New Captain Scarlet is a British animated remake of the 1960s Supermarionation series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. Both series were produced by Gerry Anderson. As a nod to Supermarionation, the new series' animation was promoted as "Hypermarionation". It was the last show that Anderson produced.
The series premiered on the ITV network in February 2005. Instead of having its own timeslot, each episode of New Captain Scarlet was shown within the children's Saturday morning children television show, Ministry of Mayhem. Anderson was unhappy with this scheduling decision, claiming the show was ignored.
The Radio Times said fans "felt the essence of the show had been pixelated away", while The Register called the series a "rehash".
Premise
In the year 2068, peace on Earth is maintained by the Spectrum Organization, a super-efficient security group, headquartered in the vast floating aircraft carrier Skybase, which hovers on the edge of Earth's atmosphere. Spectrum is staffed by agents recruited from various military services, who are each assigned colour codenames to hide their true identities. Under the command of Colonel White, Spectrum has become the supreme peacekeeping force, maintaining a fleet of sophisticated vehicles for use by Spectrum field agents.
A mission to locate the source of mysterious signals originating from Mars unleashed the power of the Mysterons, a ruthless alien consciousness. When Spectrum Captains Scarlet and Black discovered the Mysteron city on Mars, Black mistook the intentions of a probe for a hostile offensive and opened fire, completely destroying the city. Using their power of retrometabolism (the ability to recreate matter), the Mysterons rebuilt their city, killed Black, and promised to crush Earth and its destructive people. This has taken the form of a war of nerves, with the Mysterons using their powers to influence people, vehicles and inanimate objects to fall under their control.
The Mysterons' primary Earth agent is Captain Black, recreated from the body of the original Spectrum agent. Captain Scarlet was also engineered to become an agent of destruction, but the Mysterons' hold over him was broken after he fell through a power conduit in the Skybase engineering section. Retaining the original man's memories, personality and loyalties, the new Captain Scarlet also retains the Mysteron ability to survive injuries that would prove fatal to any other person. Spectrum's personnel and facilities are now mainly mobilised to combat the threat of the Mysterons, with Captain Scarlet as their greatest weapon.
Characters
Spectrum personnel
- Captain Scarlet (Paul Metcalfe): leading Spectrum field agent. A 32-year-old dual nationality (British/American) former USAF and special forces officer, replaced by a virtually indestructible replicant. His mother was Ann Brightman, a British astrophysicist, while his father, Tom Metcalfe, was an American pilot who later joined the International Space Agency. Voiced by Wayne Forester, motion capture performance by Oliver Hollis.
- Captain Blue (Adam Svenson): 32-year-old American agent. A decorated former US army officer and sportsman. Blue is Captain Scarlet's second partner at Spectrum (after Captain Black) due to Colonel White's insistence. Voiced by Robbie Stevens. Voiced by Robbie Stevens.
- Captain Magenta: aged 28, Italian. A former military police officer. Voiced by Jeremy Hitchen.
- Harmony Angel: Destiny's second-in-command if she is occupied or injured. Aged 26, American. Voiced by Jules de Jongh.
- Rhapsody Angel: aged 28, British. Voiced by Julia Brahms.
- Melody Angel: aged 25, American. Voiced by Heather Tobias.
- Symphony Angel: aged 24, Japanese. Voiced by Jules de Jongh.
Mysterons
- The Mysterons are the alien enemies of Spectrum from the planet Mars. They have the power of retrometabolism, which means they can kill a person and rebuild them as a weapon under their control. Represented by two green circles when travelling over surfaces on Earth. Voiced by Mike Hayley.
- Captain Black (Conrad Lefkon): lead Mysteron agent, a 33-year-old American former special forces officer and Spectrum agent, replaced by a virtually indestructible replicant. He used to be Scarlet's best friend and partner and dated Destiny Angel. Voiced by Nigel Plaskitt.
Vehicles
Spectrum vehicles
- Skybase: the airborne headquarters of Spectrum, permanently stationed above the clouds. Skybase is home to a fleet of high-tech Spectrum vehicles, including a squadron of Falcon aircraft. The Falcons are handled using a unique magnetic control system. After landing on the runway, a circular lift lowers the plane into the hangar. Robotic arms automatically re-fuel, and re-arm guns and missiles. Using this system means that the Falcons are always action ready.
- Rhino TRU (based on the Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle of the original Captain Scarlet): the Rhino TRU (Tactical Response Unit) is a 10-wheeled armoured attack vehicle capable of high speed with the help of twin booster jets at the rear. It is armed with two front-mounted twin cannons firing explosive tipped rounds, as well as armour piercing missiles, harpoon guns and magnetic clamp guns. The vehicle can be driven from either side, the steering sliding into position to whoever needs to drive. The driver's cabin has multiple control screens to act as the drivers eyes, as there is no window. Whenever a Rhino is needed on a given mission, Spectrum will use an Albatross to transport the vehicle.
- Cheetah RRV (based on the Spectrum Patrol Car of the original): The working title was Captain Scarlet – The New Millennium. The film was screened at a Fanderson convention in 2000 and a science lecture in 2001.
Series
The success of Captain Scarlet and the Return of the Mysterons led to the development of New Captain Scarlet. Much of its £22 million budget was contributed by private investors under the Enterprise Investment Scheme. For all episodes except the first three, motion-capture photography was completed by the production companies in-house using a 16-camera setup. As a nod to the original Captain Scarlet, which was "filmed in Supermarionation", the opening titles announce the animated remake as being "created in Hypermarionation". In interviews with Den of Geek and Big Finish, Anderson further dismissed Ministry of Mayhem as "a three-hour rubbish show", claimed parents had to "suffer" when New Captain Scarlet was not on-screen, that he was uncredited, and that Ministry of Mayhem "murdered the show".
In the United States, the series aired on Animania HD. International sales rights were handled by Sony Pictures Television and Sony Wonder.
Home media
DVD
Both Series 1 and 2 are available on DVD in the UK, the latter being produced under the ITV DVD banner. Individual volumes are available with three or four episodes on each disk and box sets of all volumes from both series are available separately.
;Volumes
{| class="wikitable" width="99%" style="left: 0 auto; text-align: center;"
|-
!colspan="2" rowspan="2"|DVD title
!rowspan="2"|Number of disc(s)
!rowspan="2"|Number of episodes
!colspan="3"|DVD release
|-
!Region 1
!Region 2
!Region 4
|-
|bgcolor="Red"|
|New Captain Scarlet Series 1 Volume 1
|1
|4
|
|17 October 2005
|
|-
|bgcolor="White"|
|New Captain Scarlet Series 1 Volume 2
|1
|3
|
|30 January 2006
|
|-
|bgcolor="Blue"|
|New Captain Scarlet Series 1 Volume 3
|1
|3
|
|30 January 2006
|
|-
|bgcolor="Black"|
|New Captain Scarlet Series 1 Volume 4
|1
|3
|
|30 January 2006
|
|-
|bgcolor="Purple"|
|New Captain Scarlet Series 2 Volume 1
|1
|4
|
|18 September 2006
|
|-
|bgcolor="Light Blue"|
|New Captain Scarlet Series 2 Volume 2
|1
|3
|
|18 September 2006
|
|-
|bgcolor="Green"|
|New Captain Scarlet Series 2 Volume 3
|1
|3
|
|18 September 2006
|
|-
|bgcolor="Purple"|
|New Captain Scarlet Series 2 Volume 4
|1
|3
|
|18 September 2006
|
|-
|}
;Boxsets
{| class="wikitable" width="99%" style="left: 0 auto; text-align: center;"
|-
!colspan="2" rowspan="2"|DVD Title
!rowspan="2"|# of Disc(s)
!rowspan="2"|Year
!rowspan="2"|# of Episodes
!colspan="3"|DVD release
|-
!Region 1
!Region 2
!Region 4
|-
|bgcolor="Red"|
|New Captain Scarlet Series One
|4
|2005
|13
|
|17 October 2005
|7 September 2016
|-
|bgcolor="Blue"|
|New Captain Scarlet Series Two
|4
|2005
|13
|
|18 September 2006
|7 September 2016
|-
|bgcolor="White"|
|New Captain Scarlet Series 1 & 2
|8
|2006
|26
|
|18 September 2006
|
|}
Blu-ray
In December 2014 it was announced on Gerry Anderson's official site that the HD masters of the series which were thought to be lost were located and hopefully to be released on Blu-ray in the future. On 4 September 2017, the series was released on Blu-ray by Network Distributing in a 3-disc set. This release features a new version of the opening and closing credits made by the original series team with Justin T. Lee and represents what it was meant to be but couldn't be due to time and budget restrictions during the show's original run. The set was re-released by Anderson Entertainment few years later after Network's demise.
A 20th anniversary release is set for some time in early 2026 and will restore the original opening and closing credits for the series plus new extras.
;Boxsets
{| class="wikitable" width="99%" style="left: 0 auto; text-align: center;"
|-
!colspan="1" rowspan="2"|Blu-ray Title
!rowspan="2"|# of Disc(s)
!rowspan="2"|# of Episodes
!colspan="3"|Blu-ray release
|-
!Region A
!Region B
!Region C
|-
|New Captain Scarlet: The Complete Series
|bgcolor="White"|3
|26
|
|4 September 2017 <br /><small>(Region free)</small>
|
|}