Skating The Edge of Reason

I've been looking at some live action fantasy castings for Captain Scarlet characters.   Some are very good, some are...well, let's just say the point is being missed with Captain Black.  If you're not casting the same actors you would choose for Captain Scarlet for Captain Black then you haven't done much thought regarding the story overall and that character in particular.  Captain Black is a Fallen Hero.  Casting someone who already looks weaselly or evil thoroughly misses that point.  It ignores the horror of the Mysterons that they could take someone who could be the hero of the story and turn them into a weapon against the very people they would have protected.  It's an immediate shorthand for what they can do.

Look, there was an episode of Highlander where the show-runners wanted to cast a guest character as someone as good looking and noble as Duncan MacLeod (as played by Adrian Paul) to point out that that character was a heroic figure with a decent motivation (indeed the same motivation Duncan has in many episodes) and that if he wasn't out to kill our designated hero (Duncan) we would be cheering him on.  The powers that be said no, and cast an actor (who was very very good) who didn't cut quite the same heroic figure as Duncan MacLeod and the episode suffered for it.  (Again not the actor's fault!)

And that's what's happens more often than not with fantasy casting for Captain Black.  Captain Black was a hero, he should be cast as one.