Crater 101
Scarlet races to disarm a Mysteron complex on the Moon.
"Crater 101" is the 21st episode of the Supermarionation series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Tony Barwick wrote it, Ken Turner directed, and it aired on ATV Midlands on 26 January 1968. This episode is the middle chapter of a three-part story starting with "Lunarville 7" and ending with "Dangerous Rendezvous."
Quick Facts
- Series
- Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
- Episode
- 21
- Air date
- 26 January 1968
- Production
- SCA 19
- Writer
- Tony Barwick
- Director
- Ken Turner
- Photographer
- Julien Lugrin
- Editor
- John Beaton
Facts from the source article.
Plot
After the destruction of Lunarville 7, Spectrum and lunar authorities plan to destroy the Mysteron complex in Crater 101 on the far side of the Moon using an atomic device. To prevent reconstruction, the complex's power source must be removed first. Captain Scarlet, Captain Blue and Lieutenant Green volunteer for the mission and travel to Lunarville 6, where Controller Linda Nolan and her colleague Shroeder brief them. They depart for Crater 101 in a Moonmobile and transfer to a Lunar Tractor upon arrival.
Automated sentry vehicles attack but are immobilised when Green destroys the control vehicle with the tractor's rocket launcher. Entering the complex in space suits, the officers find the power source is a pulsating crystal embedded in machinery. Unbeknownst to them, the Mysterons have killed and reconstructed Frazer, a Lunarville 6 colonist who transported the atomic device to the crater by Lunar Tank. Frazer has rigged the device to detonate two hours early.
Nolan and Shroeder, unable to warn the officers due to radio range limits, fire an unarmed CB29 rocket into the crater. Its arrival reminds Scarlet of a good luck charm inscription: in 2058, Nolan oversaw a CB29 probe that reached Neptune "ahead of schedule." Realising the device will detonate prematurely, Scarlet orders Blue and Green to clear the area while he extracts the crystal. He succeeds and escapes in the Lunar Tractor seconds before the nuclear explosion destroys the complex. The trio return to Earth with the crystal.
Production
Tony Barwick's script includes a mention of 10 July, the date on Nolan's charm stating the CB29 probe reached Neptune on 10 July 2058; Barwick inserted references to this date as it was his birthday. The script indicates Lunarville 6 is smaller than Lunarville 7, but both colonies are introduced with the same establishing shot duplicated from the earlier episode. The scene of Frazer departing in the Lunar Tank uses a newly built Lunarville filming model that recycles elements from earlier episodes, including a Frost Line dome painting from "Avalanche" and part of the Mini-Sat 5 probe model from "Shadow of Fear."
The Lunarville 6 control room console reuses the Lunar Controller's console from "Lunarville 7." The Moonmobile model was fitted with a cargo module to store the Lunar Tractor. The script describes the Lunar Tank as running on "ball tyres," but the miniature model uses caterpillar tracks. The Moonmobile cockpit seats are reused from the Thunderbird 2 and 3 seats in the film Thunderbirds Are Go (1966).
The on-screen title is rendered as "CRATER I0I" in Microgramma font, with letter "I"s replacing the "1"s to avoid confusion with "7"s.
Broadcast and reception
Although "Crater 101" directly continues "Lunarville 7," ITC's recommended broadcast order places it several episodes after to conceal that the puppet playing Shroeder also appears as the XK3 pilot in the earlier episode. Anthony Clark of sci-fi-online.com commented that the episode's pace, like that of "Shadow of Fear" and "Dangerous Rendezvous," "could hardly be described as breakneck," but noted it begins "an interesting story arch." Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping praised the episode for its creativity in taking the fight to the Moon, describing it among the "finest pieces in the Anderson canon" and listing "Lunarville 7" and "Crater 101" as influences on the 1969 Doctor Who serial The Seeds of Death.
Chris Bentley considered the combined "Lunarville 7" and "Crater 101" his favourite story of the series, praising set and costume design and the editing for ramping up tension. Vincent Law, writing for Andersonic, noted the episode's "discordant" incidental music implying something ominous about Frazer and praised the scene of Scarlet grabbing the crystal for demonstrating puppet mobility. Law also commended Lieutenant Green's role in the action.
Andrew Thomas of Dreamwatch regarded the sentry vehicles as an example of occasionally "shoddy" miniature model work, comparing them to something from Michael Bentine's Potty Time.
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