Cloudbase

While developing the series in 1966, Gerry Anderson remembered that during the Battle of Britain the RAF had found it difficult to counter the Luftwaffe due to the delays caused by having to launch fighters from the ground.[6] In his biography, he recalled that "it took [the Spitfire squadron] about 20 minutes to climb high enough to intercept the bombers that were already at 16,000 feet."[7] It was for this reason that Anderson decided to make Spectrum's headquarters a hovering airborne aircraft carrier:[6] "This could launch aircraft that would then climb to 100,000 feet and intercept extraterrestrial invaders within minutes."[7] In a separate interview, he noted that Captain Scarlet was made during the Cold War, "when world leaders held conferences on aircraft carriers, and bomber pilots were constantly in the air waiting for attack orders. So I was thinking along the lines of a wartime setting, and had the idea for Cloudbase, a giant flying aircraft carrier, and the Angels, fighter pilots ready for take-off at any time.[8]

The Andersons' original script for the first episode stated that the base is kept airborne by "powerful jet engines that are pointing downwards and are obviously powered by atomic energy".[9]

The Cloudbase filming model was designed by special effects director Derek Meddings and measured over six feet (1.8 m) in length. According to Meddings, it was the easiest Captain Scarlet vehicle to build. The base's wide-angle establishing shot, repeatedly re-used as stock footage, was filmed against a sky backdrop consisting of a background painting, cotton wool clouds and dry ice effects.[10] Too heavy to be hung on wires, the model was held in place on the end of a horizontal metal pole.[11] Larger-scale sections of the flight deck were built for scenes showing aircraft taking off and landing.

The puppet-size control room set incorporated green Perspex arches and a 15-foot-long (4.6 m) electrically-driven moving walkway from which the character Lieutenant Green operates the base's main computer.[12]

Resembling an aircraft carrier, complete with flight deck and powered by jet engines, Cloudbase hovers at a fixed altitude of 40,000 feet (7.6 mi; 12 km). Though usually geostationary, it is equipped with horizontal jet thrusters that enable it to be moved to any point above the Earth's surface. It was constructed in Earth orbit and has a crew of approximately 600.[13] The whole structure is pressurised; pilots entering or exiting aircraft on the flight deck do so via airtight shafts and docking ports.

Cloudbase's main defence is its squadron of three Angel Interceptor fighter aircraft, flown by five female pilots.[14] One fighter is crewed around the clock, with the others on continuous standby. Auxiliary aircraft include Spectrum Passenger Jets and Magnacopters, which are launched from a separate part of the flight deck.[15]

Areas aboard Cloudbase include:

• The Control Room, containing Colonel White's desk and Lieutenant Green's computer, which is used to operate the base's public address and other systems
• The Amber Room, the standby post for the Angel pilots
• The Spectrum Information Centre, containing "seventh-generation" supercomputers[16]
• The Observation Room, containing atmospheric and space-monitoring equipment[16]
• The Room of Sleep, where hypnosis and gimbal-mounted beds minimise the time required for personnel to rest[17]
• The Sick Bay, staffed by chief medical officer Dr Fawn
• The Conference Room, Generator Room, Radar Room and Lounge

In the computer-animated remake New Captain Scarlet (2005), Cloudbase is re-imagined as Skybase. The re-designed headquarters, now stationed at 60,000 feet (11 mi; 18 km), has robotic deckhands on its flight deck to assist in the take-off and landing of aircraft. The base is protected by a fleet of Falcon Interceptors (the updated Angel aircraft) and, in addition to the facilities featured previously, is equipped with squash courts.

In a 2004 interview, Anderson said that the changes from the original were for commercial reasons, "so that merchandising opportunities aren't confused and all the revenue goes to another company."[18]

The CGI model was created using LightWave 3D software under the supervision of Ron Thornton, co-founder of animation studio Foundation Imaging (whose commissions included the Star Trek series and films).[19] The model – which at three million polygons (described by Thornton as "way over the top"), was originally three times the size of the Enterprise NX-01 from Star Trek: Enterprise – was too large to be rendered in a single step.[19]

Commentator Ian Fryer praises the Cloudbase interior sets designed by Keith Wilson, describing them as "both stylish and highly detailed with ground-breaking use of see-through coloured Perspex".[20]

Cloudbase has also been viewed as part of a supposed religious allegory in the series.[8][21] Commentators have suggested that the base can be interpreted as Heaven, with Colonel White serving as a God analogue and the resurrected Captain Scarlet representing the Son of God; the Devil is symbolised by either Captain Black or the Mysterons.[8][21][22][23][24] Both Robin Turner of Wales Online and Chris Jenkins of Total DVD magazine compare White to God seated in his "heavenly Cloudbase" (defended by a fighter squadron that happens to be codenamed "the Angels").[8][24] Anderson denied that any of this symbolism was intentional.[8]

In 1993, toy company Vivid Imaginations released a Cloudbase playset.[25] The Toy Retailers Association later ranked it among the top 50 toys for 2001.[26][27] A secret project in the expansion pack for the 1999 video game Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is titled Cloudbase Academy.

The Valiant, an airborne aircraft carrier seen in the Doctor Who universe, has been compared to Cloudbase.[28][29] Also similar are the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier from the Marvel Universe and the mobile airstrip from the 2004 science-fiction film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.[30]

Works cited

• Bentley, Chris (2017). Hearn, Marcus (ed.). Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons: The Vault. Cambridge, UK: Signum Books. ISBN 978-0-995519-12-1.
• Drake, Chris; Bassett, Graeme (1993). Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. London, UK: Boxtree. pp. 31, 34–9. ISBN 978-1-85283-403-6.
• Meddings, Derek (1993). 21st Century Visions. Surrey, UK: Paper Tiger Books. pp. 88–90. ISBN 978-1-85028-243-3.

• Spectrum Headquarters: Cloudbase