Captain Scarlet is Back (for Me)

Cablevision is rubbish, unless you count those weird high-definition channels they stick on in the 700 range.

To fill all that programming, they turn to England much of the time. One of my favorite of those channel is called Animania HD. Among the imports there is something you should see.

If you've heard of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (I had heard about it from my friend Edward, but had never seen it), you think of it as England's version of the great 1960s marionette show, The Thunderbirds. In fact, Captain Scarlet and the T-birds had virtually the same creative team and borrowed liberally from each other ... or more accurately, the American version borrowed from the British one, if I have my facts straight.

If you've never heard of the Thunderbirds, that was the show that Trey Parker and Matt Stone were having a go at with their Team America: World Police. If you've never heard of any of the above, I just don't know what to say.

Very briefly, the plot has to do with an international security force of the future. They are battling a force called the Mysterons, who have the ability to inhabit human bodies just after killing them, like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The Mysterons tried the same thing on Captain Scarlet, but were interrupted. Now he's some kind of hybrid: human ethics, but he can't die.

Here comes the cool part. In 2005 Gerry Anderson, the creator of both marionette shows (billed as "Supermarionation") launched a computer-graphics-driven show in "Hypermarionation." The technique combines CGI and motion capture -- and it's brilliant! Very good plots and very beautiful to look at in HD.

For some reason, we weren't getting Animania for a short time in the Phonybrit household. Now it seems to be back. Can't wait to set the DVR.

Oh! And football starts tomorrow in the UK. Arsenal will battle West Brom. Man U, last year's champs, start their season on Sunday.