Design and effects
The scale model-making and special effects were handled by a separate unit headed by effects director Derek Meddings. It comprised two full-time crews and a "second unit" responsible for shots depicting flying aircraft. One of the series' technical innovations was that the noses of miniature vehicles would now "dip" as they came to a stop, to imitate the sudden application of brakes on a life-sized vehicle. The vehicles were designed by Meddings or his assistant Mike Trim. The former created Cloudbase, the SPV and the Angel fighter (the last of these during a flight to New York), while the latter produced many of the series' minor vehicles. The six-foot-long (1.83 m) Cloudbase filming model proved too heavy to be suspended on wires, so was mounted on a pole instead. Some of Trim's creations, such as the Spectrum Patrol Car, were originally meant to appear in only one episode, but proved to be so popular with the producers that they became regular features. As production continued, Trim's responsibilities grew as Meddings devoted more of his time to Thunderbird 6.
Supermarionation—a technique by which puppets' mouth movements were electronically synchronised with recorded dialogue—was first employed during the production of Four Feather Falls in 1960. On all the Anderson series prior to Captain Scarlet, the solenoid that powered the automatic mouth movements had been housed in the cranium, which caused the puppets' heads to appear disproportionately large compared to the rest of their bodies. Upsizing the bodies to match the heads would not have been practical, as the puppets would have become too heavy to operate effectively and it would have meant having to enlarge all the sets as well. The oversized heads gave the puppets a caricatured look that frustrated Gerry Anderson, who wanted the design to use natural body proportions. Before the pre-production of Captain Scarlet, producers Reg Hill and John Read created a new type of puppet with the solenoid built into the chest, enabling the heads to be reduced to a realistic size.
After being sculpted in Plasticine, the puppet heads were moulded on a silicone rubber base and finished in fibreglass. At heights ranging from 20 to 24 inches (51 to 61 cm) (approximately one-third life size), the new generation of puppets were the same height as previous ones. As in earlier series, the main characters were given interchangeable heads with a range of expressions; these included "smiler", "frowner" and "blinker" heads. Because episodes would be filmed in pairs on separate stages, the "expressionless" versions were made in duplicate. The costumes were designed by Sylvia Anderson, who drew inspiration from the work of Pierre Cardin (in particular, his 1966 "Cosmonaut" collection) when devising the Spectrum uniforms.
Despite their realistic form, the new puppets were even harder to animate on set, ironically making the design less life-like than Gerry Anderson had intended. The switch to accurate proportions upset the puppets' weight distribution. When standing, they often had to be held in place with clamps and tape to prevent them from wobbling. The smaller heads made it harder to obtain close-ups. Additionally, as most of the wires were head‑mounted, the smaller head size reduced the puppeteers' control, making movements jerkier. To limit the amount of movement required, characters were often shown sitting at moving desks or standing on moving walkways. For example, Colonel White has a rotating desk and Lieutenant Green operates the Cloudbase computer from a sliding chair. Puppeteer Jan King commented:
The Captain Scarlet puppets were not built to walk. They were too heavy and not weighted properly anyway [...] It is virtually impossible to get a string puppet to walk convincingly on film unless it is a very caricatured puppet. In Captain Scarlet, if a puppet had to move off-screen, it was done in a head-and-shoulders shot – the floor puppeteer would hold the legs of the puppet and then move the puppet physically out of shot at the right time, trying to make the body and shoulders move as if the puppet were walking.
The "under-controlled" puppets described by King had no wires and were manipulated from the waist. One advantage of this method was that a puppet could pass through a doorway without necessitating a break in the shot. For scenes with characters sitting in aircraft cockpits, the crew built variations on the under-controlled design that comprised only a head and torso. These were operated using levers and wires located underneath the set.
Scarlet's appearance has been compared to that of his voice actor, Francis Matthews, as well as Roger Moore. Ed Bishop, the voice of Captain Blue, believed that the character was modelled on him. However, sculptor Terry Curtis said that he used himself as the template and simply added a blond wig when he learnt that Bishop was to voice the character. A James Bond fan, Curtis based Captain Grey on Sean Connery and Destiny Angel on Ursula Andress, Connery's co-star in Dr No (1962). Lieutenant Green was modelled on Cy Grant, who voiced the character; Rhapsody Angel on Jean Shrimpton; Melody Angel on Eartha Kitt; and Harmony Angel on Tsai Chin.
On earlier series, guest characters had been sculpted and re-sculpted in clay episode by episode. For Captain Scarlet, these roles were played by a "repertory company" of over 50 permanent puppets that were made to the same standards of workmanship as the main characters. Called "revamps", these puppets were superficially altered for each new role by changing the colours or styles of their wigs, or adding or removing facial hair or eyeglasses. Puppets from Captain Scarlet appeared in supporting roles in the last two Supermarionation series, Joe 90 and The Secret Service.
The redesigned puppets have attracted a mixed response from crew members and commentators. Some of the crew believed that the new marionettes lacked the charm of the previous generation due to the accurate proportions that were now being used. Director David Lane recalled that when he first saw the prototype, "it was as if there was a little dead person in [the box] ... because it was perfect in all its proportions it just looked odd." Sculptor John Brown remembered putting the prototype next to the Lady Penelope puppet from Thunderbirds and gauging his colleagues' reactions: "When they saw it, some people were horrified by the difference. Some didn't like it, some did." It has been argued that facial expression was sacrificed to make the overall appearance more realistic. Curtis recalls:
The changes of expression on those puppets had to be perfect and in no way exaggerated like the old ones were. I remember when [fellow puppet designer] Tim Cooksey did Colonel White, he had a lot of trouble doing different expressions as the face was just so realistic. I had a similar problem with Captain Blue. I remember I did a Blue "smiler" head and people could hardly tell the difference between that and the normal one.
Fellow sculptor John Blundall called the new design "ridiculous". He criticised attempts to make the puppets appear more life-like, reasoning that "we always try to do with puppets what you can't do with humans." He suggested that the move from caricature to realism came at the expense of "character and personality", arguing that "if the puppet appears completely natural, the audience no longer has to use its imagination." Effects director Derek Meddings thought that while the new puppets made "very convincing miniature people", they were flawed because viewers "couldn't identify one from the other. The heads were so small they didn't have any character to their faces." From a practical perspective, supervising puppeteer Christine Glanville considered the puppets "awful", remembering that their smaller, lighter heads would not move smoothly: "If you wanted them to turn their heads, then more often than not there would be someone out of shot, with their fingers just above the puppet's head, actually turning it round."
Anderson said that he pushed for the new design to satisfy the audience, regarding it not as "a case of moving to a new technique, but more a case of incorporating new ideas with existing methods." In later years he expressed doubts about the wisdom of the redesign: "[T]he problem was that exact and precise movements became more vital than ever and that caused us terrible difficulties."
The new design has been well received by Vincent Terrace, Jeff Evans and John Peel. Praising the transfer of the electronics from the heads to the bodies, Evans describes the puppets as "perfect in proportion". Peel argues that the increased realism would not have put off audiences familiar with the earlier design. A contrary view is held by Daniel O'Brien, who states that the loss of the puppets' "idiosyncratic character" reduced them to the level of "deluxe Action Men". Commenting on the costume design, Mark Bould praises the series' "commitment to fashion" and especially commends the design of the Angel uniforms.
All episodes, except the first, have two title sequences. The first of these, incorporating the title card and principal production credits, is set in a run-down alleyway and presented from the point of view of an unseen gunman. Turning a corner, he comes face to face with Captain Scarlet and opens fire, only to be shot dead by a single round from Scarlet's handgun. The words "Captain Scarlet" appear letter by letter in time with the seven strikes of the series' signature drumbeat composed by Barry Gray. This sequence is intended to demonstrate Scarlet's indestructibility, the bullets from the assassin's machine gun having no effect on the captain. The sequence is accompanied by a voiceover from Ed Bishop stating:
"The Mysterons: sworn enemies of Earth. Possessing the ability to recreate an exact likeness of an object or person. But first, they must destroy... Leading the fight, one man fate has made indestructible. His name: Captain Scarlet."
A number of variations have been used. In the first episode, the voiceover runs:
"The finger is on the trigger. About to unleash a force with terrible powers, beyond the comprehension of man. This force we shall know as the Mysterons. This man will be our hero, for fate will make him indestructible. His name: Captain Scarlet."
An alternative version, rarely used, runs: "One man. A man who is different. Chosen by fate. Caught up in Earth's unwanted conflict with the Mysterons. Determined. Courageous. Indestructible. His name: Captain Scarlet." Later prints feature an additional voiceover by Donald Gray, warning the audience: "Captain Scarlet is indestructible. You are not. Remember this. Do not try to imitate him." This served to establish the background to the series and warn younger viewers not to put themselves at risk by copying Scarlet's actions. It was used either on its own or following the "One man ..." voiceover.
From the second episode, "Winged Assassin", the opening scenes are followed by a secondary title sequence introducing Captain Blue, Colonel White, the Angels and Captain Black. As the Mysterons announce their latest threat against Earth, the Mysteron rings pass over the characters in various environments, demonstrating the aliens' omnipresence. At the same time, the characters' codenames are flashed on-screen. The Mysterons invariably begin their threats with the words: "This is the voice of the Mysterons. We know that you can hear us, Earthmen."
The closing titles were originally intended to show images of printed circuit boards and other electronic components to reflect the early concept of Scarlet being a "mechanical man". In the completed sequence, these are replaced with paintings depicting Scarlet in various moments of peril. The paintings were created by comics artist Ron Embleton, who would later illustrate the adult comic strips Oh, Wicked Wanda! and Sweet Chastity for Penthouse. In 2005, the Animation Art Gallery in London released limited-edition prints of the paintings signed by Francis Matthews.
In Japan, the original opening titles were replaced with a montage of action clips from various episodes accompanied by an upbeat song performed by children. This version is included in the special features of the Captain Scarlet DVD box set.
