! While there is word that Captain Scarlet is being brought into the 21st century via a new CGI series, it will be hard pressed to equal the sheer joy and delight these programs have offered. The storylines are cohesive and the presentation makes for wonderful viewing!
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