"Fireball XL5" (1962) TV series 1962-1963

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Creator:

Gerry Anderson

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

5 October 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Fireball XL5 was part of the fleet of interplanetary rockets protecting Sector 25 of the Solar System...

Plot Keywords:

Robot | Space | Supermarionation | Spacecraft | Puppet

Cast

David Graham	...	Zoonie / ... (39 episodes, 1962-1963)
Sylvia Anderson	...	Venus / ... (39 episodes, 1962-1963)
Paul Maxwell	...	Col. Steve Zodiac / ... (39 episodes, 1962-1963)
John Bluthal	...	Commander Zero / ... (39 episodes, 1962-1963)
Gerry Anderson	...	Robert the Robot (33 episodes, 1962-1963)

Runtime:

30 min (39 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

AP Films (APF)

Trivia:

Although others had been shown in syndication, this was the first British-made TV series to appear on US network television.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Footage was reused constantly on the show, which often created continuity problems. For instance, whenever another one of the Fireball XL craft took off, they used the same footage used for Fireball XL5 - and you can clearly see the XL5 markings on the craft. Additionally, often when approaching alien worlds, the same "world approach" footage is used. The problem is that the footage is of EARTH (identifiable by the (rather obvious) continent of South America.)

Quotes:

Venus: What's Steve doing?
Prof. Matt Matic: Probably risking his fool neck, as usual.

Movie Connections:

Featured in All About 'Thunderbirds' (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Fireball

Vintage Sci-Fi fun

This was the show that sparked my interest in Sci-Fi way back in 1962, being only five the opening shot of Steve and Venus flying past the fin of the huge spaceship Fireball XL5 filled me with wonder!

Although this was a series for it's time it was one of the first to depict a space fleet of patrol ships monitoring our quadrant of space, notably used in Star Trek a few years later. The characters from the very first episode were amazingly fleshed out by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, only to be further developed by the talents of the other scriptwriters resulting in a fine continuity right up the last episode, unheard of in those days. Stories involved time travel, space pirates and of course earth domination, which had the puppets smoking, shaving, being tied up and the odd reference to child psychology! -Very adult for a child's T.V. series.

My favourite episodes - A day in the life of a space general, Space Magnet & 1875 In all, superb sixties Sci Fi fun.