Episode no. Episode 32 Written by Tony Barwick Editing by Bob Dearberg | Directed by Ken Turner Cinematography by Ted Catford Production code 32 | |
"The Inquisition" is the 32nd and final episode of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, a British 1960s Supermarionation television series co-created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Written by Tony Barwick and directed by Ken Turner, it was first broadcast on 12 May 1968 on ATV London. In this clip show episode, Captain Blue is drugged and reportedly disappears for three months; regaining consciousness on Cloudbase in front of a Spectrum Intelligence agent, he is ordered to prove his identity by demonstrating his knowledge of classified information.
Contents
Extensive use of flashback footage has resulted in some critics describing "The Inquisition" as "unusual" or "cheap". The series finale, which ends inconclusively with regard to the hostilities between Earth and the Mysterons, is generally considered a disappointment.
Plot
While dining with Captain Scarlet at the Markham Arms pub, an off-duty Captain Blue drinks drugged coffee and disappears. Transmitting to Earth, the Mysterons warn Spectrum that a member of the organisation is destined to betray them all.
Blue, having been unconscious, awakes in what appears to be the Cloudbase control room facing a man who introduces himself as Colgan, an agent of Spectrum Intelligence. Colgan states that Blue has been missing for three months and that he must now prove his identity by giving details of Spectrum's secret cipher codes.
Wary of his interrogator's motives, and unwilling to divulge classified information, Blue strives to satisfy Colgan by describing some of Spectrum's operations against the Mysterons. However, his efforts are in vain: an account of the Mysteron plot to destroy London ("Big Ben Strikes Again") is dismissed as useless; that of Spectrum's mission to eliminate the Mysteron complex on the Moon ("Crater 101") due to the extensive press coverage that the story generated. Finally, the example of the Mysterons' attempted assassination of Earth's military leaders ("The Trap"), despite never having been reported in the media, is also rejected.
Increasingly suspicious of Colgan's interest in the codes, as well as the inexplicable absence of his colleagues, Blue attempts to leave the control room but finds the exit blocked by a man holding a gun and a hypodermic syringe containing truth serum. Realising that he is in the hands of Mysteron reconstructions, Blue throws himself through an observation window and lands on a painted-sky canvas, at which point it is revealed that what appears to be Cloudbase control is in fact a replica built inside an abandoned warehouse.
Scarlet arrives in a Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle and destroys the building with the vehicle's front-mounted rocket launcher, informing Blue that he went missing only a few hours before. He tells him "You can tell me all about it back on the real Cloudbase".
Production
It was customary for Supermarionation series to conclude with clip show episodes, other examples of which include "Aquanaut of the Year" (Stingray), "Security Hazard" (Thunderbirds) and "The Birthday" (Joe 90). Since "The Inquisition" is composed mostly of flashbacks to the episodes "Big Ben Strikes Again", "Crater 101" and "The Trap", only 11 minutes of original footage was filmed. The "Crater 101" sequence itself accounts for eight minutes of the running time.
The exterior of the Markham Arms, seen in the episode's introductory shot, was built as a Tudor-style waterfront pub by Century 21 model-maker Alan Shubrook from a sketch by designer Mike Trim. Blue's control room escape was accomplished by a member of the production staff casting the puppet through a glass panel into the sky backdrop of the Cloudbase puppet set; though filmed at high speed, when played in slow motion a gloved hand is visible launching the Blue puppet. Original music recorded for "The Inquisition" includes a piano solo, performed by series composer Barry Gray and commercially released on CD, which plays in the background during the initial framing scene.
Following the end of filming on both the episode and the series, the puppet that plays Colgan was prepared for its upcoming regular role as Sam Loover in Joe 90. "The Inquisition" is the only episode of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons in which Colonel White and Cloudbase (discounting the Mysterons' warehouse simulation) do not appear.
Broadcast
"The Inquisition" was excluded from the first UK network transmissions of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons starting in 1993, not premièring on BBC 2 until September 1994.
Reception
Chris Drake and Graeme Bassett argue that the heavy dependence on flashback footage makes "The Inquisition" an "unusual" series finale. Anthony Clark of the website sci-fi-online.com is critical, judging it a "cheap flashback episode". For Morgan Jeffery of Digital Spy, the "glorified clip show", which offers "no resolution to the series", is a disappointment compared to the "thrilling" previous episode, "Attack on Cloudbase".
Chris Bentley, writer of The Complete Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Episode Guide, points out that various supporting puppets make more than one appearance. An example of the implausibility that this creates is the fact that the puppet that portrays Schroeder in the "Crater 101" segment is also seen in a non-speaking capacity in both the Markham Arms scene and the extract from "The Trap". The same observation is made by Jim Sangster and Paul Condon, writers of Collins Telly Guide, who compare the likeness of the Schroeder puppet to the actor Robert Mitchum and consider the episode's use of flashbacks (a plot device also present in "Winged Assassin", "Dangerous Rendezvous" and "Traitor") unexciting.
Bentley argues that the footage from "Crater 101" distorts the episode as originally transmitted by the insertion of a "flashback within a flashback" — inside the Mysteron lunar complex, Captain Scarlet remembers a conversation with Nolan at Lunarville 6, disrupting the continuity of past events.