Episode 16: Enigma

[Conrad Lefkon]

16. ENIGMA

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COLONEL WHITE: "Maybe this war of nerves is about to enter a new phase. Metal to metal."

STORY
1. NCS HALL OF FAME

You can read a synopsis of this story at the following location: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gerry_Anderson%27s_New_Captain_Scarlet_epi sodes

The highlighted main characters appear in ‘Enigma'.

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2. CAPTAIN BLACK’S REPORT

I think you will agree that we served up something really special in this episode. As Scarlet said, the Mysterons don't have physical bodies and can attack without travelling across space.

Nevertheless, we did send a spacecraft to attack you, a special kind of spaceship called a 'temporal cell' within which time can be manipulated. We lured your most experienced agents to the landing site in the Northern Territory of Australia and, while you were distracted, wreaked havoc among the oilfields of the Gulf.

Once inside the cell we took over Scarlet's mind and manipulated time and space by crashing our spaceship into Skybase and causing him to fall to earth. He landed in the snowy streets of Bedford Falls, or somewhere similar, on Christmas Eve and found himself standing outside a picture postcard home with Christmas lights.

Once inside the house, I managed to convince Scarlet that, by using the temporal cell, we could return to Mars together and that, as time played over again, he could persuade me not to open fire when the Mysterons sent forth their electronic probe. How wrong he was! When Scarlet reported back to Spectrum that they had been tricked, I enjoyed the speech given by the Colonel:

COLONEL WHITE: "Today the Mysterons have shown themselves to be superior in ways we could never have imagined. They are an enemy that not only fights in the shadows , but marshalls those shadows against us. Today they have won. But the war goes on, gentlemen. And we will win it. We must."

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CAPTAIN BLUE: "This place is seriously on the fritz."

Any episode which has a “Mysteron kind of a place” in it gets my vote – Circles of Doom, Enigma and Dominion. It was like “follow the green brick road”. I sometimes wonder what those electrified ball-like things are as nobody seems to take any notice of them other than to duck out of their way.

3. GUEST ARTISTS

I enjoyed Scarlet's perplexity when he came to the door and found that, in this version of time, Destiny was married with children. He seemed less than overjoyed when he found that Destiny was married to me and was now Mrs Lefkon. He was also shocked to find that I was good around the kitchen, being a dab hand with the drying up cloth!

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[Conrad Lefkon]

CONTENT

4. CHARACTERISATION AND VOICE WORK

I tend to switch off mentally whenever there is an aerial dogfight between the Angels and the Vampires but this was different and very satisfying. The way the sense of speed was conveyed by the vibrating images of the Angel jets was great and there was something wonderful about the blueness of the sky. Attack on Cloudbase from OCS was one of my favourites and Enigma is certainly right up there to.

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Here is a shot of Symphony Angel which shows that she can sometimes look like a babe!

5. VEHICLES AND TECHNOLOGY

Here is a picture of the Mysteron space craft after it has landed in the Northern Territory of Australia. You can see the two Albatrosses flying towards it in the foreground. The craft was absolutely enormous and it was pleasing to see the flocks of birds circling above when the Spectrum officers first approached it. There is no obvious door but when Adam raps on the hull with his fist the four Captains are magically transported into what Scarlet usually calls 'a Mysteron kind of place'.

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I really liked to see the whole Albatross launch sequence – the reversing of the Rhino onto the ramp, realignment of the VTOL jets and the stomach churning drop from Skybase. It would have been interesting to see the Albatross – Skybase docking procedure at some time during the series!

This episode is also the first, or one of the first, to feature the new look FRED robots on Skybase. These robots walk around in high winds and sub-zero temperatures and signal to the Angels and other aircraft when to take off. I mention this as I am not sure why it was thought necessary to make the change. I am not complaining as it shows that the Team were always trying to do things better.

6. MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS

The usual excellent incidental music.

7. LOCATIONS, SETS AND LIGHTING

When Scarlet dropped from the skies and picked himself up on that snowy roadway with the Christmas lights winking it was breathtaking and emotional. Then the delicious anticipation of seeing who Destiny was married to and finding it was a drying cloth wielding Conrad with a fixation on cake. Brilliant!

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8. MOTION CAPTURE

Even the above scene was bettered by the gut-wrenching return to Mars. “No! They are only scanning us.” Conrad’s eyes go green and his expression changes to one of malicious enjoyment: “What is done cannot be undone!”. Once again, he fires the rockets that destroy the Mysteron city which was exactly what Scarlet was trying to prevent.

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Here are shots comparing the different CGI models of Captain Black with the 'Instrument of Destruction Part 1' version on the left and the 'Enigma' version on the right. In general, my feeling was that the 'Enigma' version was better and I expected the screen grabs to bear this out. I was therefore surprised to find that these comparable pictures of Conrad suggest that the original was better - at least some of the time!

[Conrad Lefkon]

SUMMARY

9. OVERALL COMMENTS

DESTINY: “Paul! What kept you? The kids are so excited. Come on in.”
SCARLET: "Er ... nice place."
DESTINY: "I hope you haven't gone crazy."
SCARLET: "You tell me."

Fantastic! I just love programmes that turn everything upside down and take you on a ‘magical mystery tour’. There is something almost therapeutic about letting go of rational thought and going with the flow of the writer’s imagination.

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CONRAD: "You already know there's a faction of the Mysteron Consciousness that wants peace."

There were many ‘places of interest’ on this journey including the extended aerial battle with the alien spacecraft followed by a reconnaissance of the landing site in the Northern Territory of Australia. Then, inside the temporal cell, the snowy Christmas card scene with Conrad and family followed by the tantalizing time travel back to Mars and the (re)discovery of the Mysteron city.

When the series first aired, it was my usual practice to record MoM (Ministry of Mayhem) and then watch the episode in the evening but this one was so riveting that I just had to watch it through to the end – shopping had to wait!

10. EPISODE RATING

In spite of the preposterous effort that the Mysterons put in to distract Spectrum from the oilfields, this is very close to being my favourite episode. Maybe it is - it is so hard to choose.

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Rating 5 out of 5

TRIVIA

11. “I GUESSTIMATE THE PYRENEES” (Plot Accelerators)

To even suggest the existence of 'plot accelerators' in such a story would be an insult to your intelligence. As Blue said: "This place is seriously on the fritz!"

12. “WHAT ABOUT SCARLET?” (Other Captains do some work)

The most dangerous work is done by the Angels as they attack, and are attacked by, the Mysteron spaceship. Later, Scarlet, Blue, Ochre and Grey encounter the craft in Australia and experience the Mysteron ability to control time and space.

13. “THEY NOT ONLY FIGHT IN THE SHADOWS BUT MARSHALL THOSE SHADOWS AGAINST US” (The latest Mysteron powers)

As already mentioned, the Mysterons can control space and time within their 'temporal cell'. In this scene, Blue's voice and silhouette are distorted in such a way that Elaine (Captain Ochre) shoots and kills him out of fear.

A few moments later, time is replayed and Blue is alive once again. This time Blue's voice and sihouette are back to normal and Ochre holds her fire when he approaches her in the darkness.

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14. “MY INDESTRUCTIBLE BUTT” (Scarlet defies death)

There is no attempt to kill Scarlet in this episode as the Mysterons need to lure him away as a diversion whilst they destroy 30% of the World's oil supply. When the 'temporal cell' finally explodes, Scarlet is left shocked and dazed and slumps to the ground but is unhurt.

15. “GO OUT THERE AND GET IT BACK!” (Damage and destruction of Spectrum property)

An Angel aircraft is destroyed during the dogfight with the alien spaceship but the pilot ejects using the escape pod.

16. “WHATEVER MAKES YOU HAPPY” (Nods to other films and shows)

The scene where Scarlet finds himself transported in time and space to a cosy living room on Christmas Eve seems like a direct copy of the 'Star Trek Generations' film starring Patrick Stewart.

17. MONKEY MAN AND FRIENDS (NCS Repertory Company)

Monkey Man makes an appearance as the second technician at the start of the episode. You must know what he looks like by now - ugly!

18. RUBBERY LEGS AND FACELIFTS (Dodgy key-framing and other anomalies)

Destiny was Black's girlfriend before he was killed. Here are 2 versions of the same photo which Conrad had with him during the mission to Mars. The one on the left is from 'Instrument of Destruction Part 1' and the one on the right is from 'Enigma'.

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You can tell from the panel on which the photos are resting that the later picture is smaller than the first one. I have to say that the original makes it look like Destiny has acquired a so-called 'trout pout' caused by the injection of too much collagen into her lips!

I also noticed that from about 8 mins 45 secs onwards there was something rather odd about Lieutenant Green's complexion in a number of the scenes. Her skin had a strange powdery look about it, a bit like Posh Spice, and her eyes didn't look right either, as if they were fashioned from a dark amber-coloured glass.

19. LOOSE ENDS

I love the throwaway line "However they did it 30% of the World's oil resource has been wiped out in a single strike." It's the 'however they did it' that cracks me up! They haven't even attempted to explain what happened other than to say "It was a massive chain reaction."

It reminds me of some of the songs by The Police where they seem to know that the music is so good that they can't even be bothered to get all the lyrics to scan!

20. BLINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT! (In-jokes)

The whole episode was one long 'blink and you'll miss it'! I was pleased that the scenes in the Bison on Mars were reanimated using the newer models fo Scarlet and Black. It was very interesting to compare and contrast the old and new versions.

21. SPECTRUM GOODIE BAG (Colour coordinated bling!)

Nothing that I noticed. Perhaps Conrad should have had a black and white drying cloth in the kitchen!

[Steve Gerard]

Conrad Lefkon, great NCS episode analysis.

[Conrad Lefkon]

Thanks, Steve. It's a lot easier when it is an episode as good as this! :)

[Chrisof]

This is a great episode and is very nicely done, though is it just me or does destiny look "hotter" in the pilot.

[Achilles Messenger]

This is def one of my favourites, whenever the dogfight is going on I turn the sound right up. Great analysis Conrad!

[Steve Gerard]

brilliant episode:D

[TonyB]

I think that Enigma was just about my favorite episode when I first saw the series on TV, and probably remains so after re-watching on DVD, its a cracking episode and just show's how good NCS could be.

I was lucky enough to get to have a chat about NCS and in particular this very episode with Dominic Lavery and Crispin Merril at the Fanderson con in Borehamwood as it was aired on TV just a few weeks before the con.

Good job on the synopsis Conrad.

[Conrad Lefkon]

Thanks for all your replies. :)

Dom made the following comments in reply to a question that I asked him in a general thread on the Spectrum Headquarters Forum.

Question: Which is your favourite episode of NCS where you are the director and why? Also which are your favourite David Lane and Mark Woollard episodes?

Dom's Reply: MMM now let me think. There are elements of many episodes that I think went well, however, over all, I liked Enigma as it was a more ‘out there’ episode and Rat trap because it was the first one of mine to really work well as our teams settled down.

Best David episode for me was … Best of enemies. It was a great character piece. Also Instrument 1 and 2. This is because Dave was working almost blind at the very beginning. We all were, as none of us had done a show of this kind before. He fought hard to get to grips and iron out as many problems as he could.

Marks best for me was probably, touch of the reaper. Great pace, action and just scary enough. Both Mark and Dave did a great job. I have known Mark wollard for quite a few years now as we have worked on a number of films together. He is great to work with and very funny.

[Achilles Messenger]

I think most of the last 13 episodes are the strongest, Grey Skulls has to be my all-time favourite but Enigma comes a close second - along with The Achilles Messenger and Circles Of Doom (for the flying sequences!).

Still awaiting this good news on NCS that's currently rumoured.

[Sweeps]

After reading the episode review on here and reading the comments I just had to watch this episode again. It is actually more mega and amazing than when I saw it last time, I think I've seen it twice before but the Angels battle with the Mysteron...craft...thingy really had me hooked this time (even though I knew what was coming) Also, when Col. White said to Lt. Green "Full scale evacuation, if you please." that bit gave me goosebumps for no apparent reason, it was just sheer epicness had its best.

The scene where Scarlet was falling through the sky and "lands" on christmas eve at Destiny & Black's house...very, very weird but it was good how Scarlet didn't know what was going on either. :) Oh yeah, and I liked it how Scarlet (by instinct) nearly went for his gun as soon as he saw Black.

A top, top, top episode. Probably one of the best episodes out of all of the GA series. :)