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"Place of Angels"
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episode
Episode no.Episode 23
Directed byLeo Eaton
Written byLeo Eaton
Cinematography byJulien Lugrin
Editing byHarry MacDonald
Production codeSCA 23[1]
Original air date8 March 1968
Guest appearances
Voices of:
Sylvia Anderson as
Judith Chapman
Gary Files as
Security Guard
Aircraft Mechanic
Martin King as
Airliner Captain
Jeremy Wilkin as
Dr Denton
Spectrum HQ, New York
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Flight 104" 		Next →
"Noose of Ice"
List of episodes

"Place of Angels" is the 23rd episode of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, a 1960s 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.

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, Judith Chapman, activate a culture of K14, a synthetic virus. Later, as Chapman is driving home in her car, Captain Black 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 to carry out their threat to destroy the "Place of 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-communicated 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 deceived 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, probably 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 a number of TV advertisements for Thunderbirds-themed ice lollies 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 scripted the Mysteron threat was to "destroy the population of the City of Angels".[4][5] In a scene that was written but not filmed, Captains Scarlet and Blue, having arrived at the laboratory, learn that the security guard was strangled not by hand but with the aid of machinery.[1] The ending was also changed: the script called for Scarlet to retrieve the K14 vial from a binoculars case where the Chapman reconstruction conceals it before falling to her death.[1]

The airliner in which the Chapman reconstruction travels to New York was a re-use of a scale model that had originally been built as the RTL2 Transporter for the Thunderbirds episode "The Cham-Cham".[1]

Broadcast

"Place of Angels" received its first UK network broadcast on BBC2 on 29 April 1994. It was delayed by 10 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 takes a mixed view of "Place of Angels", describing its plot as "not great" but believing it to be better-paced than the "torpid" "Flight 104". He also comments that the episode has a "reasonable sense of tension and some sharp direction".[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d Eaton, Leo (2016). The Traveling Years: A Memoir of Puppets, Porno & Penury. BookBaby. ISBN 978-1-483563-09-1.
  3. ^ a b Bentley 2001, p. 33.
  4. ^ a b Bentley 2001, p. 85.
  5. ^ a b 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. ^ Clark, Anthony. "Captain Scarlet: Volume 6 – Video Review". sci-fi-online.com. Archived from the original on 12 October 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
Bibliography
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