Seek and Destroy (Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons)

Plot

Captain Black ambushes a transporter truck carrying a delivery from the Fairfield Engine Company to a warehouse. He shoots the driver, Jackson, and then sets a fire that destroys the building and everything inside. While inspecting the damage with a fire chief, Mr. Fairfield tells Colonel White that the shipment contained newly fitted-out but unpainted Spectrum Angel fighters meant for Cloudbase. Three aircraft identical to those lost in the blaze then fly over the ruins.

The Mysterons have issued a threat to kill one of the Angel pilots. Since Destiny Angel is the only squadron member away from Cloudbase, on holiday in Paris, Colonel White considers her the prime target. He sends Captains Scarlet and Blue to Paris to retrieve her. They locate Destiny at a café and head for the airport in a Spectrum Patrol Car, but the unpiloted Mysteron reconstructions of the destroyed fighters ambush them on a country road.

Cloudbase dispatches the real Angels, led by Melody, to the area. While the Mysteron fighters attack the SPC, forcing the three agents into a ditch, the Angels engage in a dogfight. Harmony destroys one fighter but ejects safely after her aircraft is damaged. Rhapsody eliminates another.

The last fighter deliberately dives into the ground with Melody in pursuit; she pulls up just in time. The SPC is left as a smoking wreck, prompting Blue to remark that it will be a long walk back to Cloudbase.

Production

The Century 21 art department was already stretched by work on the Thunderbirds sequel film Thunderbird 6, so this episode cut costs on sets and models. Destiny Angel's Paris hotel room was borrowed from "Winged Assassin," and the hotel exterior was a reworked version of the SHEF Headquarters Building from "Point 783." The café exterior came from a set first seen in the Thunderbirds episode "The Perils of Penelope," and the Paris model shots reused miniature buildings from that same episode.

Special effects assistant Mike Trim designed Jackson's truck. The script compared the truck lifting a crate with a new Angel fighter to Thunderbird 2 picking up a pod. Filming started on 8 April 1967, two weeks behind schedule. Effects director Derek Meddings said the team flew the miniature rebuilt Angel fighters without "human movement" to highlight their Mysteron nature.

A deleted scene would have shown Destiny discovering a perfume bottle from Paris that survived the SPC's destruction. The incidental track "An Angel in Paris" appears on the 2015 Fanderson CD release of the series soundtrack.

Reception

Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping consider "Seek and Destroy" a very well remembered episode. Chris Drake and Graeme Bassett praise the aerial sequences, calling it an excellent showcase for the Angel aircraft. Shane M. Dallmann describes the dogfight as impressive. Chris Bentley criticises several aspects of the set design, noting that some buildings and street furniture in the Paris driving scenes are flats rather than three-dimensional models.

Fred McNamara is critical, writing that the episode takes misstep after misstep in its internal logic and is a massive killjoy. He argues it devotes too much time to underwhelming vehicle action, describing the battle as a plotless showcase whose use of stock footage and stiff, two-dimensional photography reduces dramatic impact. McNamara also notes that the mystery of which Angel will be targeted is solved immediately and that the episode reveals little of Destiny's background despite being set in her country of origin.

He argues the focus on Destiny sidelines the rest of the squadron, representing a missed opportunity for character growth. The British Board of Film Classification rates the episode U for infrequent, very mild violence.