New Captain Scarlet TV Series

[ray gower]

There is a rumour that Gerry Anderson is working on a screen play for a live action Captain Scarlet episode at Pinewood. (mentioned on the Fanderson web site)

Does anybody know anything more about this?

[Dave]

Sorry, if I started that rumour (here at least.) I also heard that he wasn't involved in the new 'Thunderbirds' film because he was busy with 'Captain Scarlet'. I didn't read anything else except this:

from BBC News

Captain Scarlet without strings

Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson has been experimenting with computer-generated graphics to produce a 21st century version of his Captain Scarlet puppet series.
He told the breakfast show on BBC Radio Oxford that he had recently made a five minute sequence of the programme using only a computer.

He said: "It was quite uncanny because we ended up with Captain Scarlet, Captain Black and Captain Blue on screen and they looked just like people.

"Absolutely the same as they were on the puppet shows, but this new technique turns them into people. They walk, hop, skip, jump and fight."

He added: "I think it won't be very long before we are remaking Captain Scarlet and, at a later date, Thunderbirds."

The rights to Captain Scarlet are owned by Carlton, whose director of programmes Waheed Alli said earlier this year his company was thinking of reviving the series.

But now I think it is more likely that he was talking about this game:

from SciFi Wire

Scarlet Game Coming

Batfish Studios announced that it is developing a PC game entitled Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, based on the classic 1970's puppet-animated TV series from Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson. The tactical strategy game will be published and released by Digital Workshop this summer in the UK.

Players will guide the indestructible Captain Scarlet or Captain Blue as they struggle to save the Earth from Captain Black and the Mysterons using futuristic weapons and vehicles. Early screen shots of the game are available on the company's Web site.

http://www.batfishstudios.com/news/newsbody.shtml

Spectrum Is Green as Batfish Studios and Digital Workshop announce Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, a tactical strategy game based on Gerry Anderson's popular television series.

The year is 2068 and the Mysterons are waging a war of nerves against Earth, issuing cryptic warnings before using their powers of retro-metabolism to control people and carry out their threats. Earth’s only defence is the Spectrum organisation, a world security force now focused solely on defeating the Mysteron menace.

Players take control of the indestructible Captain Scarlet as well as Captain Blue and the other Spectrum agents as they rescue crashed Angel pilots, investigate Egyptian tombs, halt the destruction of an underwater base and much more in their battle against Captain Black and the rest of the Mysterons.

The fight against the Mysterons takes place across a wide range of levels from fog shrouded docks to polar oil refineries to Cloudbase, the home of Spectrum itself. Each level features highly detailed graphics that capture the look and feel of Captain Scarlet. Players will also use a variety of vehicles including Spectrum Saloon Cars, Angel Interceptors and of course the legendary Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle.

Philip Harris, Lead Developer at Batfish Studios said "Captain Scarlet is as entertaining and relevant now as it was when it was first broadcast 35 years ago. With such a strong background to work from we’ve been able to design a game which will appeal to gamers of all ages, whether they are familiar with Captain Scarlet or not."

Anyone else know about a possible film?

[ray gower]

Think we may all be chewing the wrong stick.

I found this in a review with Gerry Anderson by DVD Reviewer March 2002

Yes, I'm slightly gagged on this one. Everything I've done throughout my film career is crazy and here we go again. We've created two new television series, both of which are being made by two separate major companies in Japan. We're sitting here in Pinewood with a broadband connection - we write the stories, supervise the production and check the material when it comes in and say yes or no. We also fly out to Japan every couple of months - this has come about because my films have always been big in Japan and we were approached to do this.

The Japanese series he mentions I think is one called Firestorm, but otherwise it does looks as if Gerry is trying to revive Captain Scarlet. Even if it is a cartoon form

[ray gower]

It is true! Captain Scarlet is about to return to the small screen!

From Fanderson and reported on news bulletins today

New Series of Captain Scarlet Announced!
March 12th, 2103

Anderson Entertainment have just announced that production has commenced at Pinewood Studios on a new multi-million pound television series of Captain Scarlet. Producer Gerry Anderson has been given the green light to produce a new 26 part series based on the characters and concepts of his original 1967 Supermarionation science-fiction adventure series, following the indestructible Captain Scarlet and the agents of Spectrum as they battle against the alien Mysterons from Mars. Gerry Anderson MBE says, "This is the most exciting project of my career. It is something that I have been working towards for several years and I am thrilled that we are going into production."

Following on from Anderson's earlier Supermarionation and Supermacromation filming techniques, the new Captain Scarlet series will be made in HYPERMARIONATION, a sophisticated form of computer animation. "This means that the series will be made using Computer Generated Images," says Anderson. "When I worked with puppets, I strived to make them as believable as possible. Now I can achieve this using Hypermarionation."

The dateline for the Anderson Entertainment production is still 2068 (as in the original series), but in keeping with the changing times, female Spectrum agents will be joining the front-line battle against the Mysterons. Anderson is also promising that the characters in the new Captain Scarlet series will be less clinical than in the original programme. "We are keeping the faces of the key characters, but we are re-designing the uniforms, developing totally new vehicles and Cloud Base will be bigger and better," Anderson explains.

Top Supermarionation series director David Lane is heading the new team of directors on Captain Scarlet. Formerly one of the editors on Fireball XL5 and Stingray, Lane made his directorial debut on Thunderbirds and went on to direct the feature films Thunderbirds Are Go (1966) and Thunderbird 6 (1968), produced Joe 90 and The Secret Service and later worked with Anderson on UFO, The Protectors and Space:1999. The associate producer of Captain Scarlet is Mark Sherwood, who previously worked with Anderson as post production supervisor on Space Precinct.

The new series follows a successful experimental test film featuring CGI animated characters made in 1999. Aimed at a family audience, the 26 episodes will take two years to make and will be screened in 2005.

Gerry Anderson exclusively reveals further details of the new Captain Scarlet series in the latest issue of the Fanderson club magazine FAB, which is currently scheduled to be mailed to members on March 31st.

Anybody a member of Fanderson here, to give more details?

[Dave]

One or two more details were in 'Dreamwatch' #104:

"This is the most exciting project of my career," said Gerry Anderson. "I am thrilled that we are going into production."

The series will feature a new range of vehicles and a bigger and better Cloud Base. David Lane who has directed other Anderson shows, including 'Thunderbirds' will head the team of directors on the new series.

I was a little premature to make a new forum for this, since the projected air date is 2005!

[ray gower]

Originally posted by Dave
I was a little premature to make a new forum for this, since the projected air date is 2005!

It's called forward planning

[ray gower]

The well known source of entertainment news Computing magazine quotes the UK air date as autumn this year with a series of 26 episodes.
http://www.computing.co.uk/news/1160800

In another story is the suggestion the Indestructible Films (owners of Captain Scarlet and Red Dwarf) may well be attempting to bring him to a mobile phone near you!
http://www.computing.co.uk/news/1160736

[Dave]

Originally posted by ray gower
The well known source of entertainment news Computing magazine quotes the UK air date as autumn this year with a series of 26 episodes.

LOL

Reading this thread as a whole, it seems to me that whoever is making this new series could learn a thing or two about press releases and dealing with the media. How can it be that news of this is first published in 'Computing Magazine' and in 'DVD Reviewer'?

[ray gower]

The Computing article does look very much like a Dell/Microsoft inspired plant, rather than anythin from Idestructible.

It is also wrong!

Picked up from Fanderson

Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet will be making its British television debut a lot sooner than had been expected with the surprise announcement yesterday that the series will receive its world television premiere on Saturday, February 12th, 2005.

The first episode, Instrument Of Destruction - Part One, will be screened in a prime 9.30 Saturday morning slot on ITV as the opening item of the network's Ministry Of Mayhem children's programme. The Ministry Of Mayhem production team will be visiting Anderson Entertainment's animation studios at Pinewood next week to film a special 'behind the scenes' report for that morning's edition of the show.

Before Christmas, the new CGI-animated series had not been expected to be broadcast until the autumn. Gerry Anderson told FABNews, "This has come as much of a suprise to me as it does to you. When we shut down production for the Christmas break, everything was still on course for an autumn premiere, but things have changed very quickly since the New Year.

"ITV have found this wonderful slot for us that will give the series maximum impact on ITV childrens' television. We have completed and delivered the first 13 episodes, so it made a lot of sense for New Captain Scarlet to be aired much sooner than we had originally thought."

The full 26-episode series has now been split in two and the first 13 episodes will air as a first 'season' from February to May. The remaining 13 episodes, which will not complete production until July, will air as a second series in the autumn.

Anderson Entertainment is currently negotiating with ITV for repeat screening slots during the week following each episode's Saturday morning debut, possibly a 4.30pm weekday slot at part of the network's CITV strand and a 6.30pm Saturday slot for older viewers. The episodes will also be released on DVD in October.

The initial series of New Captain Scarlet on ITV will comprise the following episodes:

Instrument Of Destruction - Part One (February 12th, 2005)
Instrument Of Destruction - Part Two (February 19th, 2005)
The Homecoming (February 26th, 2005)
Rain Of Terror (Broadcast Date TBA)
Mercury Falling (Broadcast Date TBA)
Swarm (Broadcast Date TBA)
Chiller (Broadcast Date TBA)
Rat Trap (Broadcast Date TBA)
Circles Of Doom (Broadcast Date TBA)
Trap For A Rhino (Broadcast Date TBA)
The Achilles Messenger (Broadcast Date TBA)
Skin Deep (Broadcast Date TBA)
Heist (Broadcast Date TBA)

The news was announced at the opening day of the London Toy Fair at the ExCel centre in Docklands where the Japanese toy manufacturer Bandai unveiled a stunning range of New Captain Scarlet action figures, vehicles and utility equipment. These are scheduled to go on sale in June. A wide variety of merchandise from other manufacturers - including books, games, posters, apparel, confectionery and calendars - will be tied to the broadcast of the second series in the autumn.

There is also a Captain Scarlet website for the series www.captainscarlet.com

Not much there yet, but the images of the characters are pretty close to the original, which must bode well?