BIRTHDAY 5 EVENING SERIAL: CENTURY 21 MINI-ALBUMS BY JIM LEWIS: PENULTIMATE PART

 

Nothing lasts forever of course and interest did begin to wane in the concept of the Mini-Album toward the end of the THUNDERBIRDS run.

 

Acknowledging this albums such as MA128 ONE MOVE AND YOUR DEAD and MA129 THIRTY MINUTES AFTER NOON were pressed in lesser quantities than earlier releases. This of course led to the current scarcity of these later Mini-Albums compared to the likes of MA105 TV 21 THEMES or MA101 INTO ACTION WITH TROY TEMPEST which appear with great regularity at toy and record fairs as well as on-line dealer sites. (Although the latter rarely has the important dialogue sheet supplied with it allowing the listener to take part in the story!)

 

 

The last 'hurrah' for Century 21 Records was their series of six CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE MYSTERONS releases. Much like THUNDERBIRDS two years earlier record buyers were given the opportunity to find out the background to characters, vehicles and concepts seen in the programme by listening to MA131 INTRODUCING CAPTAIN SCARLET. Framed by newly recorded dialogue,
written by another legendary TV CENTURY 21 name Angus Allan, sound-bites from the opening episode 'The Mysterons' set the stage for listeners eager to learn more about Spectrum and their handsome indestructible agent.

 

The 'CAPTAIN SCARLET' Mini-Albums which followed were all original stories and certainly, in this writers opinion, of a level to have been adapted as actual television episodes or at worst used as the basis for TV CENTURY 21 comic strip adventures. Motor-bike chases, fisticuffs whilst in flight on a Jet-Pack and plane-to-plane aerial transfers by parachute are just some of the outrageously appealing scenarios heard in some of these adventures.

 

 

All are well written and delivered with such aplomb that the listener happily accepts them and like all the stories in the entire Mini-Album series offer a sense that despite the odd continuity flaw are truly canon.

Some would opine the final Mini-Album MA136 CAPTAIN SCARLET-TV THEMES was a disappointing mixture of previously available Barry Gray music and lacklustre cover versions of other TV shows themes which came under the Century 21 licensing umbrella including THE MONKEES and the ITC classic MAN IN A SUITCASE.

 

 

 

Despite the company ending with what may be perceived as a whimper as opposed to a, perhaps Meddings-created, BANG the Century 21 Records back catalogue of thirty-seven Mini-Albums and six 12 Inch albums is quite extraordinary.

 

 

Jim Lewis

 

 

....to be continued in the final part tomorrow evening.