Captain Scarlet/Joe 90/The Protectors - 29th September 2022

Captain Scarlet - 55th Anniversary

Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons celebrates yet another silver jubilee by fans all over the world. It is an incredible testament to a series 55 years on to be so well loved and as an iconic gem in television history with an ever growing fandom. CaptainThunderWho takes a look at an unmade video game destined for a release in 2003 which sadly never made it out, with thanks to the Gerry Anderson website and Spectrum Headquarters HQ Video Game pages.

Only one game to make the most of this scenario was ever released. In 2006 the Playstation 2 was graced with a driving game from Blast! Entertainment, but it was one which gained mostly negative reviews. Despite putting players behind the wheel of an SPV, it has nonetheless rightly languished in obscurity ever since. But what makes this game even more disappointing is that it wasn't the first to have been developed; three years previously fans were eagerly awaiting Captain Scarlet Retaliation, a real time tactical strategy game that would have opened up the vast world of Spectrum which the Mysterons had set out to destroy.

- Captain Scarlet: Retaliation CD in metal Spectrum CD Case

- Numbered limited edition box, signed by the development team

- Captain Scarlet Commemorative Stamp Cover, signed by Gerry Anderson

- Design development drawings signed by the artist

- Playable demo prior to main launch

- PLUS, as an added bonus, anyone who orders the Producer's Edition will have their name appear in the game credits!

But just like two months previously the November release date came and went with nothing hitting the shelves. Rather than being further postponed however, this time the game was unfortunately cancelled. After months of anticipation therefore, the only insights fans had into the game that never was were a number of press releases and statements which gave very brief descriptions of the features the game was intended to have, along with a small number of screenshots of what it would have looked like.

According to this information, the game would have consisted of 14 levels of varying locations, including a polar oil refinery - echoing 'Noose of Ice' perhaps? - to Cloudbase itself, with certain missions requiring players to protect an underwater base, and rescue crashed Angels. In order to do so, the game would have made up to six Spectrum agents playable at any one time, each featuring their own unique abilities as well as being able to utilise equipment and weapons ranging from sniper rifles to Mysteron detectors. In terms of vehicles, screenshots also exist to clearly show the Maximum Security Vehicle, Spectrum Helicopter, and even the Angel Interceptors, all of which have been recreated in great detail, and the inclusion of the yellow cargo transporters from 'Seek And Destroy' also attest to the level at which the game took its inspiration from the original series. Naturally the Patrol Cars, and of course the Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle would not only have been included, but also controllable.

Although no actual game-play footage was ever released, there was a video which remade the classic series' opening titles. It may not have been accompanied by Captain Blue's voice-over (although the screeching cat is still present), but the CGI rendering of Spectrum's finest agent cornered in an alley was just enough to show that Captain Scarlet could live up to the description of indestructible even after being off the air for 35 years. In 2004, with Batfish out of business and Digital Workshop returning to the development of software other than gaming, the publishing company announced Retaliation as a project that was up for sale, even going so far as to confirm that "The game itself is finished. Some game-play may require a little tweaking, but it's a good game that should be used", albeit adding that they needed "someone to either fund completion of the conversion to a generic theme - or to buy it from us outright." A choice which would indicate that the game's ultimate cancellation came down to problems concerning the licensing deal with Carlton, who owned the rights to the original Captain Scarlet series.