Fireball XL5



Fireball XL5 is a science fiction-themed children's television show following the missions of spaceship Fireball XL5, commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac of the World Space Patrol. The show was made in 1962 by the husband and wife team of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson through their company APF in association with ATV for ITC Entertainment.

The show featured the Andersons' Supermarionation marionettes, a form of puppetry first introduced in Four Feather Falls (1960) and used again in their subsequent shows such as Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet. Thirty-nine black and white half-hour episodes were made on 35mm film: all future Anderson series would be produced in colour.

A very similar programme often confused with Fireball XL5 is Space Patrol (known as Planet Patrol in the US) due to a number of similarities and settings.

The complete series is available on DVD in the UK, Australia and the US.

Setting
Set between the years 2062 and 2063, the series features the missions of spaceship Fireball XL5, commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac of the World Space Patrol. The crew includes the glamorous Doctor Venus, middle-aged navigator and engineer Professor Matthew Matic, and co-pilot Robert the Robot, notable for being transparent. Robert was also unique as the only character in an Anderson series that was actually voiced by Gerry Anderson himself, albeit with the aid of an artificial larynx.

Fireball XL5 is based at Space City, located on an unnamed island in the South Pacific, headquarters of the World Space Patrol headed by Commander Zero. Zero is assisted by Lieutenant Ninety. For some unspecified reason the 25-storey T-shaped control tower at Space City rotates; in one episode the alien creature Zoonie the Lazoon inadvertently makes it rotate fast enough for those inside to suffer from vertigo. The patrol rocket Fireball XL5 takes off utilising a mile-long launch rail which culminates in a 40 degree incline, or sky ramp, which Anderson claims was inspired by an old Soviet design, a concept also used in the film When Worlds Collide.

There is a fleet of at least 30 'Fireball XL' ships (an XL30 is referred to in The Firefighters episode), of which XL5 is the most famous. The ship itself is made up of two detachable sections. The winged nose cone, known as Fireball Junior contains the cockpit and separates from the main body to land on other worlds. The rest of the ship contains the navigation bay, laboratory, a huge lounge, workshops and separate crews quarters, along with the fuel and main nutomic rocket motors for interstellar travel. It would generally keep station in orbit after arriving at an alien planet. When Fireball XL5 returns to Space City the whole ship lands vertically (ie without separating).

Fireball XL5 patrols Sector 25 of charted interstellar space (nb. There only appear to be three sectors marked on the space chart seen in the Space City Control Room) on missions of three months duration, but is also on call when at base. Semi regulars in the series were the villainous Space Spies Boris and Griselda, with their antiquated space ship S.S.Thor (S.S. stands for Space Spy) and the evil green alien Subterrains of Planet 46.

Inasmuch as the series used many classic early 20th-century science fiction themes reminiscent of the space opera of E. E. "Doc" Smith and the like, and since it was a children's show, it was not intended to be realistic. Thus Fireball XL5 managed to travel handily around the galaxy to other solar systems without actually going faster than light (until the episode Faster than Light); indeed, few of the limitations of rocketry were observed. While some fans speculated that Fireball XL5 must travel through hyperspace (i.e. folded space-time), the series only informed us that the ship's rocket motors were powered by a Nutomic reactor and that XL5 could safely travel at speeds of up to Space Velocity 7 enabling her to reach the most outlying planets of charted space (many light years from the Solar System) within a few months. Furthermore the crew never wore space suits; instead they took "oxygen pills" to survive in the vacuum of space, where they manoeuvred in zero gravity with the aid of thruster packs or jet mobiles. They use neutroni radio communication, which is virtually instantaneous within the sectors of charted space. XL5 and her sister ships are fitted with gravity activators which generate artificial gravity fields within them.

Fireball XL5 is noteworthy as the only Anderson series to date to have run on a US network. NBC (the National Broadcasting Company) ran the series in its Saturday morning children's block from 1963 through to September 1965. Several Anderson series have been shown in syndication in the US, but not as part of any network's regular programming lineup.

Theme song and merchandising
Fireball XL5 had both an opening and a closing theme song – the latter of which, Fireball written by Barry Gray and sung by Don Spencer, would become a minor hit in Britain. Barry Gray would have a long relationship with the Andersons' productions, writing the themes for such series as Thunderbirds and Space: 1999. Don Spencer would become Australia's premier children's entertainer and founder of the Australian Children's Music Foundation. A group of producer Joe Meek, The Flee-Rekkers, came out with an instrumental version in the style of Telstar.

In addition to the hit theme song, the series spawned a number of other successful licensed merchandising spin-offs including toys, an MPC playset with rocket ship and figures, model kits including a plastic kit of Fireball XL5 itself, puppets, ray guns, comic strips and annuals. In Britain, a 2-page b/w Fireball XL5 comic strip appeared in the weekly TV Comic between 1962–1964 before moving to the newly launched weekly TV Century 21 comic in January 1965 for another 5 years. The strips that appeared between 1965–1968 were in colour only reverting to b/w in 1969. Four hard cover Annual books were published in Britain by Collins between 1963–1966 featuring colour/b&w comic strip and text stories, while in the United States Gold Key Comics printed a single issue full colour comic book in 1963 and Little Golden Books published a hard cover colour illustrated story book in 1964 (later released as 'Fireball XL5 – A Big Television Book' in Britain). During the mid 1960s there were also three soft cover colouring/puzzle books published in Britain and one soft cover colouring/story book published in the United States.

Home video releases
Like most of Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation series, this one was given a "complete series" release in Region 1 by A&E Home Video. A Region 2 version featuring new bonus material was released on DVD in those territories in 2009. On 22 October in Region B territories, an individual Blu-Ray featuring a colorized version of the episode A Day in the Life of a Space General will be released. The disc will also include an episode of Four Feather Falls and an extended version of the Wonderland of Stardust documentary released as a bonus on the Region B box set released earlier in 2009. 

Cast of characters

 * Colonel Steve Zodiac, pilot and commanding officer of Fireball XL5 (voiced by Paul Maxwell). According to the comic strip story 'Steve Zodiac – Test Pilot' (that appeared in the 1965 British 'Fireball XL5' Annual) he previously commanded the Mars Military Cruiser Z4. Captain Zodiac, then an astronaut of six years experience, was chosen to take XL5 on its first test flight in 2060 along with Professor Matic, Doctor Venus and Chief Test Pilot Colonel Grange. On their way back to Space City Grange suffered a nervous breakdown at the controls and Zodiac was forced to knock him out and take over before the ship burned up in Earth's atmosphere. He was consequently promoted to the rank of Colonel and given command of Fireball XL5. Zodiac was awarded Astronaut of the Year in the episode "Space City Special".
 * Doctor Venus, Doctor of Space Medicine, of French origin. Personally chosen to be part of his crew by Steve Zodiac and with 5 years of service on the XL5 according to the episode "The Last of the Zanadus" set around 2062 (voiced by Sylvia Anderson). NB. This contradicts the 'Steve Zodiac – Test Pilot' story which states Steve Zodiac was given command of XL5 in 2060.


 * Professor Matthew Matic, ship's designer, engineer, navigator and scientist of XL5 (voiced by David Graham). He speaks in a voice very similar to actor Walter Brennan.


 * Robert the Robot, co-pilot of XL5, a transparent robot invented by Professor Matic and Earth's most advanced mechanical man (voiced by an uncredited Gerry Anderson using an artificial larynx). Robert is the only main character Gerry Anderson ever voiced in one of his series.


 * Zoonie the Lazoon, lazy semi-telepathic pet of Dr. Venus from planet Colevio (voiced by David Graham). His curiosity often led him to cause trouble. During his first appearances, he couldn't say anything but "welcome home" but his vocabulary grew as the series progressed, often due to him mimicking other characters.


 * Commander Wilbur Zero, Operational Commander of the World Space Patrol (since 2060 according to 'Steve Zodiac – Test Pilot') and Space City's Chief Controller (voiced by John Bluthal). In the episode "Space City Special" we learn that Zero reports to General Rossiter who is the Head of the World Space Patrol based in Washington. Zero is very strict and by-the-book, and clearly the law in Space City. Despite his rough exterior, it's made clear in many cases he cares deeply for his subordinates and respects them, particularly Steve. He resembles actor George C. Scott (though this is most likely coincidental.)


 * Lieutenant Ninety, Assistant Space City Controller (voiced by David Graham) Ninety is young and inexperienced, and by far the character most often on the receiving end of Commander Zero's often scathing attitude. In the series, he is seen earning his astronaut's wings and in a particularly memorable episode, fantasizing about taking over Commander Zero's job – only to realize that Zero, not him is the best person for the commander's job. Despite the seemingly-high tension between him and Zero, Zero once called him "the best lieutenant [Space City has.])


 * Jonathan Zero, Commander Zero's young son (voiced by Sylvia Anderson). According to the Little Golden Book 'Fireball XL5' story book published in the USA in 1964 young Jonathan was lucky enough to be a passenger aboard Fireball XL5's maiden voyage which included an unscheduled stop at the planet Geminy.


 * Jock Campbell, Space City's Scottish Chief Engineer (voiced by John Bluthal) He makes it clear he doesn't think too highly of women but when Venus saves his life during an ill-fated mission, he starts to have a change of heart.


 * Eleanor Zero, Commander Zero's wife (voiced by Sylvia Anderson)

Planets

 * Amazonia – A planet mentioned but not seen in the episode Prisoner on the Lost Planet, Amazonia is mentioned as being a member of the United Planets Organization alongside Earth and had banished its mad queen to an unnamed planet alive with active volcanoes.
 * Cevena – An ice-planet that is home to an unnamed brain-creature which hopes to use hypnotic satellites to take control of the universe.
 * Conva – A planet that is featured regularly. It is introduced in the episode "Space Pen" as a planetwide prison for wanted criminals and features prominently in the episode "Convict in Space", in which one of the convicts escapes from Conva.
 * Granatoid – Home of the Granatoid robots who appear in "The Granatoid Tanks". Granatoid is not seen but is mentioned as being a completely technocratic society, led by a robot who is voiced by an uncredited Gerry Anderson (who provided the voice of Robert the Robot on the same show).
 * Granvenia – A planet mentioned but not seen. It is the destination of fuel tankers that are being diverted to the planet Cevena in the episode "Hypnotic Sphere".
 * Hedera – A planet rich in plant life that was visited in the episode "Plant Man from Space". It is the home of a strain of Ivy called Hedera helixa, which grows at an alarming rate and is difficult to cut.
 * Herbos – A jungle-planet seen and referenced briefly in the episode "Last of the Zanadus".
 * Magneton – A planet inhabited by the invisible Solars that was visited in the episode "Space Magnet".
 * Membrono – A planet that was destroyed in the episode "The Doomed Planet".
 * Mirana – A perpetually burning planet seen in one episode entitled "Hypnotic Sphere".
 * Monotane – A desert planet inhabited by a space monster in "Space Monster".
 * New Earth – A planet with a thin atmosphere and little gravity that was to be colonised by the crew of the spaceship Mayflower-3 in the episode Space Immigrants. The spaceship Fireball XL7 was sent out in advance to prepare for the arrival of the Mayflower-3, only to be captured by megalomaniacal aliens.
 * Planet 46 – The home of the Subterrains. It is a barren planet with an oxygen atmosphere, introduced in the pilot episode Planet 46 and appeared in numerous other episodes.
 * Planet 73 – A planet colonised by Earth that was attacked by the Granatoids in the episode The Granatoid Tanks
 * Planet 82 – A planet renamed Robotvia by Professor Al Himber
 * Platonia – A planet featured in the episode Planet of Platonia. It was revealed to be a world rich in Platinum, inhabited by silver-skinned aliens who eat 23-course meals. A trade agreement with Earth had created a power-struggle on the planet, which the XL5 crew had been sent to calm.
 * Zanadu – A planet that features a mysterious temple in the episode Last of the Zanadus
 * Zofeit – A planet whose population – the Zofeits – was almost wiped out (only two males surviving) by a lone alien in the episode XL5 to H20. The crew of XL5 rescued the two survivors, who were evacuated to Earth.

Episode list

 * 1) Planet 46
 * 2) The Doomed Planet
 * 3) Space Immigrants
 * 4) Plant Man From Space
 * 5) Spy in Space
 * 6) The Sun Temple
 * 7) XL5 to H2O
 * 8) Space Pirates
 * 9) Flying Zodiac
 * 10) Space Pen
 * 11) Space Monster
 * 12) The Last of the Zanadus
 * 13) Planet of Platonia
 * 14) The Triads
 * 15) Wings of Danger
 * 16) Convict in Space
 * 17) Space Vacation
 * 18) Flight to Danger
 * 19) Prisoner on The Lost Planet
 * 20) The Forbidden Planet
 * 21) Robert to the Rescue
 * 22) Dangerous Cargo
 * 23) Mystery Of The TA2
 * 24) Drama At Space City
 * 25) 1875
 * 26) The Granatoid Tanks
 * 27) The Robot Freighter Mystery
 * 28) Whistle for Danger
 * 29) Trial by Robot
 * 30) A Day in the Life of a Space General
 * 31) Invasion Earth
 * 32) Faster Than Light
 * 33) The Day the Earth Froze
 * 34) The Fire Fighters
 * 35) Space City Special
 * 36) Ghosts Of Space
 * 37) Hypnotic Sphere
 * 38) Sabotage
 * 39) Space Magnet

In other media

 * The theme song from Fireball XL5 was sung by Sean Pertwee in the 2000 London gangster film Love, Honour and Obey in a Karaoke scene.


 * Outside of the various spin-off titles, Fireball XL5 gained some minor recognition when it appeared in Marvel Comics, as one of the TV shows Meggan used to watch prior to meeting Captain Britain.


 * Some scenes from Fireball XL5 are shown in the Tom Hanks movie That Thing You Do, watched by Lenny and James on the TVs in Guy's father's appliance store with one character remarking that his grandmother thought the puppets were real people.


 * There is a homage to Fireball XL5 in an episode of Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet, entitled "Mercury Falling", which features a spaceship of similar design launching via a rail.


 * A Fireball XL5 series featured in the TV21 comic, with some sophisticated story lines addressing space politics and time travel.


 * A spin-off comic book series was planned by Gold Key Comics, June 2005 Steve Zodiac and the Fireball XL5 but only one issue was published in the series before it was abandoned.


 * The closing theme song Fireball was used in the opening scenes of the episode "Spider" from the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon


 * In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier, Allan Quatermain and Mina Murray steal a rocket named Pancake XL4. Each ship of the series is traditionally named after the manner of her predecessor's destruction. The Mushroom Cloud XL2 and the Shrapnel XL3 are named as other examples of the Fireball XL5's antecedents. The Pancake XL4 is destroyed by a collision with a mountain, exploding in a huge fireball and earning the XL5 its name. In addition, a Lazoon (called "Lazunes" in another portion of the comic) is bitten to death by other Lazoons due to it chanting "Welcome ho-ome" with a lisp. It is believed the dead Lazoon is Zoonie.


 * In Scarlet Traces: The Great Game by Ian Edginton and D'Israeli, on the cover of issue 2, several ships labelled "FB XL" with a number following can be seen. One says "FB XL5", making it the Fireball XL-5.


 * In the 2009 Star Trek film the Ending Credits are in the same style as Fireball XL5 with "zooming" of the credits against a background of plants, moons and craters.


 * Steve Zodiac of British rock band Vardis is thought to have taken his name from the show.


 * In order to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of America's first landing on the moon, Craig Ferguson lip-synched a musical number set to the theme song of Fireball XL5 on The Late Late Show.


 * An episode of the Nintendo-based cartoon Captain N: The Game Master is entitled "I Wish I Was A Wombatman", a parody of the "I Wish I Was A Spaceman" lyric from Fireball XL5's title theme.


 * The band XTC included their cover of the theme tune (Fireball XL5\Fireball dub) on their 2002 compilation album Coat of Many Cupboards.

Translations

 * : Fusée XL5
 * : El Capitán Marte y su XL5. In the version shown in Latin-American countries, Colonel Zodiac is rechristened Capitán Marte ("Captain Mars").