Operation Time

Plot

The Mysterons cryptically threaten to "kill time", prompting Colonel White to send Spectrum captains to major cities to watch for potential targets. Captain Magenta discovers that General J.F. Tiempo, Commander of Western Region World Defence, is at a clinic in England for neurosurgery. Tiempo's surname means "time" in Spanish. White has him flown to Cloudbase with his surgeon Dr Magnus, who insists the operation proceed using a device called the "cerebral pulsator".

White reluctantly agrees, with Cloudbase's Dr Fawn assisting. Unknown to Spectrum, Magnus is a Mysteron reconstruction who killed the original doctor in a road accident engineered by Captain Black. During the operation, Magnus deliberately overruns the pulsator, inducing a seizure. Fawn removes the mask to reveal Captain Scarlet, who substituted for Tiempo.

Exposed, Magnus flees to the generator room and is killed when Captain Blue knocks him against a bare cable. A pre-operative radiograph shows Magnus's hand blocking X-rays, revealing the Mysterons' imperviousness to X-rays and vulnerability to electricity.

Production

The episode's director, Ken Turner, was the namesake for Dr Turner, a character created by writers Richard Conway and Stephen J. Mattick. Although the script proposed filming the development of Tiempo's radiographs at Wexham Park Hospital, production took place entirely at Century 21's studios on the Slough Trading Estate. Filming ran from 20 February 1967 and wrapped within two weeks. A puppet originally sculpted as the prototype for Captain Scarlet appeared as one of the medical students in the opening scene. The incidental music was recorded on 14 May 1967 during a four-and-a-half-hour session with 12 instrumentalists conducted by Barry Gray; the same session also produced the music for "Renegade Rocket." This episode marked Gary Files' first work on Captain Scarlet, as he had been unavailable earlier due to voicing characters in Thunderbird 6.

Reception

Andrew Pixley and Julie Rogers of Starburst magazine noted the cryptic nature of the Mysterons' threat to "kill time" and considered the electrocution of the reconstructed Magnus one of the series' more violent moments. Fred McNamara, in his book Spectrum is Indestructible, gave a broadly positive review, praising the episode for expanding on Mysteron mythology and its precise delivery. He criticised Magenta's solving of the riddle as frustrating and hilarious, given that other captains were posted to major cities while Magenta made the connection from a newspaper on Cloudbase.

McNamara expressed dissatisfaction that nothing of the other captains' field assignments is shown, likely due to limited running time. He praised the characterisation of Captain Black as "deliciously evil" and Dr Magnus as unusually well developed. He commended Turner's direction, calling the car chase fantastically executed and noting that close-ups give a claustrophobic feel. In a later article, he ranked "Operation Time" among the best episodes, finding it superior to "Spectrum Strikes Back" and comparing it to a "sci-fi medical drama-thriller".