Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons
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Captain Magenta
Description
Real Name Patrick Donaghue (Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons)
Mario Moro (New Captain Scarlet)
Date of Birth 17th May, 2034
Hair Black
Eyes Brown
Race Human
Details
Affiliation Spectrum Organisation
Role Spectrum Field Agent, Senior Staff Officer and Colour Code Captain
Allies Captain Scarlet
Captain Blue
Colonel White
Lieutenant Green
Captain Ochre (Field partner)
Other fellow Spectrum Officers
The Spectrum Angels
Status Active on duty
Appearances 13 episodes (Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons)
7 episodes (New Captain Scarlet)
Voice Actor(s) Gary Files (Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons)
Jeremy Hitchen (New Captain Scarlet)
"Yes sir, Colonel sir!"
—Captain Magenta's catchphrase


Captain Magenta, in the original 1960s programme Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, is the code name that the Spectrum Organisation has assigned to Patrick Donaghue, the former godfather of an organised-cybercrime syndicate whom the Spectrum Organisation recruited into its ranks out of its realisation that it would need a criminal mind to help it understand the criminal mind. Gary Files provides his character voice in the super-marionated programme.
In New Captain Scarlet, Captain Magenta is the code name assigned to Mario Moro, an Italian-American former Military Police officer, who is also somewhat of a woman chaser aboard Skybase, his attentions often being turned towards its female personnel. His voice, in the hyper-marionated programme, was provided by Jeremy Hitchen.

The profile provided below is exclusive to the original super-marionation programme.

Patrick Donaghue before Spectrum[]

Dublin to New York[]

Patrick Donaghue was born in Dublin, County Dublin, Leinster Province, Republic of Ireland on 17 May, 2034, and was a "wee bairn" of but three years of age when his parents migrated to New York City, bringing him along with them. Growing up, he heard the brogue of his parents's speech patterns so frequently that he himself never fully lost that brogue in his own accent.

In a Yank gaol![]

It was during a series of riots and protests against the rather small but predatory nation of Bereznik, whose instigators were a group of anti-Bereznik extremists known as Group 22, that young Pat had his first brush with the system of crime and punishment in the United States. Arrested and imprisoned during those riots and protests, he found himself with access to a prison library that was, at least as far as computer technology went, surprisingly up to date. Upon his release, he enrolled in Yale University and acquired an advanced degree in computer science.

Cybercrime godfather[]

For a while, after he graduated from Yale, Donaghue worked as a computer programmer. But this work paid him too poorly for him to be truly able to support his family financially. This led him to contact friends from his old neighbourhoods, and these lured him to the other side of the law--all the way into a branch of the organised-crime syndicate in the United States that specialised in computer crimes. He quickly rose through its ranks to become one of its highest-level "godfathers," acquiring control of several crime families in the process. During this time, according to fanon, he designed and developed an especially sophisticated tracking computer, and indeed he was even granted a patent for that selfsame. It made him and the cybermob he headed particularly effective once he brought it into wide use amongst his fellow cybercriminals. The effectiveness of the Donaghue cybermob aggravated and angered the World Government Police Department's Inspections Commander of Detectives for the United States "Precinct" Richard Fraser, the future Captain Ochre, a deep thorn in whose side Patrick Donaghue himself had become.

However, in spite of his success as a cybercrime godfather, in time Donaghue became not only bored but also dissatisfied with his career. That his line of work was illegal, and that he himself was a wanted man, had estranged him from his family and was eating away at his conscience. A deep longing awakened and grew within him to prove that even though he knew the criminal mind because his own was a criminal mind, regardless of how it had become so, he was capable of something much more and far greater.

A chance to prove himself[]

Fortunately for him, the Spectrum Organisation's Selection Committee members had realised that the Spectrum Organisation would need a criminal mind to help it understand the criminal mind, especially as organised crime was liable to pose a major threat to the worldwide peace efforts which Spectrum would be tasked with keeping and maintaining. Compiling a list of newspapers that Donaghue was known to read, it placed a carefully worded classified advert in each of these. Once he had actually posted his response to the advert, Donaghue received a letter from that Selection Committee, conferring immunity from arrest upon him as long as he followed, and exactly so, instructions that the letter went on to give him. The convincer, for him, proved to be that if he agreed to join the Organisation, then he would receive a full pardon from the President of the World Government of Earth.

Though it all seemed too good to be true, Donaghue followed the instructions of the letter--where he found himself being subjected, along with five other men, to an unexpected evaluation exercise that World Space Patrol Colonel Conrad Turner, already calling himself "Captain Black" long before the Organisation's charter had ever even been drawn up, least of all signed, was conducting. Turner referred to Donaghue by the codename "Magenta" throughout the evaluation exercise, and when Donaghue did join the Organisation, he became "Captain Magenta." His tracking computer proved already to be in use aboard the Spectrum Organisation's Cloudbase, with Lieutenant Green having already improved it to a degree.

Captain Magenta, Spectrum[]

After Captain Black had trained him into the Spectrum Organisation at its Koala Base, Captain Magenta became one of Cloudbase's top computer experts, second only to Lieutenant Green. One of his favourite activities as a colour-coded Spectrum agent was the developments of security-system tests, intended to improve those security systems.

In the instalments[]

The character usually serves as comic relief in his appearances, being extremely enthusiastic and eager to please, particularly with Colonel White.

Patrick Donaghue the man[]

Aside from his eagerness to please and his high enthusiasm, Patrick Donaghue possesses sharp linguistic skills, which he had begun to develop long before he initially became Captain Magenta. ("Operation Time" showed those coming in very handy indeed, in that he was able to explain the Mysterons' threat to "kill time" as being that they planned to assassinate General J. F. Tiempo, commander of the Western Legion World Defence, in that "Tiempo" is Spanish for "time.") Still at least partially remorseful and guilty about his previous criminal career, he seeks to make up for this by endeavouring to be a hero, of sorts.

New Captain Scarlet[]

In the hyper-marionation programme New Captain Scarlet, Captain Magenta is very different in both background and personality from his super-marionation counterpart, and he did not appear in as many of the instalments. His real name was Mario Maro, and he was born Italian-American.

Another major difference in NCS from OCS is that, instead of having previously been a cybercriminal and a cybercrime godfather, this Captain Magenta was actually a former Military Police officer. He liked to keep himself in top physical shape, and was somewhat of a woman chaser to all the female officers aboard Skybase.

Behind the shows[]

  • Gary Files provided the character's voice in the original super-marionation programme.
  • In the "hyper-marionation" re-imagination of the programme, Jeremy Hitchen, who was best known for having provided the voices of Dr. "Tiger" Ninestein and Lieutenant Hiro in the "super-macromation" (motorised glove puppets-based) series Terrahawks, which was also produced by Gerry Anderson, provided the voice of his NCS counterpart.
  • According to Captain Scarlet: The Vault, the OCS Captain Magenta has also been identified as a Multiple Duty and Revamp Puppet.
The Spectrum Organisation
Spectrum Logos

Original Series
Officers
Captain ScarletCaptain BlueColonel WhiteLieutenant GreenCaptain BlackCaptain BrownCaptain GreyCaptain OchreCaptain MagentaCaptain IndigoDoctor Fawn
The Angels
Destiny AngelSymphony AngelRhapsody AngelMelody AngelHarmony Angel
Component Agencies
Spectrum IntelligenceSpectrum Medical ServiceSpectrum PoliceSpectrum Research Centre
Other Personnel
Spectrum Security GuardsSpectrum TechniciansKoala Base OfficersKoala Base Cadets

New Captain Scarlet
Officers
Captain OrangeCaptain YellowDoctor GoldLieutenant Silver

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