Compared with puppets used in Thunderbirds, the marionettes in Captain Scarlet were larger and much more detailed. However, contrary to what fans might have expected, the extra detail on the puppets made moving them more difficult. Walking, always an issue for puppets, became almost impossible. Various cheats were used during filming, like moving walkways and moving chairs. And the characters did an awful lot of sitting down. The more static nature of the puppets was not lost on viewers at the time. However, on a more positive note, the larger scale used for the vehicle models allowed for more realistic "driving", with the SPVs dipping into road imperfections more plausibly.
Mike has lived in the UK, Japan and the USA. Currently, he is based in Iowa with his wife and 2 young children. After working for many years as a writer and editor for a large corporation, he is now a freelancer. He has been fortunate enough to contribute to many books on Doctor Who over the last 20 years and is now concentrating on original sci-fi & fantasy short stories, with recent sales including Flame Tree, Uffda, and The Martian Wave. Also, look for his contribution on Blake's 7 to "You and Who Else", a charity anthology to be released later this year.
You can find him on Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/culttvmike
