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"The Mysterons" (or, rarely, "Mars2068 A.D.")〔〔 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 29 September 1967, although it had been given an unscheduled test screening in the London area five months earlier on 29 April 1967.〔 It was written by series creators Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and directed by Desmond Saunders. In the first episode, following an unwarranted human attack on their Martian colony, a collective extraterrestrial intelligence calling themselves the "Mysterons" initiate a war of retribution against Earth; the Spectrum security organisation is mobilised to counter the Mysterons' first threat, which is to assassinate the World President. Filmed in January 1967,〔 the completed version of the episode differs from a pilot script that the Andersons submitted in August 1966,〔 particularly with respect to Captain Scarlet's biology as a replicated Mysteron intermediary.〔 During pre-production, Patrick McGoohan was contacted as a possible guest-star, but a combination of actor availability and budget limitations precluded his casting as the voice of the President.〔〔 Enthusiastically received by members of the voice cast in 1967〔〔 "The Mysterons" was also praised by critics such as British journalists James Rampton and Allison Pearson when it was repeated on BBC Two in 1993.〔〔 The episode's violence has attracted commentary, particularly with respect to a scene in which the Mysteron double of Spectrum's Captain Brown physically explodes.〔〔〔 In addition to flashback appearances in the later ''Captain Scarlet'' episodes "Winged Assassin", "Dangerous Rendezvous" and "Traitor", footage from "The Mysterons" was re-edited to introduce to ''Captain Scarlet vs the Mysterons'', a ''Captain Scarlet'' compilation film.〔 The Century 21 mini-album episode ''Introducing Captain Scarlet'' expands on various aspects of the plot of the TV episode.〔 ==Plot== In 2068, the crew of the ''Zero-X'' spacecraft are investigating the surface of Mars in the Martian Exploration Vehicle (MEV) to locate the source of unidentified radio signals detected by the Spectrum security organisation on Earth. The point of origin is revealed to be an extraterrestrial city inhabited by the Mysterons, a collective artificial intelligence. Mistaking the Mysterons' surveillance towers for gun batteries, ''Zero-X'' commander and Spectrum officer Captain Black orders Lieutenant Dean to fire on the colony with the MEV's missile cannon. However, in a process that the Mysterons name "reversing matter", a turret projects a light onto the wreckage and restores the destroyed complex to its original, undamaged state. Claiming to be peaceful by nature, the vengeful Mysterons seize control of Black's mind〔At the start of the episode, the human Black (voiced by Jeremy Wilkin) has a healthy complexion and speaks with a North American accent. As the Mysterons assert their control, he turns unnaturally pallid and his voice changes to imitate that of the Mysterons (the slow, deep tones of both being provided by Donald Gray).〕 and declare a "war of nerves" against Earth, stating that their first retaliatory act for the attack on their settlement will be the assassination World President. When the ''Zero-X'' returns to Earth, Black mysteriously disappears. Captains Scarlet and Brown are assigned to escort the President to the Spectrum Maximum Security Building in New York City. However, both officers are killed when the Mysterons use their powers over matter to engineer the crash of their Spectrum Patrol Car (SPC).〔The Mysterons' influence, which is used to puncture one of the SPC's tyres, is indicated by the picture slowly changing from full colour to blue monochrome. Since ''Captain Scarlet'' originally aired in black-and-white in the UK, the visual effect was erased during transmission (Bentley 2001, p. 59).〕 From Scarlet and Brown's corpses, the Mysterons create two reconstructions, which are capable of perfectly imitating their biological templates and whose only programmed purpose is to execute the threat against the President. As a first assassination attempt, Brown's duplicate physically explodes after arriving with the President at the Maximum Security Building; although the tower is completely destroyed, the President escapes with his life by activating an emergency door seconds before the detonation. On Spectrum's airborne headquarters, Cloudbase, Spectrum commander-in-chief Colonel White concludes that Brown was a traitor and was concealing a bomb on his person. Unaware of the Mysterons' subversion of his officers, he orders Scarlet's reconstruction to fly the President to a second Maximum Security Building in London. When the body of the original Brown is discovered at the scene of the SPC crash, it dawns on White that the President is in the hands of an impostor, and that the person whom he believed to be Scarlet is not human. Ignoring instructions to return to Cloudbase, with its Spectrum Jet under fire from the Angel fighter squadron, the Scarlet duplicate ejects itself and the President over southern England; on the ground, both the duplicate and the President, the latter being held hostage, set off towards London in a stolen car. Captain Blue gives pursuit in a Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle (SPV). Meanwhile, the Angels destroy a bridge to divert the Scarlet duplicate, forcing him into a dead end at the top of the London Car-Vu, an elevated car park above street level. As Captain Black observes from a derelict building, the duplicate awaits the arrival of Spectrum Helicopter A42, which has been hijacked by the Mysteron influence. When Blue is fired upon, Destiny Angel shoots down the helicopter, which crashes into the tower underneath Scarlet, Blue and the President. Blue shoots the duplicate, which falls from the Car-Vu to the ground below. Wearing a jetpack, Blue lifts the President to safety just before the Car-Vu collapses. The Mysteron plot thwarted, the epilogue reveals that the Mysteron copy of Scarlet duplicate has inexplicably recovered from his multiple, fatal injuries. Furthermore, it appears to be no longer under Mysteron control, the consciousness of the original Scarlet having re-asserted itself. Addressing his officers, White suggests that this healing factor makes the duplicate "indestructible", and that it is destined to become Spectrum's greatest asset in Earth's war with Mars. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Mysterons (Captain Scarlet episode)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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