10 Things You Didn't Know About Captain Scarlet

"This is the voice of WhatCulture. We know that you can hear us, Earthmen." Sorry, there was no other way of starting that introduction. The Gerry Anderson shows are still fondly remembered by fans across the world, and not least amongst his output was Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. The original programme ran for two series from 1967 to 1968 and featured the indestructible Captain Scarlet and the other agents of Spectrum defending the Earth against the evil plans of the Mysterons and their human agent, Captain Black. Captain Scarlet, like other Anderson-helmed programmes, featured puppets (or marionettes) rather than actual actors. But when fans think of the programme, they mostly recall the incredibly cool vehicles and planes. And many of those fans still have the wonderful toy Spectrum Pursuit Vehicles (SPVs) and Angel Interceptors. The programme did return for a CGI reboot in 2005, with two sets of animated episodes; however, fans of the original series would be forgiven for not knowing about the reboot, since the cartoon was shown as part of a Saturday morning ITV line-up, with each episode inexplicably split into two during the course of the morning. This reboot kept much of the plot of the Supermarionation series, but chose to alter the names of the vehicles. Rather than cool SPVs, the children of 2005 were regaled with animal-themed vehicles, such as "Rhinos". Hmmm. Not cool. And now almost a decade has elapsed since this reboot, it's clear that fans remember the original series rather than this foray into CGI. It is the original series that continues to capture the imagination of fans, and which continues to inspire stories in other series. Without Captain Scarlet, Doctor Who fans would never have been treated to the highly entertaining novel The Indestructible Man (part of BBC Worldwide's Past Doctor Adventures range, written by Simon Messingham, and published in 2005). Not that links between Captain Scarlet and Doctor Who end there - writer Phil Ford penned countless episodes of the CGI reboot of Captain Scarlet as well as two live-action Doctor Who stories (Waters of Mars and Into The Dalek), multiple Sarah Jane Adventures episodes, a Torchwood episode, and the animated Who story Dreamland. So, it's the original series of Captain Scarlet that will be the basis of this article: Here are 10 cool facts that casual fans and viewers who nostalgically remember Captain Scarlet will be interested to learn about the man in scarlet. If you're a die-hard aficionado, you'll know some of these already, but hopefully you'll learn one or two new things. And read quickly, the Mysterons have sent their latest threat and the world is in peril - we're racing against the clock and only Spectrum can save us!