Captain Scarlet

Captain Scarlet – SPV bases & collection points

The Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle was one of the most important (and popular) weapons in Spectrum’s ongoing battle with the Mysterons, but only a select few of the organisation’s agents ever took the controls of these incredible machines! The SPVs were concealed in secret locations around the world, including most major airports and Delta filling stations, under the watchful eye of an undercover Spectrum agent. If ever the Mysterons struck close by, these agents could expect to get a visit from a Spectrum Captain looking to take their SPV in order to tackle the threat directly!

Across the course of the Captain Scarlet television series we saw many SPVs requisitioned from hidden bases all over the world, although not all of them would have been in any state to be returned after their missions were completed! In this catalogue of top secret SPV locations we’ll also be mentioning the undercover Spectrum agents who are responsible for protecting and handing over these SPVs, although some have clearly been given cushier cover jobs than others!

SPV A69 – The Mysterons

The first Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle seen on television is collected by Captain Blue from an attendant at a Delta petrol station near London, where it is concealed within a Swift Removals van on the forecourt. This episode firmly establishes that an agent must produce their Spectrum pass before the undercover agent will allow them to take the vehicle.

SPV A69 is still on the observation deck of the London Car-Vu when it finally collapses, and falls eight hundred feet to the ground below. We do however see this vehicle again during a flashback sequence to the incident at the London Car-Vu in the episode Traitor.

SPV 105 – Winged Assassin

SPV 105 is concealed in a trailer under the watchful eye of Spectrum agent 042, who appears to be some kind of businessman. Captain Scarlet later uses this SPV to ram the wheels of the Mysteronised DT.19 airliner, and although the vehicle is largely intact after it runs off the runaway and crashes into an airport building it would no doubt have needed a bit of a repair job.

Although probably not carried out by Spectrum agent 042. That would have involved him getting up.

SPV 0782 – Manhunt

In one of his more memorably nasty moments, Captain Black helps himself to SPV 0782 after murdering the attendant at the Delta petrol station in Stone Point Village, England – although we do not learn where exactly at the station this SPV is hidden. The Mysteron replicant of the undercover Spectrum agent makes the mistake of not asking for Scarlet and Blue’s identification when they later arrive looking to collect 0782, arousing Scarlet’s suspicions – and allowing him the first shot when the Mysteron pulls a gun on them.

SPV 0782 later crashes after Symphony Angel uses it to escape from the Culver Atomic Centre.

SPV 428 – Point 783

Captain Scarlet requisitions this SPV from a bazaar near Point 783, and uses it to get the Supreme Commander Earth Forces to safety after the Unitron tank runs wild. The two men later eject from the SPV after the Mysteronised Colonel Storm reveals his true nature, and the SPV later plunges over a cliff along with the Unitron. The SPV does however seem to survive the fall pretty much intact, unlike the Unitron which is blown to pieces. We also have to feel for the poor Spectrum agent running the bazaar, who presumably had a lot of clearing up to do after Scarlet drove the SPV straight through his storefront.

“But this pass allows me to do whatever I want!” “This appears to be Captain Blue’s pass, sir…” “Silence, underling!”

SPV 503 – Avalanche

Scarlet and Green collect SPV 503 from a French-Canadian trapper near Red Deer Base, who has hidden it inside a dummy log cabin.

Pictured: not what this guy thought a career in Spectrum would entail.

Scarlet later crashes this SPV after a failed pursuit of a Mysteronised maintenance truck, and has to proceed on foot to stop the agent at the wheel from driving his machine into the Frost Line Command Base.

SPV A75 – The Trap

Captain Blue requisitions SPV A75 from an attendant at the enquiries desk at the Auld Lang Syne Scotch distillery, before driving it to assist Scarlet and Symphony at Glen Garry Castle.

“One SPV and as much booze as you can fit in it, please!”

Like SPV A69 we later see A75 again during a flashback, in the episode The Inquisition.

SPV 104 – Special Assignment

A Delta petrol attendant finds his chin on the receiving end of Captain Scarlet’s fist when the ‘disgraced’ Captain is unable to produce his Spectrum pass to properly requisition SPV 104 – which is revealed to be hidden on a secret platform beneath another vehicle. With Mysteron agents Kramer and Steele aboard, SPV 104 is later destroyed by Symphony Angel during an aerial attack from the Angels – although luckily Captain Scarlet is able to eject before that happens.

He had a bullet in him by then, but ‘luckily’ is a relative term where Scarlet is concerned.

SPV ??? – Model Spy

Captain Blue collects an SPV from a commissionaire outside a casino near Monte Carlo, although we do not learn the number of this particular vehicle.

Here’s the chap who looks after it though.

SPV 1034 – Fire at Rig 15

Captain Scarlet requisitions SPV 1034 from an oil storage tank near Rig 15, in order to pursue Jason Smith to Spectrum’s Bensheba refinery. Although he is successful in defeating the Mysteron agent, Scarlet is unable to avoid an explosive collision with a refinery building that leads to him burning to death inside the SPV.

“This is fine.”

SPV 021 – Place of Angels

Captain Scarlet collects this SPV from New York Airport, and from a Spectrum agent posing as a mechanic who has it concealed in a factory storage compartment.

This Spectrum agent’s entire career begins and ends with pushing this button.

SPV 442 – Expo 2068

Captains Scarlet and Blue collect SPV 442 from an area in “grid reference DP8” to pursue the Mysteronised transporter 43 through Canada, before proceeding to the Expo 2068 construction site. Although we do not see them collecting the vehicle, Shane Rimmer’s script for Expo 2068 described Scarlet and Blue’s arrival at a village store where they were met by a shopkeeper dressed in a old-fashioned nightgown and sporting a baseball cap. After observing that the two agents “don’t look as though they’ve come for the fishing”, the shopkeeper led them to an outbuilding where their SPV was concealed.

Additionally, there are several other SPVs seen over the course of the series that we do not learn either the numbers or locations of. Scarlet and Blue are seen using SPVs collected off-screen in Big Ben Strikes Again, Noose of Ice, Inferno, Codename Europa and The Inquisition. Several SPVs are seen as part of the task force assembled to trap Captain Black in Treble Cross, while in Shadow of Fear an SPV parked outside the K-14 observatory is still there when the facility is destroyed by the Mysterons, although no mention is made of the vehicle’s fate.

Want to relieve these adventures? Pick up the original Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons on DVD or Blu-ray today!

Written by
Chris Dale

Writer, editor & voice actor on Big Finish's Doctor Who, Terrahawks, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet audio ranges. Host of the Randomiser on the Gerry Anderson Podcast.

Leave a comment

Prepare for life on Moonbase Alpha

UFO: The Complete Comic Collection