spiralsheep's guide to dodgy British skiffy: Captain Scarlet
I liked Thunderbirds when I was a kid because I liked secret island bases which converted into runways and I liked rocketships and satellites and cars with concealed weaponry and I liked daring rescues but, let's be honest, there was only one woman who actually had any fun, Parker was a classist stereotype, and all the south-east Asian characters on the programme were racist stereotypes (some worse than others). However, Thunderbirds was neither the first nor the last Brit skiffy made by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and there's a reason why my rucksack is nicknamed Captain Scarlet (dun-dun DUN dun-dun-dun-dun... INDESTRUCTIBLE!).
The original 32 episodes of Captain Scarlet (and the Mysterons) were first broadcast on independent television (that's ITV to the Brits and not-the-BBC to everyone else) from 29th September 1967 to 16th April 1968 (all before I was born) and frequently repeated thereafter. The premise is that a human man attacked the alien Mysterons and now they aim to destroy the Earth while Spectrum tries to stop them. Those of you not familiar with the Andersons' oeuvre might need to have it pointed out to you that it was a puppet show... filmed in Supermarionation! The British Film Institute website has a fair and balanced summary or, if you must, there's wikipedia. The same premise was recently remade as an animated series but we won't mention that because I didn't see it.
I'm not going to claim Captain Scarlet was anything other than a product of its time. There's less sexism and racism in the society portrayed (yes, one global "world" society, singular) than there was in the society which produced it but Spectrum's women fighter pilots, the Angel Pack, have much smaller roles than the men working for Spectrum and are depicted as less capable, while the only non-white man apparently working for Spectrum is a Lieutenant instead of a Captain and primarily a desk-jockey, rather than a field agent, although he is Spectrum's communications and computer expert (yay!)... but... women combat pilots in 2068 1967! A Trinidadian man who's a tech genius!
When I was a little girl I was presented with choices of which version of The Future I wanted for myself. I could be a time & space traveller in the Tardis with Doctor Who, I could be a fighter pilot for Spectrum with Captain Scarlet, or I could be a nurse or Captain Kirk's secretary on Star Trek, and that's why I never became a Trekker and have been a lifelong fan of dodgy British skiffy.
The characters who featured in Captain Scarlet first appeared in a comic called Lady Penelope on 21st January 1967 (there's a comprehensive Anderson comics website with pages for The Angels in 1967 and 1968). Lady Penelope was a British girl's adventure comic and featured the leading women characters from Supermarionation shows: Lady Penelope from Thunderbirds, Marina from Stingray, and then the Angels. The Angels almost have individual personalities in the comics, and annuals, which acted as supplements to the short, mono-plot oriented programme with, ahem, wooden characterisation. Although the supposedly African-American Melody's skin colour varies as dramatically as it did on television.
The Angels (l-r): Destiny, Symphony, Melody, Rhapsody and Harmony.
Melody and Harmony discuss their new uniforms and jets.
Melody visits her family and contacts Colonel White and Lieutenant Green at Spectrum Cloudbase.
youtube has an actual intro from the programme (1:49) which includes an introduction of each of the Angels by name and a hilariously over-dramatic voice-over by the baddies and their zombie agent Captain Black (yes, the show was as bad as that looks).
There's also a spiffy fan vid to the theme song (youtube 1:18) which mostly focuses on Captain Scarlet but has brief footage of the Angels and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance by Lieutenant Green (driving, in the green coat).
There's a whole episode available to watch online via streaming video from this page on the British Film Institute's website.
The programme was in colour but I would've seen it in black and white first so you can suffer too.
1.
2.
1. Spectrum Angels (l-r): Harmony, Symphony, Destiny, Rhapsody, Melody
2. Spectrum Cloudbase conference room (l-r): Lieutenant Green, Melody Angel, Colonel White, Doctor Fawn, Rhapsody Angel, Captain Grey, Captain Scarlet, Harmony Angel, Captain Blue, Destiny Angel and Captain Ochre.
3.
4.
3. Spectrum Cloudbase officers' lounge (l-r): Captain Blue, Lieutenant Green, Symphony Angel, Captain Scarlet and Melody Angel.
4. Lunar base (l-r): Captain Blue, Captain Scarlet, Lieutenant Green, Lunar Controller Linda Nolan and a lunar lackey.
5.
6.
5. Lieutenant Green and Captain Scarlet.
6. Captain Ochre is very fond of Captain Blue. ::cough::
Characters of colour
Most of the characters' backstories were released or added to the characters in comics, annuals etc., outside the television series but in every case they're consistent with the characters as they were presented in the programme (in as far as any of the puppets had characters on telly).
Harmony Angel (Spectrum's best fighter pilot): Chan Kwan was born in Tokyo, Japan on 19th June 2042 but is ethnically Chinese (puppet voiced by Lian Shin). Harmony's appearance was modelled on actress Tsai Chin. Stereotype watch: she's academically successful and is a martial arts instructor. As she tells a Mysteron agent who threatens her, "My father was a judo black belt third dan. [...] I taught him. I'm a judo black belt fourth dan." (Take THAT, Buffy!)
Melody Angel (Spectrum helicopter and fighter pilot, often leads the Angels): Magnolia Jones born in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. on 10th January 2043. I have the impression she was supposed to be African-American but I don't remember anyone ever actually saying so and her skin colour varied dramatically in the television series (puppet voiced by Sylvia Anderson!). Had been a professional motor-racing driver, an air force test pilot, and is an accomplished mechanical engineer. Stereotype watch: academically unsuccessful and left school at 15 (but she's portrayed as already multilingual and currently learning Japanese).
Lieutenant Green (Spectrum chief communications officer and computer expert): Seymour Griffiths, born in Port of Spain, Trinidad on 18th January 2041 (puppet voiced by Cy Grant). Studied post-grad in Jamaica and is an academically brilliant technological genius. Has been a naval officer and was hand-picked as one of the first members of Spectrum. Stereotype watch: he enjoys calypso singing (but this characteristic was based on the fact that his voice actor Cy Grant was occasionally a professional calypso singer on British television).
(Next on spiralsheep's guide to dodgy British skiffy we review a show set in the far-flung future of... 1980!)
The original 32 episodes of Captain Scarlet (and the Mysterons) were first broadcast on independent television (that's ITV to the Brits and not-the-BBC to everyone else) from 29th September 1967 to 16th April 1968 (all before I was born) and frequently repeated thereafter. The premise is that a human man attacked the alien Mysterons and now they aim to destroy the Earth while Spectrum tries to stop them. Those of you not familiar with the Andersons' oeuvre might need to have it pointed out to you that it was a puppet show... filmed in Supermarionation! The British Film Institute website has a fair and balanced summary or, if you must, there's wikipedia. The same premise was recently remade as an animated series but we won't mention that because I didn't see it.
I'm not going to claim Captain Scarlet was anything other than a product of its time. There's less sexism and racism in the society portrayed (yes, one global "world" society, singular) than there was in the society which produced it but Spectrum's women fighter pilots, the Angel Pack, have much smaller roles than the men working for Spectrum and are depicted as less capable, while the only non-white man apparently working for Spectrum is a Lieutenant instead of a Captain and primarily a desk-jockey, rather than a field agent, although he is Spectrum's communications and computer expert (yay!)... but... women combat pilots in 2068 1967! A Trinidadian man who's a tech genius!
When I was a little girl I was presented with choices of which version of The Future I wanted for myself. I could be a time & space traveller in the Tardis with Doctor Who, I could be a fighter pilot for Spectrum with Captain Scarlet, or I could be a nurse or Captain Kirk's secretary on Star Trek, and that's why I never became a Trekker and have been a lifelong fan of dodgy British skiffy.
The characters who featured in Captain Scarlet first appeared in a comic called Lady Penelope on 21st January 1967 (there's a comprehensive Anderson comics website with pages for The Angels in 1967 and 1968). Lady Penelope was a British girl's adventure comic and featured the leading women characters from Supermarionation shows: Lady Penelope from Thunderbirds, Marina from Stingray, and then the Angels. The Angels almost have individual personalities in the comics, and annuals, which acted as supplements to the short, mono-plot oriented programme with, ahem, wooden characterisation. Although the supposedly African-American Melody's skin colour varies as dramatically as it did on television.
The Angels (l-r): Destiny, Symphony, Melody, Rhapsody and Harmony.
Melody and Harmony discuss their new uniforms and jets.
Melody visits her family and contacts Colonel White and Lieutenant Green at Spectrum Cloudbase.
youtube has an actual intro from the programme (1:49) which includes an introduction of each of the Angels by name and a hilariously over-dramatic voice-over by the baddies and their zombie agent Captain Black (yes, the show was as bad as that looks).
There's also a spiffy fan vid to the theme song (youtube 1:18) which mostly focuses on Captain Scarlet but has brief footage of the Angels and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance by Lieutenant Green (driving, in the green coat).
There's a whole episode available to watch online via streaming video from this page on the British Film Institute's website.
The programme was in colour but I would've seen it in black and white first so you can suffer too.
1.
2.
1. Spectrum Angels (l-r): Harmony, Symphony, Destiny, Rhapsody, Melody
2. Spectrum Cloudbase conference room (l-r): Lieutenant Green, Melody Angel, Colonel White, Doctor Fawn, Rhapsody Angel, Captain Grey, Captain Scarlet, Harmony Angel, Captain Blue, Destiny Angel and Captain Ochre.
3.
4.
3. Spectrum Cloudbase officers' lounge (l-r): Captain Blue, Lieutenant Green, Symphony Angel, Captain Scarlet and Melody Angel.
4. Lunar base (l-r): Captain Blue, Captain Scarlet, Lieutenant Green, Lunar Controller Linda Nolan and a lunar lackey.
5.
6.
5. Lieutenant Green and Captain Scarlet.
6. Captain Ochre is very fond of Captain Blue. ::cough::
Characters of colour
Most of the characters' backstories were released or added to the characters in comics, annuals etc., outside the television series but in every case they're consistent with the characters as they were presented in the programme (in as far as any of the puppets had characters on telly).
Harmony Angel (Spectrum's best fighter pilot): Chan Kwan was born in Tokyo, Japan on 19th June 2042 but is ethnically Chinese (puppet voiced by Lian Shin). Harmony's appearance was modelled on actress Tsai Chin. Stereotype watch: she's academically successful and is a martial arts instructor. As she tells a Mysteron agent who threatens her, "My father was a judo black belt third dan. [...] I taught him. I'm a judo black belt fourth dan." (Take THAT, Buffy!)
Melody Angel (Spectrum helicopter and fighter pilot, often leads the Angels): Magnolia Jones born in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. on 10th January 2043. I have the impression she was supposed to be African-American but I don't remember anyone ever actually saying so and her skin colour varied dramatically in the television series (puppet voiced by Sylvia Anderson!). Had been a professional motor-racing driver, an air force test pilot, and is an accomplished mechanical engineer. Stereotype watch: academically unsuccessful and left school at 15 (but she's portrayed as already multilingual and currently learning Japanese).
Lieutenant Green (Spectrum chief communications officer and computer expert): Seymour Griffiths, born in Port of Spain, Trinidad on 18th January 2041 (puppet voiced by Cy Grant). Studied post-grad in Jamaica and is an academically brilliant technological genius. Has been a naval officer and was hand-picked as one of the first members of Spectrum. Stereotype watch: he enjoys calypso singing (but this characteristic was based on the fact that his voice actor Cy Grant was occasionally a professional calypso singer on British television).
(Next on spiralsheep's guide to dodgy British skiffy we review a show set in the far-flung future of... 1980!)