Spectrum Online Virus Mission Logs Season Two

Starring:

Colonel White, Captain Scarlet, Captain Blue, Captain Ochre, Captain Magenta, Lieutenant Green, Doctor Gold, Destiny Angel & Rhapsody Angel.


With appearances from:

Harmony, Melody & Symphony Angels.




Following a inspection by the UN Special Security Council, the Angels are attacked by Vampires whilst they are escorting the inspector home. The three rogue Vampires are destroyed, but Destiny is badly injured during the attack.

Another member of the UN, Miguel Fernandez receives an email. Upon opening it, he immediately leaves his beach-side home and walks out into the sea. On Skybase, White reveals that Fernandez was a member of the Special Security Council, and he is not the first member to apparently commit suicide - Joshua Kimote apparently threw himself from a twenty-fifth floor window a week previously. White decides to send Scarlet and Blue to investigate.

At Señor Fernandez's house, Blue finds the same email that Fernandez received before he committed suicide. Blue is captivated by the program, but doesn't seem to realise when Scarlet asks him if he's found anything. At Scarlet's suggestion, Blue uploads the entire hard drive of the computer to Skybase for Lieutenant Green to check over.

They leave the house, but Scarlet is still uneasy, and comments that the Fernandez appeared to be sleep-walking when he left the property. Blue doesn't respond and his erratic driving soon alerts Scarlet to the fact that his friend has also been affected. He is unable to prevent Blue from driving them off a cliff, but he is able to trigger the emergency escape systems before they crash.

Destiny escapes from Sickbay and goes to see Rhapsody in the hangar. Whilst they are talking, Green enters and heads straight for the airlock. Destiny manages to catch her before she is swept away, and she and Rhapsody drag Green back inside.

Following the suicidal actions of their colleagues, Scarlet and White surmise that they, along with Fernandez and Kimote were acting under hypnosis. Scarlet realises that it is all from the computer, just as Dr. Gold tries to inject himself with a lethal dose of anaesthetic. Destiny points out that Gold hasn't seen the data from Fernandez's computer and Scarlet comes to the conclusion that it is a virus, and has infected the Skybase computer system. White points out that everyone uses the Skybase computer, so they are all susceptible to the virus' suggestion. Scarlet points out that he hasn't used the computer since he returned to Skybase, and neither has Destiny - they alone are safe from the virus's influence. White decides that the only safe course of action is to gas everyone, rendering them unconscious and therefore unable to harm themselves whilst Scarlet and Destiny try to purge the virus from the computer system.

Scarlet takes on the virus, and with Destiny's help he manages to hold on for long enough to isolate the virus and purge it from the system, but he too is affected by its influence. Destiny follows him down to Engineering, where he intends to throw himself into the nuclear reactor. Destiny tries to incapacitate him, but the stun setting of her pistol has little effect on him and she is forced to shoot to kill. Fortunately, Scarlet isn't permanently affected by the blast and soon recovers in Sickbay.


Quotable Scarlet

Green: How are you?
Magenta: That smile's making me feel better already. Hey you know, I'm hitting the gym later - what do you say the two of us work up a sweat?

Green goes peculiar and walks out.

Magenta: Guess that's a no...

Destiny: Some kind of electronic neural stimulation seems to have fixed everyone.
Scarlet: Not me - I still need treatment.
Destiny: No, you're...

Scarlet kisses her.

Destiny: I ought to shoot you more often.
Scarlet: I think you got me right through the heart.



Did you spot...?


  • Harmony is wearing Destiny's helmet again, during the dogfight.
  • This totally stunning image of Scarlet, whilst he is fighting the virus.
  • The total lack of a Mysteron agent? We assume that the virus is Mysteron in origin, but no Mysteron agent is seen, nor do we hear a threat. It could very well be some rogue terrorist movement, for all we know.



Trivia
This episode is the only time during the series that Captain Magenta actually speaks.




Episode Rating: 4.5 stars
Cast your vote on the Datalink forum

Reviewer's Rating: 4/5

Despite its high rating, I have always been a little sceptical of this episode: you just can't hypnotise someone to death. That said, I do like the storyline, and mass hypnosis would be a great way for the Mysterons to get rid of those pesky Spectrum agents without having to do too much legwork themselves.

Once again, the detail in the CGI impresses and the episode is well-paced. Once again, it is the nauseating Scarlet/Destiny dialogue that kills the rating.




Written by Phil Ford

Directed by Mark Woollard

Animated by White team

Transmission date: 10 September 2005

Appears on DVD 1