Noose of Ice

Plot

A new Earth space fleet, intended for a counter-offensive against the Mysterons on Mars, is being fortified with tritonium metal to shorten the journey. Tritonium is extracted only at the North Pole by the Hotspot Tower mining facility. The Mysterons threaten to sabotage the fleet, prompting Colonel White to send Captains Scarlet and Blue to New York City for a briefing with General Rebus, head of the Space Administration. They then travel to the Arctic to assess security at Hotspot Tower.

Commander Rhodes explains that giant heating elements, powered from Eskimo Booster Station, keep the surrounding lake from freezing. A maintenance technician, Neilson, is killed in a blizzard and replaced by a Mysteron double. On Captain Black's orders, the double cuts power to the heating elements, causing the lake to freeze rapidly and form a "noose of ice" that threatens to crush the mine. Scarlet dons an underwater suit, exits through an airlock, and reaches the booster station.

There, Neilson holds him at gunpoint, but Scarlet throws a loose electric cable at the metal stairs, electrocuting the Mysteron agent. He restores power, melting the ice and saving the tower, though the mine suffers severe damage and will be out of operation for at least six months.

Production

The closing credits incorrectly credit the episode to Tony Barwick, though it was written by Peter Curran and David Williams. "Noose of Ice" follows directly from Barwick's episode "Flight 104", but the ITC Entertainment running order places it before that episode, disrupting continuity. The mine tower was designed by special effects assistant Mike Trim, with parts of the miniature model built at a larger scale than usual for more realistic effects.

The mine control room set reused elements from the film Thunderbirds Are Go (1966), while the booster station interior recycled parts of the Skyship One gravity compensator room from Thunderbird 6 (1968). The Space Administration building model was a re-use of the SHEF Headquarters exterior from "Point 783". Incidental music originally composed for Stingray and Thunderbirds appears in scenes including Neilson's death in the blizzard, the ice forming around Hotspot Tower, and the closing scene.

The puppet playing Neilson first appeared as Captain Brown in "The Mysterons" and had previously been killed and reconstructed by the Mysterons in three other episodes. The puppet playing General Rebus also appeared as the Base Concord Commander in "Renegade Rocket" and as background characters in other episodes.

Reception

Andrew Thomas of Dreamwatch magazine considered "Noose of Ice" one of the series' best episodes, praising its highlight of Scarlet's vulnerability to electric current. Geoff Willmetts found the episode, with its freezing water, clever from a special effects standpoint, while Shane M. Dallmann of Video Watchdog called it superlative in the miniatures department. Andrew Pixley and Julie Rogers of Starburst named Neilson's electrocution among the series' most violent moments.

In his book Spectrum Is Indestructible, Fred McNamara deemed the episode one of the series' "more disposable" instalments, criticizing its interminable exposition and lack of action, and noting that certain plot elements are mentioned but never seen. He called it a "bloodthirsty" story with a graphic electrocution and expressed disappointment with the time-lapse model shots of ice forming. In a later article, however, McNamara ranked the episode among the series' best, describing it as an "underrated gem" with exemplary effects and a moody setting that elevates it into an exciting techno-disaster thriller, with a classically nail-biting climax.