Noose of Ice

"Noose of Ice"
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episode
Episode no. Episode 24
Directed by Ken Turner
Written by Peter Curran and David Williams
Cinematography by Julien Lugrin
Editing by Bob Dearberg
Production code SCA 26[1]
Original air date 12 March 1968 (1968-03-12)
Guest appearance(s)

Voices of:
Gary Files as
Neilson
David Healy as
General Rebus
Martin King as
Hotspot Tower Controller
Hotspot Tower Guard
Jeremy Wilkin as
Commander Rhodes

"Noose of Ice" is the 24th episode of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, a British 1960s Supermarionation television series co-created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Written by Peter Curran and David Williams and directed by Ken Turner, it was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on 12 March 1968 on ATV Midlands.

In this episode, the Mysterons target a facility mining a rare metal that is vital to the success of a new Earth space fleet.

Plot

A space fleet is being built to enable Earth to take the "war of nerves" directly to the Mysterons on Mars. To reduce the transit time, the Space Administration is using tritonium metal as hull fortification, enabling ships to travel at greater speeds while withstanding proportionately higher stresses. Tritonium is found only at the North Pole, where the Hotspot Tower mining facility extracts it from the sea floor.

After the Mysterons threaten to sabotage the space fleet, Colonel White dispatches Captains Scarlet and Blue from Cloudbase to New York City to be briefed by the head of the Space Administration, General Rebus. The captains then travel to the Arctic to evaluate the security at Hotspot Tower. The facility's controller, Commander Rhodes, tells Scarlet and Blue that the lake around the tower and the undersea mine is prevented from freezing by giant heating elements powered from Eskimo Booster Station.

Unknown to Scarlet, Blue and Rhodes, a maintenance technician, Neilson, has been killed in a blizzard and reconstructed to serve the Mysterons. On the orders of Captain Black, Neilson's double proceeds to the booster station and cuts the power to the heating elements. The rapidly-freezing lake forms a "noose of ice" that threatens to crush the mining facility.

With the lifts inoperative, Scarlet puts on a diving suit and leaves the mine via an airlock, risking decompression sickness as he rises to the surface of the lake. He arrives at the booster station, where Neilson's double holds him at gunpoint. As the double shoots him, Scarlet throws a loose high-voltage cable onto the metal stairwell on which the double is standing, fatally electrocuting his opponent. Though wounded, he safely restores the power to the heating elements, causing the ice to melt and averting the destruction of Hotspot Tower. However, the Mysterons have had a partial success: the facility is severely damaged and will be out of operation for at least six months.

Production

The end credits incorrectly name Tony Barwick as the writer of this episode. The plot of "Noose of Ice", concerning the development of the new space fleet, follows on directly from Barwick's episode "Flight 104", in which the nature of Earth's return to Mars has yet to be decided. Though filmed and originally broadcast after "Flight 104", "Noose of Ice" precedes the earlier episode in distributor ITC Entertainment's recommended episode order, disrupting this continuity.[2]

Some of the incidental music for "Noose of Ice" was originally composed for Stingray and Thunderbirds.[2] Scenes recycling music from the earlier series include that of the original Neilson's death in the blizzard and those of ice forming around Hotspot Tower.[3][4]

Parts of the Hotspot Tower filming model, designed by Mike Trim,[5] were built to a scale larger than that normally used by production company Century 21, which allowed for more realistic special effects shots.[6] The Space Administration Headquarters exterior was a re-use of the SHEF Headquarters that appeared in "Point 783",[3] while the Eskimo Booster Station interior was a re-dressed version of the Skyship One gravity compensator room from the film Thunderbird 6.[2]

The character of Neilson is represented by the puppet that originally appeared as Captain Brown in "The Mysterons".[4] "Noose of Ice" marks the third occasion in which the puppet's character is killed and resurrected as a Mysteron agent: the puppet also appears as the villains Major Reeves in "Renegade Rocket" and Professor Carney in "Codename Europa".[3][4] It can also be seen in "Fire at Rig 15" as Charlie Hansen, "Flight 104" as Dr Conrad and "Special Assignment" as the Arizona bartender.[3]

The puppet playing General Rebus also appears as the Base Concord Commander in "Renegade Rocket", as a non-speaking background extra in "Seek and Destroy" and as a patron of the Dice Club in "Special Assignment".[3][4] The Hotspot Tower guard appears as Jason Smith in "Fire at Rig 15", while the puppet that portrays Rhodes would later appear in the regular role of Sam Loover in Joe 90.[3][4]

Reception

Writing for Dreamwatch magazine in 1994, Andrew Thomas described "Noose of Ice" as one of the best episodes of Captain Scarlet, in part for emphasising the vulnerability of Scarlet, as a former Mysteron, to electricity: "there is a very real danger that Scarlet may be electrocuted when re-connecting the power supply."[7]

References

  1. ↑ Bentley 2017, p. 154.
  2. 1 2 3 Bentley 2017, p. 155.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bentley, Chris (2003). The Complete Gerry Anderson: the Authorised Episode Guide. London, UK: Reynolds & Hearn. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-903111-97-0.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Bentley 2001, p. 81.
  5. ↑ Bentley 2017, p. 92.
  6. ↑ Bentley 2001, p. 38.
  7. ↑ Thomas, Andrew (1994). Leigh, Gary, ed. "Captain Indestructible!". Dreamwatch. Vol. 1 no. 4 (Winter Special). Brighton, UK: Dreamwatch Publishing. pp. 24, 26. ISSN 1356-482X. OCLC 225907941.
Bibliography
  • Bentley, Chris (2001). The Complete Book of Captain Scarlet. London, UK: Carlton Books. ISBN 978-1-842224-05-2.
  • Bentley, Chris (2017). Hearn, Marcus, ed. Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: The Vault. Cambridge, UK: Signum Books/Flashpoint Media. ISBN 978-0-995519-12-1.
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