Big Ben Strikes Again

"Big Ben Strikes Again"
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episode
Episode no. Episode 3
Directed by Brian Burgess
Written by Tony Barwick
Cinematography by Paddy Seale
Editing by John Beaton
Production code SCA 3[1]
Original air date 13 October 1967
Guest appearance(s)

Voices of:
Martin King (uncredited) as
2nd Police Officer
Paul Maxwell as
1st Police Officer
Neil McCallum (uncredited) as
4th Police Officer[2]
Charles Tingwell as
Macey
Jeremy Wilkin as
3rd Police Officer
5th Police Officer
Radio Host

"Big Ben Strikes Again" is the third episode of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, a 1960s British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Written by Tony Barwick and directed by Brian Burgess, it was first broadcast on 13 October 1967 on ATV Midlands. In this episode, the Mysterons attempt to destroy London by hi-jacking a transporter carrying an atomic device.

Like the previous episode, "Winged Assassin", "Big Ben Strikes Again" was postponed during BBC Two's 2001 repeat run of Captain Scarlet due to similarities between its plot and the September 11 attacks.

Plot

The Mysterons announce that they intend to destroy London. Aided by Captain Black, they use their powers to seize control of a transporter truck carrying an atomic device through the city by night. The transporter and its driver, Macey, are sealed inside the Park View underground car park. Macey, who was struck unconscious during the hi-jacking, awakes not knowing where he is. Turning on his radio to hear Big Ben strike midnight, he is surprised to hear 13 chimes instead of 12. The Mysterons start the device's 12-hour detonation countdown, knock out Macey for a second time and dump him in a side street.

Following the disappearance of the device, Spectrum has been put on red alert. Macey is found by Captain Scarlet (voiced by Francis Matthews) and taken to Cloudbase to recount his ordeal to Colonel White (voiced by Donald Gray). More than 2,000 London car parks match Macey's description of Park View. Recalling the driver's claim that Big Ben struck 13, Captain Blue (voiced by Ed Bishop) narrows this down to two candidates – one of which is Park View – by calculating that Macey's car park cannot be more than a mile from Big Ben.

With less than an hour to detonation, Scarlet and Blue fly to London. They race to Park View in a Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle and locate the transporter. Lacking the time to defuse the device, the officers are ordered by White to take the transporter to a construction site – its intended destination – and allow the device to detonate in a prepared excavation two miles underground. They arrive at the site with only minutes to spare. Blue activates a lift that lowers the transporter, driven by Scarlet, into the excavation. Abandoning the transporter, Scarlet starts the ascent back to ground level, but shortly after the device explodes, damaging the lift shaft. Scarlet is fatally injured but recovers thanks to his retro-metabolic powers.

Some time later, while dining at a restaurant with Scarlet and two of the Angel squadron, Blue explains how he was able to work out the car park's approximate location and why Macey seemed to hear Big Ben strike 13. Macey was hearing two sets of chimes: one through the air, the other over his radio. However, the chimes being carried through the air were delayed by the speed of sound, meaning that the "13th" chime was simply a duplicate of the 12th that had already sounded over the radio.

Production

A number of short scenes were scripted but unfilmed. Set immediately after Colonel White orders the red alert, these would have introduced Spectrum captains codenamed Yellow and Purple and shown Captain Scarlet resting in Cloudbase's "Room of Sleep", which is mentioned but unseen in later episodes.[1][3] The script describes the Room of Sleep as containing "special couches" that enable users to condense a full night's sleep into one hour.[1]

This episode's scale model work included the construction of entire miniature streets, a task that could not have been accomplished without the larger budget that episodes of Captain Scarlet enjoyed compared to those of earlier Supermarionation series.[4] It was on the street sets that the transporter hi-jacking was filmed – a scene that Derek Meddings, the series' special effects director, remembered for its atmosphere.[4] The sets were redecorated and reorganised several times to make it appear that Macey's transporter covers more ground.[1] The transporter model, which re-appears in "Expo 2068", was designed by Meddings' assistant, Mike Trim.[5]

The incidental music for "Big Ben Strikes Again" was recorded on 16 April 1967 in a four-hour session held at series composer Barry Gray's private studio, where it was performed by an ensemble of 14 instrumentalists.[6] It includes a light jazz track, "Until Midnight", which can be heard playing on the transporter radio in the scene leading up to Big Ben's midnight chimes.[7][8] Music for the following episode, "Manhunt", was recorded on the same day.[6]

Broadcast

When BBC Two started to repeat Captain Scarlet in September 2001, "Big Ben Strikes Again" was originally due to be broadcast as the third episode to match the order of production. However, it was postponed due to similarities between the plot, which focuses on a missing atomic device, and the September 11 attacks that had occurred earlier that month. This coincided with distributor Carlton briefly taking down the Captain Scarlet pages on its website. The episode was ultimately broadcast several weeks after its intended transmission date.[9]

Reception

Mike Fillis of Cult Times magazine considers "Big Ben Strikes Again" a highlight of Captain Scarlet, describing the episode's scale model work as "superb".[10] Gary Russell, writing for What DVD magazine, cites the episode's first act (which he describes as being devoted to Macey's "paranoia") as an example of Captain Scarlet's relative maturity for a children's TV series, as well as the series' "sense of darkness ... and real drama".[11] Chris Bentley, author of Captain Scarlet: The Vault, describes the scenes of Captains Scarlet and Blue rushing to the construction site as "fostering unbearable tension", which he argues is heightened by Spectrum's defeat in the previous episode, "Winged Assassin".[1]

Media historian Nicholas J. Cull argues that "Big Ben Strikes Again", along with the later episodes "Treble Cross" and "Expo 2068", demonstrates scriptwriter Tony Barwick's partiality to storylines highlighting the dangers of nuclear technology. He views the plot involving a missing piece of nuclear technology as an example of Barwick employing his "favourite device".[12]

Later appearances

Footage from "Big Ben Strikes Again" appears as a flashback in the series' clip show final episode, "The Inquisition".

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Bentley, Chris (2017). Hearn, Marcus, ed. Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: The Vault. Cambridge, UK: Signum Books. pp. 26–27. ISBN 978-0-995519-12-1.
  2. ↑ Bentley, Chris (2008) [2001]. The Complete Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Episode Guide (4th ed.). London, UK: Reynolds & Hearn. p. 122. ISBN 978-1-905287-74-1.
  3. ↑ Bentley, Chris (2001). The Complete Book of Captain Scarlet. London, UK: Carlton Books. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-842224-0-52.
  4. 1 2 Meddings, Derek; Denham, Sam (1993). 21st–Century Visions. Surrey, UK: Paper Tiger Books. p. 95. ISBN 978-1-85028-243-3.
  5. ↑ Taylor, Anthony; Trim, Mike (2006). The Future Was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim. Neshannock, Pennsylvania: Hermes Press. pp. 40–41. ISBN 978-1-932563-82-5.
  6. 1 2 de Klerk, Theo (25 December 2003). "Complete Studio-Recording List of Barry Gray". tvcentury21.com. Archived from the original on 1 March 2010. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
  7. ↑ de Klerk, Theo (26 October 2017). "Barry Gray Discography" (PDF). barrygray.co.uk. p. 22. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  8. ↑ Eder, Bruce. "Captain Scarlet [Original TV Soundtrack] Review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Archived from the original on 29 May 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  9. ↑ "The Hound – October 2001: Scarlet faces ..." toonhound.com. October 2001. Archived from the original on 9 April 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  10. ↑ Fillis, Mike (October 2001). "Instant Guide to Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons". Cult Times. Visual Imagination (73). Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  11. ↑ Russell, Gary (November 2001). Tribe, Rob, ed. "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: The Complete Series". What DVD. No. 31. London, UK: Future Publishing. pp. 100–101.
  12. ↑ Cull, Nicholas J. (August 2006). "Was Captain Black Really Red? The TV Science Fiction of Gerry Anderson in its Cold War Context". Media History. Routledge. 12 (2): 198, 205. doi:10.1080/13688800600808005. ISSN 1368-8804. OCLC 364457089.
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