Characters in the CGI
Moderator: Spectrum Strike Force
I do think that the later episodes are getting better- from a plot/storyline angle. However, I recently sat down to watch my video tape again (from 'Rain of Terror' onwards) and found that I still couldn't watch whole chunks of it without cringing. I fast forwarded through so much that I'd finished the tape way before I finished the ironing...
I have to agree with Elentari - none of the characters are very 'engaging' - which might be why I am generally indifferent to the show?
It seems to me that Colonel White has grown LESS likable as the series has gone on. I find his 'stiff-upper-lip' posturing quite annoying. Even when he's making 'witty' remarks he sounds as if he has a mouthful of plums. (and I was being polite...). The original colonel didn't 'emote' much - but he did express some emotions - most often exasperation with Scarlet or the other Captains! - this one can't even sound worried that his daughter's been kidnapped.
Captain Black is sardonic and seems to genuinely enjoy his evil doings... which adds a nice twist to the emotionless Black of the original. But he isn't as involved as he used to be - or so it seems.
Captain Scarlet himself - well, I found him pompous and lacking in humour in the original - but did tend to give him the benefit of the doubt. Poor guy was an alien created freak - so may be he had reason not to be the life and soul of the party? - plus he was from a British military background - like Colonel White - and maybe stiff-upper-lips were 'de rigeur' in the 1960s for such men? (Come to think of it - my uncle was an Army Major and he wasn't given to displays of emotion either - as a rule.)
The new one on CGI - is also rather charmless and again, as Elentari says - quite ordinary. The fact that his Mysteronisation is played down ( in fact - the whole Mysteron thread seems to be played down somehow... without the weekly threats) does make Scarlet's situation less 'pitiable' I suppose - from the point that we might pity him, I mean. From the new opening credits you could assume that he's indestructible because he's been 'created' by Doctor Gold - rather like the original CS concept of a 'cyborg' controlled by computers - which was discarded as 'too remote to be sympathetic'.
His romantic involvements - - lack much credibility - but you can't blame the guy for trying - I guess - and Destiny's desperate to be SOMEONE's girlfriend - that much seems obvious.
Captain Blue - oh dear - yes well... they did warn us. Gung-ho, not too bright, maybe - but with a nice line in snappy one-liners at times - albeit too rarely. I'm rather relieved we see less of him in the CGI. Like a good many of us, I suspect - I like the original Captain Blue.
Destiny - There is no comparison possible between the original and the CGI creation. I don't like this character and I don't think the 'partnership' between her and Scarlet - on duty - works very well. If they want to make them 'sweethearts' - okay. Despite the pretence of Destiny being 'one of the guys' and going on missions - she's really there to get rescued - it seems to me - so not much advance there.
I'm sure someone will tell me why I'm wrong in my opnions...
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Marion
- Cloudbase Captain
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Captain Black excepted, I feel Captain Blue has changed the most, though I wouldn't like to speculate as to whether that's been for the better. I feel he originally played the part of the loyal friend that Scarlet needed but didn't know he needed, whereas if I were Scarlet I don't think I'd like to bank on Blue's friendship now. The pair of them are exactly what they are supposed to be - professional soldiers - and in that regard they I feel they lack the emotional bond that would make them sympathetic characters in their own right. I'm thinking of other pairs of professional action men here, like Solo & Kuryakin, Starsky & Hutch, Bodie & Doyle: you felt for them, because you knew they felt for each other. These new incarnations of Scarlet & Blue are totally self-reliant individuals; they'll work together as a team because they're trained to do so, but I suspect each would probably sacrifice the other if the situation demanded it - and their training will have prepared them to cope with that contingency. That isn't to say that either would ever intentionally risk the other's life (though that situation in "Rat Trap" came pretty close), but I don't feel that either of them would take any unnecessary risks to save the other this time around.
They've all grown up in other ways since 1967 too - most obviously in terms of their assumed intelligence. Remember that episode "Renegade Rocket", in which the pair of them decided to disregard a direct order to evacuate the base and try to find a single four-letter password in a dictionary containing thousands of possibilities, to destroy a missile that was about to blow them to smithereens within a matter of minutes? If that script had found its way into the new series this forum would have been awash with howls of complaints about the idiotic premise on which the storyline had been based.
One thing that doesn't seem to have changed one jot is the series's attitude to interpersonal relationships between the guys and the gals. Speaking as an adult, I've never found it credible that unattached hot-blooded people in the prime of life would miss out on the chance of serious relationships, both physical and emotional, with members of the opposite sex. So what do we get instead? Scarlet's fingers gently edge towards Destiny's hand at the dinner table, only to be prevented from reaching it by a conveniently-timed red alert! But this is a kids' show, everybody screams! You can't have that sort of thing going on! There'd be complaints from the parents*, and I imagine if Mary Whitehouse were still around she'd be jumping up and down in horror. The viewing figures would skyrocket, of course, but the reputation of the production company as a purveyor of family entertainment would be shot to pieces. Unfortunately however, the substitution of fairytale concepts of romance into a world in which the bullets, punch-ups and car-crashes are all impressively realistic just looks daft. I really do feel that if we're going to see any interpersonal relationships between the main characters at all then they need to be realistic ones in these circumstances** - and by that I don't mean triple-X-rated shots in the bedroom. It's perfectly possible to portray realistic emotional crises without anyone losing any clothes.
[* Though speaking as a parent myself, my only complaints would be reserved for the mind-numbing format of the Ministry of Mayhem, of which it's been difficult to avoid being forced to watch a few minutes when tuning in to Scarlet in the first place. Fortunately my own children are now too old to be contaminated by it, but I sometimes wonder if the only reason that it hasn't been targetted by parents it is that they can't bring themselves to watch it for long enough to assemble a coherent letter to the Broadcasting Standards Commission before their brains melt. ]
[** I bought a DVD of the original Buster Crabbe series of "Flash Gordon" for Christmas, and have been enormously enjoying watching the interplay between Flash (the hero), Dale Arden (the virtuous but slightly boring love-interest) and Princess Aura (the spicy love-interest). And that series was made in the 1930s. There are potentially parallels there with Scarlet, Destiny and Astrid, I think - assuming she returns in the next series, that is. Emperor Ming becomes Captain Black, and Prince Barin becomes Captain Blue: the only main character missing would be Hans Zarkov, though after the events portrayed in "Heist", you might be able to read a touch of Colonel White into him. Zarkov provided the brainpower behind Flash's actions, but his motives were sometimes slightly suspect.]
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Clya Brown
- Cloudbase Captain
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I have doubts that White is that realistic either - I think he is being played as though he must always ‘sound like the Man in Charge’ - with the result that the personality of White is sucked right out of the character.
I think Scarlet is quite believable (but dull) and I think Black is too. The new Lieutenant Green & Harmony Angel are OK. Destiny is a sorry case - she’s a streak of misery with a tone that makes her a definite morale dampener for the rest of the Angels. I’d hate her as a team leader - I’d find it very hard to have any respect for her. As for the romance aspect - Scarlet must be desperate for female company to take up with her. Still, there’s no accounting for taste!
- J.M. Straczynski (during commentary on ‘The Fall of Centauri Prime’)
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Elentari
- Cloudbase Captain
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As to Blue's posturing macho tone though, unfortunately I find him all too believable! I've spent a good part of my working life ensuring that I avoid working with people like that - most recently the newly-appointed boss of a company I used to work for, and who was a major contributing factor in my decision to quit. The guy was basically okay, but he occasionally started throwing his weight around when he felt that the staff needed a kick in the backside... which might have been fair enough if they DID need a kick, but he invariably misinterpreted the situation and simply upset them when they were already operating under stress: perhaps not the brightest of things to do to people who could find ten potential alternative employers on the Internet in as many minutes after he'd returned to his office. Oh, he delivered profits to his masters in Head Office all right - but I suspect that a substantial factor in that was the money he managed to save by recruiting somebody cheaper than the one who had just left. Oh well - that's the free market for you.
Colonel White's an interesting one. I see him as an essentially accurate interpretation of a senior British military officer; albeit a slight caracature, but I reckon that's fair enough for a kids' show. It's interesting to compare him with the similarly-portrayed original version, and also with the explosive but comical blustering of Commander Zero from Fireball XL5 and the relatively good-natured grumpiness of Commander Shore from Stingray. Jeff Tracy is a different kettle of fish completely: he's very much a father figure (obviously), but one who commands obedience and respect from his sons in a way that it seems to me would be difficult to imagine had he been British as opposed to American. Coming to think of it, the Tracy family reminds me rather of the Osmond Brothers: the relationship would have to be very similar to that one (or at least the image of them presented to the public in their heyday) if an outfit like International Rescue were to function as it would need to.
Sorry - I'm meandering a bit. As you say, Elentari, Scarlet seems perfectly credible to me. I really don't think I'd like him as a person at all, but then I wouldn't have liked the original one either. Interesting how having an heroic status doesn't necessarily make a person likeable. Desirable to the opposite sex very probably, but not very likeable. He'd need a Superman-style alter-ego to give him a human side if he were actually to be likeable, and the poor guy hasn't got one. Oh well - life's tough when you're called on to save the world every week.
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Clya Brown
- Cloudbase Captain
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Call me Lois Lane. Doc, you opened my eyes! I think I discovered Captain Scarlet's secret identity!
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chrisbishop
- Colonel
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I have to say that I don't think superhero status automatically makes a chap 'desirable to the opposite sex' either - at least NOT this member of the opposite sex, although I expect some might like it...
Each to their own...
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Marion
- Cloudbase Captain
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Red underpants anyone?
Not to mention blue tights....
sigh..it's getting late....
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Carrie
- Cloudbase Captain
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