1	The Mysterons	29th September 1967
2	Winged Assassin	6th October 1967
3	Big Ben Strikes Again	13th October 1967
4	Manhunt	20th October 1967
5	Avalanche	27th October 1967
6	White as Snow	3rd November 1967
7	The Trap	10th November 1967
8	Operation Time	17th November 1967
9	Spectrum Strikes Back	24th November 1967
10	Special Assignment	1st December 1967
11	The Heart of New York	8th December 1967
12	Lunarville 7	15th December 1967
13	Point 783	22nd December 1967
14	Model Spy	29th December 1967
15	Seek and destroy	5th January 1968
16	Traitor	12th January 1968
17	Renegade Rocket	19th January 1968
18	Crater 101	26th January 1968
19	Shadow of Fear	2nd February 1968
20	Dangerous Rendezvous	9th February 1968
21	Fire at Rig 15	16th February 1968
22	Treble Cross	23rd February 1968
23	Flight 104	1st March 1968
24	Place of Angels	8th March 1968
25	Noose of Ice	12th March 1968
26	Expo 2068	26th March 1968
27	The Launching	2nd April 1968
28	Codename Europa	9th April 1968
29	Inferno	16th April 1968
30	Flight to Atlantica	30th April 1968
31	Attack on Cloudbase	7th May 1968
32	The Inquisition	14th May 1968

 

 

Episode 20 - Dangerous Rendezvous - Using the crystal Captain Scarlet retrieved from the Mysteron Moonbase, Spectrum manages to contact the aliens to propose a truce and offer amends for their mistaken attack. The Mysterons agree to conference, specifying that Scarlet should travel to an isolated venue to discuss terms ....

It would be so easy to pick the flashback episode that concludes each Anderson series as inevitably as death and taxes as the low point of each show. But Dangerous Rendezvous provides a more subtle disappointment, as it ends as a trilogy of otherwise superb episodes on a let-down. In Lunarville 7, the Moonbase Controller apparently succeeds in negotiating a separate peace with the Mysterons, opening the question of whether he's an alien agent, a traitor or the pioneer of a route the rest of Mankind should follow. In its follow-up, Crater 101, Scarlet and Blue are ordered to destroy the Mysteron Moonbase in the eponymous crater, all too well aware that the aliens will attempt to infiltrate and sabotage their mission. The tensions's built nicely ... and then the entire story fizzles out in a low-key effort as the Mysterons use the conference to try to kill Scarlet. For wasting two episodes worth of superb build-up this gets the wooden spoon.

 

 

Episode 29 - Inferno - The Mysterons latest threat is unusually straightforward; no riddles to solve this time, just a clear statement of target - "Our next act of retataliation will be to destroy the complex at Nahama". The Nahama desalinzation planet in the foothills of the Andes irrigates vast areas of farmland reclaimed from the wilderness. Scarlet and Blue are assigned to monitor the situation from the shelter of an ancient Aztec temple overlooking the plant ... and soon discover that salvage rocket SKR4, loaded with enough explosives to destroy five rogue satellites has been Mysteronized and set on course fro the plant ..

For all Anderson's grumbles about the problems of making puppets move convincingly, there's a bizarrely effective shot of Captain Black clambering up the face of a Sun God statue in an unearthly manner. It's one of a number of little touches that stands out in Inferno, along with its dark direction and straightforwardly effective plot.

"Look out, Adam," calls out Scarlet as he knocks captain Blue clear of a falling statue, and when Blue's later woken from sleep by the sound of Captain Black's clandestine movements, he returns the favour ("Paul, is that you?" Just think what the slash fiction merchants could read into that). It's a rare but worthwhile reminder that Anderson's most realistic puppets are supposed to be real people, with real names and lives behind their codenames.

However, the real stand-out is the ending. Spectrum loses, and the entire complex is destroyed by the inferno of the title (and no, for once it's not a dream). Not only that, but Spectrum's efforts actually make it worse. Knowing that some sort of homing device planted in the temple is drawing the rocket to its target, but unable to locate it in the few minutes before impact, Captain Scarlet orders the Angels to blast the entire monument off the face of the planet. They reduce it to rubble in a display of typically impressive effects ... but SKR4 nevertheless hits its target with devastating effect.

It's this round to the Mysterons....