Network, out now

The revitalised Captain Scarlet CGI series – with some interesting new twists…

“Dr Gold – he’s alive!”

If that’s how you remember the new Captain Scarlet series starting each week, you’re in for a bit of a surprise with this new set, since each episode is now topped and tailed with a version of the titles that features footage from across the seasons. It’s a shame, since the original versions were similar in format to the Supermarionation series from the 1960s, introducing the various characters, and ending with a great shot of Captain Black.

March 2005 was a key month for nostalgic British sci-fi fans. Billboards around the country proclaimed the return of Doctor Who, with Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper set to conquer the airwaves. Slightly less well publicised – and indeed treated abominably by ITV during its first run – was the return of Captain Scarlet. Episodes were dumped within the children’s slot of the morning (the appropriately named Ministry of Mayhem), with the presenters often taking the mickey out of them mercilessly, and ruining any chance of the show being taken seriously.

It’s a shame because the revamp of the concept works well, even if those of us brought up on the original have to get used to some unfamiliar terminology for the craft. The limitations of the puppets were no longer a consideration – as early episodes almost went overboard to show, these new Spectrum agents could do pretty much anything. The scripts, most of which were written by Phil Ford, are as dark as the predecessor, and there’s even a degree of resolution in the final episode as Scarlet and Black return to Mars. Many of my favourite stories featuring the good captains come from this, rather than the earlier show!

As far as this new box set goes, we get most of the special features ported across from the series 1 DVD set (the episode specific commentaries and the behind the scenes stuff), as well as Captain Scarlet and the Return of the Mysterons, the original CGI film that saw Francis Matthews and Ed Bishop back as Scarlet and Blue, and a panel from the Anderson convention in 2014. What we don’t have, however, are the 5.1 mixes of the soundtrack from the DVD sets – so we’ve got pristine picture, but LPCM sound. I suspect there’ll be some who’ll prefer to upscale the DVDs to preserve the sound mix than watch these cleaner pictures in stereo.

Verdict: An overlooked part of the Anderson saga given great visual treatment; hopefully down the line the sound can be brought up to match. 8/10

Paul Simpson