Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons 1x1 First Time Watching Reaction - Should I Watch This? 

Captain Scarlet is a weird mashup of traditional science fiction tropes and Christian dogma. Scarlet lives on "Cloudbase" with "Col. White" and the "Angels", and descends weekly to Earth to "die" defending mankind and then be "resurrected." That being said, its a hell of a fun watch.

Ed Bishop who portrayed Commander Straker in UFO is the voice of Captain Blue.

Absolutely!!! I loved this series as a kid, and I still love it. Words couldn’t describe the fun and spectacle of it to my friends who’d missed seeing it. But, once it resurfaced, I made a point of showing it to adult friends, whose jaws would drop to the floor, as yours did. Gerry Anderson’s theory of kids’ shows was that boys didn’t want to watch “kiddie shows” but wanted to watch James Bond with dad, and Sylvia Anderson understood that girls already loved dolls and fashion and would want in on the heroic action too. I could gush about this show all day, but MVP - Derek Meddings and his incredible miniature FX team.

"Captain Scarlet is indestructible. You are not! Remember this. Do not try to imitate him!" But please do react to him!

I was on the fence until, "Goodbye oddly high up car park..." More Captain Scarlet reactions? Yes, please.

My favourite puppet series. Loved watching it on TV as a child. Now at 58 I love watching it on DVD.

Puppets that sweat and bleed for our entertainment. But they don't walk. The creator of the show decided the puppets wouldn't walk since it made them look like puppets.

So happy that you watched and liked Captain Scarlet. I hope you enjoy the rest of the series. 😊 One piece of advice: when the show was broadcasted, some of the episodes were in the wrong order. See if you can try and watch it in production order. Enjoy.

Gerry Anderson is such a legend. We need more puppets in modern media

Being born in the late 90's, I used to watch Captain Scarlett (and the others: Thunderbirds, Stingray...) every day i could on VHS. I remember my dad built me Col. Whites rotating desk out of cardboard with lights, switches and everything. Plus a full Captain Scarlett uniform. I think this was for my 5th birthday.

This would make an excellent block buster movie. You will notice with these Anderson shows that they will do absolutely anything to avoid having the characters walk.

1. "It reminds me Space 1999" - it's made by the same production team. 2. "Like Charlie's Angels"...which was made in 1976 and Captain Scarlet is from 1967. 3. "the art at the end" - it's the concept art from Sylvia Anderson when the show was in pre-production.

Captain Scarlet first came out in England when I was 6 years old. I was in a fire explosion at that age with my slightly younger brother, which put us both in the hospital with various burns for about 2 weeks. My parents asked us what we would like as a present for surviving. I wanted a Captain Scarlet doll made at the time and my bother wanted Captain Blue. We never got them, because I don't think my parents could afford buying these rather expensive models at the time. But hey - Captain Scarlet is engrained upon my memory, because of that explosive event of my past. Now, today, I love how you equated the rainbow colours of Spectrum and the Angels to relate to you. I'm a straight, 63 year old white man. Now sadly, the stereotypical image of intolerance and bigoted intransigence. But I have NEVER EVER been like that! I was bought up on Star Trek, Anderson, the Twilight Zone and MASH. And being a beautiful, well read lady like yourself, I would be proud in my childless life, to have had an - across the pond daughter like you. Rock on Alexa. x

Captain Scarlett and the Mysterons was probably my favorite of the Gerry Anderson super marionette productions. I think because all the puppets have a proper proportioned head compared to the earlier Stingray and Thunderbirds. This was done not without much difficulty. The Spectum Angel Flight consists of five elite pilots: Destiny Angel (the French one and Flight Leader), Symphony Angel, Rhapsody Angel, Melody Angel, and Harmony Angel. These are all code names of course, their actual identities are revealed in the series. They all fly the Angel Interceptor, which is a more advanced version of the World Army Air Force Viper Jet. I built the original 1968 Airfix 1:72 scale Angel Interceptor model kit back in the day. Airfix apparently reissued it in 2011 with new decals and in grey plastic (the original was molded in white). It was a rudimentary model, not a lot of detail, but a fun kit to put together as a kid.

The narrater and Capt blue were voiced by Ed Bishop, Straker off UFO, both were Gerry/Sylvia Anderson shows, and there are similarities.

So glad your reacting to this show. It’s one of the best Gerry Anderson series!

I only saw small snippets of this as a kid, but as Ed Bishop (Commander Straker from UFO) voices Captain Blue and does the narration, I'm going to watch them all!!

Glad you like the show. The Visual Effects were done by Derek Meddings as shown at the start. He also did 'The Thunderbirds' 'Doppelgänger' (original UK title)/'Journey to the Far Side of the Sun' (U.S. release), 'UFO', Space 1999' to name but a few. He also later did some of the Roger Moore James Bond Films 'The Spy Who Loved Me' and 'Moonraker'. Of course 'Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons' was another Gerry ('Jerry') and Silvia Anderson production. 'Spectrum' related to the different colours. Have fun.

So glad you liked this Alexa! Looking forward to a full series reaction in the future!

Thank you so much for reviewing one of my favourite shows of all time! Please do a reaction to the whole series… you’re in for a treat. 😁

Captain Scarlet was a really good show, you'll love it! Another live action Gerry Anderson show worth checking out is The Persuaders. If you want more Barry Morse also check out Zoo Gang.

I think the Angels were Destiny, Melody and Rhapsody.

This and Anderson's other show Secret Service are the height of his Super Marionation series in that he's mastered the techniques and style. You can see how they never show the puppets walking and later will mix live action in far shots in Secret Service. It's almost the transition from the puppets to the live action of UFO. I'd like it if you reacted to it, but the show was meant for kids so will understand if you don't. There's also a CGI version that came out a couple of years ago 🙂

We sang the theme tune relentlessly at school. Showing my age. Haha, great memories.

Hey! Thanks so much for helping me pass the time today while I was stuck for three hours in an Emergency ward. Nothing serious, but it was SO dull, and I stumbled on this reaction video after finishing watching a doc on the making of Captain Scarlet. At first, I was skeptical if you'd "get it", and when you initially mispronounced Mysterons as "Mysterions", I rolled my eyes, but you noticed your error immediately and corrected it promptly, so no harm, no foul. Once I saw your response to the Angels and the whole rainbow design aesthetic, I knew you were gonna get onboard with the show. I grew up with Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's shows in the '60s and '70s, to they're a bit sacred to me and I was so happy how enthused you were with them that I ended up whiling away the rest of my insufferable wait watching more of your reactions to this series. You mentioned how much the design reminded you of Space 1999, so I'm assuming that you've subsequently discovered the Andersons were behind that series, as well as UFO, Joe 90, Thunderbirds, Stingray, Fireball XL05 and a few feature films like the wonderful Journey to the Far Side of the Sun. It's a remarkable body of work by an incredible creative team and it always warms my heart to see younger peeps discover these exceptional shows. SIG!!!

I watched this at 8.30am just after getting out of the gym and I can tell you dear Alexa, you put a massive smile on my face. People are giving me funny looks. You are so special bless you

Scarlet is in my Top 5 Anderson shows, I would love, love, LOVE it if you continued watching it.

When I was a child I loved supercar and fireball XL5. I'd heard of Captain Scarlet but until just recently never seen it. I stumbled across it here on youtube and have to say that out of all the supermartionation shows the Andersons did, I like it the best now. I binged it over the last couple of weeks. And that drum transition!

There are several episodes that have a continuity with other episodes that sometime aired if differently is very confusing. Lunarville 7 > Crater 101 > Dangerous Rendezvous Fight 104 > Noose of Ice Operation Time > Spectrum Strikes Back

Please, do do reactions to this series. The opening (in the alley) was only meant to be temporary. They had planned a more elaborate opening, but Gerry liked it so much he decided to use it. In some English language markets there was a voice-over that went something like "Captain Scarlett is invincible. You are not." In Japan the opening consisted of a montage of action scenes with children singing a song about the show. This was typical of Anderson's shows when they aired there. I own a Japanese LaserDisc that is made up of the opening and closing sequences of ITC shows broadcast in Japan. All are Gerry Anderson shows except The Prisoner. On side one are the original English opens and closes, and on side 2 the Japanese versions. The Prisoner was the only one to not have a custom Japanese open/close. There have been several box sets released around the world of Captain Scarlett. The Canadian box set is in - French. :)

'Captain Scarlet' was a 'inbetween age' TV series, for those kids that were too old to watch 'The Thunderbirds' but still too young to watch adult 18 plus TV dramas, kind of primary school to early-mid high school age. As for 'The Angels', perhaps they might like us men too...

Great review. Captain Scarlet was every child's hero in the UK back in the 1960's. You really must hear the opening theme tune, which was a popular hit record back then.

Aw, I’m SO pleased you enjoyed it. This series (and subsequent ones) struggled to find an audience due to it hitting a middle area between adult and child-oriented themes that meant channels struggled to decide when to air it and whom to market it to, but like all that Century 21 had to offer, as a child, I loved it.

I'm 58yrs old and grew up watching this as a youngster when it was first on. Its still great to watch now as its was then.

The brown commander always reminded me of a young Treat Williams with his appearance and demeanor

I have really vague & fuzzy memories from when I must've been a toddler. I remember some of the music & the models blowing up. I later saw it in reruns as a teen. Watching as an adult, I gotta say it's really clever how they justified the puppets never having to walk, with shifting furniture & jetpacks. Even the pilots are transferred into their planes. 😂

Watching someone getting this into Captain Scarlet is just amazing. I'd like to recommend Stingray at some point. It's by the same people, and it was the first British TV series made entirely in colour. It was my personal favourite from that era. The music was phenomenal.

I think I remember seeing this Vintage Show Another good one

I adored this series as a kid. It was syndicated in the US and the local station aired it at 7:30 AM on Saturday morning. I believe it was 1968. I never missed an episode. I loved the miniature effects. The man responsible, Derek Meddings, went on to do the effects for the James Bond films, primarily during the Roger Moore years. They did a follow up series years later that substituted CGI for puppets and miniatures. You have an interesting selection series and movies. When it seems that most reactors all watch the same thing, your channel is a breath of fresh air. I just don't think I can watch another Back to the Future or Star Wars reaction.

Another great and unusual offering from Gerry Anderson was called "The Secrret Service" in which he combined live action and puppetry.

You gotta watch the episode when they are disguised for the fashion show! It’s one of my favorites.

The Angels’ code names are mostly musical, but they are all dactyls.

Correction to my earlier comment as correctly pointed out (thanks for doing so) - Brian Johnson did 'Space 1999', my mistake.

i remember watching this when i was a kid. brings back memories

Sure! Why not? I love all of these supermarionation shows!

This show was my first exposure to Supermarionation and it blew my young mind! Terrific effects and design work. Also, one of the highest body counts in the history of children's television!

“Captain Scarlet” was my favorite of the Gerry Anderson puppet series. I liked how dark and mature it was for the time. If you liked this episode, you’ll enjoy the entire series. I’d love to hear your reactions. I had a big crush on the Angels as a boy, particularly Rhapsody Angel, a gorgeous redhead whose face and figure were based on British supermodel Jean Shrimpton, once called “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.”

Funny to watch your reaction to the angels. As a boy, seeing this in the late 60s, mine was very similar!

You liked Captain S & the M's - so I immediately subbed ! I grew up loving the series (along with so many other programmes like Thunderbirds, Joe 90, Stingray and similar. I recall drawing/copying the 'artwork' Spectrum logo's over & over etc.. I then collected memorabilia; video sets, comics and similar. Glad you liked it...

The actor who played Captain Scarlet, Francis Matthews was spotted by the creators, Gerry and Sylvia Andersen in a play. He'd seen a glowing review previously, claiming, "He's like a young Cary Grant!" (if you know who that is) and did that evening's version of the play doing a barefaced impression of the actor. When Gerry and Sylvia offered him the role of Scarlet they insisted he used that voice! Spoiler alert, these were puppets, amazingly, the cast of Space 1999' were actual, living people! I had the Captain Scarlet Dinky Toys SPV as a kid and built the Airfix Angel Interceptor quite recently! The production on this show was amazing and a lot of the people behind it went on to Star Wars, Bond etc.

Destiny Angel, the french blonde, was modeled on Ursula Andress. Sadly Gerry Anderson always wanted lo make live action. Apart from Space 1999 and UFO, people loved the puppet shows so he was forced into making them for most of his career.

Simple answer Yes. Long answer Gerry Anderson was one the marjor driving forces in marionette puppetry beginning in the 1950s and all the way up to 1990's a legacy carried on by his son. Jamie Anderson and if you do a search on RU-vid for Gerry Anderson you'll get there RU-vid channel Captain Scarlett is half way point within evolution of the puppets with smaller heads and more complicated movements and like all Gerry Anderson shows it's very progressive for its time there are more diverse characters. And its a lot darker that the previous shows more for a family audience than just children.

Captain Scarlet feeds into UFO, and UFO became Space: 1999. It's a sort of continued mythology. There was a comic (TV Comic?) that published comic strips for all the Gerry Anderson series from Supercar onwards, and there a number of crossover stories. The same artists had earlier worked on Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future, which ran for nearly twenty years from the fifties into the 1970s, with several attempts to reboot it, in the 1990s, 2000s, and later. For people like me who grew up in the early part of this time, all these series form one big story.

Yes, Captain Scarlet!! Space: 1999 and UFO were really anomalies for Gerry Anderson. He was most famous for his 'puppet' series, including Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, (Most famously) Thunderbirds, and Captain Scarlet. By the time of the latter, the puppets were far better proportioned, and the limitations of filming them fully understood. Captain Scarlet is the most' adult' of the series, although its firmly a kids show. As it's an Anderson show, you will know to expect lots of exotic technology. Which will tend to explode spectacularly....

I watched this show in reruns as an expat kid in the UK and became obsessed instantly. When we moved back to the US, no one had any idea what show I was on about when I'd enthuse over my memories of the show. Cut to decades later - I own it on DVD very happily and now I, hopefully, get to see you react to the show going forward. I love this program and it just screams you to me, so I am glad you enjoyed. If you react, I will decidedly be tuning in. Thank you for your channel and for this video. Liked and shared.

As you've seen the first episode, may I recommend Episode 2 Winged assassin, Episode 5 Man Hunt, Episode 7 White as Snow, Episode 8 The Trap, Episode 12 Heart of New York, Episode 13 Lunarville 7, Episode 15 Model Spy, Episode 16 Seak and Destroy, Episode 19 Crater 101, Episode 22 Dangerous Rendezvous, Episode 23 Tripple Cross and Episode 31 Attack on Cloudbase 😉 you can watch them in any order really although Man Hunt first and Lunarville 7 "before" Crater 101 and defantly watch Attack on Cloudbase last 🤫

My favourite angel was always ginger Rhapsody (pity she was one of the minor roles) 😍 apparently she was based on the 1960s model Jean Shrimpton !

Finally subscribed, how could I not after Captain Scarlet??!! Have been lapping up your Blake's 7 reactions, and always enjoy your comments. Looking forward to watching lots more of your reactions. The puppet series are so American, but they were actually made in the UK, not far from my hometown!

Huh, never knew shows like this existed, but this was surprisingly intriguing! Your reactions are a joy, I doubt I’d have checked this out otherwise.

Since you mentioned the art, I would suggest (perhaps once you've done Gerry Anderson shows to avoid spoilers) you check out Mike Trim & Graeme Bleathman. Mike Trim worked as both model maker and designer on Captain Scarlet, UFO, Thunderbirds and designed some of the craft along with his boss, Derek Meddings who headed the FX on Anderson shows (and worked on the 007 Bond films too). Mike also painted the cover of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds. I met him once and he graciously signed my copy!. Graeme is a big Anderson fan & published illustrator specialising in 'cut away' art showing how the Anderson sci fi craft & bases etc, are supposed to work....Rainbow female pilots...I hope you watch the CGI reboot😊.

So fun to see your reactions to these retrospectively super-campy artifacts from a fairly campy slice of our time and culture. Thanks, Alexa! Delightful.

I still have my Corgi Angel Interceptor :)

Glad you enjoyed this. A bit of stretch to talk about LGBT representation in this of course, but Captain Green is (well supposed to be) African - which was a step forward. As were the puppets - obviously a huge improvement over Thunderbirds and also the writing - obviously the pilot shows the Humans started the conflict with the Mysterons, but there are episodes in which the good guys do not win. Pretty strong stuff for a 'kids show'.

Gerry Anderson Alexa , Gerry Anderson.... This show has lots in common with all the other Anderson shows - UFO, Space 1999. Thunderbirds et al. Very well worth watching and a much more 'adult' show than you might first think. In my opinion UFO is Gerry Anderson's magnum opus. Cheers.

All the 'Supermarionation' series are great. There's also a CGI remake 'New Captain Scarlet', which is really well written...

Cool, glad you liked it so much. There is another animated series but this is the original.

Oh, and they're NOT just puppets. They have feelings, they feel pain, they bleed, they are watching us, as we watch them, believe it...

Everything that Gerry has produced has this feel to it, live action or puppet. It was rebooted into a CGI show as well.

When I was a kid I loved this show , and wanted to be indestructible, however as I got older it struck me that he isn’t , he gets blown up or whatever then gets reconstructed from the bits that are left, very painful , and not so appealing.

Yes, yes, you should watch this!

I love Captain Scarlett. This is my favorite of Gerry Anderson's "Supermarionation" shows. Gerry also produced Space 1999, so the Eagles and Moonbase Alpha models for that later series were all designed and constructed by the same model unit that produced this series! Btw as to a President of Earth being elected, the 3rd Doctor era of Classic Dr. Who also gave us a "President of Earth" in the far future and a female president at that! Very progressive for 1973, I've always thought. Also, Captain Blue and the narrator are voiced by the actor who would later become the Commander of Shado in "UFO." I, too, love the cool artwork of Captain Scarlett in all sorts of Death defying situations during the ending credits a fun choice.

This was a great reaction Would love to see you react to the rest of this series 🙂

OMG! Captain Scarlett has to be my favorite of these shows. Just slightly ahead of the Thunderbirds which I also love! I jumped for joy when I saw you were reacting to this! So glad you gave it a thumbs up. Enjoy the rest. It's so awesome!

Yes, one of the best Anderson 'Supermarionation' shows. For this, they reduced the size of the puppet heads to keep them in proportion unlike Thunderbirds which featured larger heads to accommodate the puppet mechanics. Captain Scarlet was briefly rebooted in 2005 in CGI but pretty faithful to the original with some minor changes - check out 'The New Captain Scarlet'. And - no spoiler- did you spot who voices Captain Blue?. BTW, Derek Meddings was a SFX genius who went on to do the miniatures for the James Bond movies. His most famous creation was probably the enormous supertanker in The Spy Who Loved Me. I note you weren't keen on Thunderbirds, CS is darker, maybe more to your taste?. As usual, the model work is fabulous.

Oh, speaking of weird things that played on early cable, track down "The Secret Of The Selenites". It's a French animated Baron Munchhausen adventure. The producer (and music composer) of the English dub went on to create "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers". It's...interesting. You certainly won't forget it.

Woo hoo! Can’t wait for you to watch the rest. This is the best of the Anderson Supermarionation shows and has amazing model effects. The voice of the Mysterons creeped me out when I was a kid watching this first thing on a Saturday morning in the early 70s.

PS: Saying that Captain Scarlet was a hidden agent is touched among in a future episode. Not going to say the title of the episode, as it is very obvious what episode I'm talking about.

i hope you noticed captain blue is voiced by ed bishop the star of ufo ed straker. Also i hope you take a look at new captain scarlet, the cgi version from 2005. It was also the last thing Gerry Anderson made before he passed away years later.

My absolute favourite of the Anderson shows. Loved the premise. I look forward to your reactions, Alexa.

Enjoyed your reaction! This and Doctor Who were the most engaging shows I watched when I was 7 years old. At the time Captain Scarlet was heavily supported by toy companies and magazine publishers so as well as watching you could play with diecast models of the vehicles and (if a bit older) even make plastic model kits of the Angel interceptor.

love this show 😊

I'm glad you found it. So many in my generation didn't know

I watched this show when it was shown on TV back in the 60’s, I’ve got all the DvD’s of both the original series and the remakes which are all CGI

You sure SHOULD, Alexa. Gerry Anderson was a genius. Know all about it from a very early age, (as I know all of Gerry Andersons work), in fact my childhood TV viewing was this good, this memorable! You have so much to explore and enjoy. You won't be able to resist this.

Early cable TV was hungry for content, so reran every old cartoon they could get their hands on. Why didn't they play this when I was a kid? I feel so deprived.

I saw it before previewed to the public in 1967 when I was 9 years old and the Mysteries were very scary

when you have time you need to watch Johnny Quest, an animated series from the sixty's. excellent animation and storylines

There are some really great episodes coming up in this series - you will love them! Really looking forward to your reaction to the rest of them! S.I.G

I'd love you to see more, it's such a good series. I totally understand having a crush on them, the voice work is so good that you almost forget they are puppets and just see them as the characters they portray ❤️

I think you'll love this one, and I'd definitely like to see your reaction. In some ways, it's like a (slightly) more child-friendly dry run for UFO - secret hi-tech organization take on a nebulous alien threat. I say slightly child-friendly, because it's quite violent for a kid's puppet show. I think with a more modern perspective, it also seems to predict terrorist threats, suicide bombings, etc. which gives it an interesting spin.

Definately! After you're done with both UFO and Space: 1999 do this! It is an awesome show!

Ahhh the Mysterons and their tactically ridiculous war against us! Marvellous! This show is magnificent. Firstly the model work is absolutely outstanding but secondly the whole thing is ridiculously dark for a kids TV show, even one from the 60s. The Mysteron's wage war in a very . . . unique way though. If you thought that destruction of an oddly high up Car Park was left field you ain't seen nothing yet!

Possibly the most violent kids' show ever made, but I loved it despite that (or maybe because of that). I don't know if you picked up on the voiceover at the beginning, but that was none other than Commander Straker himself, Ed Bishop. It could be seen as a precursor to UFO, although Spectrum operates a bit more openly than SHADO. Definitely one of the better Anderson series.

That's because its a Jerry Anderson produced show/production. who also gave us- THUNDERBIRDS, JOE 90, STING RAY, & OTHERS |Of course, being a 60s tv series, this is a sci fi spy thriller, about East v West, the "Misterons symbolising the Russians. it's also ballsy people get shot, hand guns are used. The puppets are excellently done for something this old, they were able to make the heads smaller in proportion to the bodies for Capt. Scarlet, also great 13d scale sets. it's a pity this never quite equalled the success of THUNDERBIRDS

Another Gerry Anderson series, that you should see the first episode of, is 'Space Precinct' and 'Thunderbirds'!!!

No idea about "My Little Pony" - but I certainly know Captain Scarlet. Great theme tune too (let's hear it). Nothing tops Thunderbirds though, which also managed to incorporate a certain humour.

Captain Scarlet. Always a favourite of mine.

Remember that winding car park and Captain Scarlet's epic fall from my distant childhood. Also, I have a feeling you would love DC's Legends of Tomorrow.

Here's the Japanese opening to Captain Scarlet. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-01cq_xusFT0.html Here is the French opening. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Q83iUdnfL64.html

This one was pretty intense for me as a kid. I watched UFO which came afterwards from the same producers which had the same alien threat and I think three female pilots on a moonbase. These guys also did Space 1999.