Starring:
Colonel White, Captain Scarlet, Captain Blue, Captain Black, Lieutenant Green, Doctor Gold, Destiny Angel & Harmony Angel.
A Vampire pilot is killed by a Mysteronised Dobermann and steals a Vampire jet. Meanwhile, Colonel White is taking a little time away from his duties and takes his daughter, Victoria, out for dinner. Unfortunately, Green realises the danger the Vampire poses and interrupts the meal. White leaves Victoria at the restaurant and she assures him that it isn't far from where she lives - she won't have a problem getting home.
Scarlet realises that the Vampire is heading for a nuclear power plant, and White orders the Angels to destroy it at once. Following a quick aerial battle, the Vampire is destroyed and the danger seems to be over.
On her way home from the restaurant, Victoria is surrounded and bundled into a limo that appears to be occupied by Captain Black. A ransom note is delivered to her mother, who immediately contacts White. White then takes a Raid bike and leaves Skybase without a word.
The kidnappers soon contact White, and inform him that they need him to provide a Spectrum Rhino and stop a train carrying gold bullion so that they can rob it. White initially refuses, but gives in following his wife's pleas.
Scarlet goes to White's quarters to find out why his commander disappeared, and finds a recorded message explaining everything. Scarlet and Blue go to White's aid unofficially, as White cannot be seen to have contacted Spectrum. White hands them a tracer from his telephone, which Blue uses to track down the location of the phone call. Scarlet, however, realises that the Colonel's house must be under audio surveillance from a closer location, and spooked, the listening kidnapper tries to make a run for it. He crashes and runs from the wrecked van before Scarlet and Blue can reach it. They track him to a nearby barn, where they interrogate him. He reveals that Captain Black is behind the scheme, and also the location that Victoria is being held.
Black finally shows his face and reveals to Victoria's keeper that there is a change in plans, and he will have to accompany White in the Rhino. The guy panics and refuses to have anything to do with the plan now that Spectrum know the score. Black then kills and Mysteronises him in front of Victoria's horrified eyes.
White sets off in his personal Rhino and picks up the Mysteronised kidnapper. Together, they head for the railway and park the Rhino on a railway bridge.
Scarlet and Blue find Victoria, but before they can untie her, Black appears. Blue shoots, but it is only a hologram - Black didn't expect White to play by the rules, so neither has he. The hologram gleefully informs them that not only is it too late to help White, but that the bunker they are in is booby-trapped. They race for the exit, and only just make it out in time.
White is ordered to fire at the oncoming train, but Scarlet radios in to inform him that Victoria is safe just in time. He manages to overcome his Mysteron guard and drives the Rhino off the edge of the bridge. White manages to jump free, but the Mysteron is trapped in the Rhino and dies in the resulting explosion.
Victoria is returned to Skybase, where Dr. Gold confirms that she is not a replicant. However, Scarlet points out that she knows too much. White has no choice other than to have her memory of the whole event erased. She will wake up believing it all to be a bad dream.
Quotable Scarlet
Victoria: Can't it wait half an hour? What's going to happen, Daddy? The world isn't going to end.
White: I hope not.
Blue: How was dinner?
Scarlet: De-licious. How were the sandwiches?
Blue (sarcastically): Great
Did you spot...?
- Er, Scarlet, making a rather large cameo as the Mysteronised Vampire pilot?
- Just a tiny little bit of detail that adds to the realism - when White and Victoria are saying their sickly goodbyes, Destiny is in the background of the shot. Watch her carefully and you will see her cross her legs, then scratch her arm.
Episode Rating: 
Cast your vote on the Datalink forum
Reviewer's Rating: 4/5
This is what 'Trap for a Rhino' should have been; implicating Spectrum by using the Rhino to do something impossible in any other vehicle. The plot similarities are glaring, especially being one after the other and I prefer this one. Yes, Victoria is the most annoying person in the series, but this is the only episode that shows the fact that these guys have lives outside of Spectrum. They have families, and they are only human after all. I love the fact that White gives in to the kidnappers when he doesn't know whether he has back-up or not. It's something we don't often see in NCS, and I think there should have been more of it (make 'House of Dolls', for God's sake!).
Again, the episode is rather devoid of action in the middle, hardly surprising considering it's character-driven, but I think it's almost perfect. The only reason I can't give it 5 is because of that irritating brat White calls his daughter.
Written by Phil Ford
Directed by Dominic Lavery
Animated by Green team
Transmission date: 7 May 2005
Appears on DVD 4
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