That crystal explosion is a bit wussy for something that WOULD HAVE ANNIHILATED CLOUDBASE.

Colonel White describes the Zero X mission taht finds the Mysteron compex as the first survey mission on Mars. But if this is the same universe as Thunderbirds, then surely he's wrong. That title would go to the expedition of Thunderbirds Are Go

He must be on about the Mysteron area of Mars. The origional crew of Zero X (Thunderbirds) only saw the Rock Snakes and were not there very long, so they did have time to go all the way round.

His exact words are

'Man's first survey expedition on the surface of your planet'

I don't think there would have been a need to traverse the entire planet.

Scarlet describes how an Captain-to-Cloudbase communication works. He says his cap microphone automatically swings into position. But....HOW? Is it alive or something?

Ooh, how do your cap microphones work? What does S.I.G mean? Can I see an Angel launch? Can I have some ice cream? Can we play a game? Can I?

>>so they did have time to go all the way round<<
I mean didn't.

Picking up Kurnitz in the Yellow Fox Tanker is a good move. As Kurntz says, they can drive in 'complete secrecy'.
Wouldn't the secrecy be blown somewhat by the Spectrum Helicopter giving escort?

I thought Scarlet looked really rough at the beginning of the episode – he looked very pale and unshaven, clearly had been working way too hard and could have done with a good night’s sleep. And I never thought I’d be saying that about a puppet!

This was the first time I’d ever heard of the opposite to “S.I.G.” Have we ever heard anyone use the code “S.I.R.”?

What exactly was the point of the Mysterons pretending to agree to talk and demanding that someone fly out to Greenland? Whether or not anyone did wouldn’t have made any difference to the crystal blowing up at Cloudbase.

How convenient that the remote controlled car was also driveable.

Why did Colonel White congratulate both Scarlet and Ochre on their initiative? Ochre didn’t show any initiative at all – he just followed White’s instructions. In fact he wasn’t given any chance to show initiative – White even told him, “When you break the window the air will be sucked out, so put on a breather.” Well, duh!

Yes they do use S.I.R in 'Renegade Rocket'

DO NOT DISS OCHRE! He da man!

>>White even told him, “When you break the window the air will be sucked out, so put on a breather.” Well, duh!


But...Ochre was already moving to deal with it before White told him to get a respirator. I guess White was just feeling pretty useless, so had to keep talking to feel that he was in charge.

Explosive decompression - shouldn't everyting not fixed down be sucked out? Ochre wasn't holding on to anything, so how come he wasn't sucked out?

And what the heck would have happened after the crystal explosion? Ochre wouldn't be able to just walk out of the rec room into the corridor - more decompression. The only 3 solutions I can think of are:

a) to put a new porthole in whilst Ochre waits, and then repressurise the room. But I doubt the respirator would last that long.

b) Ochre climbs out of the window and either is collected by helicopter (or something) or walks along some platform to get to an airlock.

c) The computer can detect and replace the porthole. How is beyond me.

And wouldn't a respirator be useless against such a sudden pressure drop? Shouldn't his ears be bleeding, or his head exploding, or something?

I can see the cap microphone swinging down when the person has received an incoming call that he will have to respond to. They could program that in as an automatic response. But how does the microphone know that a person wants to initiate a call? Does the person make some sort of unseen motion to activate it, or it it telepathic?

I guess that that's one of the secret aspects of the system that Col. White's not allowed to talk about!

What was the point of sending Captain Scarlet on a wild goose chase? Why not quietly wait until midnight and blow up Cloudbase? Did they want Scarlet to have to live with the knowledge that he was the sole survivor of Cloudbase?

I liked how Captain Scarlet kept trying to break in on the taped Mysteron monologue, until he finally got fed up with it.

When Captain Scarlet got knocked down by the blast, one whole side of his face was black, but when he arrived at the radio station (or whatever it was) he only had a few dirty patches on his face. Even if he had rubbed some off in the car, his face should have looked streaky.

I can imagine Captain Scarlet crouching there in the radio station, patiently tapping out: "Here's hoping that you guys survived. Can someone come and pick me up?"