To learn more about the Mysterons, Spectrum have devised "Operation Sword", the objective of which is to land a spy probe on Mars's moon Phobos in order to capture detailed images of the planet's surface. The first probe is detected and destroyed by the Mysterons but the second, Mini-Sat 5, touches down safely and begins its orbital reconnaissance. Once Phobos has made a full orbit of Mars, the images will be transmitted to Earth, where they will be received at K14 Observatory in the Himalayas. Captains Scarlet and Blue have been dispatched to K14 to observe astronomers Carter, Angelini and Breck. To the astronomers, the second probe was able to reach Phobos undetected by travelling in the "shadow of fear": "Phobos" – the name of a companion of Mars in Greek mythology – means "fear", and the probe avoided detection by approaching the moon from behind so that it would remain invisible to Mars. A few hours before transmission, Breck is viewing Mars through a telescope when the planet begins to flash brightly. Overcome by the dazzling light, he is killed and replaced by a Mysteron reconstruction. Knowing that K14's antenna will need to be rotated to receive the transmission, the reconstructed Breck plants a bomb in the rotation gear, rigging the device to explode when the gear is turned. He then hides in the rocks above the observatory. Aided by Melody Angel and Captain Grey in a Spectrum helicopter, Scarlet and Blue pursue and locate Breck. Revealing his sabotage, the reconstruction fires a gun at the officers but is shot dead by Scarlet. However, before Scarlet and Blue can warn K14, Carter and Angelini turn the antenna and the bomb explodes, causing the antenna to collapse and crush the observatory. With Carter and Angelini dead and K14 destroyed, Earth misses the probe's transmission. However, Colonel White insists that this is not the end of Operation Sword.
Production
"Shadow of Fear" was the last episode of Captain Scarlet to be produced featuring the vocal contributions of Paul Maxwell and Charles Tingwell, both of whom left the series after this episode. Maxwell had been cast in the role of Steve Tanner in Coronation Street, while Tingwell had theatre commitments. After "Shadow of Fear", the regular characters of Captain Grey and Doctor Fawn, who were voiced by Maxwell and Tingwell, continue to appear in the series but do not speak. Both Tingwell and Maxwell can be heard voicing background characters in the flashback to "Big Ben Strikes Again" in the series finale, "The Inquisition". This episode's incidental music was performed by an ensemble of 15 instrumentalists and recorded during a four-hour studio session held on 22 July 1967. Music for "Fire at Rig 15" was recorded during the same session.
Reception
Anthony Clark of sci-fi-online.com comments that the pace of "Shadow of Fear", like that of "Crater 101" and "Dangerous Rendezvous", "could hardly be described as breakneck." However, he notes that along with the other two episodes it serves to "progress Spectrum's fight back against the Mysterons". Shane M. Dallmann of Video Watchdog magazine notes the violence of "Shadow of Fear", calling the episode "astonishingly downbeat". He also praises the "excellent" miniature model work. Chris Drake and Graeme Bassett praise the score, commenting that the episode's use of electronic music makes the space scenes suitably "eerie". Musical elements from "Shadow of Fear" were re-used in the Andersons' first live-action series, UFO. The British Board of Film Classification certifies the episode U, noting that it contains "infrequent, very mild" violence.
