Episode 25: Grey Skulls

[Conrad Lefkon]

25. GREY SKULLS

http://www.fanderson.org.uk/forum/picture.php?albumid=62&pictureid=887
I think this picture of Colt could be the most photo-realistic close up in the entire series of NCS..

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 ‘Grey Skulls'.

http://www.fanderson.org.uk/forum/picture.php?albumid=62&pictureid=888

2. CAPTAIN BLACK’S REPORT

I guess I am a fairly superficial guy in that if the style looks good then the substance doesn't matter so much. In carrying out these reviews I have had to think more about the flow and logic of the storyline rather than just admiring the action sequences.

This story starts out with Scarlet, Blue and Ochre tracking down a Mysteron replicant, a police officer called Rimmer. Rimmer has got hold of a container filled with deadly alien spores brought back by a space probe and these have now been incorporated into a deadly bomb.

When Rimmer realises he has been cornered by Spectrum he kills Brock, the leader of the Wolf Pack motorcycle gang, who happens to be in the area that night. Brock was there on the invitation of Colt, the leader of a rival motorcycle gang called the Grey Skulls.

The Mysterons recreate Brock as a replicant and Rimmer passes on the bomb and the mission to him. The mission is to kill thousands of people by exploding the device at the newly opened Stellar City theme park.

The story would be straightforward except for the fact that Spectrum still think they are looking for Rimmer. It is only late in the day when Ochre is speaking to Colt and suddenly realises that a switch has taken place. Colt is now invaluable because he is the only one who can identify Brock.

http://www.fanderson.org.uk/forum/picture.php?albumid=62&pictureid=902
Would you fancy jumping from capsule to capsule right up there? Me neither!

3. GUEST ARTISTS

A great deal of work must have gone into the creation of Colt. The textures of his face and clothes are perfect to the last detail and this, when combined with great mocap and voice artist work, make him superior to any other character in the series. The contrast between him and Captain Ochre, for example, makes Elaine look like a cartoon character. My wife is Irish so I do like Ochre all the same.

Ochre accuses Colt of stealing the Raid Bike so that he can use it to break into banks. That seems unfair to me as he had no idea of the existence of such a vehicle until it arrived at the derelict BioCorp environmental recycling plant where he was meeting Brock to discuss territories.

I like the peculiar logic that Colt uses to explain to Captain Ochre that the Grey Skulls are not criminals. Apparently, the money they get from heists is used to build up an arsenal of weapons to use against alien invaders like the one whose skull they have found out at Roswell (and which had been missed by the military). So that's alright then?!

http://www.fanderson.org.uk/forum/picture.php?albumid=62&pictureid=886
Here is Brock who has 2 good eyes but is very much into pirate chic.

[Conrad Lefkon]

CONTENT

4. CHARACTERISATION AND VOICE WORK

A particular standout feature of this episode is the very high quality of the clothes worn by both Colt and Brock, not to mention the sergeant who checks out Rimmer's duty roster. The costume detail is quite astounding and compliments the improved faces of the new characters. If there had been room for another screen grab I would have chosen the sergeant - the detail of his sideburns and whiskers was quite remarkable.

http://www.fanderson.org.uk/forum/picture.php?albumid=62&pictureid=903
Just look at the lovely chrome on the bike and the wonderful detailing of Colt's leather outfit!

5. VEHICLES AND TECHNOLOGY

The Night Vision device seems to stand out like a sore thumb. Maybe they should have introduced it by telling Scarlet and Blue that this was new technology rather than letting them activate it using a tone of voice which implies that it is a long standing piece of kit! As it is we have seen 32 episodes of 'Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons' and 23 episodes of NCS before it first appears in 'Shape Shifter'.

http://www.fanderson.org.uk/forum/picture.php?albumid=62&pictureid=892
"Night vision." I like the pure silliness of having to activate the device by speaking under your breath!

How strange that having drawn attention to one device for enhancing visibility (night vision) that my next screen grab should be of a second such facility (the Cheetah's vision enhancer).

6. MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS

Here is my usual link to Crispin Merrell's website where you can hear the excellent piece called 'Colt's Theme' which is distinctly 'spaghetti western'. This is played when the 2 Grey Skulls bikers are taking Captain Ochre to meet Colt and there is also a snippet at the end of the show. http://www.toomanynotes.co.uk/music.html

http://www.fanderson.org.uk/forum/picture.php?albumid=62&pictureid=890
The vision enhancer images in the Cheetah remind me of the opening titles of Clint Eastwood's 'A Fistful of Dollars'.

7. LOCATIONS, SETS AND LIGHTING

The Stellar City complex is very well presented and the red streaks in the sky help to convey an impending disaster. The dramatic way in which the capsules of the ride sweep across the screen is very convincing and adds to the excitement, as does the waving and screaming of the passengers.

I guess it is a compliment to the designers that, although the motion of the ferris wheel is very complex and convoluted, the viewer would never doubt its authenticity. How on earth they made it so realistic I will never know - maybe they motion captured a real ferris wheel?!

8. MOTION CAPTURE

Another interesting advance was the inclusion of quite large numbers of people, especially at the Stellar City theme park. I am sure that I spotted Brock on one of the CCTV cameras before Colt identified him. Also, when the camera zoomed in on Brock, who were those 2 crazy looking red-headed boys - Joe 90 twins or something?

Of course, I really enjoyed the van ride through the crowds of milling people and the way they jumped out of the road was excellent and unique to this episode.

http://www.fanderson.org.uk/forum/picture.php?albumid=62&pictureid=891
The Mysterons have landed in a big pink flying saucer.. They try to take cover in an adjacent palm tree.

[Conrad Lefkon]

SUMMARY

9. OVERALL COMMENTS

I am afraid that I will always have a jaundiced view of this episode because the script replaced the story that I was most looking forward to, namely ‘House Of Dolls’.

Nevertheless, I have the feeling that the Team wanted to use this episode as a sort of showcase for their talents, possibly with a view to getting new commissions. It contains quite a few new and exciting features so it is a shame that the story line is relatively unoriginal.

http://www.fanderson.org.uk/forum/picture.php?albumid=62&pictureid=895
Biker: "Wow! Where did you come from - Planet Political Correctness or Planet Women's Lib?

No doubt I am just a killjoy but the way that Captain Ochre picked a fight with the 2 riders in the café by insulting them was not in keeping with the normal codes of conduct associated with a ‘goodie’ in a Gerry Anderson series. I might have expected it from Black but not from Ochre.

I felt that this, and also the slow motion scene, were just two of several subterfuges used to distract the viewer away from the fact that the underlying story was a little weak. Having said that I have given this one a fairly generous 4 out 5 because of the costume design and crowd scenes.

10. EPISODE RATING

http://www.fanderson.org.uk/forum/picture.php?albumid=24&pictureid=466
Rating 4 out of 5

TRIVIA

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

I guess there is a plot device that enables Spectrum to find out where the alien spores are to be released even though they don't know where Rimmer has got to. By examining the duty roster for Rimmer they were able to find out that he would be working at Stellar City. Had the replicant been an ordinary member of the public then his future movements might not be so easy to predict.

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

Captain Ochre is a central figures in this story but there is more than a hint of the political correctness or women's lib that I complained about in 'Fallen Angels'. She enters the Close Encounter bar and the fairly timid looking biker says "I really dig a woman in uniform." Ochre replies with "What do you know? A spaceship really did crash here. Which world did you come from? Planet Stupid or Planet Ugly?"

Later, she saves the day by catching the bomb which Brock has thrown from the ferris wheel after his fight with Scarlet. She takes the bomb out of the theme park inside a Rhino and Colt then incinerates the spores by setting the Rhino on fire using missiles from the Raid Bike which he stole earlier in the story.

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

When Colt shows Ochre the alien skull found at Roswell, New Mexico it seems that the story will go to a new level. However, it just facilitates their conversation with Colt telling Ochre about the mysterious green light he had seen back at his rendezvous with Brock. Ochre puts 2 and 2 together and alerts Spectrum to the probability that the canister of alien spores has been handed over to Brock for release into the atmosphere.

http://www.fanderson.org.uk/forum/picture.php?albumid=62&pictureid=894
It can't be a Mysteron, can it, because they don't have bodies and if one of them dies another can replicate him?

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

There is plenty of action and danger when Scarlet jumps onto the wildly gyrating ferris wheel. It really is very convincing as he clings to the metalwork as he manoeuvres himself from capsule to capsule. Brock seems to have him beaten as he crunches his fingers underfoot but Scarlet manages to shoot his man.

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

During the opening scenes the gung-ho Captain Blue drives his Rhino over Colt's motorcycle crushing it to bits. Soon after, Colt steals Ochre's unlocked Raid Bike which in a way is rough justice. Back on Skybase, Colonel White tears Ochre off a strip for her carelessness and tells her to get back the Raid Bike. There then follows a brief, cringeworthy sequence when Blue makes derogatory remarks to Ochre in an inappropriately jocular tone.

I suppose that Elaine did get the Raid Bike back but at the expense of both a Cheetah and a Rhino. I wondered why Colt destroyed the Cheetah in the first place – I much prefer the Cheetah to the Raid Bike.

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

Rimmer's merciless, determined behaviour reminds me very much of the character T-1000 character in 'Terminator 2' played by Robert Patrick. The single-minded, relentless and ominous body language is quite effective.

http://www.fanderson.org.uk/forum/picture.php?albumid=62&pictureid=896
Rimmer doesn't exactly look like he would be letting his hair down and entering into the spirit of things at Stellar City!

17. MONKEY MAN AND FRIENDS (NCS Repertory Company)

Monkey Man has almost a starring role as the technician in the control room of Stellar City. He even gets some lines which are spoken with an American accent.

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

Nothing really. If you check out the picture with the pink flying saucer you can see that some of the small moving characters in the crowd are cloned.

19. LOOSE ENDS

The only loose end, which is drawn attention to, is the fact that Colt and his buddies take their leave at the end of the show in full knowledge of the Mysterons. Also, I hope Spectrum will pay for a new Harley Davidson for Colt as he did help to save a few thousand lives.

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

As I have said, when Monkey Man is checking out the camera monitors in the control room you can see Brock entering the site with his explosive device in a bag.

21. SPECTRUM GOODIE BAG (Colour coordinated bling!)

The Raid Bike has Ochre's distinctive colours.

[Derek Eaton]

One of my favourite NCS episodes - memorable to me for the Terminator 2 sort of character and the scenes where Scarlet leaps around the fair. Oh and the music. Great post Conrad.

[Chrisof]

Great review, is that onew of the creatures from quateermass and the Pit hanging in the balloons beside the pink saucer? Pescky martians.:)

I do think more could have been down with that skull.

[Achilles Messenger]

Yes great review and some nice screengrabs too.

Maybe a bit over critical for my liking though, but then I'm biased as this is my favourite NCS episode! :p

[Steve Gerard]

Conrad Lefkon, once again, you have done another thorough NCS review of episode 25 "Grey Skulls". All of your reviews should be compiled together under NCS section.

[Conrad Lefkon]

Hello Derek, Chris, Achilles and Steve,

Thanks for all your kind comments and observations. :)

We are about 5 years on now from when NCS was first broadcast (if you can call it that). When you think how each Supermarionation show advanced in terms of technology and sophistication then it makes me wonder what Hypermarionation shows would have been like by now. :o

My guess is that famous actors and actresses would have been queueing up to be digitally recreated as CGI characters. Logically, it would make sense for them to do their own voiceovers. Can you imagine a CGI Tom Cruise rendered to the same standard as Colt above (or maybe even better). Taking it a step further, maybe those same artists could do their own MoCap. That would be really exciting.

[Steve Gerard]

NCS proves the massive untapped potential for CG Gerry Anderson productions. The U.S. market was denied a proper release of the NEW CAPTAIN SCARLET. I see George Lucas' CLONE WARS CG TV series aired on the Cartoon Network, why is NEW CAPTAIN SCARLET CG TV series not being aired too?:confused: