"Noose of Ice" is the 24th episode of the 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...

 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 first broadcast in the UK on 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 directed by Ken Turner

Ken Turner (director)

Ken Turner is a British television and film director and screenwriter who has worked extensively on series created by Gerry Anderson....

. 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 target a facility mining vital metal for a new 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...

 Space Fleet.

Plot

A new 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...

 Space Fleet is under construction to take the "war of nerves" directly to 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 on Mars

Mars

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...

. 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

North Pole

The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...

. When the Mysterons threaten to sabotage

Sabotage

Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...

 the Space Fleet, 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...

 sends 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....

 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:...

 to be briefed by the Space Administration commander-in-chief

Commander-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...

, General Rebus, in New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. The officers then travel to Hotspot Tower mine in the Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

 and are introduced to the controller, Rhodes.

The seawater

Seawater

Seawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% . This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately of dissolved salts . The average density of seawater at the ocean surface is 1.025 g/ml...

 around the mine is prevented from freezing

Freezing

Freezing or solidification is a phase change in which a liquid turns into a solid when its temperature is lowered below its freezing point. The reverse process is melting....

 and crushing Hotspot Tower by electrical heating element

Heating element

A heating element converts electricity into heat through the process of Joule heating. Electric current through the element encounters resistance, resulting in heating of the element....

s powered from Eskimo

Eskimo

Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....

 Booster Station. However, a maintenance engineer

Maintenance, repair, and operations

Maintenance, repair, and operations or maintenance, repair, and overhaul involves fixing any sort of mechanical or electrical device should it become out of order or broken...

, Neilson, is a Mysteron reconstruction whose human template died in a recent blizzard

Blizzard

A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong winds. By definition, the difference between blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have winds in excess of with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to 400 meters or ¼ mile or...

 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

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...

. The freezing seawater forms a "noose of ice" which closes in on Hotspot Tower.

With the lifts

Elevator

An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...

 inoperative, Scarlet risks decompression sickness

Decompression sickness

Decompression sickness describes a condition arising from dissolved gases coming out of solution into bubbles inside the body on depressurization...

 to float to the surface in a diving suit

Diving suit

A diving suit is a garment or device designed to protect a diver from the underwater environment. A diving suit typically also incorporates an air-supply .-History:...

. He just manages to cross over the ice in a Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle

Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle

The Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle is a fictional pursuit and attack vehicle from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's science fiction television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons .-Appearance in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons:...

 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

Electrocution

Electrocution is a type of electric shock that, as determined by a stopped heart, can end life. Electrocution is frequently used to refer to any electric shock received but is technically incorrect; the choice of definition varies from dictionary to dictionary...

. Wounded, Scarlet reconnects the uncoupled cables and raises the voltage

Voltage

Voltage, otherwise known as electrical potential difference or electric tension is the difference in electric potential between two points — or the difference in electric potential energy per unit charge between two points...

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