"Touch Of The Reaper" is the eleventh episode of Series 2 of Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet.
Plot[]
At the Centre for Organism Research in Nevada, the Mysterons deliberately contaminate Doctor Michael King and his assistant, Dayna Parrish, with a mutated version of Razers Disease. The two scientists die in seconds – only to be reborn as Mysteron replicants, each with the power to kill with a single touch. Some time later, the personnel of Spectrum watch these ominous events unfold via a security recording. Colonel White immediately assigns Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue to locate the missing scientists; however, Scarlets focus is divided: having seen the Mysteron replication process for the first time, he now finds himself questioning his own humanity. Paying a visit to Doctor Kings wife, Blue and Scarlet clash with Daynas boyfriend, the hard-nosed, high profile reporter Dan Lloyd. Following a lead from Mrs King, the two Spectrum agents track the Mysterons to a lakeside cabin. Dayna takes off on a motorbike, with Scarlet in hot pursuit in a Cheetah RRV; a high-speed chase ensues, but Dayna is able to evade her pursuer, and she disappears amongst the streets of a nearby city. Back at the cabin, Blue manages to avoid Kings deadly touch, and succeeds in trapping the Mysteron in the cabins cellar. King is taken back to Skybase, where Scarlet and White question him on Daynas whereabouts; but the Mysterons use King as a conduit, and, after declaring their war of nerves on Earth in retaliation for humanitys attack on their base, they cause King to disintegrate. Dayna visits Lloyd and kills him with a kiss, allowing the Mysterons to recreate the reporter as another virus-carrying agent. Back at Skybase, Captain Scarlet realises the real Mysteron plan: by using Dayna to get to her boyfriend, they have a perfect means of assassinating one of the reporters most famous friends: none other than the President of the United States of America…
Cast[]
- Wayne Forester (Captain Scarlet / Air Force One Captain)
- Robbie Stevens (Captain Blue / Captain Grey / The President)
- Mike Hayley (Colonel White / Voice of the Mysterons / Dan Lioyd)
- Jules de Jongh (Lieutenant Green / Dana Parish / Military Stewardess)
- Nigel Plaskitt (Doctor Gold / Doctor Micheal King / Head of Security)
- Emma Tate (Claudette King / Air Force One PA Voice)
- Jeremy Hitchen (Scientist)
Trivia[]
- This episode draws inspiration from the original 1968 Captain Scarlet episode Place of the Angels. There is even an easter egg reference to this within in the episode itself. Just before Spectrum work out that the Mysterons are targeting the U.S. President, Captain Blue comments that "If the Mysterons wanted to set a plague loss, they could have stolen bacteria from the research lab and thrown it into a water supply!" This is exactly what the Mysterons tried (and failed) to do in Place of Angels.