Fireball XL5
| Fireball XL5 | |
|---|---|
British DVD release | |
| Created by | Gerry Anderson |
| Starring | Paul Maxwell |
| Country of origin | UK |
| No. of episodes | 39 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 min. |
| Original release | |
| Network | ITV |
| Release | October 1, 1962 – October 27, 1963 |
Fireball XL5 was a science fiction marionette TV show produced in Britain in 1962 by Gerry Anderson. Special effects were by Derek Meddings and music by Barry Gray. An APF production in association with ATV for ITC Entertainment. 39 black and white half-hour episodes were made on 35mm (all future Anderson series would be produced in color). The series featured Anderson's Supermarionation form of puppetry.
The series features the spaceship of the title, commanded by Steve Zodiac of the World Space Patrol. Also aboard were the glamorous Doctor Venus, middle-aged scientist Professor Matthew Matic, and Zodiac's co-pilot Robert the Robot, notable for being transparent, and also for being the only character in a Gerry Anderson series that was actually voiced by Anderson himself, although his voice was distorted by a vocoder.
Fireball XL5 is based at Space City, located on an artificial island in the South Atlantic, headquarters of the World Space Patrol headed by Commander Zero. Zero's Communications Officer is Lieutenant Ninety (whose name was later to inspire the name of another Anderson character, Joe 90). For some unspecified reason the headquarters is based in a rotating tower. Fireball XL5 takes off along an inclined track or sky ramp - see link below - which Anderson claims was inspired by an old Soviet design, although it had also been used in the movie When Worlds Collide.
Theme Song
As with Stingray, Fireball XL5 had both an opening and a closing theme song - the latter of which, "Fireball" by Barry Gray, became a minor hit in Britain.
Cast of characters
- Colonel Steve Zodiac
- Doctor Venus
- Professor Mathew Matic
- Robert the Robot
- Zoony the Lazoon
- Commander Zero
- Lieutenant Ninety
Episode List
- Planet 46
- Hypnotic Sphere
- Planet of Platonia
- Space Magnet
- The Doomed Panet
- Plant Man From Space
- Sun Temple
- Space Immigrants
- Space Monster
- Flying Zodiac
- A Spy In Space
- XL5 to H2O
- Space Pirates
- Last of the Zanadus
- Space Pen
- Convict In Space
- Wings of Danger
- The Triads
- Sabotage
- Prisoner on the Lost Planet
- Flight to Danger
- Space Vacation
- Mystery of the TA2
- Robert to the Rescue
- The Forbidden Planet
- The Granatoid Tanks
- Dangerous Cargo
- 1875
- The Robot Freighter Mystery
- Drama at Space City
- Whistle for Danger
- Faster Than Light
- The Day the Earth Froze
- Invasion Earth
- Ghost of Space
- Trial by Robot
- A Day in the Life of a Space General
- Space City Special
- The Fire Fighters