The Heart of New York (''Captain Scarlet'')

"The Heart of New York"
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episode
Episode no. Episode 11
Directed by Alan Perry
Written by Tony Barwick
Cinematography by Ted Catford
Editing by Bob Dearberg
Production code 13
Original air date 8 December 1967
Guest appearance(s)

Voices of:
Gary Files as
Doig
David Healy as
Kruger
Martin King as
Carl
Security Guard
Jeremy Wilkin as
Fire Lookout

"The Heart of New York" is the 11th episode of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, a 1960s British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and produced by their company Century 21 Productions. Written by Tony Barwick and directed by Alan Perry, it was first broadcast on 8 December 1967 on ATV Midlands.

In this episode, a group of human bank robbers attempt to outwit Spectrum as the Mysterons threaten to destroy the "heart of New York".

As with "Winged Assassin" and "Big Ben Strikes Again", similarities between the plot of this episode and the September 11 attacks caused it to be postponed for several weeks during BBC Two's 2001-2002 re-run of the series.

Plot

Bank robbers Kruger, Doig and Carl break into the Spectrum Security Vaults but are disappointed to find only classified information of no material value. Nevertheless, Kruger is fascinated by documents detailing Earth's war with the Mysterons and hatches a plan to exploit it.

The Mysterons inform Spectrum that they have studied human greed and corruption and threaten to destroy the "heart of New York". As the city's population is evacuated and its limits roadblocked, Captains Scarlet and Blue (voiced by Francis Matthews and Ed Bishop) check the streets for concealed explosive devices.

Driving through forest, Kruger, Doig and Carl stop at a fire tower and feign drunkenness in front of the lookout. They abandon their car and destroy it by sending it over a cliff edge, leading the lookout to believe that they have been killed in a drink-driving accident. They then return to the tower, telling the lookout that they are Mysteron reconstructions and intend to destroy the Second National Bank of New York. When the lookout's story reaches Cloudbase, Colonel White (voiced by Donald Gray) decides that he will not risk lives to protect a bank and orders all Spectrum personnel to fall back to the roadblocks.

Having acquired another car, Kruger, Doig and Carl drive up to a roadblock manned by Captains Magenta and Ochre (voiced by Gary Files and Jeremy Wilkin). They present FBI identification and claim to have official business far from the Second National Bank. Ochre's Mysteron Detector shows them to be human and Magenta permits them to enter the now-deserted city. The men arrive at the bank aiming to steal the entire East Coast gold reserve. However, while blowing the vault open with plastic explosive they fail to notice Captain Black (voiced by Donald Gray), who locks them in one of the cages and informs them that the bank will soon be destroyed.

Learning of Kruger, Doig and Carl's arrival, Scarlet is puzzled how the supposed FBI agents knew that the Mysterons were targeting the Second National Bank when only Spectrum personnel had been notified. Realising that the men are those who confronted the fire lookout, that they faked their deaths and that they are about to get away with robbery, Scarlet and Blue rush to the bank in their Spectrum Patrol Car but turn around when they see Black driving the criminals' car in the opposite direction. However, the Mysterons use their powers to teleport Black to safety, at which point an explosion rips through the bank. Later, White refuses to accept that Kruger, Doig and Carl were the typical greedy and corrupt humans that the Mysterons denounced and asserts that the good of humanity will ultimately prevail over the Martian evil.

Production

This episode contains a number of continuity errors. In the puppet shots of Scarlet, Blue and Black driving through New York, trees and bushes are seen in the background, while in the miniature model shots no vegetation lines the streets.[1] During the scene in which Kruger, Doig and Carl tell the fire lookout that they are Mysteron reconstructions, Kruger's jacket changes colour between the puppet shots and the live-action close-ups.

The Mysteron's vanishing power is seen for the first time in this episode. It is also featured in "Model Spy", "Expo 2068" and "Inferno".[2][3] Black is seemingly able to control this power himself, allowing him to make inanimate objects appear and disappear.[2] The miniature model of the Second National Bank was built to ​1⁄12 scale.[4]

The puppet that plays Kruger was one of the most frequently used puppets of the late-1960s Supermarionation series: its other appearances in Captain Scarlet alone include "Winged Assassin",[2] "Big Ben Strikes Again", "Point 783", "Avalanche", "The Trap" and "Special Assignment".[1] It would subsequently appear as Commander Kavoc in the Joe 90 episode "Arctic Adventure" and the Dreisenberg ambassador in The Secret Service episode "A Case For The Bishop".[2] The Carl puppet was previously seen as Lieutenant Belmont in "White As Snow" and the fire lookout as Major Brooks in "Point 783" and Air Commodore Goddard in "The Trap".[1] A modified version of the puppet that plays the Spectrum Security Vaults guard would later appear in the regular role of Shane Weston in Joe 90.[1] By contrast, the puppet playing Doig is never seen again after this episode.[1]

Broadcast

When BBC Two started to repeat Captain Scarlet in September 2001, "The Heart of New York" was originally due to be broadcast as the 11th episode. However, along with "Winged assassin" and "Big Ben Strikes Again" it was later postponed due to similarities between the plot and the September 11 attacks. Like the other two episodes, it was ultimately broadcast several weeks after its intended transmission date.[5][6]

Reception

James Stansfield of Den of Geek considers "The Heart of New York" to be the second-best episode of Captain Scarlet, regarding the episode as "memorable and unique" due to the fact that "the Mysterons [are not] really the villains". He writes positively of the New York evacuation scenes, describing the silence as "eerie", and praises "The Heart of New York" overall as a "great episode with a really different storyline to it".[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Bentley 2001, p. 81.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Bentley, Chris (2003). The Complete Gerry Anderson: the Authorised Episode Guide. London, UK: Reynolds & Hearn. p. 109. ISBN 978-1-903111-97-0.
  3. 1 2 Stansfield, James (6 September 2012). "Top 10 Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons Episodes". Den of Geek. London, UK: Dennis Publishing. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  4. ↑ Bentley 2001, p. 38.
  5. ↑ "Captain Scarlet (1967)". Toonhound.com. Archived from the original on 3 May 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  6. ↑ "The Hound — October 2001: Scarlet Faces ..." Toonhound.com. October 2001. Archived from the original on 9 April 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
Bibliography
  • Bentley, Chris (2001). The Complete Book of Captain Scarlet. London, UK: Carlton Books. ISBN 978-1-842224-05-2.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.