Captain Scarlet (character)
Encyclopedia
Captain Scarlet is the fictional main character in Gerry Anderson
's British Supermarionation
science fiction
television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
and its CGI remake
Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet
.
of Spectrum, Colonel White
, Captain Scarlet is the primary agent of the organisation and is assigned the most dangerous and crucial missions.
He is a close friend of Captain Blue
, with whom he undertakes the majority of his missions, although he is on friendly terms with all other Spectrum agents. A close relationship with Destiny Angel is also hinted at several times in the series.
," in a car crash
brought about by the Mysteron
s, which also resulted in the death of Captain Brown
. Both men were reconstructed by the aliens, who assigned their exact likenesses of both men to assassinate the World President
. The Captain Brown likeness was turned into a walking bomb for this purpose. When this attempt failed, the Captain Scarlet likeness kidnapped the President from Cloudbase
and flew him to England
, taking him to the top of the London
Car-Vu, a large car park
tower. Cornered while holding the President at gunpoint
over the city below, the Captain Scarlet likeness was shot by Captain Blue and fell 800 feet to his apparent destruction. However, at the end of the episode it was revealed that Captain Scarlet was returning to life and had become almost incapable of dying permanently due to the powers of the Mysterons, although the fall had broken the Mysteron programming and returned him to his original personality. This extraordinary ability heals Scarlet of physical injuries within hours, making him virtually indestructible.
Captain Scarlet's Mysteronised body, like those of all Mysteron likenesses, is still vulnerable to electricity and impervious to X-ray
s. He also has a "sixth sense" when in the presence of a strong Mysteron influence - he becomes nauseated, sweats, and suffers a severe headache - but this sense sometimes does not indicate all Mysteron presences in an area. Though Captain Scarlet "dies" several times in the course of the series - usually quite violently - he always returns to life. In "Attack on Cloudbase
," Captain Scarlet is declared finally and permanently dead during the course of the battle for Cloudbase; however, this is later revealed to be Symphony Angel's hallucination as she is stranded in a desert, waiting for Spectrum to rescue her following a plane crash.
accent and is said to be from Winchester
in Hampshire
, England. He was born on 17 December, 2036. He is not unfamiliar with gambling
and drinking and in the episode "Special Assignment
" plays, and loses heavily at, roulette
. In the episode "Flight 104
," Captain Scarlet expresses a preference for steak "with all the trimmings."
Captain Scarlet is a competent pilot
and can drive almost any vehicle. He is also a qualified astronaut
. He is a somewhat stereotypical hero in that he is dependable and always gets the job done although he is not always successful. He does, however, have a lighter side. He also has a rather dry wit and sarcastic sense of humour, often using this in dialogue with other Spectrum agents.
He can turn his hand to a variety of weapons from guns to electric cables. Captain Scarlet is not shown to have any love interests during the series although previous attractions are indicated at some points, and a popular speculation among the fan community of the series is that he has a soft spot for, if not a relationship with, compatriot Rhapsody Angel.
Captain Scarlet has a close friendship with Captain Blue, who acts as Captain Scarlet's "field partner." Captain Blue cares about his friend and Captain Scarlet trusts him implicitly, although he is professional enough to use deadly force against him as necessary when Captain Scarlet was controlled by the Mysterons. In the episode "Special Assignment
," Captain Blue tries to stop Captain Scarlet's apparent spiral of self-destruction, showing the bond between them. (It was later revealed that this development was part of a plan to infiltrate a Mysteron attack, the plan being kept secret from Captain Blue so that his reaction to Captain Scarlet's dismissal would be natural.) In the episode "Renegade Rocket
," both men are prepared to stay in a missile base targeted by the Mysterons and die in a last-ditch attempt to stop its destruction.
Captain Scarlet is also friends with Lieutenant Green
, as demonstrated when he accompanies Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue on certain missions. However, Captain Scarlet is friendly with all other Cloudbase personnel, and he has no particular enemies among those with whom he is closely associated.
character has, since his first appearance, been attributed to Francis Matthews
, who voiced Scarlet in the series, Cary Grant
and Roger Moore
.
and vowed to follow in his historic footsteps. He studied astrophysics at MIT before joining the US Air Force. But the outbreak of global terrorist wars, which saw the deaths of both his parents, changed his focus.
He transferred to US Special Forces and commanded an elite unit that saw action across the world. His second-in-command was Lieutenant Conrad Lefkon, who became his closest friend. With the end of the wars, a new security organisation was established: Spectrum. Paul was an obvious choice for the new organisation, and took on the codename "Captain Scarlet". His good friend Lefkon was also signed up as "Captain Black
".
Scarlet later became Spectrum's special weapon in its "war of nerves" with the Mysteron
s; a weapon created by the Mysterons themselves when they killed Scarlet during a mission on Mars along with Captain Black. After they had discovered the Mysterons' city, Black fired a destructive shot against it, believing they were under attack. The two men watched in astonishment as the city rebuilt itself, and tried to flee to escape their fate, only to be killed afterwards.
The Mysterons rebuilt Scarlet as an invincible human replica to infiltrate Earth
and lead their war against the planet. While under the control of the Mysterons, Scarlet tried to destroy Skybase, but was stopped in his efforts by Captain Blue
. Falling down through a plasma stream, Scarlet was killed, but recovered later on in Sickbay, under the astonished eyes of Doctor Gold and other onlookers, and revealed himself to be fully free of the Mysterons' control. Metcalfe's human psyche had survived and regained control of his physical body. Instead of being killed by the power surge, Scarlet was only harmed temporarily, and was restored to life by the genetic mutation of the Mysteron "retrometabolisation" process which makes him virtually "indestructible".
Scarlet is a dedicated Spectrum officer. First and foremost, he is a soldier on the frontline of Earth's defences. However, he is also tormented by what he has become - not fully human. Utterly fearless and dedicated to saving the human race, for all Scarlet's heroism there is one thing that makes him very uneasy - his growing feelings for Destiny Angel, the girlfriend of his late friend, Captain Black.
In a few episodes, it is stated that he can feel a Mysteron's presence, by feeling nauseated and unwell. In the pilot story ("Instrument of Destruction", Parts 1 and 2), it is also stated that Scarlet shared a kind of telepathic link with Captain Black - which is considered by Colonel White
as an advantage in the war against the Mysterons that he cannot dismiss.
During the episode "Rat Trap", the Mysterons were able to contact Scarlet and to talk to him, while nobody else could hear them. It is not clear if this phenomenon was because he was on the Mysterons' home planet, or if he would hear them, wherever he might be, if they chose to contact him again.
In "Chiller", it was revealed that, when particularly badly wounded, Scarlet's body has the capability to separate his emotional and physical selves so that the latter can heal quicker, leaving the former as a ghostlike apparition, detectable only by its coldness.
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
's British Supermarionation
Supermarionation
Supermarionation is a puppetry technique devised in the 1960s by British production company AP Films. It was used extensively in the company's numerous Gerry and Sylvia Anderson-produced action-adventure series, the most famous of which was Thunderbirds...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often referred to as Captain Scarlet, is a 1960s British science-fiction television series produced by the Century 21 Productions company of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, John Read and Reg Hill...
and its CGI remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet
Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet
Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet is a United Kingdom-produced computer-generated imagery action-adventure TV series which debuted in February 2005 as part of the Ministry of Mayhem on ITV....
.
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Well-trusted by the commander-in-chiefCommander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
of Spectrum, Colonel White
Colonel White
Colonel White is a character in the 1960s Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. He is the commander-in-Chief of Spectrum, the security organisation dedicated to defending Earth against the Mysterons from Mars...
, Captain Scarlet is the primary agent of the organisation and is assigned the most dangerous and crucial missions.
He is a close friend of Captain Blue
Captain Blue (Captain Scarlet)
Captain Blue is a character in the 1967 Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. He is a senior officer of the Spectrum organisation and a close friend of Captain Scarlet....
, with whom he undertakes the majority of his missions, although he is on friendly terms with all other Spectrum agents. A close relationship with Destiny Angel is also hinted at several times in the series.
Death, Mysteronisation, and resurrection
Captain Scarlet was killed in the first episode of the series, "The MysteronsThe Mysterons (Captain Scarlet episode)
"The Mysterons" is the first episode of the 1960s Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It was first officially broadcast in the UK on ATV Midlands on , although it had been granted an unscheduled test transmission for the London area on...
," in a car crash
Car accident
A traffic collision, also known as a traffic accident, motor vehicle collision, motor vehicle accident, car accident, automobile accident, Road Traffic Collision or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other stationary obstruction,...
brought about by the Mysteron
Mysteron
The Mysterons are a fictional race of extraterrestrials, native to the planet Mars, which appear in the British science fiction Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet, symbolised by ubiquitous projected green rings and the deep...
s, which also resulted in the death of Captain Brown
Captain Brown
Captain Brown is a character in the 1967 Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. A Spectrum officer, he is killed by the Mysterons in the first episode of the series...
. Both men were reconstructed by the aliens, who assigned their exact likenesses of both men to assassinate the World President
World government in science fiction
In both science fiction and utopian/dystopian fiction, authors have made frequent use of the age-old idea of a global state and, accordingly, of world government.- Overview :...
. The Captain Brown likeness was turned into a walking bomb for this purpose. When this attempt failed, the Captain Scarlet likeness kidnapped the President from Cloudbase
Cloudbase
Cloudbase is the fictional skyborne headquarters of international security organisation Spectrum, from Gerry Anderson's science fiction television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons .-Appearance in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons:...
and flew him to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, taking him to the top of the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
Car-Vu, a large car park
Multi-storey car park
A multi-storey car-park is a building designed specifically to be for car parking and where there are a number of floors or levels on which parking takes place...
tower. Cornered while holding the President at gunpoint
Gunpoint
Gunpoint is the direction that a gun is pointing. It may also refer to:*Gunpoint , a 1966 movie Western starring Audie Murphy*"At gunpoint", under threat from a gun: see Coercion#Physical...
over the city below, the Captain Scarlet likeness was shot by Captain Blue and fell 800 feet to his apparent destruction. However, at the end of the episode it was revealed that Captain Scarlet was returning to life and had become almost incapable of dying permanently due to the powers of the Mysterons, although the fall had broken the Mysteron programming and returned him to his original personality. This extraordinary ability heals Scarlet of physical injuries within hours, making him virtually indestructible.
Captain Scarlet's Mysteronised body, like those of all Mysteron likenesses, is still vulnerable to electricity and impervious to X-ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
s. He also has a "sixth sense" when in the presence of a strong Mysteron influence - he becomes nauseated, sweats, and suffers a severe headache - but this sense sometimes does not indicate all Mysteron presences in an area. Though Captain Scarlet "dies" several times in the course of the series - usually quite violently - he always returns to life. In "Attack on Cloudbase
Attack on Cloudbase
"Attack on Cloudbase" is the 31st episode of the 1960s Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. The penultimate instalment of the series, it first aired in the United Kingdom on ATV Midlands on 7 May 1968...
," Captain Scarlet is declared finally and permanently dead during the course of the battle for Cloudbase; however, this is later revealed to be Symphony Angel's hallucination as she is stranded in a desert, waiting for Spectrum to rescue her following a plane crash.
Personality
Captain Scarlet, as the main protagonist, is one of the most developed characters in the series. His real name is Paul Metcalfe. He has black hair and blue eyes, speaks with an EnglishBritish English
British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
accent and is said to be from Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, England. He was born on 17 December, 2036. He is not unfamiliar with gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
and drinking and in the episode "Special Assignment
Special Assignment
"Special Assignment" is the tenth episode of the Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It was first broadcast in the UK on on ATV Midlands, was written by Tony Barwick and directed by Robert Lynn...
" plays, and loses heavily at, roulette
Roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after a French diminutive for little wheel. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even....
. In the episode "Flight 104
Flight 104
"Flight 104" is the 22nd episode of the Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It was first broadcast in the UK on on ATV Midlands, was written by Tony Barwick and directed by Robert Lynn....
," Captain Scarlet expresses a preference for steak "with all the trimmings."
Captain Scarlet is a competent pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
and can drive almost any vehicle. He is also a qualified astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
. He is a somewhat stereotypical hero in that he is dependable and always gets the job done although he is not always successful. He does, however, have a lighter side. He also has a rather dry wit and sarcastic sense of humour, often using this in dialogue with other Spectrum agents.
He can turn his hand to a variety of weapons from guns to electric cables. Captain Scarlet is not shown to have any love interests during the series although previous attractions are indicated at some points, and a popular speculation among the fan community of the series is that he has a soft spot for, if not a relationship with, compatriot Rhapsody Angel.
Captain Scarlet has a close friendship with Captain Blue, who acts as Captain Scarlet's "field partner." Captain Blue cares about his friend and Captain Scarlet trusts him implicitly, although he is professional enough to use deadly force against him as necessary when Captain Scarlet was controlled by the Mysterons. In the episode "Special Assignment
Special Assignment
"Special Assignment" is the tenth episode of the Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It was first broadcast in the UK on on ATV Midlands, was written by Tony Barwick and directed by Robert Lynn...
," Captain Blue tries to stop Captain Scarlet's apparent spiral of self-destruction, showing the bond between them. (It was later revealed that this development was part of a plan to infiltrate a Mysteron attack, the plan being kept secret from Captain Blue so that his reaction to Captain Scarlet's dismissal would be natural.) In the episode "Renegade Rocket
Renegade Rocket
"Renegade Rocket" is the 16th episode of the Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It was first broadcast in the UK on on ATV Midlands, was written by Ralph Hart and directed by Brian Burgess...
," both men are prepared to stay in a missile base targeted by the Mysterons and die in a last-ditch attempt to stop its destruction.
Captain Scarlet is also friends with Lieutenant Green
Lieutenant Green
Lieutenant Green is the assistant of Colonel White in the Supermarionation television series series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. He is of Trinidadian origin, and as well as being the only non-white male on Cloudbase, he is the only officer to hold the rank of lieutenant...
, as demonstrated when he accompanies Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue on certain missions. However, Captain Scarlet is friendly with all other Cloudbase personnel, and he has no particular enemies among those with whom he is closely associated.
Puppet sculpture
The likeness of the Captain ScarletCaptain Scarlet (character)
Captain Scarlet is the fictional main character in Gerry Anderson's British Supermarionation science fiction television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and its CGI remake Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet....
character has, since his first appearance, been attributed to Francis Matthews
Francis Matthews (actor)
-Early life:Matthews attended St Michael's Jesuit College, Leeds and started his acting career with Leeds repertory theatre before service in the Royal Navy.-Career:...
, who voiced Scarlet in the series, Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
and Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
.
Background
Born in Winchester, England, Scarlet's mother was Ann Brightman, an English astrophysicist, while his father, Tom Metcalfe, was an American pilot who later joined the International Space Agency. As a boy of ten, Paul watched his father take humankind's first steps on MarsMars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
and vowed to follow in his historic footsteps. He studied astrophysics at MIT before joining the US Air Force. But the outbreak of global terrorist wars, which saw the deaths of both his parents, changed his focus.
He transferred to US Special Forces and commanded an elite unit that saw action across the world. His second-in-command was Lieutenant Conrad Lefkon, who became his closest friend. With the end of the wars, a new security organisation was established: Spectrum. Paul was an obvious choice for the new organisation, and took on the codename "Captain Scarlet". His good friend Lefkon was also signed up as "Captain Black
Captain Black (Captain Scarlet)
Captain Black is the fictional nemesis of Captain Scarlet and recurring Mysteron agent in the 1960s British supermarionation science fiction television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and its CGI remake Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet...
".
Scarlet later became Spectrum's special weapon in its "war of nerves" with the Mysteron
Mysteron
The Mysterons are a fictional race of extraterrestrials, native to the planet Mars, which appear in the British science fiction Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet, symbolised by ubiquitous projected green rings and the deep...
s; a weapon created by the Mysterons themselves when they killed Scarlet during a mission on Mars along with Captain Black. After they had discovered the Mysterons' city, Black fired a destructive shot against it, believing they were under attack. The two men watched in astonishment as the city rebuilt itself, and tried to flee to escape their fate, only to be killed afterwards.
The Mysterons rebuilt Scarlet as an invincible human replica to infiltrate Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
and lead their war against the planet. While under the control of the Mysterons, Scarlet tried to destroy Skybase, but was stopped in his efforts by Captain Blue
Captain Blue (Captain Scarlet)
Captain Blue is a character in the 1967 Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. He is a senior officer of the Spectrum organisation and a close friend of Captain Scarlet....
. Falling down through a plasma stream, Scarlet was killed, but recovered later on in Sickbay, under the astonished eyes of Doctor Gold and other onlookers, and revealed himself to be fully free of the Mysterons' control. Metcalfe's human psyche had survived and regained control of his physical body. Instead of being killed by the power surge, Scarlet was only harmed temporarily, and was restored to life by the genetic mutation of the Mysteron "retrometabolisation" process which makes him virtually "indestructible".
Scarlet is a dedicated Spectrum officer. First and foremost, he is a soldier on the frontline of Earth's defences. However, he is also tormented by what he has become - not fully human. Utterly fearless and dedicated to saving the human race, for all Scarlet's heroism there is one thing that makes him very uneasy - his growing feelings for Destiny Angel, the girlfriend of his late friend, Captain Black.
Abilities
Retrometabolism - so far, Captain Scarlet can survive, and heal from any injuries, even the more devastating ones, although the recovery is never instantaneous.In a few episodes, it is stated that he can feel a Mysteron's presence, by feeling nauseated and unwell. In the pilot story ("Instrument of Destruction", Parts 1 and 2), it is also stated that Scarlet shared a kind of telepathic link with Captain Black - which is considered by Colonel White
Colonel White
Colonel White is a character in the 1960s Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. He is the commander-in-Chief of Spectrum, the security organisation dedicated to defending Earth against the Mysterons from Mars...
as an advantage in the war against the Mysterons that he cannot dismiss.
During the episode "Rat Trap", the Mysterons were able to contact Scarlet and to talk to him, while nobody else could hear them. It is not clear if this phenomenon was because he was on the Mysterons' home planet, or if he would hear them, wherever he might be, if they chose to contact him again.
In "Chiller", it was revealed that, when particularly badly wounded, Scarlet's body has the capability to separate his emotional and physical selves so that the latter can heal quicker, leaving the former as a ghostlike apparition, detectable only by its coldness.
In music
- Captain Scarlet is referred to by The KinksThe KinksThe Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
in the song "Daylight", on their album Preservation Act 1.