Place of Angels

"Place of Angels" is the 27th episode of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, a British Supermarionation television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Written and directed by Leo Eaton, it was first broadcast on 8 March 1968 on ATV Midlands.

"Place of Angels"
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episode
Episode no.Episode 27
Directed byLeo Eaton
Written byLeo Eaton
Cinematography byJulien Lugrin
Editing byHarry MacDonald
Production codeSCA 23[1]
Original air date8 March 1968
Guest character voices
Judy Chapman
Security Guard
Aircraft Mechanic
Airliner Captain
Dr Denton
Spectrum Headquarters, New York

In this episode, Spectrum pursues a Mysteron agent carrying a stolen vial of a lethal synthetic virus.

Plot

At a microbiological laboratory near Manchester, England, Dr Denton and his assistant, Judy Chapman, activate a culture of K14, a synthetic virus. Later, as Chapman is driving home in her car, Captain Black (voiced by Donald Gray) sets a trap for her by blocking the road with a fuel tanker. Chapman crashes into the tanker and is killed instantly, whereupon she is reconstructed by the Mysterons (voiced by Donald Gray) to carry out their threat to destroy the "Place of the Angels". Returning to the laboratory, the Mysteron agent strangles a security guard with a pair of mechanical hands and steals the vial containing the K14. She then boards an airliner bound for New York.

Denton radios Cloudbase to request Spectrum's assistance and Colonel White (voiced by Donald Gray) dispatches Captains Scarlet and Blue (voiced by Francis Matthews and Ed Bishop) to the laboratory. On arrival, Scarlet and Blue learn that K14 is the most lethal virus ever developed and that if the vial were opened its contents could kill ten million people.

When Chapman is sighted at New York International Airport, Scarlet and Blue fly to the United States and chase the reconstruction along the Interstate Highway in a Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle. Acting on the telepathically-relayed instructions of Black, Chapman abandons her car, leaving behind what appears to be the vial of K14 with its seal broken. A disinfection operation is launched and Scarlet and Blue are placed in quarantine. However, samples from the car test negative for K14 and it becomes clear that Chapman, having tricked Spectrum, still has the virus.

Hours pass and Chapman is spotted in numerous locations across North America, including Los Angeles. From the latter's name, which is Spanish for "The Angels", Scarlet deduces that the Mysteron threat is against LA.

Flying a Spectrum Passenger Jet, Scarlet and Blue pursue Chapman as she drives along the Colorado River. White informs the officers that the reconstruction is heading for the Boulder Dam, presumably to release the K14 into the Los Angeles reservoir and contaminate the city's water supply. Scarlet ejects and lands on the dam. Despite taking a bullet from the armed Chapman, he returns fire and the reconstruction loses her footing, falling over the side of the dam to her death. Scarlet manages to retrieve the dropped vial from a ledge before it ends up in the reservoir. A frantic White radios the officer, who replies that the "Place of Angels" is safe.

Production
I'd previously done a lot of writing on my own and wanted to write scripts from the start. Script editor Tony Barwick agreed that if I gave him a treatment he liked, he'd let me write the script. I'd been thinking about writing a science-fiction short story about someone releasing poison into a big-city reservoir so decided to turn it into a script.

— Leo Eaton on his inspiration for the episode[2]

Leo Eaton, who had worked as an assistant director on ITC's The Saint, joined Century 21 as a first assistant director during the pre-production of Captain Scarlet.[2][3] Then 22 years old, he quickly expressed an interest in writing and directing for the series, and after directing several commercials for the Thunderbirds-themed Zoom and Fab ice lollies, he was given the opportunity to both write and direct an episode.[2][3] The result, "Place of Angels", was Eaton's first filmed script as well as his directorial debut.[2]

A number of script changes were made prior to filming: the episode's working title was "The City of Angels" and as originally scripted the Mysterons vowed to destroy "the population of the City of Angels".[4][5] In a scene that was written but not filmed, Scarlet and Blue, on arrival at the laboratory, learn that the security guard was strangled not by hand but with the help of machinery.[1] The ending was also changed: originally Scarlet was to have retrieved the K14 from a binoculars case, where the reconstructed Chapman had placed it before falling to her death.[1]

The first scene of the episode, in which Dr Denton activates the K14 virus, recycles incidental music from Stingray.[6]

The airliner in which the reconstructed Chapman flies to New York was a re-use of a scale model originally built as the RTL2 Transporter for the Thunderbirds episode "The Cham-Cham".[1] Its puppet-sized cabin was a re-use of the interior of Flight 104 from the Captain Scarlet episode of the same name.[1] The New York and Los Angeles airport models were constructed partly from props first seen in "The Cham-Cham" and the earlier Thunderbirds episode "The Duchess Assignment".[7] The models of the decontamination helicopter and dome were first seen as a rescue helicopter in the film Thunderbirds Are Go (1966) and a Frost Line Outer Space Defence System dome in the earlier Captain Scarlet episode "Avalanche".[7]

"Place of Angels" includes a rare appearance by the character of Dr Fawn. However, as actor Charles Tingwell, the voice of Fawn, had left the series before this episode was produced, the character does not have any lines.[7]

Broadcast

"Place of Angels" had its first UK network broadcast on 29 April 1994 on BBC2. The broadcast was delayed by ten minutes due to over-running live coverage of the World Snooker Championship semi-final between Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry.[4][5]

Reception

Anthony Clark of sci-fi-online.com describes the plot of "Place of Angels" as "not great" but regards it as better-paced than that of "Flight 104". He also writes that the episode has a "reasonable sense of tension and some sharp direction".[8]

The episode has drawn comment for its violence. Andrew Thomas of Dreamwatch magazine considers the death of the original Chapman, culminating in the sight of the character's "mangled body", to be one of the series' more violent moments.[9] Andrew Pixley and Julie Rogers of Starburst note the horror of the reconstruction's death,[10] which Shane M. Dallmann of Video Watchdog describes as "one of the series' more show-stopping demises".[11]

Pixley and Rogers also note the "cryptic" nature of the Mysteron threat against the eponymous "place of angels".[10]

References
  1. Bentley, Chris (2017). Hearn, Marcus (ed.). Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: The Vault. Cambridge, UK: Signum Books. pp. 176–177. ISBN 978-0-995519-12-1.
  2. Eaton, Leo (2016). The Traveling Years: A Memoir of Puppets, Porno & Penury. BookBaby. ISBN 978-1-483563-09-1.
  3. Bentley 2001, p. 33.
  4. Bentley 2001, p. 85.
  5. Bentley, Chris (2008) [2001]. The Complete Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Episode Guide (4th ed.). London, UK: Reynolds & Hearn. p. 132. ISBN 978-1-905287-74-1.
  6. Rogers, Dave; Marriott, John; Drake, Chris; Bassett, Graeme (1993). Supermarionation Classics: Stingray, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. London, UK: Boxtree. p. 258. ISBN 978-1-85283-900-0.
  7. Brown, Stephen; Jones, Mike (2017). Jones, Mike (ed.). Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: Close-Up. Fanderson. p. 53.
  8. Clark, Anthony. "Captain Scarlet: Volume 6 – Video Review". sci-fi-online.com. Archived from the original on 12 October 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  9. Thomas, Andrew (1994). Leigh, Gary (ed.). "Captain Indestructible!". Dreamwatch. Vol. 1 no. 4 (Winter Special). Brighton, UK: Dreamwatch Publishing. p. 24. ISSN 1356-482X. OCLC 225907941.
  10. Pixley, Andrew; Rogers, Julie (December 2001). Gillatt, Gary (ed.). "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: By Numbers". Starburst. No. 280. London, UK: Visual Imagination (published November 2001). pp. 46, 48. ISSN 0955-114X. OCLC 79615651.
  11. Dallmann, Shane M. (June 2003). Lucas, Tim (ed.). "DVD Spotlight: Captain Scarlet". Video Watchdog. No. 96. Cincinnati, Ohio: Tim and Donna Lucas. p. 41. ISSN 1070-9991. OCLC 646838004.
Bibliography
  • Bentley, Chris (2001). The Complete Book of Captain Scarlet. London, UK: Carlton Books. ISBN 978-1-842224-05-2.
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