Inferno (Captain Scarlet episode)
Encyclopedia
"Inferno" is the 28th episode of the Supermarionation
television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
. It was the 32nd and final episode to be produced. It was first broadcast in the UK on 16 April 1968 on ATV Midlands, was written by Tony Barwick
and Shane Rimmer
and directed by Alan Perry. In this episode, the Mysteron
s destroy and reconstruct a spacecraft to attack the Najama desalinisation plant in the Andes mountains.
orbit, the pilot and navigator of an SKR4 recovery vehicle are preparing to rendezvous with a malfunctioning rocket
when a space rock
collides with their vessel. Aborting the mission on the pretence of a mechanical fault, a Mysteron
reconstruction of the SKR4 changes course and resets its coordinates for Earth. Meanwhile, the Mysterons have revealed the target of their next threat: the Najama desalinisation plant in the foothills of the Andes mountains, responsible for processing seawater for irrigating the interior of South America
. Colonel White
dispatches a team led by Captains Scarlet
and Blue
to set up observation points in the Najama Valley while the service personnel are evacuated. Setting up a base in an old Aztec
temple, Scarlet and Blue alternate the night watch, but Blue is rudely awoken by a curious scraping sound. The officers are unaware that Captain Black
has infiltrated the temple and placed a strange device in a giant statue of the Aztec Sun God.
Elsewhere, Euro Tracker station is monitoring the SKR4's return to Earth. When the spacecraft fails to respond to transmissions, Major Moran contacts Spectrum. A radio signal interferes with the SKR4's re-entry
systems, altering its projected landing area. Learning from Lieutenant Green
that the signal is transmitting from Najama and that the SKR4 is carrying several explosive packs, Colonel White deduces that the spacecraft will be guided to crash into the Najama Valley. As the SKR4 begins re-entry, the Spectrum team frantically try to pinpoint the exact location of the transmitter — the device planted by Black. With only minutes remaining until impact, Blue discovers that it is somewhere inside the temple and Scarlet orders the Spectrum Angels to attack. Eventually even the statue is destroyed in the bombardment, but it is too late to stop the SKR4 crashing into the wreckage. The explosion triggers a landslide
which surges into the valley, hitting vulnerable liquid oxygen
tanks and annihilating Najama complex in a series of massive explosions. Thousands of square miles of South America are now set to revert to arid wasteland.
tracks from Thunderbirds
and Supercar
are used in this episode. This is the third time that the Mysteron's vanishing power is seen. It is also seen in "The Heart of New York
" and "Model Spy
".
an-based "Euro-Space" organisation in "Inferno" as the writers' intention to demonstrate a hypothetical future sharing of space operations with the American Space Agency.
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...
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...
. It was the 32nd and final episode to be produced. It was first broadcast in the UK on 16 April 1968 on ATV Midlands, was written by Tony Barwick
Tony Barwick
Tony Barwick was a British television scriptwriter who worked extensively on series created and produced by Gerry Anderson....
and Shane Rimmer
Shane Rimmer
Shane Rimmer is a Canadian actor and voice actor, probably best known as the voice of Scott Tracy in Thunderbirds.He has mostly performed in supporting roles, frequently in films and television series filmed in the United Kingdom, having relocated to England in the late 1950s, initially performing...
and directed by Alan Perry. In this episode, 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 destroy and reconstruct a spacecraft to attack the Najama desalinisation plant in the Andes mountains.
Plot
In EarthEarth
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...
orbit, the pilot and navigator of an SKR4 recovery vehicle are preparing to rendezvous with a malfunctioning rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
when a space rock
Meteoroid
A meteoroid is a sand- to boulder-sized particle of debris in the Solar System. The visible path of a meteoroid that enters Earth's atmosphere is called a meteor, or colloquially a shooting star or falling star. If a meteoroid reaches the ground and survives impact, then it is called a meteorite...
collides with their vessel. Aborting the mission on the pretence of a mechanical fault, a 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...
reconstruction of the SKR4 changes course and resets its coordinates for Earth. Meanwhile, the Mysterons have revealed the target of their next threat: the Najama desalinisation plant in the foothills of the Andes mountains, responsible for processing seawater for irrigating the interior of South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. 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...
dispatches a team led by Captains Scarlet
Captain 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....
and 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....
to set up observation points in the Najama Valley while the service personnel are evacuated. Setting up a base in an old Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
temple, Scarlet and Blue alternate the night watch, but Blue is rudely awoken by a curious scraping sound. The officers are unaware that 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...
has infiltrated the temple and placed a strange device in a giant statue of the Aztec Sun God.
Elsewhere, Euro Tracker station is monitoring the SKR4's return to Earth. When the spacecraft fails to respond to transmissions, Major Moran contacts Spectrum. A radio signal interferes with the SKR4's re-entry
Re-Entry
"Re-Entry" was the second album released by UK R&B / Hip Hop collective Big Brovaz. After the album was delayed in May 2006, the band finally release the follow-up to "Nu Flow" on 9 April 2007...
systems, altering its projected landing area. Learning from 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...
that the signal is transmitting from Najama and that the SKR4 is carrying several explosive packs, Colonel White deduces that the spacecraft will be guided to crash into the Najama Valley. As the SKR4 begins re-entry, the Spectrum team frantically try to pinpoint the exact location of the transmitter — the device planted by Black. With only minutes remaining until impact, Blue discovers that it is somewhere inside the temple and Scarlet orders the Spectrum Angels to attack. Eventually even the statue is destroyed in the bombardment, but it is too late to stop the SKR4 crashing into the wreckage. The explosion triggers a landslide
Landslide
A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments...
which surges into the valley, hitting vulnerable liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen — abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries — is one of the physical forms of elemental oxygen.-Physical properties:...
tanks and annihilating Najama complex in a series of massive explosions. Thousands of square miles of South America are now set to revert to arid wasteland.
Production
A number of incidental musicIncidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
tracks from Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds (TV series)
Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation"...
and Supercar
Supercar (TV series)
Supercar was a children's TV show produced by Gerry Anderson and Arthur Provis's AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment. 39 episodes were produced between 1961 and 1962, and it was Anderson's first half-hour series. In the UK it was seen on ITV and in the US in syndication...
are used in this episode. This is the third time that the Mysteron's vanishing power is seen. It is also seen in "The Heart of New York
The Heart of New York
"The Heart of New York" is the 11th 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 Alan Perry...
" and "Model Spy
Model Spy
"Model Spy" is the 14th 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 Bill Hedley and directed by Ken Turner....
".
Reception
Critics Chris Drake and Graeme Bassett view the presence of a EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an-based "Euro-Space" organisation in "Inferno" as the writers' intention to demonstrate a hypothetical future sharing of space operations with the American Space Agency.
External links
- "Inferno" at Fanderson.org.ukFandersonFanderson is the official appreciation society for the works of Gerry Anderson. It is a not-for-profit organisation endorsed by Anderson Entertainment Ltd, Gerry Anderson Productions plc and ITC Entertainment Group Ltd...
- "Inferno" at CliveBanks.co.uk
- "Inferno" at TheVervoid.com