The Inquisition (''Captain Scarlet'')

"The Inquisition"
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episode
Episode no. Episode 32
Directed by Ken Turner
Written by Tony Barwick
Cinematography by Ted Catford
Editing by Bob Dearberg
Production code 32
Original air date 12 May 1968
Guest appearance(s)

Voices of:
Sylvia Anderson as
Linda Nolan (flashback)
Gary Files as
Markham Arms Waiter
Captain Holt (flashback)
David Healy as
Colgan
Frazer (flashback)
Air Commodore Goddard (flashback)
Martin King as
2nd Police Officer (flashback)
Paul Maxwell as
1st Police Officer (flashback)
Neil McCallum (uncredited) as
4th Police Officer (flashback)
Charles Tingwell as
Macey (flashback)
Jeremy Wilkin as
3rd Police Officer (flashback)
Shroeder (flashback)

"The Inquisition" is the 32nd and final 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 Ken Turner, it was first broadcast on 12 May 1968 on ATV London.[1]

In this clip show series finale, Captain Blue is drugged and supposedly disappears for three months. He regains consciousness on Cloudbase in front of a Spectrum Intelligence agent, who orders him to prove his identity by divulging classified information. Blue is sceptical of his interrogator's motives and suspects a trap.

The episode, which leaves the war between humanity and the Mysterons unresolved,[2] has received a negative critical response.[3][4]

Plot

While dining with Captain Scarlet (voiced by Francis Matthews) at the Markham Arms pub, Captain Blue (voiced by Ed Bishop) drinks drugged coffee and disappears. Transmitting to Earth, the Mysterons warn Spectrum that a member of the organisation will betray them all.

Blue, who was incapacitated, regains consciousness in what appears to be the Cloudbase control room facing a man who introduces himself as Colgan, a member of Spectrum Intelligence. Colgan tells Blue that he has been missing for three months and must prove his identity by giving details of Spectrum's top-secret cipher codes.

Reluctant to divulge classified information, Blue tries to satisfy Colgan by describing some of Spectrum's operations against the Mysterons. However, his efforts are in vain: his overview of the Mysterons' attempt to destroy London ("Big Ben Strikes Again") is judged useless and his first-person account of the destruction of their facility on the Moon ("Crater 101") is disqualified due to the extensive media coverage of the event. His third example – the attempted assassination of Earth's air force leaders ("The Trap") – is also rejected even though it was never reported by the press.

Increasingly suspicious of Colgan's interest in the codes, as well as the inexplicable absence of his colleagues, Blue attempts to leave the control room but is confronted by a man holding a gun and a hypodermic syringe containing a truth serum. Realising that Colgan and his associate are Mysteron reconstructions, Blue hurls himself through an observation window and lands on a painted-sky canvas, revealing the Cloudbase control room to be a replica built inside an empty warehouse. Scarlet arrives in a Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle, orders Blue to get clear and destroys the building with the SPV's rocket launcher. He informs Blue that he went missing only a few hours earlier and suggests that he tell his story "back on the real Cloudbase".

Production

"The Inquisition" contains only 11 minutes of original footage.[1][5] The "Crater 101" flashback accounts for eight minutes of the running time.[6] It was customary for Supermarionation series to end with clip show episodes; other examples include "Aquanaut of the Year" (Stingray), "Security Hazard" (Thunderbirds) and "The Birthday" (Joe 90).[5]

"The Inquisition" is the only episode of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons in which Colonel White and Cloudbase (excluding the Mysterons' replica) do not appear. After the filming of this episode, the puppet that plays Colgan was prepared for its upcoming regular role as Sam Loover in Joe 90.[5]

The exterior of the Markham Arms, seen in the episode's opening shot, was built as a Tudor-style waterfront pub by Century 21 model-maker Alan Shubrook from a sketch by designer Mike Trim.[7] Blue's escape from the control room was accomplished by throwing the puppet through a sheet of glass onto the sky backdrop of the Cloudbase puppet set;[6] though filmed at high speed, when played in slow motion a gloved hand can be seen launching the Blue puppet.[1][5]

Music specially recorded for "The Inquisition" includes a piano solo, performed by series composer Barry Gray and commercially released on CD, which can be heard during the opening Markham Arms scene.[8]

Broadcast

Having been omitted from the first UK network runs of the series beginning in 1993, "The Inquisition" had its first UK network transmission on BBC 2 in September 1994.[5]

Reception

Chris Drake and Graeme Bassett suggest that the episode's reliance on flashbacks makes it an "unusual" series finale.[6] Anthony Clark of sci-fi-online.com is critical, describing it as a "cheap flashback episode".[9] Morgan Jeffery of Digital Spy calls the episode a "glorified clip show" that offers "no resolution to the series", and considers it a disappointment compared to the "thrilling" previous episode, "Attack on Cloudbase".[4]

Chris Bentley, author of The Complete Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Episode Guide, points out that various supporting puppets make more than one appearance during the course of the episode.[1][5] For example, the puppet that plays Shroeder in the flashback to "Crater 101" also has non-speaking roles in both the opening Markham Arms scene and the extract from "The Trap".[1][5] The same observation is made by Jim Sangster and Paul Condon, authors of Collins Telly Guide, who compare the appearance of the Shroeder puppet to that of Robert Mitchum. Sangster and Condon consider the episode's use of flashbacks unexciting, noting that they are also used in "Winged Assassin", "Dangerous Rendezvous" and "Traitor".[3]

Bentley notes that the flashback to "Crater 101" changes the established continuity of that episode: inside the Mysteron outpost, Scarlet casts his mind back to a conversation that he had at a point before the start of the main flashback, prompting a part of that conversation to be replayed in the form of a "flashback within a flashback".[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bentley, Chris (2008) [2001]. The Complete Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Episode Guide (4th ed.). London, UK: Reynolds & Hearn. p. 136. ISBN 978-1-905287-74-1.
  2. ↑ "Captain Scarlet: Introduction". BBC Online. Archived from the original on 9 September 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  3. 1 2 Sangster, Jim; Condon, Paul (2005). Collins Telly Guide. London, UK: HarperCollins. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-007190-99-7.
  4. 1 2 Jeffery, Morgan (19 November 2011). "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: Tube Talk Gold". Digital Spy. London, UK: Hearst Magazines UK. Archived from the original on 20 November 2011. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Bentley, Chris (2001). The Complete Book of Captain Scarlet. London, UK: Carlton Books. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-842224-05-2.
  6. 1 2 3 Drake, Chris; Bassett, Graeme (1993). Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. London, UK: Boxtree. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-852834-03-6.
  7. ↑ Shubrook, Alan (2007). Century 21 FX: Unseen Untold. Shubrook Brothers. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-955610-10-3.
  8. ↑ Eder, Bruce. "Captain Scarlet [Original TV Soundtrack] Review". AllMusic. San Francisco, California: All Media Network. Archived from the original on 29 May 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  9. ↑ Clark, Anthony. "DVD Captain Scarlet (New) Series 2 Box Set Review". sci-fi-online.com. Archived from the original on 16 February 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
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