During the mission on Mars, Captain Black had two companions. What happened to them after the fateful meeting with the Mysterons?

In "Manhunt", what were Captain Black's intentions when he sneaked into the Culver Atomic Centre?

What did Spectrum do with the captured Gabrielle at the end of "Model Spy"?

Were the events of "Attack on Cloudbase" really a dream, or did it hide something more sinister?

How does the Skybase personnel wake up after Virus, and how did they react to what happened while they slept?

If you are a Captain Scarlet fan, those might be some of the few questions you have been wondering about. And there are possibly many more, just like them.

It's not a rare occurence. It's the same with every TV show and movie. There's a missing scene somewhere, gaps to fill, questions left hanging in the air which remained unanswered for years. What happened after the scene faded to black? What happened between the end of one episode to the beginning of the other? And that character that suddenly appeared in the middle of the story, what was he up to before he arrived, and why is he here now?

Fans can only speculate about these nagging questions. They fill in the gaps, find possible answers, with their love and knowledge of the fandom to back them, and their imagination as their only limit. They exchange about it with other fans, in forum, in blogs, on Facebook, in conventions, They discuss it with friends, argue about it, they make illustrations of it...

And they write about it.

Fan fiction is more than probably the most gratifying way a fan could find to 'fill in the gaps'.  It offers the possibility to write the missing scene, extrapolate on a possible explanation, in a seemingly logical way. It's one of the best way for a fan to honour the fandom.

Fan fiction inspired by a missing scene is also some of the most interesting and fun stories to write, as well and to read.

THE CHALLENGE:

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons", the Spectrum Headquarters website launches its newest challenge by inviting fans to write a 'missing scene' story or vignette, based on any of the episodes from the classic series as well as from the 'New Captain Scarlet' episodes.

If you are interested to participate,  please read the rules and conditions below for more details, and then send your submission or contact the webmaster at spectrum_hq@hotmail.com.

Can you answer the Challenge?

RULES AND CONDITIONS:

As always, the same general rules as with all previous and still running fan fiction challenges apply.  They are as follows:

• The story should keep true and faithful to the Captain Scarlet mythos - either Classic Captain Scarlet or New Captain Scarlet. 

• The story must be a 'missing scene' story.  It must fill in a gap between scenes in one of the many episodes of the series, between the end of an episode and the beginning of another, give an explanation to a situation set within the series.  It could be one scene, a combination of many scenes, a complete story.

• The story could be as short as one page, or as long as you wish.   

• You can write your story alone, or team up with another writer.

• Slash stories will not be accepted, but tasteful handling of adult situations are accepted.  If you are not sure, contact the webmaster. Although, as this challenge aims at giving a follow up to an actual episodes, and the series does not as such contain adult situations, it might be a bit difficult to include one in your story. Good luck!

• Accepted will be one-shot stories, or multiparts stories.

• There is no limit of time to submit a story, as it is a year-long event. Nor is there a limit to the number of stories you can submit, if  you feel so inspired!

• Check our Submission Guidelines before submitting your story. Take note that the use of beta-reader is not required, but recommended. If you require the service of a beta-reader,  contact  the webmaster about finding one. Please, if you require it, take beta-reading time into consideration when you submit your story!

• The story will be published and accessible to the public once it has been read by the webmaster and/or beta-reader (if any) and accepted into the Challenge.  Stories published in 2018 will receive the '50 years' stamp, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Captain Scarlet. The challenge will continue in the following years

Remember that all the information presented on the Spectrum Headquarters site can serve as tool to help you write your story, whenever you need useful details for it.  If there is a question the site does not answer, feel free to write the webmaster.  The question will be submitted to the website collaborators.  If you are a member of the Spectrum Headquarters forum, you are also free to use the Fan Fiction section for help!

Submitted projects will be presented on this page, and will be included to the list of Missing Scene Fan Fiction.  You can already view the page for some exemples of such stories.

Authors who have presented one story or more in the past are invited as well to participate to this challenge, as they're in part responsible for the success of the Fan Fiction section of this site!

People interested in contributing or with any questions or comments,  can contact  the webmaster at spectrum_hq@hotmail.com.  

RISE UP TO THE CHALLENGE!

To access a list of our Missing Scene stories , CLICK HERE.