Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons was an incredible leap forward in Supermarionation. The more realistic puppets allowed for more realistic drama, and the series was a bit darker than the comparatively whimsical earlier shows. Something of a cross between The Invaders and the later Anderson series UFO, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons told of an international security force, SPECTRUM, trying to prevent the phantom-like Mysterons from taking over Earth in retaliation to an unprovoked attack upon the Mysteron home city on Mars. The Mysterons would kill human beings and replace them with look-a-like agents, one of the first being Captain Scarlet of SPECTRUM. Scarlet's double is killed by Captain Blue, but Scarlet returns to life with no memory of ever being a Mysteron agent. As a useful side-effect, Scarlet is now indestructible. He can be shot, and will feel the pain, but within hours his body will miraculously heal itself and Scarlet is back on the job. This unique ability makes Captain Scarlet SPECTRUM's most valuable agent in the war of nerves being waged by the Mysterons. On the other side of things is Captain Black, the very first man corrupted into a Mysteron agent. The typical episode will have the Mysterons announcing what calamity they plan to inflict and challenging SPECTRUM to stop them. Captain Black puts a plan into operation, SPECTRUM pieces together the meaning of the latest threat and blasts into action. The crisis of the day may be anything from an assassination attempt to the detonation of an atomic bomb in a populated area. A happy ending wasn't guaranteed, either. It was with this show that I came to fully appreciate just what could be done with miniatures. It's pretty incredible. "Captain Scarlet is indestructible. You are not. Remember this, do not try to imitate him."
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