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''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. First broadcast on ATV Midlands from September 1967〔 to May 1968,〔Bentley 2001, p. 90.〕 it has since been transmitted in more than 40 other countries, including the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.〔 Characters are presented as marionette puppets alongside scale model sets and special effects in a filming technique that the Andersons termed "Supermarionation". This technology incorporated solenoid motors as a means of synchronising the puppet's lip movements with pre-recorded dialogue. Set in 2068,〔 ''Captain Scarlet'' presents the hostilities between Earth and a race of Martians known as the Mysterons. After human astronauts attack their city on Mars, the vengeful Mysterons declare war on Earth,〔 initiating a series of reprisals that are countered by Spectrum, a worldwide security organisation. Spectrum boasts the extraordinary abilities of its primary agent, Captain Scarlet. During the events of the pilot episode, Scarlet acquires the Mysteron healing power of "retro-metabolism" and is thereafter considered to be virtually "indestructible", being able to recover fully from injuries that would normally be fatal.〔 ''Captain Scarlet'', the eighth of ten puppet series that the Andersons produced during the 1950s and 60s, was preceded by ''Thunderbirds'' and followed by ''Joe 90'' and ''The Secret Service''. In terms of visual aesthetic, the series represented a departure from ''Thunderbirds'' on account of its use of non-caricatured puppets sculpted in realistic proportions.〔 Re-run a number of times in the UK〔〔〔 and purchased by the BBC in 1993,〔 the 32-episode series has entailed tie-in merchandise since its first appearance, from dolls〔 to original novels〔 and comic strips in the Century 21 Publications children's magazine, ''TV Century 21''.〔 In comparisons to ''Thunderbirds'' and other earlier series, ''Captain Scarlet'' is generally considered "darker"〔 in tone and less suited to child audiences due to stronger on-screen violence and themes of extraterrestrial aggression and interplanetary war.〔 The transition in the puppets' design has polarised critical opinion and drawn a mixed response from former production staff,〔〔〔 although the series has been praised for its inclusion of a multinational, multiethnic puppet cast and its depiction of a utopian future Earth.〔〔〔 Having decided to revive the series in the late 1990s,〔 Gerry Anderson supervised the production of a computer-animated reboot, ''Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet'', which was broadcast in the UK in 2005. ==Plot summary== (詳細はpilot episode, a team of ''Zero-X''〔The ''Zero-X'' and its lander craft, the Martian Exploration Vehicle (MEV), appear in the first ''Thunderbirds'' film, ''Thunderbirds Are Go''. Production documentation from ''Captain Scarlet'' confirms that the MEV that appears in "The Mysterons" is the same vehicle, which places this series in the same fictional universe as ''Thunderbirds'' (Bentley 2001, p. 59), set in 2065. Spectrum personnel biographies in Bentley's ''The Complete Book of Captain Scarlet'' also place the events of ''Stingray'' (set in 2064) and ''Fireball XL5'' (set in 2063) in this universe (Bentley 2001, pp. 46–47, 50).〕 astronauts investigate the surface of Mars in 2068 after unidentified radio signals emanating from the planet are detected on Earth.〔 Episode 1.〕 The source is discovered to be an extraterrestrial base, which is attacked and destroyed when the explorers mistake a harmless sensor device for a weapon.〔 The inhabitants of the settlement, the Mysterons, are sentient computers that form a collective consciousness.〔 They are the remnants of the original Mysteron race, extraterrestrial life forms that originated in a galaxy other than the Milky Way and maintained their colony on Mars for 3,500 years before abandoning the planet at the turn of the 20th century.〔 Possessing partial control over matter, the Mysteron computers draw on their power of "reversing matter" to rebuild the complex before vowing revenge for the unwarranted aggression.〔 Reversing matter, also described as "retro-metabolism",〔 Episode 2.〕 allows the Mysterons to re-create the likeness of a person or object in the form of a facsimile that is under their control. This ability is used to conduct a "war of nerves" against Earth, in which the Mysterons issue threats against specific targets (from world leaders and military installations to whole cities and continents) and then destroy and reconstruct whatever instruments are required (whether human or machine) to execute their plans. The presence of the Mysterons is indicated by two circles of green light (the "Mysteron rings") that trail across scenes of destruction and reconstruction. Although the Mysterons are able to manipulate events from Mars, their actions on Earth are usually performed by their replicated intermediaries. The primary agent of the Mysterons, ''Zero-X'' mission leader Captain Black, is killed and reconstructed during the encounter on Mars.〔The transformation of Captain Black from human to Mysteron is indicated by a paling of the character's face and a deepening of his voice to match that of the Mysterons.〕〔Bentley 2001, p. 43.〕〔Bentley 2001, p. 47.〕 Before the events of the pilot episode, Black held a senior officer rank in Spectrum, an international security organisation inaugurated in 2067〔 Episode 30.〕 that mobilises all its personnel, vehicles〔Spectrum Pursuit Vehicles (SPV) and Angel Interceptor fighter aircraft are two of a number of vehicles that Spectrum has at its disposal. The Spectrum Patrol Car (or Saloon Car, acronym either SPC of SSC) is used for unarmed land travel, while the Maximum Security Vehicle (MSV) and Yellow Fox, an unmarked security transport disguised as a fuel tanker, are used to protect Mysteron targets. Additional aircraft include the Spectrum Passenger Jet, the two-seater Spectrum Helicopter and the Magnacopter for transporting larger numbers of passengers.〕 and other resources in response to the threat posed by the Mysterons. The Spectrum Organisation is directed from Cloudbase, an airborne headquarters stationed at a height of 40,000 feet above the Earth's surface,〔 Episode 19.〕 and has a presence in all major cities. The organisation employs operatives of many nationalities, of whom the most senior hold military ranks and colour-based codenames, are posted to Cloudbase, and answer directly to the commander-in-chief of Spectrum, Colonel White.〔In communications, Spectrum personnel use the call signal "SIG" ("Spectrum Is Green") as their affirmative code. The negative, "SIR" ("Spectrum Is Red"), is used less often.〕 Cloudbase is defended by the Angels, a squadron of five female pilots named Destiny (squadron leader), Harmony, Melody, Rhapsody and Symphony, who fly the Angel Interceptor fighter aircraft. In addition, the organisation incorporates a fleet of Spectrum Pursuit Vehicles (SPV) hidden in secret locations around the world. Captain Scarlet becomes Spectrum's foremost weapon in its fight against the Mysterons after the events of the pilot episode, in which the Mysterons threaten to assassinate the World President〔In the fictional universe of ''Captain Scarlet,'' power from many individual nations has been vested in a World Government, which is headed by an elected World President and operates its own military and security forces. Spectrum is a unified operation established to provide a more efficient service than these separate bodies, since it is not hindered by interdepartmental red-tape (Bentley 2001, p. 43).〕 as their first act of retaliation.〔〔Bentley 2001, p. 44.〕 The original Scarlet is killed in a car accident engineered by the Mysterons〔For the pilot episode exclusively, different techniques are used to indicate the Mysteron influence: in place of the Mysteron rings, the destroyed complex on Mars is reconstructed by a beam of blue light, while the deaths of the original Captain Scarlet and Captain Brown are preceded by a transition from a full-colour picture to a blue monochrome. The rings make their first appearance in the second episode, "Winged Assassin".〕 and replaced with a Mysteron reconstruction.〔〔 However, when the Scarlet duplicate is shot by Spectrum officer Captain Blue and falls to his death from a tall structure, it returns to life with the consciousness of its human template restored, and is thereafter free from Mysteron control.〔When killed, Mysteron reconstructions are normally permanently destroyed. The one exception to this is Scarlet, who can die and subsequently revive. The character's biography in ''The Complete Book of Captain Scarlet'' states that the Mysterons intended their duplicate of Scarlet to be "indestructible", in contrast with their other reconstructions of deceased humans (Bentley 2001, p. 44).〕〔 Scarlet's ex-Mysteron body possesses two remarkable abilities: he is able to sense the presence of other Mysteron duplicates in his vicinity,〔Scarlet demonstrates this ability in the episodes "Winged Assassin" (production number: 2), "Point 783" (production number: 5) and "Seek and Destroy" (production number: 9), but no others. From the episode "Spectrum Strikes Back" (production number: 10), Captain Scarlet is apparently unaware of the presence of Mysteron agents when near to them. He demonstrates an ability to sense the presence of Mysteron agents in the five EP records, and in the novel ''Captain Scarlet and the Silent Saboteur''.〕 and if he is injured or killed, retro-metabolism restores him to a state of top health. Now able to deploy suicidally reckless tactics to thwart Mysteron threats, Scarlet repeatedly braves the pain of death in the knowledge that he will recover to face the Mysterons once more.〔During the course of the series, two other Spectrum officers are killed and reconstructed by the Mysterons in addition to Scarlet and Black, but their likenesses do not possess the power of retro-metabolism: Captain Brown in "The Mysterons" (who explodes in proximity to, and almost assassinates, the World President in that episode) and Captain Indigo in "Spectrum Strikes Back" (who is permanently destroyed by the Mysteron Gun).〕 While Scarlet and Spectrum defend Earth against the threat from Mars, it is found that Mysteron reconstructions are particularly vulnerable to electricity〔 Episode 8.〕 and that they are detectable on X-rays, to which their biology is impervious.〔 Consequently, two anti-Mysteron devices, the "Mysteron Gun"〔In "Spectrum Strikes Back," a line of dialogue from Captain Scarlet states that the Mysteron Gun "is the only gun that can kill a Mysteron." The gun fires lethal beams of electrons and is not shown in other episodes. Episodes both preceding and following "Spectrum Strikes Back" portray Mysteron agents as being vulnerable to conventional means of destruction, such as explosions (an example of which is in the 11th produced episode, "Avalanche") or bullets (of which there are many examples, including the 12th produced episode, "Shadow of Fear").〕 and the "Mysteron Detector," are developed to aid Spectrum.〔 Episode 9.〕 A three-episode story arc charts the uncovering of a second Mysteron complex under construction on the Moon,〔 Episode 12.〕 its destruction by Spectrum,〔 Episode 17.〕 and efforts to negotiate with the Mysterons on Mars via a crystal power source, salvaged from the complex, which is converted into an interplanetary communication device.〔 A failed attempt at satellite surveillance of the Martian surface,〔 Episode 18.〕 aborted military conferences〔 Episode 7.〕〔 Episode 22.〕 and the sabotaged construction of a new space fleet〔 Episode 24.〕 hinder Spectrum's plans to return to Mars, and the organisation is unsuccessful on two occasions in apprehending Captain Black.〔 Episode 21.〕〔 Episode 4.〕 The penultimate episode of the series depicts a Mysteron assault on Cloudbase with the use of armed spacecraft, which is ultimately revealed to be a nightmare dreamt by one of the Angel pilots.〔 Episode 31.〕 The finale is a flashback episode that ends inconclusively with regards to the war between Earth and Mars and the fate of Spectrum and the Mysterons.〔 Episode 32.〕 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「Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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