Captain Scarlet
Jul. 31st, 2005 11:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdI have seen pilot for the new Captain Scarlet - a two-parter, hour-long episode titled "Instrument of Destruction," and yea - it is good. I've written up a short review that has spoilers, but if you're familiar with the original series, they aren't too thick.
First off, all those things that fans of the original series knew, and were hinted at in the show itself - how Spectrum doesn't entirely trust the recreated Scarlet, the little bit of a mental link he retains with Mysteron agents, the whole creepy nature of the situation - it's not just still there, it's right out front. In the old series, these things were in the background, lost behind the threat of the week; in this series, they're confronting them head-on. Captain Scarlet spends half of the first episode in prison or under guard, and for good reason - and Captain Blue does not trust him.
The traditional strengths of a Gerry Anderson production are also still with us; the vehicles and tech are cool - I don't know what the hell that three-wheeled thing is, but god, I want one - if occasionally a little less distinctive than in times past. (We've seen our share of high-ranging technological computer displays like this before.) We also have our first woman amoungst the colour-coded agents; Lieutenant Green has been replaced with, well, a new Lieutenant Green, still in that mobile chair - but the chair's now a lot more mobile.
As, of course, is everyone else. They make a lot of good use of having these characters now free of the strings. In one of dozens of nods to fans of the original series, they make a point of it: Colonel White strides into the command centre now. Good bye, moving walkways and chair-elevators to fighter jets; hello, stairwells, leaps into the cockpit, and an action sequence so amazing I will not describe it here. It's good to see you.
Skybase as a whole appears to be somewhat larger, and a lot more complete. We see other personnel onboard; we see much more of the inner workings - the hangar and engineering are both important locations in the first half of the pilot. We see robots on the flight deck, waldos run by actual crew in the hangar deck below. Cool? Oh yeah. It's made entirely of cool. We also see a lot of familiar vehicles, and they still have SPVs - tho' those of us watching the pilot were pretty sure they're driving facing forwards these days.
The initial setup of the series hasn't changed much - but this time, Scarlet is along for the ride with Black, and they both die on Mars rather than Scarlet being killed and replaced later, on Earth. We have a more immediate insight into the background stories of many of the characters - we actually get to see a little bit of Captain Black in action before they reach Mars. It appears that they intend to explore the parallels between the two characters more in this version, and this Captain Black is more than willing and able to use his Spectrum knowledge against his old friends.
The motivations of the Mysterions are unchanged, except we find out they've been annoyed at Earth already by the time Spectrum runs across them, and Black overreacts and starts the war. The scale of this first Mysteron attack, however, exceeds that of any individual attack from the original series, tho' the goal remains the same. Whether this will be a regular feature is a good question; if it is, can a series run continually on that scale and not be exhausting?
More of the interpersonal relationships are brought out right away; Captain Black's pre-series relationship with Destiny Angel - a bit heavy-handed in the selection there, honestly - comes up a couple of times; she's at his funeral. The nature of Symphony and Scarlet's relationship has, by necessity, shifted, given the more forthright treatment of his unique situation. And as mentioned before, Scarlet and Blue are on different terms now.
There's so much material in the initial story that they've made the pilot into a two-parter, yielding an hour-long episode. My main complaint is that even with twice the time, it felt a bit rushed; they could have used an extra half-hour to fill out a few scenes and given the storyline time to unfold a bit more organically. The evolution of the story felt right - but it also felt a bit hurried. I'd have been very happy for this to roll out in three parts, rather than two.
Overall, I have to say that this is one hell of a start. Hopefully, they haven't brought too much forward too quickly; I'd hate to see the idea and concept density drop precipitously in the third or fourth episodes. But that's a bridge to cross when we come to it. Based on the pilot alone, if you've ever been a Fanderson, if you ever liked the original Captain Scarlet, have a friend in the UK get you a copy of this. You'll like it. If you're not, check it out anyway; the non-fan control viewer watching with me last night thought it was pretty cool, too.
In other news, having won the round of croquet at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jessicac's annual croquet and tea party, I have retained the Skank Barbie Trophy for another year. This means now that I have to improve it. I'm thinking about how.
Saturday's miles: 3.1
Miles out of Hobbiton: 304.35
Miles to Rivendell: 153.95
First off, all those things that fans of the original series knew, and were hinted at in the show itself - how Spectrum doesn't entirely trust the recreated Scarlet, the little bit of a mental link he retains with Mysteron agents, the whole creepy nature of the situation - it's not just still there, it's right out front. In the old series, these things were in the background, lost behind the threat of the week; in this series, they're confronting them head-on. Captain Scarlet spends half of the first episode in prison or under guard, and for good reason - and Captain Blue does not trust him.
The traditional strengths of a Gerry Anderson production are also still with us; the vehicles and tech are cool - I don't know what the hell that three-wheeled thing is, but god, I want one - if occasionally a little less distinctive than in times past. (We've seen our share of high-ranging technological computer displays like this before.) We also have our first woman amoungst the colour-coded agents; Lieutenant Green has been replaced with, well, a new Lieutenant Green, still in that mobile chair - but the chair's now a lot more mobile.
As, of course, is everyone else. They make a lot of good use of having these characters now free of the strings. In one of dozens of nods to fans of the original series, they make a point of it: Colonel White strides into the command centre now. Good bye, moving walkways and chair-elevators to fighter jets; hello, stairwells, leaps into the cockpit, and an action sequence so amazing I will not describe it here. It's good to see you.
Skybase as a whole appears to be somewhat larger, and a lot more complete. We see other personnel onboard; we see much more of the inner workings - the hangar and engineering are both important locations in the first half of the pilot. We see robots on the flight deck, waldos run by actual crew in the hangar deck below. Cool? Oh yeah. It's made entirely of cool. We also see a lot of familiar vehicles, and they still have SPVs - tho' those of us watching the pilot were pretty sure they're driving facing forwards these days.
The initial setup of the series hasn't changed much - but this time, Scarlet is along for the ride with Black, and they both die on Mars rather than Scarlet being killed and replaced later, on Earth. We have a more immediate insight into the background stories of many of the characters - we actually get to see a little bit of Captain Black in action before they reach Mars. It appears that they intend to explore the parallels between the two characters more in this version, and this Captain Black is more than willing and able to use his Spectrum knowledge against his old friends.
The motivations of the Mysterions are unchanged, except we find out they've been annoyed at Earth already by the time Spectrum runs across them, and Black overreacts and starts the war. The scale of this first Mysteron attack, however, exceeds that of any individual attack from the original series, tho' the goal remains the same. Whether this will be a regular feature is a good question; if it is, can a series run continually on that scale and not be exhausting?
More of the interpersonal relationships are brought out right away; Captain Black's pre-series relationship with Destiny Angel - a bit heavy-handed in the selection there, honestly - comes up a couple of times; she's at his funeral. The nature of Symphony and Scarlet's relationship has, by necessity, shifted, given the more forthright treatment of his unique situation. And as mentioned before, Scarlet and Blue are on different terms now.
There's so much material in the initial story that they've made the pilot into a two-parter, yielding an hour-long episode. My main complaint is that even with twice the time, it felt a bit rushed; they could have used an extra half-hour to fill out a few scenes and given the storyline time to unfold a bit more organically. The evolution of the story felt right - but it also felt a bit hurried. I'd have been very happy for this to roll out in three parts, rather than two.
Overall, I have to say that this is one hell of a start. Hopefully, they haven't brought too much forward too quickly; I'd hate to see the idea and concept density drop precipitously in the third or fourth episodes. But that's a bridge to cross when we come to it. Based on the pilot alone, if you've ever been a Fanderson, if you ever liked the original Captain Scarlet, have a friend in the UK get you a copy of this. You'll like it. If you're not, check it out anyway; the non-fan control viewer watching with me last night thought it was pretty cool, too.
In other news, having won the round of croquet at
jessicac's annual croquet and tea party, I have retained the Skank Barbie Trophy for another year. This means now that I have to improve it. I'm thinking about how.Saturday's miles: 3.1
Miles out of Hobbiton: 304.35
Miles to Rivendell: 153.95
