Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often shortened to Captain Scarlet, is a British science fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions for distributor ITC Entertainment. Running to thirty-two 25-minute episodes, it was first broadcast on ITV regional franchises between 1967 and 1968 and has since been transmitted in more than 40 other countries, including the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. It is one of several Anderson series that were filmed using a form of electronic marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation" combined with scale model special effects sequences.
Set in 2068, "Captain Scarlet" follows the "" between Earth and the Mysterons, a race of Martians who possess partial control over matter. When a misunderstanding causes human astronauts to attack their city on Mars, the Mysterons vow revenge and launch reprisals against Earth. These are countered by Spectrum, a worldwide security organisation. In the first episode, Spectrum agent Captain Scarlet acquires the Mysterons' self-healing power of "retrometabolism" and is thus rendered "indestructible", being able to recover from otherwise fatal injuries. In this way, Scarlet becomes Spectrum's top asset in its fight against the Mysterons.
"Captain Scarlet", the eighth of the Andersons' ten puppet series, was preceded by "Thunderbirds" and followed by "Joe 90" and "The Secret Service". In terms of visual aesthetic, it represents a departure from "Thunderbirds" in its use of non-caricatured puppets sculpted to realistic body proportions. Repeated several times in the UK, it has generated tie-ins from toy cars and action figures to audio plays and original novels, as well as strips in the weekly children's comic "TV Century 21".
Compared to "Thunderbirds" and earlier Anderson productions, "Captain Scarlet" is generally considered "darker" in tone and less suited to child audiences due to its violent content and themes of alien aggression and interplanetary war. The change in puppet design has divided opinion, while the wisdom of making the protagonist "indestructible" has also been questioned. However, the series has been praised for its use of a multinational, multi-ethnic puppet cast and depiction of a utopian future Earth. A computer-animated reboot, "Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet", was first broadcast in 2005.
Plot.
The series begins in 2068. In the first episode, the crew of the "Zero-X" spacecraft are investigating the surface of Mars after mysterious radio signals are found to be coming from the planet. The source is discovered to be an alien city, which the astronauts destroy in a missile attack after mistaking a harmless surveillance device for a weapon. The city's inhabitants, the Mysterons, are a collective of sentient computers that possess partial control over matter and communicate in a deep, echoing voice. After using their power of "reversing matter" to rebuild their city, they swear revenge for humanity's unwarranted aggression and declare war on Earth.
Also called "retrometabolism", reversing matter enables the Mysterons to re-create people and objects as facsimiles that they can control. This ability is used to wage a "" against Earth in which the Mysterons issue threats against specific targets (from world leaders and military installations to entire cities and continents) and then destroy and reconstruct whatever instruments are needed (whether human beings or objects) to carry out their plans. The presence of the Mysterons is indicated by twin rings of green light that are projected onto scenes of destruction and reconstruction. Although the aliens are able to influence events from Mars, their actions on Earth are usually performed by their replicated intermediaries.
"Zero-X" mission leader Captain Black becomes the Mysterons' primary agent when they seize control of his mind. Prior to the events of the series, Black was an officer in Spectrum, a worldwide security organisation that mobilises its personnel, vehicles and other resources to counter the threat posed by the Mysterons. Spectrum's most senior agents hold military ranks and colour codenames and are posted to the organisation's headquarters, Cloudbase – an airborne aircraft carrier stationed above the Earth's surface – where they answer to its commander-in-chief, Colonel White. Cloudbase is defended by Angel Interceptor fighters flown by an all-female team of pilots headed by Destiny Angel, while the base's computer systems are operated by White's assistant, Lieutenant Green. Spectrum also incorporates a fleet of armoured Spectrum Pursuit Vehicles (SPV), which are hidden in secret locations around the world, as well as patrol cars, maximum-security transports, passenger jet aircraft and machine gun-equipped helicopters.
Captain Scarlet becomes Spectrum's main asset in its fight against the Mysterons after the events of the first episode, in which the Mysterons attempt to assassinate the World President as their first act of retaliation. The original Scarlet is killed in a car accident engineered by the Mysterons and replaced with a reconstruction. However, after being shot by Spectrum's Captain Blue and falling to his death from the top of a tower, the reconstruction returns to life with the consciousness of the original Scarlet restored and is thereafter free of Mysteron control. With his new Mysteron body, Scarlet possesses two extraordinary abilities: he can sense other reconstructions nearby, and if injured or killed, his retrometabolism will restore him to full health, making him virtually "indestructible". As hostilities with Mars continue, Scarlet repeatedly sacrifices himself to thwart the Mysterons, safe in the knowledge that he will always return to face them again.
Over the course of the series, it is found that Mysteron reconstructions are especially vulnerable to electricity and can be identified through X-rays, which cannot penetrate their alien biology. These discoveries allow Spectrum to develop two anti-Mysteron devices: the "Mysteron Gun" and "Mysteron Detector". A three-episode story arc focuses on the discovery of a Mysteron outpost on the Moon, its destruction by Spectrum, and Spectrum's efforts to negotiate with the Mysterons after converting the base's salvaged power source into an interplanetary communication device. A failed attempt to survey Mars from space, aborted military conferences and the sabotaged construction of a new Earth space fleet hinder Spectrum's progress in taking the fight to the Mysterons, and the organisation twice fails to capture Captain Black. In the penultimate episode, the Mysterons destroy Cloudbase itself, but this is later revealed to be a nightmare dreamt by one of the Angels. The final episode is a clip show that leaves the conflict between Earth and Mars unresolved.
Production.
When efforts to secure an American network broadcaster for "Thunderbirds" fell through in July 1966, Lew Grade, owner and financial backer of the Andersons' production company AP Films (APF), capped "Thunderbirds" Series Two at six episodes and cancelled the production. Having overseen APF's work since the making of "Supercar" in 1960, Grade was keen for Supermarionation to penetrate the lucrative American market and believed that a new series stood a better chance of landing a sale than a second season of "Thunderbirds".
As a result of the cancellation, Gerry Anderson was forced to come up with an idea for a new Supermarionation series. He had once been inspired by the thought of creating a live-action police drama in which the hero would have unexpectedly been murdered halfway through the series and replaced by a new lead character. Now giving fresh consideration to this idea, Anderson realised that a major selling point for his new production could be a character who is killed at the end of each episode and resurrected by the start of the next. This, coupled with contemporary theories about the possibility of life on Mars, led to the idea of an interplanetary war between Earth and its neighbour and a worldwide security organisation being called upon to defend humanity. After further thought, Anderson decided that "Scarlet" would be a suitably unusual name for this organisation's "indestructible" agent, while his partner in the field could be called "Blue". From this, Anderson reasoned that all personnel should have colour codenames and that the organisation should be called "Spectrum". Noting that white light is composed of, and can be broken down into, the colours of the spectrum, he named Spectrum's leader "White".
Intrigued by the oft-heard phrase "life as we know it", Anderson wanted to set his alien villains apart from the conventional extraterrestrials of 1960s TV and film. Working from a basis of "life as we "don't" know it", he made the Mysterons a collective of sentient computers rather than a race of organic lifeforms (though their exact nature is not explicitly stated in the series itself). The intention was that the original Mysterons were extragalactic beings that established a base on Mars in the distant past before abandoning the planet at the start of the 20th century, leaving their computers behind them.
Anderson's recollections of the Second World War provided inspiration for a number of design aspects. For example, he remembered that during the Battle of Britain, RAF pilots had found it difficult to counter German attacks because having to take off from the ground meant that it took a long time to intercept the enemy. He therefore made Spectrum's headquarters, Cloudbase, an airborne aircraft carrier. According to Anderson, the Mysteron rings were inspired by a TV advertisement for wool that featured the Woolmark logo being projected onto a woman.
Writing and filming.
Adopting "The Mysterons" as their working title, Anderson and his wife Sylvia wrote a pilot script in August 1966. This differed significantly from the completed first episode. Originally, it was conceived that the Mysteron reconstruction of Captain Scarlet would be resurrected using an advanced computer, after which he would no longer be a true flesh-and-blood being but a "mechanical man" akin to an android. Another plan, also dropped, was for each episode to feature a "guest star" puppet voiced by a famous actor: the World President, for example, was originally intended to be voiced by Patrick McGoohan.
With Gerry Anderson serving primarily as executive producer, most of the writing was done by Tony Barwick, who had previously written for "Thunderbirds". Originally "Captain Scarlet"'s script editor, Barwick went on to pen 18 of its 32 episodes himself, besides often making substantial revisions to other writers' work. Discussing his approach to scriptwriting in a 1986 interview, Barwick compared the premise and characters of "Captain Scarlet" to those of "Thunderbirds" – for example, likening Spectrum to the heroic International Rescue and the character of Captain Black to recurring villain the Hood.
Filming on the first episode, "The Mysterons", began on 2 January 1967 after two months of pre-production. The budget for the series was set at £1.5 million (approximately £ million in ). At an average cost of £46,000 per episode, or £2,000 per minute, it was the most expensive Anderson production to date. A month before, Anderson and his colleagues had dropped the name "AP Films" and renamed their company "Century 21 Productions".
By the time "Captain Scarlet" entered production, many of the directors on earlier Anderson series – including Alan Pattillo, David Elliott and David Lane – had either left the company or were committed to the production of "Thunderbird 6", the second "Thunderbirds" feature film. Although Lane, Brian Burgess and Desmond Saunders were able to reprise directorial duties for at least one episode each, the Andersons were forced to promote some of the junior production personnel to replace the outgoing directors. To this end, Alan Perry and Ken Turner were promoted from the camera operator and art departments. Other directors were recruited from outside the company; among them was Robert Lynn, who had been the assistant director on the films including "Black Narcissus", "Dracula" and "The Revenge of Frankenstein".
"Captain Scarlet" was filmed in a set of converted factory units on the Slough Trading Estate, which had served as Century 21's studios since the production of "Stingray" in 1964. Continuing a practice that had started with earlier Anderson series, episodes were filmed in pairs on separate stages to speed up production. Filming overlapped with that of "Thunderbird 6", which was being shot on a different stage. Production design duties were split between Keith Wilson and John Lageu, the latter being responsible for the technical elements of the sets. The Mysteron rings were created by panning a transparency of two green circles across the sets using a slide projector, a method suggested by producer Reg Hill.
The scale model-making and special effects were handled by a separate unit headed by effects director Derek Meddings. It comprised two full-time effects crews and a "second unit" responsible for shots presenting flying aircraft. One of the series' technical innovations was that the noses of miniature vehicles would now "dip" as they came to a stop, to imitate the sudden application of brakes on a real-life vehicle. The vehicles were designed by Meddings or his assistant Mike Trim: the former created Cloudbase, the SPV and the Angel fighter (the last of these during a flight to New York), while the latter produced many of the less prominent vehicles. The Cloudbase filming model, which was long, proved too heavy to be held up with wires so was instead mounted on a pole. Some of Trim's creations, including the Spectrum Patrol Car, were originally meant to appear in only one episode, but proved so popular with the producers that they became regular features. As production continued, Trim's responsibilities grew, as Meddings was having to devote more and more of his time to the concurrent "Thunderbird 6" shoot.
By the time the series began airing in September 1967, principal photography had been completed on the first 20 episodes. The puppet footage for each episode usually took two weeks or 11 working days to shoot. Although filming was originally expected to be completed in eight months, the demands of the "Thunderbird 6" shoot meant that it went on until November.
Puppet design.
Supermarionation, a technique by which the movements of the puppets' mouths were electronically synchronised with pre-recorded dialogue, was first employed during the production of "Four Feather Falls" in 1960. In all Anderson series prior to "Captain Scarlet", the puppets' heads had been disproportionately large compared to the rest of their bodies, as the head unit contained the solenoid that powered the automatic mouth movements. Scaling up the bodies was not an option, as this would have made the puppets too heavy to operate and there was not enough studio space to enlarge all of the sets to match. Gerry Anderson was frustrated with this caricatured look and wanted the design of the puppets to accurately reflect human body proportions. Before "Captain Scarlet" entered production, Reg Hill and associate producer John Read created a new type of puppet with the solenoid built into the chest to allow for realistically-sized heads.
After being sculpted in Plasticine, the puppet heads were moulded on a silicone rubber base and finished in fibreglass. At heights ranging from approximately one-third life sizethe next-generation puppets were no taller or shorter than their predecessors. As before, the main characters were given interchangeable heads showing a range of expressions; these included "smiler", "frowner" and "blinker" heads. As episodes of "Captain Scarlet" were to be filmed in pairs on separate stages, the "expressionless" heads were made in duplicate. Costumes were designed by Sylvia Anderson, who drew inspiration from the work of French fashion designer Pierre Cardin (in particular, his 1966 "Cosmonaut" collection) in designing the Spectrum uniforms.
The increased realism of the puppets meant that their mobility was significantly reduced. This, ironically, made the design less lifelike than Gerry Anderson had hoped: "Suddenly, all the movements had to be as realistic as the puppets and that made it difficult for the puppeteers to animate them." To minimise the amount of movement required, the puppets were made to stand on moving walkways or sit at moving desks: for example, Colonel White has a rotating desk and Lieutenant Green operates the Cloudbase main computer from a sliding chair. Puppeteer Jan King commented:
The "under-controlled" puppets described by King had no wires and were manipulated from the waist. One advantage of this method was that a puppet could pass through a doorway without necessitating a break in the shot. For shots of characters sitting in aircraft cockpits, variations of the "under-controlled" design were made comprising only a head and torso; these were operated using levers and wires located beneath the set.
Scarlet's appearance has been compared to that of his voice actor, Francis Matthews, as well as Roger Moore. Ed Bishop, the voice of Captain Blue, believed that his character was modelled on him; however, Terry Curtis, who sculpted the Blue puppet said that he used himself as the template and simply added a blond wig after he learnt that Bishop would be supplying the voice. Curtis, a "James Bond" fan, based Captain Grey on Sean Connery and Destiny Angel on Ursula Andress, Connery's co-star in "Dr No" (1962). Lieutenant Green was modelled on Cy Grant, who voiced the character, while Rhapsody Angel was based on Jean Shrimpton, Melody Angel on Eartha Kitt and Harmony Angel on Tsai Chin.
Prior to "Captain Scarlet", guest characters had been sculpted in clay on an episode-by-episode basis. For "Captain Scarlet", however, these roles were played by a "repertory company" of over 50 puppets made to the same standards of workmanship as the regular characters. Called "revamp puppets", or just "revamps", these puppets were superficially altered for each new role by changing the colours or styles of their wigs, or adding or removing facial hair. Puppets from "Captain Scarlet" appeared in supporting roles in the final two Supermarionation series, "Joe 90" and "The Secret Service".
Response to the puppets.
The redesigned puppets have drawn a mixed response from crew members and commentators. Some members of the crew believed that the new marionettes lacked the charm of the previous generation due to the natural body proportions that were now being used. Director David Lane recalls that when he first saw the prototype, "it was as if there was a little dead person in [the box] ... because it was perfect in all its proportions it just looked odd." Sculptor John Brown remembers putting the prototype next to the Lady Penelope puppet from "Thunderbirds" and gauging his colleagues' response: "When they saw it, some people were horrified by the difference. Some didn't like it, some did." It has been argued that facial expression was sacrificed in the efforts to make the design more realistic. Sculptor Terry Curtis recalls:
Fellow sculptor John Blundall called the new design "ridiculous", criticising the attempts to make the puppets appear more lifelike on the basis that "we always try to do with puppets what you can't do with humans." He suggested that the transition from caricature to realism was at the expense of the marionettes' "character and personality", arguing that "if the puppet appears completely natural, the audience no longer has to use its imagination." Effects director Derek Meddings thought that although the new puppets were "very convincing miniature people", they were flawed in that audiences "couldn't identify one from the other. The heads were so small they didn't have any character to their faces." Supervising puppeteer Christine Glanville considered them "awful" from a practical perspective, noting that the small size and low weight of the heads made the characters difficult to operate: "If you wanted them to turn their heads then more often than not there would be someone out of shot, with their fingers just above the puppet's head, actually turning it round."
Gerry Anderson said that he pushed for the new design to satisfy the audience, regarding it not as "a case of moving to a new technique, but more a case of incorporating new ideas with existing methods." However, in later years he expressed doubts about the wisdom of the redesign: "[T]he problem was that exact and precise movements became more vital than ever and that caused us terrible difficulties."
The new design has been praised by Vincent Terrace, Jeff Evans and John Peel. Applauding the transfer of the electronics from the heads to the bodies, Evans describes the puppets as "perfect in proportion", while Peel argues that the increased realism would not have put off audiences familiar with the earlier design. A contrary view is held by Daniel O'Brien, who writes that the loss of the puppets' "idiosyncratic character" reduced them to the level of "de luxe Action Men". On the costume design, Mark Bould writes positively of the series' "commitment to fashion" and singles out the design of the Angel uniforms for particular praise.
Characters and voice cast.
"Captain Scarlet" had the largest regular puppet cast of any Supermarionation production. Its use of a British protagonist was a departure from earlier series like "Thunderbirds", whose lead characters had been written as Americans to increase their appeal to the profitable US market. Stephen La Rivière suggests that Century 21 had been encouraged to give greater prominence to British characters due to the transatlantic success of British programmes like "The Avengers", "The Baron" and "The Saint", which had made it "altogether more acceptable to have English lead characters". Chris Drake and Graeme Bassett argue that the general style of the voice acting in "Captain Scarlet" was less exaggerated than before, relating this increased realism to the puppets' transition from caricatured to natural proportions. According to Simon Archer and Marcus Hearn, the proliferation of British accents between "Thunderbirds" and "Captain Scarlet" changed the sound of Supermarionation and its impression on the viewer.
Francis Matthews, who supplied the voice of Captain Scarlet, had turned down offers to voice characters in "Thunderbirds". According to Matthews, Gerry Anderson went to great lengths to cast him after being impressed by his imitation of Cary Grant in a radio programme, and indeed the actor based the voice of Scarlet on Grant's Mid-Atlantic tones. Anderson, however, stated in his biography that the Grant impression was Matthews' choice at audition, and that while it was not the voice that had been intended for Scarlet the production was happy to use it.
Matthews' co-star in the film "" (1966) had been Charles Tingwell, who was chosen to voice Cloudbase medical officer Dr Fawn. Tingwell, who had provided voices for Series Two of "Thunderbirds" as well as the feature film "Thunderbirds Are Go", had been recommended by fellow Australian Ray Barrett, a regular voice artist on "Stingray" and "Thunderbirds". Due to theatre commitments, Tingwell left the series following the completion of the first 12 episodes. Departing at the same time was Paul Maxwell, the voice of Captain Grey (and previously Steve Zodiac in "Fireball XL5" and Captain Travers in "Thunderbirds Are Go"), who left to take up the role of Steve Tanner in "Coronation Street". In Tingwell and Maxwell's absence, Fawn and Grey's roles were reduced to a handful of non-speaking appearances, though guest characters voiced by the actors can be heard in flashbacks to earlier episodes.
Cy Grant, the voice of Lieutenant Green, was known to the Andersons for his appearances on the current affairs programme "Tonight", in which he sang topical calypsos. Grant's casting led to that of Ed Bishop as Captain Blue. Bishop, who was acting on stage at the time, recalled in an interview: "It was just that a girl in my agent's office happened to be on the ball. She represented this black actor by the name of Cy Grant and Gerry and Sylvia wanted to use him ... And the girl said, 'Oh, by the way, Mr Anderson, we've just taken on a new, young American actor' – shows you how long ago it was – 'a new American actor, name of Edward Bishop. And we know how much you like American voices. Would you like to meet him as well?' He said, 'Okay, send him out.' So I went out and auditioned and got the job."
Donald Gray, who had found himself typecast after playing the lead role of detective Mark Saber in "The Vise", was having to resort to voice work to sustain his acting career. He had three regular roles in "Captain Scarlet": Colonel White, the Mysterons and Captain Black (who, after being taken over by the Mysterons, speaks in their voice). The deep, echoing tones of Black and the Mysterons were created by recording Gray's lines at high speed and then playing them back at normal speed.
The voice of Captain Ochre was provided by Jeremy Wilkin, who had voiced Virgil Tracy in "Thunderbirds" Series Two. Captain Magenta, meanwhile, was voiced by Gary Files, who had provided supporting voices in "Thunderbird 6". Liz Morgan was new to the Anderson productions and voiced Destiny Angel, leader of the Angel squadron, and one of her comrades, Rhapsody Angel. Sylvia Anderson, the voice of Lady Penelope in "Thunderbirds," took the role of Melody, while Canadian actress Janna Hill voiced Symphony. Morgan was additionally cast as Harmony Angel and voiced the character in five episodes. About a third of the way through the dialogue recording sessions, the role was re-assigned to Chinese actress Lian-Shin, who voiced the character in only one episode ("The Launching") but was credited for 20.
Supporting character voices were performed by Anderson, Files, Hill, Maxwell, Morgan, Tingwell and Wilkin. Completing the credited cast were David Healy and Martin King. Shane Rimmer, previously heard as Scott Tracy in "Thunderbirds", made a number of uncredited vocal contributions besides writing for the series. Neil McCallum voiced guest characters in four episodes but was also uncredited. After "Captain Scarlet", six members of the voice cast would continue their association with Century 21. Healy voiced Shane Weston in "Joe 90" and Files voiced Matthew Harding in "The Secret Service". Wilkin, Morgan and King all had various supporting roles in these two series. Bishop later appeared in the lead role of Commander Ed Straker in "UFO", the Andersons' first live-action series.
Character dialogue was recorded once a fortnight, at up to four episodes a session, at the Anvil Films Recording Studio (now Denham Film Studios) in Denham, Buckinghamshire. Each actor was paid 15 guineas (15 pounds and 15 shillings; ) per episode, plus repeat fees, no matter how many lines he or she spoke. They were not given the opportunity to tour the Century 21 studios in Slough until their work was finished and therefore had no visualisation of their characters during the recording sessions. This was to Morgan's regret: "We all said that we wished we had seen the puppets before doing the dialogue, as it would have been helpful to have something physical to base the voices on. I knew that Destiny was French and that Rhapsody had to be frightfully 'Sloaney', but that was about it."
Music.
The music for "Captain Scarlet" was composed by Barry Gray, who had scored all prior Supermarionation series. The opening theme – titled "The Mysterons" – was produced electronically and accompanied by a seven-note staccato drumbeat to introduce the protagonist, Scarlet. Gerry Anderson, who had intended this to be more a traditional fanfare, said of his initial reaction: "I thought, 'Christ, is this all he could produce?' Looking back on it, however, I can see that what he came up with worked very well." The drumbeat also had two other functions: to cut from one scene to another, with the shot alternating between the previous scene and the next in time with each beat; and to cut into and out of each episode's midpoint advert break, where it was accompanied by a zooming image of the Spectrum logo (a stylised "S" on a background of concentric rings in the colours of the rainbow).
Two versions of the closing theme – "Captain Scarlet" – were recorded. The first version, used on the first 14 episodes, was mostly instrumental with the words "Captain Scarlet!" sung at intervals by a group of vocalists including Ken Barrie; each instance was followed by vocoded repetition supplied by Gray himself. It was later reworked as a song with lyrics performed by The Spectrum, a London boy band who happened to share their name with the fictional Spectrum Organisation. Originally formed in 1960, at the time of their involvement with "Captain Scarlet" the group were signed to RCA Victor and being promoted as an English imitation of The Monkees. They were brought to the Andersons' attention by Gerry's chauffeur, who had heard them on pirate radio, and signed a contract with Century 21 worth £100,000.
As well as the opening and closing themes, between March and December 1967 Gray recorded incidental music for 18 episodes. Music for the other 14 was supplied by re-using these scores, supplemented by excerpts of music originally produced for earlier Anderson series. Compared to "Thunderbirds", the incidental music for "Captain Scarlet" was recorded using smaller ensembles: no episode featured more than 16 instruments.
In their notes on the CD release, Ralph Titterton and Tim Mallett write that the "Captain Scarlet" soundtrack has a "military feel" that favours percussion, brass and wind instruments, contrasting with the full orchestral sound of "Thunderbirds". Gray preferred traditional instruments for much of the action, generally restricting his use of electronic music to scenes set in outer space as well as a four-note echoing motif used to identify the Mysterons. Scarlet's motif, used in incidental music as well as both versions of the closing theme, is a variation emphasising the captain's nature as an ex-Mysteron. Gray performed some of the series' electronic music himself.
Reviewing the soundtrack, Bruce Eder of AllMusic describes the collection of theme and incidental music as "a strange mix of otherworldly 'music of the spheres', late–50s/early–60s 'space-age pop', 'British Invasion' beat, Scottish folk-inspired tunes, kids-style 'Mickey Mouse' scoring, martial music, light jazz, and light classical". He singles out the two versions of "White as Snow" from the episode of the same name, "Cocktail Music" from the episode "Model Spy" and a piano piece from "The Inquisition" (which Gray performed himself) for particular praise. In his BBC Online review, Peter Marsh suggests that the music's grim tone reflects the series' use of realistic puppets and presentation of death as well as its frightening alien villains and lack of humour, noting that "dissonant vibraphone chords shimmer under hovering, tremulous strings contrasted with urgent, militaristic drums and pulsing brass – driving the action ever onto its climax (and, no doubt, a big explosion)."
Commercial releases.
In 1967, Century 21 Records (a label founded by Century 21 and Pye Records) released an extended play titled "TV Themes from Captain Scarlet", which included commercial re-recordings of the series' opening and closing theme music. The soundtrack has since had two CD releases: the first by Silva Screen Records, the second by Fanderson, the official Gerry Anderson fan club. Fanderson's version was available exclusively to club members and contained music from every episode except "The Heart of New York" and "Treble Cross" (which contain no original music) and "Traitor" (whose cue recordings are lost). Both CD releases' tracks are listed below.
<br>
Silva Screen Records (2003)
<br>
Fanderson (2015)
<br>
Title sequences and end credits.
All episodes, except the first, incorporate two title sequences. The first of these, incorporating the title card and principal production credits, is set in a run-down alleyway and presented from the point of view of an unseen gunman; turning a corner, he comes face to face with Captain Scarlet and opens fire, only to be shot dead by a single round from the captain's handgun. The words "Captain Scarlet" appear letter by letter in time with the seven strikes of the series' signature drumbeat composed by Barry Gray. This sequence is intended to demonstrate Scarlet's indestructibility, the bullets from the assassin's machine gun having no effect on the captain.
The sequence is accompanied by a voiceover from Ed Bishop that states:
A number of variations have been used. In the first episode, the voiceover runs:
An alternative version, rarely used, runs: "One man. A man who is different. Chosen by fate. Caught up in Earth's unwanted conflict with the Mysterons. Determined. Courageous. Indestructible. His name: Captain Scarlet." Later prints feature an additional voiceover by Donald Gray, warning the audience: "Captain Scarlet is indestructible. You are not. Remember this. Do not try to imitate him." This served to establish the background to the series and warn younger viewers not to put themselves at risk by copying Scarlet's actions. It was used either on its own or following Bishop's "One man ..." voiceover.
From the second episode, "Winged Assassin", the establishing scenes are followed by a secondary title sequence introducing Captain Blue, Colonel White, the Angels and Captain Black. As the Mysterons announce their latest threat against Earth, the Mysteron rings pass over the characters in various environments, thus demonstrating the aliens' omnipresence. At the same time, the characters' codenames are flashed on-screen. The Mysterons invariably begin their threats with the words: "This is the voice of the Mysterons. We know that you can hear us, Earthmen."
The closing titles were originally intended to feature images of printed circuit boards and other electronic components to reflect the Andersons' initial conception of Scarlet as a "mechanical man". In the finished sequence, these were replaced with a series of paintings depicting Scarlet in various moments of peril. In earlier episodes, the paintings are accompanied by the instrumental version of the "Captain Scarlet" theme music; in later episodes, this was substituted by a lyrical version sung by The Spectrum. The paintings were created by comic artist Ron Embleton, who would later illustrate the adult comic strips "Oh, Wicked Wanda!" and "Sweet Chastity" for "Penthouse" magazine. In 2005, the Animation Art Gallery in London released limited-edition prints of the paintings signed by Francis Matthews.
In Japan, the original opening titles were replaced with a montage of action clips from various episodes accompanied by an upbeat song performed by children. This version is included in the special features of the "Captain Scarlet" DVD box set.
Broadcast history.
"Captain Scarlet" had its official UK premiere on 29 September 1967 on the ATV Midlands franchise of the ITV network. The first episode was seen by an estimated 450,000 people, a number considered promising. Exactly five months earlier, this episode had been broadcast in the London area as an unscheduled test transmission. The series officially debuted in London and Scotland on 1 October, with Granada, Anglia, Channel, Southern and Westward Television all following later that month. By the end of 1967, 4.95 million UK households – the equivalent of 10.9 million people – were watching the series. Viewing figures in the Midlands region averaged 1.1 million.
By the start of the 1968, "Captain Scarlet" was being broadcast in all parts of the UK. The series was also shown in more than 40 other countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. In the United States, it aired in first-run syndication. Only six episodes were shown in the Netherlands.
UK re-runs varied between regions. Granada, Harlech and Tyne Tees Television continued to show the series into 1972. In the Midlands, it was repeated four times in colour between 1969 and 1974, while in other areas, like Yorkshire, it was not shown at all. From 1985, various parts of the ITV network repeated the series on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The series was also broadcast in segmented form during LWT's Night Network.
"Captain Scarlet" was later acquired by the BBC, which on 1 October 1993 began the series' first nationwide run on BBC2. The first episode was seen by four million viewers, the channel's third-largest audience for that week. In September 2001, the BBC began repeating the series in digitally-remastered form. Following the September 11 attacks, the episode order was changed: "Winged Assassin" (in which the Mysterons destroy an airliner) and "Big Ben Strikes Again" (in which they hi-jack a nuclear device), were postponed due to perceived similarities between the plots and real-world events. These episodes were eventually broadcast in November and December 2001.
Reception.
Although "Thunderbirds" had run for two series, Grade's unexpected cancellation of that production led Gerry Anderson to assume that there was no possibility of "Captain Scarlet" lasting more than one. In Anderson's words: "I didn't expect it to continue. I simply went to Lew and asked, 'What's the next thing you want us to do?
"Captain Scarlet" is widely regarded as "darker" or more "mature" in tone than earlier Supermarionation productions. According to Andrew Billen: "Whereas "Thunderbirds" was about rescuing people, "Scarlet" was about damnation, the soul of a resurrected man being fought for between Captain Scarlet and the equally indestructible Captain Black. It was Anderson's Gothic period." Marcus Hearn writes that the series has a "militaristic" feel, with less emphasis on "characterisation and charm" compared to its precursors and "Joe 90". For Jim Sangster and Paul Condon, the optimism of "Stingray" and "Thunderbirds" is noticeably absent, the heroism and unqualified victories in those series being replaced by desperate games of "damage limitation" as Scarlet and Spectrum rush to counter every Mysteron move, sometimes unsuccessfully. Discussion of the series' presentation of death and destruction has led some commentators to question its suitability for younger viewers: media historian Daniel O'Brien notes that "Captain Scarlet" is "rated by some as the most violently destructive children's show ever". The horror of the Mysterons has also been recognised: in 2003, the depiction of the aliens was ranked 82nd in Channel 4's list show "100 Greatest Scary Moments".
Commentators have drawn parallels with the state of international relations at the time the series was made. Robert Sellers writes that "Captain Scarlet" arose from "1960s sci-fi obsession with alien forces infiltrating society", which he suggests could have been derived from fears about the Cold War and communism. For Nicholas J. Cull, the "war of nerves" between Earth and Mars is a reflection of contemporary geopolitical conflict, while the "enemy within" scenario of Martians taking over human beings is comparabe to plots of films such as "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956). Mark Bould argues that the series "seemed in tune with a decade of civil disobedience and anti-imperialist guerrilla wars" – a view echoed by Rebecca Feasey of the University of Edinburgh, who regards it as one of several series that "exploited the fears of 1960s America" in its portrayal of "civil disobedience and the potentially negative impact of new technologies". Since 2001, comparisons have also been made to the September 11 attacks and the ensuing War on Terror. Sangster and Condon argue that for a 1960s series, "Captain Scarlet" was "incredibly perceptive" in its conception of the Mysterons, whose tactics they liken to terrorism.
To others, "Captain Scarlet" remains a "camp classic". According to Bould, it is one of several Anderson productions to depict "a utopian future benefiting from world government, high technology, ethnic diversity, and a generally positive sense of Americanisation. They articulate the commonly made connection between technological developments and economic prosperity." He also writes that the series espouses "Euro-cool consumerism". A recurring concept in the Supermarionation productions, world government was inspired by Gerry Anderson's thoughts on the subject: "I had all sorts of fancy ideas about the future ... we had the United Nations and I imagined that the world would come together and there would be a world government." On the depiction of technology, Peter Wright notes the "qualified technophilia" that "Captain Scarlet" shares with "Thunderbirds".
The series has been criticised for its camerawork, which some view as too static due to the crew's inability to move the puppets convincingly. Criticism has also been directed at the characterisation and writing. Sangster and Condon consider the plots uncomplicated and the characters perhaps "even more simplistic" than those of "Stingray". Some have blamed the return to 25-minute episodes, coming after "Thunderbirds" 50-minute format, for a lack of subplots and perceived drop in the quality of the storytelling. In a 1986 interview, script editor Tony Barwick described "Captain Scarlet" as "hard-nosed stuff" that lacked humour, adding: "It was all for the American market and to that extent there was no deep characterisation. [The characters] all balanced one against the other." Sylvia Anderson likened the presentation to that of a "comic strip", arguing that the action format came at the expense of the character development. In contrast, Jeff Evans believes the characters to be "more detailed" than before, arguing that "Captain Scarlet" was the first Anderson production to give them "private lives and real identities". Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping praise the writing, judging it "neither as silly as previous Anderson efforts, nor as po-faced as later ones".
In a comparison to "Thunderbirds", writer John Peel sums up "Captain Scarlet" as "better puppets, bigger action and a huge step backwards in stories", arguing that the advances in Century 21's special effects were to the detriment of the writing. He compares this to the relative failure of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" following the success of "Raiders of the Lost Ark": "Anderson made the same mistake that George Lucas made, assuming that if the effects were praised in "Thunderbirds", the public wanted a show with more effects." Peel also finds fault with Scarlet himself, arguing that an "indestructible" hero who can freely risk his safety to thwart the enemy served as a poor role model to impressionable children and made the episode endings too predictable. Sangster and Condon echo the latter point, writing that Scarlet's extraordinary abilities weaken the suspense and make him "a difficult hero to believe in".
Considered a cult programme by some, "Captain Scarlet" came 33rd in a 2007 "Radio Times" poll to determine the greatest science fiction series of all time. It was ranked 51st in Channel 4's 2001 list show "100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows". Cornell, Day and Topping argue that the series is perhaps Gerry Anderson's best production. However, Anderson's own verdict was clear: "Nothing was as successful as "Thunderbirds". "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" was very successful, but once you've had a smash hit, everything tends to look less successful in comparison."
Race, gender and symbolism.
"Captain Scarlet" has attracted both positive and negative commentary on its use of female and ethnic minority characters – an aspect that according to Daniel O'Brien gives the series a "more cosmopolitan" feel compared to "Thunderbirds". During its 1993 re-run on BBC2, the series drew some criticism for its use of the codenames "Black" and "White" in reference to the benevolent Colonel White and the villainous Captain Black, which some commentators interpreted as a form of negative black-and-white dualism. Defending the series against claims of racist stereotyping, Gerry Anderson pointed out that it features heroic non-white characters in the form of Lieutenant Green and Melody and Harmony Angels. Green is the only black male regular character in any of the Supermarionation series.
For Sellers, the inclusion of Green and especially Melody Angel, a black female character, shows that "Captain Scarlet" was "actually ahead of its time in respect to race relations". He also regards the Angel squad's all-female composition as significant from a point of view of women's emancipation. O'Brien is less complimentary on this latter point, arguing that while it was progressive for the 1960s, to newer audiences it comes across more as a "conventionally sexist male fantasy".
The diversity of the characters in terms of race and gender has been viewed highly in academic publications. Bould praises the "beautiful, multi-ethnic, female Angel fighter pilots" and "secondary roles played by capable women". In a 2003 interview, Anderson noted the effort made to feature ethnic minorities: "... I think people who make television programmes have a responsibility, particularly when children are watching avidly and you know their minds can be affected almost irreversibly as they grow up. We were very conscious of introducing different ethnic backgrounds."
Cy Grant, the voice of Green, believed that "Captain Scarlet" had both positive multicultural value and an allegorical nature. He argued that religious symbolism was implied, with Colonel White serving as an analogue for God, Captain Black as the Devil and Scarlet as the Son of God; the allegory extended to Cloudbase, which represented Heaven and was guarded by a fleet of fighters codenamed "Angels". On dualism, he argued: "The 'darkness' of the Mysterons is most easily seen as the psychological rift – the struggle of 'good' and 'evil' – of the Western world as personified by Colonel White and his team. Dark and light are but aspects of each other. Incidentally, green is the colour of nature that can heal that rift."
Other media.
The ATV game show "The Golden Shot", hosted by Bob Monkhouse, used "Captain Scarlet" as the theme for its 1967 Christmas special. Broadcast live on 23 December, the programme featured guest appearances from Francis Matthews and The Spectrum.
Since its first appearance, the TV series has been supplemented by merchandise ranging from toy action figures to video games. During the 1960s, Century 21 granted more than 60 licences for "Captain Scarlet" products and released a range of friction-drive model vehicles through its subsidiary Century 21 Toys. Meccano Ltd manufactured "Captain Scarlet" Dinky Toys to great success: its SPV was its best-selling die-cast toy of all time and continued to be produced until 1976. Waddingtons released a "Captain Scarlet" board game based on snakes and ladders. In 1993, Vivid Imaginations launched a new range of toys to coincide with the BBC2 repeats.
Audio plays.
Among the early tie-ins were a series of five audio plays released by Century 21 Records in 1967. Taking the form of a vinyl EP record, each play was approximately 21 minutes long and featured the voice cast from the TV series. Angus P. Allan wrote the first play, "Introducing Captain Scarlet" (set during the denouement of the first TV episode) as well as "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" and "Captain Scarlet of Spectrum". The other two – "Captain Scarlet is Indestructible" and "Captain Scarlet versus Captain Black" – were written by his assistant, Richard O'Neill.
To mark "Captain Scarlet"s 50th anniversary in 2017, Big Finish Productions digitally remastered the plays and re-released them on CD. The seven-disc set also includes audio adaptations of eight of the TV episodes with narration by Ed Bishop as Captain Blue.
Books and comics.
In the 1960s, author John William Jennison wrote three "Captain Scarlet" tie-in novels under the pseudonym "John Theydon": "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons", "Captain Scarlet and the Silent Saboteur" and "The Angels and the Creeping Enemy". As implied by its title, the third novel features the Spectrum Angels as the main characters. In 1993, Young Corgi Books released children's novelisations of "The Mysterons", "Lunarville 7", "Noose of Ice" and "The Launching".
From September 1967, comic strips based on the series were printed in "TV Century 21" (later "TV21"), published by City Magazines in association with Century 21. The comic had already featured "Fireball XL5", "Stingray" and "Thunderbirds" strips as well as crossovers between the three, indicating that they were set in a shared fictional world of the 2060s; "Captain Scarlet" was integrated into this setting. Elements of the new series, including Captain Black, had been introduced as early as June 1967. The initial "Captain Scarlet" strips were drawn by Ron Embleton, succeeded first by Mike Noble and then Jim Watson. After the TV series finished its original run, the comic continued the story of Spectrum and the Mysterons, with subsequent adventures showing that the Mysterons deactivate their city on Mars and relinquish their control over Black while Scarlet leaves Spectrum to fight Earth-bound threats. The Mysterons eventually reawaken, prompting Scarlet and Spectrum to resume their struggle. "Captain Scarlet" was also featured in "TV21" and Century 21 annuals for 1967, 1968 and 1969. In September 1969, the series was dropped from "TV21".
The series' "TV21" debut had been preceded by spin-off adventures in the sister comics "Lady Penelope" and "Solo". In January 1967, "Lady Penelope" launched a comic strip about the Angel pilots; this ran until May 1968 but introduced no elements of the Spectrum Organisation until August 1967. "Solo" printed two strips: the first from June to September 1967; the second, following a merger with City Magazine's "TV Tornado", from September 1967 to February 1968. The first, "The Mark of the Mysterons", bore little relation to "Captain Scarlet" besides featuring the Mysterons as villains; it was set in the 1960s and the presentation was similar to that of "The Invaders". The second, simply titled "The Mysterons", saw the aliens travelling to the Andromeda Galaxy on a campaign of conquest.
After the series' discontinuation in Century 21 and City titles, Polystyle Publications printed further strips in "Countdown" comic and annuals between 1971 and 1972. From 1993 to 1994, Fleetway Editions published a dedicated "Captain Scarlet" comic to coincide with the series' first run on BBC2. New annuals were published by Grandreams in 1993 and 1994 and Carlton Books in 2001.
In Japan, "Weekly Shōnen Sunday" serialised a manga adaptation of "Captain Scarlet" between 1967 and 1968. A separate adaptation was published in "Shōnen Book" from January to August 1968.
Home video.
The series' first VHS release in the UK was by Precision Video in 1982. Precision was later acquired by Channel 5 Video (a partnership of PolyGram and Heron International), which issued further "Captain Scarlet" cassettes over the course of the 1980s. Between 2001 and 2002, Carlton Video re-released the series in volumes and as a box set. These featured the remastered picture and sound quality that had been introduced for the 2000s repeats. The box set includes an extra tape containing "Captain Scarlet: The Indestructible", a behind-the-scenes feature.
Since September 2001, "Captain Scarlet" has also been available on Region 2 DVD in both its original mono soundtrack and new Dolby Digital surround sound. Bonus features include audio commentaries by Gerry Anderson on two episodes, "The Mysterons" and "Attack on Cloudbase", as well as the five audio adventures from the 1960s. As with the VHS releases, the DVDs have also been released as a box set; this includes an extra disc featuring a production documentary, "Captain Scarlet S.I.G.", along with a set of five alternative title sequences. A Region 1 box set by A&E Home Video was released in 2002. In 2004, Imavision released a French-language box set for the Canadian market.
On the series' 50th anniversary in September 2017, British company Network Distributing announced that it was releasing "Captain Scarlet" on Blu-ray Disc with all episodes remastered in high definition using the original 35 mm film negatives. The Blu-ray range was released between 2017 and 2018 both in volumes and as a box set.
Video games.
Between 2002 and 2006, three "Captain Scarlet" video games were released. A further game was cancelled.
Later productions.
Since the 1980s, the rights to the ITC catalogue have changed hands a number of times. They were acquired first by PolyGram Entertainment, then, following a partial sale to the BBC, by Carlton International. In 2004, Carlton merged with Granada to form ITV plc; the rights to "Captain Scarlet" and other Anderson series now reside with its subsidiary ITV Studios.
In the early 1980s, Robert Mandell and ITC New York combined several episodes of "Captain Scarlet" to create two compilation films: "Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars" and "Captain Scarlet vs. the Mysterons". Promoted as "Super Space Theater", these were broadcast on American cable TV with the aim of reviving transatlantic syndication sales. Other Anderson productions, including "Stingray" and "Thunderbirds", received similar treatments. Released on British VHS in January 1982, "Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars" was "Captain Scarlet"s UK home video debut. In November 1988, it aired as the second episode of the movie-mocking series "Mystery Science Theater 3000" on Minnesota TV station KTMA.
Plans for a live-action film adaptation of "Captain Scarlet", announced by Gerry Anderson in 2000 and 2002, remain undeveloped.
Remake.
In 1999, Anderson supervised the production of a computer-animated test film, "Captain Scarlet and the Return of the Mysterons", to explore the possibility of updating some of his 1960s puppet series for a 21st-century audience. Produced by the Moving Picture Company under the working title "Captain Scarlet – The New Millennium", the four-minute film was made using a combination of Maya animation software and motion capture technology and saw Francis Matthews and Ed Bishop reprise the voices of Captains Scarlet and Blue. Set a few years after the Mysterons apparently cease hostilities against Earth, the film features the reappearance of Captain Black, setting the stage for a revival of the war with Mars. The film was screened at a Fanderson convention in 2000 and a science lecture in 2001. It was released on Blu-ray in 2017.
Plans for a full computer-animated "Captain Scarlet" series eventually resulted in "Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet". A reboot of the original, this was first broadcast on the ITV children's show "Ministry of Mayhem" in 2005. In a nod to Supermarionation, the animation used to make the series was promoted as "Hypermarionation". "New Captain Scarlet" was the last TV series to be produced by Anderson, who died in 2012.


Domain-specific entertainment language

Domain-specific entertainment languages are a group of domain-specific languages that are used describe computer games or environments, or potentially used for other entertainment such as video or music.


Slime Time

Slime Time is a syndicated game show, running on Saturdays from June 11 to September 3, 1988. It was created to cash in on the success of "Double Dare", and was very similar to that show. The host was comedian Marty Cohen, who hosted each episode dressed as a referee and the show was announced by Dean Goss.
"Slime Time" was commonly paired with the kids game show "Treasure Mall" in syndication. Both shows premiered on June 11 and were cancelled 13 weeks later.
Gameplay.
Two teams competed, each consisting of three students and one teacher representing their school. To begin round 1, a tossup stunt was played involving both teams. The winner of the stunt received $25.
After this, one kid from each team faced off to answer a tossup question. Buzzing in with the right answer won $25 and the right to pick the next stunt, but a wrong answer gave the money and the choice of stunt to the other team. Each stunt was represented by a flashing body part on a giant head on center stage, dubbed "Mr. Slimehead." Kids could pick either eye, ear, or nostril, and a card with the stunt's description would pop out of its mouth. Some stunts had prizes hidden behind them; those prizes would be the team's to keep, win or lose.
Round #1: The first round ended after the kids had selected and completed two stunts.
Round #2: In the second round, the money values doubled and new stunts were placed on Mr. Slimehead. Different, nicer prizes were up for grabs as well. Play continued until a buzzer sounded.
Round #3: The final round saw the teachers placed underneath the show's infamous slime faucet, which hovered back and forth ominously over each teacher's head, as all of the kids were asked tossup questions that anyone could buzz in to answer. Getting a question right won $100, but a wrong answer gave the $100 to the other team. The first team to accumulate $1,000 or more won the game. The faucet would then stop hovering right above the losing team's teacher, and dump gallons of thick green slime all over them.
In the first show that was filmed (though not the first to air), the three boys representing Lawrence Junior High School (of Chatsworth, California) and Chamanade easily disposed of the three private school girls by dominating the final round 10-0, thus dumping the dreaded green slime all over their teacher Ms. Lindstrom.
Winners received a large prize package. Both teams kept their money, whilst the runners-up also won a smaller prize package.
Stunts.
Stunts used on Slime Time included:
Unless otherwise noted, timed stunts were always 20 seconds long.


Sicilian Defence, Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack, 9.Bc4

In chess, the move 9.Bc4 is one of the main options in the chess opening called the Yugoslav Attack, which is an attack in the Dragon Variation of the Sicilian Defence. Also known as the Rauzer System or the St George Attack, the Yugoslav Attack begins with the following moves:
English GM John Emms states: I can safely say that the Yugoslav Attack is the ultimate test of the Dragon. White quickly develops his and castles long before turning his attentions to an all-out assault on the black king. To the untrained eye, this attack can look both awesome and unnerving.
Statistically, Chessgames.com's database of nearly 1500 master games shows win–draw–loss percentages for White to be: 46%–25%–29%. Mega Database 2002 indicates that White scores 52% while 66% of the over 1200 games were decisive .
The "ECO" code for the Sicilian Dragon, Yugoslav Attack, 9.Bc4 is B77.
Overview.
White tries to break open the black and deliver checkmate down the h-, while Black seeks counterplay on the queenside with sacrificial attacks. Typical white strategies are exchanging dark squared bishops by Be3–h6, sacrificing a pawn and sometimes an exchange on h5, exploiting pressure on the a2–g8 diagonal, and the weakness of the d5-square.
Some typical themes for Black are exchanging White's light-square bishop by ...Nc6–e5–c4, pressure on the c-file, sacrificing the exchange on c3, advancing the b-pawn and pressuring the long diagonal. White will normally conduct a straight pawn attack, because Black has given White a pawn on g6 to attack. Generally, White will avoid moving their pawns on a2/b2/c2, and so Black's pawn storm is nearly always slower than White's. Black can sometimes obtain an acceptable endgame even after sacrificing the exchange, because of White's h-pawn sacrifice and doubled pawns.
The Yugoslav Attack with 9. Bc4 results in extremely tactical and decisive battles. White keeps a firm grip on the center while advancing aggressively towards the enemy king with f3–f4–f5 and even g2–g3–g4. However, danger exists in overextending and allowing Black to gain the initiative with a deadly counterattack. Black's strategy is centered around the half-open c-file and their ability to push the a- and b-pawns. Throughout the entire course of the battle, Black will be looking to break the center with an advance ...d6–d5.
Main line.
9... Bd7 10. 0-0-0
10... Rc8 11. Bb3
11... Ne5 12. Kb1
12... Re8
Black ...Qa5 lines.
The main line runs: 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. 0-0-0 Qa5 11. Bb3 Rfc8 12. h4 Ne5. This approach was originally considered the main variation and was thus given the "ECO" code B79 (whilst ...Rc8 was not given any). It was advocated by GM Chris Ward in his books "Winning with the Dragon" and "Winning with the Dragon 2".
This line has fallen slightly out of favour due to difficulties encountered in white's 12.Kb1 and the credibility of the Soltis variation in Rc8 lines mentioned above.
Chinese Dragon.
The main line with 10. 0-0-0 Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. Kb1 has proven to be so effective over time that some Dragon players have attempted to dodge the line with the interesting 10... Rb8. This complicated line is known as the Chinese Dragon. The most topical line is currently 11. Bb3 which is really a degree of prophylaxis designed to prevent the sacrifice of the b-pawn immediately whilst buying time for White. Black now has the move 11... Na5 which both threatens to play 12...Nc4 13.Bxc4 bxc4, opening the b-file or just removing the bishop straight off with ...Nxb3. Originally h4 was played in this position, but recently the move 12. Bh6 has come to prominence, leading to a sharp and double-edged game in which Black has good practical chances.
Sample game.
Anatoly Karpov–Viktor Korchnoi, 1974 Candidates Final<br>
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.h4 Rc8 11.Bb3 Ne5 12.0-0-0 Nc4 13.Bxc4 Rxc4 14.h5 Nxh5 15.g4 Nf6 16.Nde2 Qa5 17.Bh6 Bxh6 18.Qxh6 Rfc8 19.Rd3 R4c5 20.g5 (diagram) Rxg5 21.Rd5 Rxd5 22.Nxd5 Re8 23.Nef4 Bc6 24.e5 Bxd5 25.exf6 exf6 26.Qxh7+ Kf8 27.Qh8+ 1–0


Sicilian Defence, Magnus Smith Trap

The Magnus Smith Trap is a chess opening trap in the Sicilian Defence, named after three-time Canadian chess champion Magnus Smith (1869–1934). In an article titled "The 'Magnus Smith Trap published in his "Chess Notes" column (hosted at the Chess History Center), chess historian Edward Winter wrote:
The trap.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bc4
6... g6
7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. e5 (diagram)
8... dxe5
9. Bxf7+
References.
Bibliography


Hamish McDouall

Hamish McDouall is a New Zealand local government politician and current mayor of Whanganui. He is a member of the New Zealand Labour Party.
Biography.
Early life and career.
McDouall was born in Wanganui to Shirley (née Sanson) and Gerald McDouall and attended Wanganui Collegiate School. He studied law and arts at the University of Otago. McDouall was a winner on the gameshow Sale of the Century and was the champion of TVNZ's "Mastermind" programme in 1990, collectively winning nearly $100,000 worth in prizes. His winning specialist subject was "The Life & Works of David Bowie." He played both soccer, cricket and represented Whanganui in roller hockey.
He then lived abroad in England, Sweden and Russia before returning to Wanganui in 2001. He then took up work as a barrister and solicitor and worked in corporate, family, and community law. He is the author of four published books.
Political career.
McDouall joined the Labour Party in 2007 and was Labour's candidate for the Whanganui electorate in 2008, 2011 and 2014, but lost to incumbent Chester Borrows.
At the 2010 local body elections he was elected a member of the Whanganui District Council. After serving one term as deputy mayor to Annette Main, McDouall succeeded the Whanganui mayoralty in the 2016 local government elections. After winning the 2016 election with 39.18% of the popular vote and 2,900 more votes than that of his nearest rival, McDouall was returned to the mayoralty in 2019 unopposed.
Personal life.
He has a wife, Elinor, and two children. He is a second cousin of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.


Metal Gear Solid Touch

 is a third-person shooter video game for iOS developed by Kojima Productions and published by Konami worldwide. Announced on December 16, 2008, "Metal Gear Solid Touch" is based on "". It was released on the App Store for select regions on March 18, 2009.
Gameplay.
The player navigates through several missions based on stages from "Metal Gear Solid 4", each introduced by brief text summarizing the story so far. The player moves their finger across the screen to aim, tapping to fire, and moving their fingers together or apart to zoom in or out with a sniper rifle, removing their fingers from the screen to get behind cover and avoid enemy fire. The main character's primary weapons, an assault rifle and a sniper rifle, can be rotated with one another by pinching the device's screen.
The player plays as Solid Snake, who is also known as Old Snake in "Metal Gear Solid 4". The entirety of "Metal Gear Solid 4" has been streamlined into a portable and more accessible form. The main objective of most missions is to kill a set number of enemies. Enemies include hostile PMC soldiers, Haven Troopers and Gekkos, which are unmanned fighting machinations. There are also friendly targets which the player is penalised for shooting at. Some sections contain 'Boss fights', where the player fights a boss from the "Metal Gear Solid 4" storyline; e.g. Laughing Octopus. At the end of each mission, the player is awarded a rank based on their precision and speed in completing the mission. Higher ranks award more Drebin Points, which can be used to buy rewards such as iPhone character wallpapers.


Asteroids Deluxe

Asteroids Deluxe is a vector graphic multidirectional shooter released in arcades in April 1981 by Atari Inc. as the sequel to "Asteroids". It was followed by "Space Duel" in 1982 and "Blasteroids" in 1987. Key changes in "Asteroids Deluxe" were designed to combat the saucer-hunting strategy of "Asteroids", which allowed experts to play for extended periods. These modifications also made it significantly more difficult than the original.
Ports of "Asteroids Deluxe" were released for the BBC Micro in 1984 and the Atari ST in 1987.
Gameplay.
Like in the original "Asteroids", the objective is to score points by destroying asteroids and flying saucers. The player controls a ship that can rotate left and right, fire shots straight forward, and thrust forward. When shot, larger asteroids break apart into smaller pieces and fly in random directions, while the smallest asteroids are destroyed when hit. "Deluxe" replaces the hyperspace feature with shields which deplete with use. This game also introduces the "Killer Satellite", a cluster of ships that break apart and chase the player's ship when hit. Objects "wrap" from each edge of the screen to the opposite edge (e.g. from the right edge to the left), as in the original.
In addition to the shield feature and the Killer Satellite, the most significant change in this version of the game is that the flying saucers can now target the player's ship across the screen boundary - meaning that if the saucer is close to the left edge and the player is at the right edge, the saucer may shoot toward the left edge and across the boundary to hit the player since their ship is closer that direction. In "Asteroids", the saucers could only fire directly at the player's location on screen without considering the boundary, which led to the popular "lurking" exploit that enabled players to play for very long periods of time on a single credit. This updated strategy was in direct response to that exploit.
Development.
The "Asteroids Deluxe" arcade machine is a vector game, with graphics consisting entirely of lines drawn on a vector monitor, which Atari described as "QuadraScan". The key hardware consists of a 1.5 MHz MOS 6502A CPU, which executes the game program, and the Digital Vector Generator (DVG), the first vector processing circuitry developed by Atari. The DVG used for Asteroids Deluxe was designed by Howard Delman, and used earlier in "Lunar Lander" and "Asteroids".
Most of the sound effects are implemented by custom circuitry, but some are generated via the Atari POKEY sound chip.


Earth 2020

Earth 2020 is a 1983 role-playing game published by Stephen Kyffin.
Contents.
"Earth 2020" is game set in the then-future of 2020. Technology has allowed everyone to live lives of leisure, but some people — the player characters — seek adventure. Designer Stephen Kyffin designed the game as "an optimistic view of the future, with more technology and human understanding of ourselves and the planet we live on."
The book is divided into four sections:
Publication history.
Stephen Kyffin of Newquay self-published Book 1 of the game as a 44-page booklet with a price of £2. More volumes were promised, but ultimately no more books appeared.
Reception.
Andy Blakeman, writing in Issue 11 of "Imagine", felt that similarities could be drawn to "Traveller", and there were also some errors in equipment pricing, but concluded, "Really, this game is hard to criticise [...] I feel that I can recommend this game system to many gamers, whatever style of play they prefer, as a good system for role-playing. Full marks!"


Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky

Alexander Fyodorovich Ilyin (; November 28, 1894 – September 3, 1941), known with the party name Zhenevsky, "the Genevan" because he joined the Bolshevik group of Russian émigrés while exiled in that city, was a Soviet chess master and organizer, one of founders of the Soviet chess school, an Old-Guard Bolshevik cadre, a writer, a military organizer, a historian and a diplomat. He was born in Saint Petersburg and was the younger brother of Red Navy leader Fedor Raskolnikov.
Ilyin-Zhenevsky promoted chess as an educational vehicle for developing tactical and strategical comprehension during military training, and, within the Soviet Union, he was the main person responsible for the spreading of the idea of chess as a way to teach the basics of scientific and rational thought. The All-Russian Chess Olympiad (retroactively recognized as the first Soviet Championship) in 1920 and the 1933 match Mikhail Botvinnik – Salo Flohr were organized by him. He was three times chess champion of Leningrad, in 1925 (jointly), 1926, and 1929. In 1925, he won a game against José Raúl Capablanca, thus becoming one of only a handful of players to have ever achieved an even score (+1 =0 −1) against the Cuban grandmaster.
A variation of the Dutch Defence, characterized by the moves 1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.0-0 d6 7.Nc3, is named after him.
Now for the black is possible to play three different moves peculiar for this system:
7...a5; 7...Qe8; 7...Ne4
Being personally associated with many oppositionists since Civil War times, he suffered persecution in the Joseph Stalin era. According to Botvinnik and official sources he died in a Nazi air raid on Lake Ladoga on a ship during the siege of Leningrad, but it is believed by some that he fell victim to the Great Purge along with the majority of the Old Guard of revolutionists . But this claim is very dubious, because in 1941, after the end of the purge, Ilyin-Genevsky was playing in the Rostov-on-Don Semifinal for the 13th Soviet Championship on the day Germany invaded the Soviet Union.


Super Bug (video game)

Super Bug is an arcade game developed, manufactured, and released by Atari, Inc. in 1977. The player steers a yellow Volkswagen Beetle (or "Bug") along a multidirectionally scrolling track, avoiding the boundaries and occasional obstacle. The game ends when fuel runs out. "Super Bug" is in black and white, and the colored car comes from a yellow overlay in the center of the monitor.
The 1978 Atari arcade game "Fire Truck" is based on "Super Bug". Both games were programmed by Howard Delman.
Development.
Originally titled "City Driver", the video game "Super Bug" was the first to be designed and programmed by Howard Delman. Delman stated in an interview that he had to learn a lot of the game development process during the nine months it took to create "Super Bug".
Joe Decuir of Atari was writing an Atari 8-bit family version of the game, but it was never finished.


Avalanche (video game)

Avalanche is an arcade game designed by Dennis Koble and released by Atari, Inc. in 1978. The object is to catch falling rocks with a controllable set of paddles that diminish in number and size as the rocks fall faster and faster.
The concept gained a much wider audience after Activision released an unauthorized adaptation in 1981 as "Kaboom!" for the Atari 2600.
The only official home port of "Avalanche" is for the Atari 8-bit family.
Gameplay.
"Avalanche" is for 1 or 2 players, alternating turns. There are six rows of rocks at the top of the screen. The game starts with a six-storied platform and the player loses one platform per row of rocks cleared. The player scores points for those rocks they prevent from reaching the ground. The farther the row of rocks, the smaller and faster they become. The ultimate goal is to get enough points so that the player can continue the game should they lose their first one.
Development.
According to the manual for the Atari home computer version, "Avalanche" started out as a game about eggs and baskets called "Catch". The game tested poorly, but was better received when the theme was changed to falling rocks.
"Avalanche" is housed in a custom cabinet that includes two large lit start buttons and a rotary controller. The side art and bezel feature groupings of rocks with extending lines meant to convey the motion of falling rocks. The screen is black and white with two colored strips to provide colored rows of graphics as in "Breakout".
The circuit board is based on the 6502 CPU, with game code stored in multiple ROMs. All game text is selectable to 4 different languages: English, French, German, or Spanish. Avalanche also includes a built-in self-test diagnostic program that displays all microprocessor and memory functions, including all operator switches and functions.
Ports.
Dennis Koble's official port of "Avalanche" for the Atari 8-bit computers was published through the Atari Program Exchange in 1981 instead of official Atari channels. It requires the paddle controller.
Legacy.
"Avalanche" inspired many similar games including "Kaboom!" by Activision, "Lost Luggage", and "Eggomania", all for the Atari 2600. "Chicken" for the Atari 8-bit family and "Popcorn" for the TRS-80 Color Computer are others.


Elven Legacy

Elven Legacy is a turn-based strategy video game developed by and published by Paradox Interactive. Released in April 2009 for Microsoft Windows the game is a sequel to "Fantasy Wars". On October 11, 2011, Virtual Programming released Elven Legacy Collection, which includes the original game and its three expansion packs, for Mac OS X.
Gameplay.
The gameplay, like its predecessor, "Fantasy Wars", is a turn-based strategy game. The player moves its units, each representing a single hero or a small soldier company, through hexagonal maps dictating where they go and when they attack. Once all units have exhausted both their move points and their (single) action for the turn the pc-controlled enemies (or the other human players, if online) start their movements and actions. As with "Fantasy Wars", units are inspired by the typical fantasy races in a fantasy-medieval setting. Usually, a mission requires a certain list of objectives to fulfill (kill certain enemies, or reach a certain town on the map) with "prizes" awarded at the end of the mission based on how many turns the player needed to achieve them.
Plot.
The game presents a time when five races existed: elves, orcs, humans, the undead, and dwarves. The races are in conflict for possession of one land where the orcs once have been driven away by the human race. A hundred years later, the orcs prepare for a war to recapture their motherland. At the same time, the other races declare war against the human race in an effort to capture the territory in which humans lived. The player can either choose to play as the elves or the orcs.
Reception.
The game received generally positive reviews for the story-line and gameplay. Metacritic's aggregate score for the game is 71 (mixed or average reviews) based on 24 reviews. GameRankings' aggregate score of the title is 68.80% based on 20 reviews.
Expansions.
At E3 2009, Paradox Interactive announced the expansion pack Elven Legacy: Ranger. The "Ranger" expansion adds 16 new missions, three new heroes, five unique artifacts, and 12 new spells.
Elven Legacy: Siege was released on November 17, 2009. The expansion includes large-scale battles of large armies, and the capture of many-hexed cities. The expansion has the following new features: a campaign consisting of 19 missions with a nonlinear storyline; control of two armies; three new heroes; and bonus missions.
Elven Legacy: Magic was released on December 3, 2009. This expansion is the most recent in the series of games about the world of Illis. The expansion has the following new features: new heroes, unusual tactical possibilities, new spells and artifacts, and bonus missions.
On June 21, Virtual Programming announced the original "Elven Legacy" title was to be brought to the Mac OS X platform in late 2009. The publisher shipped the game, along with the three expansion packs, for Mac OS X on October 11, 2011.


Gioachino Greco

Gioachino Greco (c. 1600 – c. 1634), surnamed Cusentino and more frequently "il Calabrese", was an Italian chess player and writer. He recorded some of the earliest chess games known in their entirety. His games, which never indicated players, were quite possibly constructs, but served as examples of brilliant combinations.
Greco was very likely the strongest player of his time, having played (and defeated) the best players of Rome, Paris, London, and Madrid. Greco's writing was in the form of manuscripts for his patrons, in which he outlined the rules of chess, gave playing advice, and presented instructive games. These manuscripts were later published to a wide audience and became massively influential after his death.
Name.
The name "Greco" is often assumed to be indicative of a Greek heritage. Indeed, Calabria, the region in which Greco was born, has a long history of Greek immigration and use of Greek as the vernacular. One prominent writer, Willard Fiske, even suggests (in "The Book of the First American Chess Congress", 1859) that Greco was born in Morea, Greece, before moving to Calabria. Fiske gives no specific evidence for this claim, however; neither do other writers claiming that in this case "Greco" signified "Greek". The origin of "Greco" is therefore largely speculative.
Greco's other names have more concrete origins. "Cusentino" is known from the Corsini manuscript, and means that he was born near Cosenza. "il Calabrese", literally "the Calabrian", meant that Greco was from the Calabria region.
Life.
Little is known about the life of Greco. Our most reliable information about his life comes from his manuscripts. He was born around 1600 in Celico, Italy. Greco apparently showed an early aptitude for chess, leaving home uneducated and at a young age to make a living over the board. By 1620 Greco had become experienced enough to write his earliest dated manuscript, "Trattato Del Nobilissimo Gioco De Scacchi"..., copies of which were given to his patrons in Rome.
Greco is said to have traveled to Paris, although this visit is conspicuously unattested by existing manuscripts. There he continued to find great success over the board. His victories over the strongest French players – among them the Duc de Nemours, M. Arnault le Carabin, and M. Chaumont de la Salle – granted him both fame and riches. By 1622 Greco was travelling to England with a large sum of money; in Paris he had gained the equivalent of 5,000 crowns.
Greco was apparently waylaid during this journey, however, resulting in the loss of his newfound wealth. Undeterred, he continued to London and played the English chess elite. During his stay in London Greco began recording entire chess games rather than single instructive positions, as had been the usual manner.
Greco returned to Paris in 1624 and began rewriting his collection of manuscripts. It is unclear whether he actually played these games – to modern eyes, his opponents' play seems dubious at best. The games' provenance is perhaps inessential; having composed them, Greco was "certainly capable of playing them" on a board.
Not one to remain in one place for long, Greco left Paris for the court of Philip IV in Spain. Greco managed to defeat all his opponents there, as well. By this point Greco had shown himself to be the greatest player in Europe with victories over the champions of Rome, Paris, London, and Madrid.
Having conquered the Old World, Greco traveled to the New. Greco is said to have succumbed to disease in the West Indies soon after arriving. The exact date of his death is unknown, but most sources have him dead by 1634. His chess earnings were given to the Jesuits.
Legacy.
Greco was a remarkable chess player who inhabited the era between Ruy López de Segura and François-André Danican Philidor. At that early date, no great corpus of chess knowledge had yet been amassed. It is for this reason that Greco's games should be understood as those of a brilliant inventor and pioneer rather than as guides to sound play. They are also valuable examples of the Italian Romantic school of chess, in which and are eschewed in favour of aggressive attacks on the opponent's king. Greco paved the way for many of the attacking legends of the Romantic era, such as Philidor, Adolf Anderssen, and Paul Morphy.
Mikhail Botvinnik considered Greco to be the first professional chess player. Other chess writers from the early period of modern chess had professional occupations, except Paolo Boi, who was wealthy through inheritance, and Giulio Cesare Polerio, who was a servant to a wealthy family. Greco, however, relied on chess to make a living.
Greco's innovation to record entire games is perhaps his greatest legacy. Although his manuscripts were initially kept privately by his patrons, they would eventually become public; in 1656, years after his death, one of Greco's now-lost manuscripts was adapted as "The Royall Game of Chesse-Play" by Francis Beale in London. Beale's book—and others like it—helped Greco's work reach a much larger audience than had his predecessors'. In particular, "Le Jeu Des Eschets", published in Paris 1669 became the principal source for the later English editions by William Lewis (1819) and Louis Hoffmann (1900).
Games (as published by Beale) were not described in notation; rather, the movement of each piece was described in English, for example:The Fooles Mate.Black Kings Biſhops pawne one house.White Kings pawne one houſe.Black kings knights pawne two houſesWhite Queen gives Mate at the contrary kings Rookes fourth houſe in which "house" refers to a square on the chessboard.
In addition to the games ("Gambetts") listed in his manuals, Greco often gave general advice to his readers and an overview of the rules of chess ("The Lawes of Chesse"). These range from the familiar ("If you touch your man you must play it, and if you set it downe any where you must let it stand") to the bizarre ("If at first you misplace your men, and play two or three draughts, it lieth in your adversaries choice whether you shall play out the game or begin it again."). Greco also describes the premodern necessity of announcing check to one's opponent and the disgrace of what he calls a "blind Mate" – a checkmate given but not noticed.
The "Lawes of Chesse" were also not entirely standardized in Greco's time; for that reason, the rules as published by Beale would have been meant for a specific population. For example, Greco specifies that when castling in France, "the Rook... goeth into the Kings house". In other countries the rules for castling were different. Modern castling, which Greco also describes, is sometimes called "alla Calabrese" in Greco's honour.
Example games.
As one of the players during the age of the Italian Romantic style, Greco studied the Italian game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4), among other openings. His games are regarded as classics of early chess literature and are sometimes still taught to beginners. Greco himself presented his games as between "White" and "Black"; the modern convention is to name the participants Greco and , for the Latin "nomen nescio".
Among his games were the first smothered mate:
and another that was continued into the endgame:
Compositions.
Although Greco is known for recording entire games, he also included a number of chess problems in his manuscripts. Many of these were either copied directly, or adapted with modifications, from the works of previous authors.
This puzzle uses the theme of the wrong rook pawn, and is probably an original composition by Greco:
And here is one inspired by an earlier composition by Salvio:
Manuscripts.
What follows is a list of manuscripts written by Greco, as given by Murray. There is a large amount of overlap among the contents of many of the works; many also have identical (or near-identical) titles. Efforts to list and date Greco's manuscripts have been made by Antonius van der Linde (1874), J. A. Leon (1900), Murray (1913), J. G. White (1919), Alessandro Sanvito (2005), and Peter J. Monté (2014).
All Greco's manuscripts had Italian text, though some were given English titles. The title pages or first pages were the work of calligraphers, while the text was in Greco's own hand. Furthermore, some works survive only as later copies or translations, and therefore only their translated titles are known.
References.
Bibliography