Captain Brown (Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons)

"The Mysterons"

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episode

An agent dressed in a scarlet uniform and cap holds a suited civilian man hostage, positioning himself behind the other man so as to shield himself while pointing a gun at an unseen, off-screen enemy. The agent and hostage are standing on a metal structure of girders and supports, which is indicated to be high above ground level by the scale of the streets and buildings below them.

The reconstructed Captain Scarlet holds the World President hostage

Episode no.

Episode 01

Directed by

Desmond Saunders

Written by

Gerry Anderson
Sylvia Anderson

Cinematography by

Julien Lugrin

Editing by

Len Walter

Production code

Original air date

29 April 1967 (test)
29 September 1967 (official)

Guest appearance(s)

Voices of:
Paul Maxwell as
World President
Charles Tingwell as
Captain Brown
Lieutenant Dean
Spectrum Helicopter A42 Pilot
Spectrum Headquarters, London
Jeremy Wilkin as
Captain Black (opening sequence)
Delta Garage Attendant
Radio Speaker

Episode chronology

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"Winged Assassin"

List of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episodes

"The Mysterons" (or, rarely, "Mars – 2068 A.D.") is the first episode of the 1960s Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. It was first officially broadcast in the UK on ATV Midlands on 29 September 1967, although it had been given an unscheduled test screening in the London area five months earlier on 29 April 1967. It was written by series creators Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and directed by Desmond Saunders. In the first episode, following an unwarranted human attack on their Martian colony, a collective extraterrestrial intelligence calling themselves the "Mysterons" initiate a war of retribution against Earth; the Spectrum security organisation is mobilised to counter the Mysterons' first threat, which is to assassinate the World President.

Filmed in January 1967, the completed version of the episode differs from a pilot script that the Andersons submitted in August 1966, particularly with respect to Captain Scarlet's biology as a replicated Mysteron intermediary. During pre-production, Patrick McGoohan was contacted as a possible guest-star, but a combination of actor availability and budget limitations precluded his casting as the voice of the President. Enthusiastically received by members of the voice cast in 1967 "The Mysterons" was also praised by critics such as British journalists James Rampton and Allison Pearson when it was repeated on BBC Two in 1993. The episode's violence has attracted commentary, particularly with respect to a scene in which the Mysteron double of Spectrum's Captain Brown physically explodes.

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