captain scarlet.

Netflix makes suggestions to me about which movies I might like to rent next. I think the algorithm mostly compares the things that I like to the things other people like. So if I liked The Full Monty and user Bob liked The Full Monty and also All Creatures Great and Small, then maybe I will like All Creatures Great and Small. It seems to be an imperfect system, as I'm not particularly sure how strip-teasing steelworkers are related to country veterinarians. In any case, it's how I discovered Captain Scarlet.

Captain Scarlet is an old TV show from the late 60s. It's a serial adventure show, like Flash Gordon (not that I've ever seen Flash Gordon, but the description on the Captain Scarlet disc sleeve makes this comparison). And so each show is a half hour segment where our hero must defeat the new plot of the villian, which he does in the TA-DA! nick of time. The thing that differentiates Captain Scarlet from Flash Gordon is this:

It's all puppets.

I am convinced that this reason is what prompted Netflix to suggest it to me. Perhaps there is an overwhelming correlation between liking Captain Scarlet and liking Muppets or Senor Wences or Mystery Science Theatre 3000 or even Team America. That's totally reasonable, because it's true: I really like puppets and ventriloquism. I would give up programming forever to be a professional puppeteer, if I thought that was a viable career option. There. I said it.

In any case, Netflix said "Hey, Sandra! Puppets!" and I looked at it and said, "Hey! Puppets!" I queued up one disc of the four-disc series (the entire span of the show, apparently). Josh and I sat down to watch one half-hour episode. Four hours later, we were hooked, but out of Captain Scarlet.

The premise is pretty goofy. There is a world organization known as Spectrum (not to be confused with SPECTRE) who is forever battling the Mysterons, a group of Martians bent on revenge. The Mysterons can generate anything out of thin air, provided they can destroy it first. On the party trick scale, that's way better than tying a cherry stem in a knot with your tongue. Captain Scarlet is the hero, one of many Captains with Color names (including Captain Magenta, who is terrifically flamboyant). He has the ability to be resurrected. So he dies about once a show, but he comes back to life. Basically, Captain Scarlet's job is to take one for the team, to die so that the good guys can remove his death mask and say, "Ha ha! You didn't kill the generic world leader you were after. You just killed Captain Scarlet...again!" And the Mysterons go, "D'oh!"

And so you have to enjoy convoluted plots and silly premises to enjoy this show. I'm totally down with that. In any case, it's not much more ridiculous than any adventure show or movie. The plots are formulaic. The Mysterons hijack something to achieve some destructive goal, Captain Blue figures it out, Captain Scarlet dies. There are usually two explosions per show, but the effects are well-done.

The puppetry is fantastic. The characters all look like they came from some sort of Barbie expansion pack. However, there is mouth, eye, and facial muscle control in addition to the regular limb and body movement. The mouth control isn't great, though. The intention was to be able to move the mouse without having an obviously hinged and separate mouth piece a la Charlie McCarthy. However, that means they're unable to move the mouths very much, and so everyone looks like they mumble a lot. The slight mouth movement reminds me of watching a bad ventriloquist act (ironic, no?). You can see the strings from time to time in close-up shots of the head. However, it's relatively rare, and usually, you're too interested in what's actually happening in the show to even notice. That is good puppetry.

I was even more impressed with the sets than the puppets. Everything is a scale model, so you know the street or floating air station or highway that you see is actually quite small. But it's all very intricately designed and perfectly put together. Someone spent a lot of time thinking about these things and then putting them together, and it shows. Captain Scarlet is some poor geek's labor of love.

The technique used by the show's creators is called "supermarionation." It involves the puppets being suspended on thin wires which serve as traditional marionette control but also carry electrical signals that control the facial movements. There was even a device within the doll that took in a taped recording of the actor's voice and then synchronized the mouth movements accordingly. It's a long way from a guy sticking his hand in a sock.

Supermarionation aside, creating a good puppet show has little to do with cutting-edge puppet technology. A good puppet show makes you forget that it's a puppet show. You know that there is a hand and a voice controlling Kermit the Frog, but you don't care, because he is Kermit the Frog. Captain Scarlet is an incredible puppet show. You constantly forget that you're actually watching dolls being pulled around a tiny set. You just want to know what happens next. And then you look at our Mattel-like hero and remember all over again.

Hey! Puppets!

*Research Note: Apparently, the people responsible for Captain Scarlet made several similar shows back in the 60s. My Netflix queue is getting quite long.