Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Perfectly adorable

Perfect cast and a good story

Absolutely Fantastic

I absolutely LOVE Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. I did when I was a kid and I do now. As such I had quite low expectations about this series and it says something when you have low expectations and are disappointed. Seriously, I could only watch 3 episodes until my self-peservation kicked in and I had to stop. It was just SO BAD! The CGI, was passable, I'm not a huge fan of CGI cartoons but that's not the issue. I can't remember the storylines so they can't have been that good if they are so forgetable. There were sveral issues. One, why is Cloudbase noe Skybase? That was unneccesary Two, Why are Leiutenant Green and Captain Ochre now women? It's not sexiwm, you had the Captains and the Angels, they essentially had the same job Three, Why do Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue have love interests? What is the point of that? I am so sick of uneccecary love stories in shows. I think it's called pandering to the masses. Four, my biggest issue, what is with the accents?! One of the things I loved about Captain Scarlet was that he was English. There were no British superheros when I was a kid, they still are few and far between. Why is he American now? Why? It makes zero sense? They did it to Destiny too! Why does she have to be American? Do Americans have something against the French? There were other issues too, the awesome song was removed, the dialogue was beyond cringeworthy and the Doctor was completely changed but all in all it was just not on par with the original. So they were puppets with limited movement big deal! Lasted longer than this stupid thing. People really should leave classics alone. A reboot would have been fine if they had decent writers and hadn't changed so much. There will be those who agree with me and, I'm sure, call me petty because f the accents but DUDE! I'm British, don't take my superheros away from me, that is NEVER going to end well!

'Dr.Who' was not the only classic children's British sci-fi show to be revived in 2005. Beating it to the airwaves by a few weeks was an all-new animated version of Gerry Anderson's 1967 hit 'Captain Scarlet & The Mysterons'. Though 'Scarlet' rivalled 'Who' in terms of quality, it met with a different fate. Where the latter recently concluded its fourth season ( with a fifth scheduled to appear to 2010 ), the former vanished from our screens at the end of 2005, never to return. So what happened? It was Anderson's cherished dream to make a new series of 'Captain Scarlet' ( along with a new 'Thunderbirds' ). After securing a $30 million budget, he set to work upgrading the concept for a new generation.The basic idea remained the same; an expedition to Mars results in tragedy. Captain Black opens fire on a mysterious alien city, believing the inhabitants to be hostile. Actually, they were not, but now they are. The city is controlled by computers built by the Mysterons, and they swear vengeance against Mankind.They turn Black into their top agent, and on returning to Earth he begins a war of nerves against the Spectrum organisation, commanded by Colonel White. All Spectrum operatives are named after colours.The Mysterons have the power of 'retro-metabolism', meaning that they can kill a person and then construct a replica under their control. This happens to Captain Scarlet, but he recovers and becomes Spectrum's number one weapon in the fight against the Mysterons. He also is indestructible.Recognising that the old puppets from the 'Supermarionation' days had had their day, Anderson decided to make the new show in motion-capture C.G.I. and High Definition, making it one of the most ambitious and expensive children's series ever mounted.The animation greatly increased the scope of the plots, which now included metal-eating insects, alien spores and time travel. Scarlet now could do things his predecessor simply could not, such as running, jumping and fighting. The old vehicles such as the Angel Interceptors ( now known as Falcons ) were kept but there were new ones such as the tank-like Rhinos and ultra-fast Raid bikes.The first episode of the original show was expanded into a two-parter called 'Instrument Of Destruction'. Changes included Scarlet becoming a part of the ill-fated trip to Mars and a chilling sequence with an apparently dead Black rising from the grave.Minor characters such as Destiny Angel, Captain Magenta and Captain Ochre were given a chance to shine. Lieutenant Green becoming a woman angered die-hard fans but I do not think it hurt the show. Cloudbase, Spectrum's floating headquarters, was renamed Skybase. Again a change of minor importance. I was not keen on Crispin Merrill's new theme though, it sounded like the 'Space Precinct' signature tune with the notes in a slightly different order. The famous seven note drum roll between scenes was thankfully retained.'New Captain Scarlet' both looked and sounded marvellous. Despite the modern technology, the integrity of the original was perfectly preserved. The failure of the 'Thunderbirds' movie the year before became immediately apparent. To do justice to a Gerry Anderson idea you first need to hire the man himself ( and David Lane if possible! ).With all these excellent qualities, it is sad to have to report that it was not the success it should have been. Originally earmarked for a high-profile autumn launch, 'New Captain Scarlet' was instead crucified. Without warning, I.T.V.-1 inserted it into a dreadful Saturday morning children's show called 'Ministry Of Mayhem''. The episodes were cut in half ( with no indication given as to when Part Two would appear ), the opening and closing credits often removed, and the presenters allowed to make inane comments both before and after the show had finished. It was impossible for 'New Captain Scarlet' to gain the kind of audience it needed to become a popular success.Anderson was understandably furious. Though the show ( or some of it ) was later repeated in an afternoon slot, the damage had been done. After 26 episodes, it ended. Annoyingly, many intriguing possibilities ( such as the idea of a renegade Mysteron faction ) remained unexplored.Interestingly, 'Dr.Who' paid tribute in the 2007 episode 'The Sound Of Drums' by having the Doctor's arch-enemy The Master based on a craft called 'The Valiant', whose design was remarkably similar to Skybase.It beggars belief that Anderson's best series in years should have been treated with something approaching contempt by I.T.V.-1, but then what do you expect from the channel that gave us 'Footballers' Wives' and 'Trinny & Susannah Undress The Nation'? At the time of writing, Gerry is still hoping to get a C.G.I. version of 'Thunderbirds' underway. If he is successful ( and one hopes he is ), he would do well to ensure it goes out anywhere other than I.T.V.-1. Judging by its well-publicised phone-in scandals and increasingly bad programmes, it would seem that the Mysterons are now in charge, not Michael Grade!

Having just acquired access to the HD Animation channel through Dish Network in the US, I stumbled upon the New Captain Scarlet for the first time. So far, I have seen about 4 episodes. (It is shown daily on the HD Anime channel, followed by an episode of "Youri the Spaceman.") In 70" high definition, the New Captain Scarlet is absolutely spectacular ... the most impressive HD experience I have had so far in these past four weeks.I am a fan of some of the early Supermarionation series (e.g. Fireball XL5, Stingray), and have always been impressed with the quality of direction and production, and of the respect that Anderson and company has apparently had for their juvenile audiences. Each series has had a level of detail and story exposition that goes far beyond any comparable juvenile adventure series here in the US at the time.However, I was not a fan of the first Scarlet series. The puppets were just too stiff to maintain any involvement. At least Steve Zodiac and Venus went ice skating once in a while.But I digress. The new series is impeccably detailed, and the action is superbly directed and genuinely exciting. In contrast with the original series, the characters can at least walk, and much more. The stories aren't much to speak of, but every other aspect of production is impressive.

A fan of the original 1960s version of the show, I was very excited to here about Gerry Anderson's new version of Captian Scarlet. So far, it has yet to disappoint. The update is faithful to the puppet show, yet has been tweaked to give it a more modern edge.I think the more dramatic element of the show is great - with the Love triangle between Captain Scarlet, Destiny Angel, and Captian Black. We are already seeing hints of a budding romance between Scarlet and Destiny, although the relationship will undoubtedly be a little more angst ridden after the death or her former love interest, Captain Black, also Scarlet's best friend. There is also tension between Scarlet and Captain Blue. One time buddies, but now Blue finds it hard to trust his friend, since Scarlet spent some time under the Mysterons control.Of course the most obvious changes come in the form of a female Lieutenant Green, who was a male character in the 1960s version. Fans either will love or hate this change, but it is one that I can live with. However, with Destiny's prominence in the show perhaps there wasn't as much need to change Green's gender, as the other Angels will also feature more heavily. Destiny, herself, is leading the girl power for the show and this is welcome for the modern audience. Although in the puppet series Destiny was the female lead, her character has been much more fleshed out in the new series, and indeed she is English and not French! The show has also retained its darkness which was a part of its original appeal, indeed the Mysterons are still superbly menacing as well as cold blooded killers (they crushed a guy in a car scrap centre and blew up a bunch of air pilots). The overall show still has a dark feel, yet Skybase and all the various crafts look really effective.Of course, there are the odd gripes. The story's move very quickly and there are a lot of prolonged car chases. The graphics, whilst great, sometimes look a bit odd (cars on the road and lip synching). But the likeness of the marionettes is great.Overall a great show, modernised, yet faithful. Here's to the rest of the series and season two later in the year!