Fireball XL5 facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Fireball XL5
Title card
Genre	Children's science fiction
Created by	Gerry and Sylvia Anderson
Written by	Gerry and Sylvia Anderson Alan Fennell Anthony Marriott Dennis Spooner
Directed by	Gerry Anderson David Elliott Bill Harris John Kelly Alan Pattillo
Voices of	David Graham Sylvia Anderson Paul Maxwell John Bluthal Gerry Anderson
Composer(s)	Barry Gray
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	39 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Gerry Anderson
Cinematography	John Read Ian Struthers
Editor(s)	Gordon Davie Eric Pask
Running time	25 minutes
Production company(s)	AP Films
Distributor	ITC Entertainment
Release
Original network	ITV
Picture format	Black-and-white 35 mm film
Audio format	Mono
Original release	28 October 1962 (1962-10-28) – 27 October 1963 (1963-10-27)
Chronology
Preceded by	Supercar
Followed by	Stingray

Fireball XL5 is a 1960s British children's science-fiction puppet television series about the missions of Fireball XL5, a vessel of the World Space Patrol that polices the cosmos in the year 2062. Commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac, XL5 defends Earth from interstellar threats while encountering a wide variety of alien civilisations.

Inspired by the Space Race, Fireball XL5 was created by the husband-and-wife team of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company AP Films (APF) for ITC Entertainment. It was APF's final black-and-white series and the third to be made in what the Andersons dubbed "Supermarionation": a style of production in which the characters were played by electronic marionettes whose mouth movements were synchronised with the voice actors' pre-recorded dialogue. Zodiac was voiced by Paul Maxwell while two of his companions – XL5 co-pilot Robert the Robot and "space doctor" Venus – were voiced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson themselves. The series' scale model special effects were directed by Derek Meddings.

Filming of Fireball XL5's 39 half-hour episodes began in February 1962 and the series premiered on ATV London (part of the ITV network) on 28 October that year. It was also purchased by NBC in the United States, becoming the only Anderson series to air on an American network. The TV episodes were supplemented by an audio play, comic strips in TV Comic and TV Century 21, and other tie-ins including books, toys and model kits. The series was regularly repeated on British TV until 1974 and has since been released on DVD in the UK, US, Canada and Australia.

Regarded by some commentators as a space opera or space Western, Fireball XL5 has been praised for its music; its closing theme – "Fireball", sung by Don Spencer – was commercially released to moderate success in the UK charts. It is often confused with Space Patrol, a puppet series with a similar premise that was made by the Andersons' former collaborators Roberta Leigh and Arthur Provis.

Premise

Set in the year 2062, the series follows the missions of Earth spaceship Fireball XL5, commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac of the World Space Patrol. Zodiac's crew comprises the glamorous Venus, a doctor of space medicine; middle-aged navigator and engineer Professor Matthew Matic; and co-pilot Robert: a transparent, anthropomorphic robot who often exclaims "ON-OUR-WAY-'OME!" as XL5 returns to base.

XL5 patrols Sector 25 of charted interstellar space and is one of at least 30 "Fireball XL" vessels (an XL30 is mentioned in the episode "The Firefighters"). The ship has a "gravity activator" for artificial gravity and consists of two detachable sections. A winged nose cone dubbed Fireball Junior houses the cockpit and serves as a self-contained short take-off and vertical landing craft for exploring planets. The main, larger section contains a navigation bay, laboratory, workshops, lounge and crew quarters, together with the rocket motors that enable interstellar travel. On arrival at an alien world, the main section usually remains in orbit while Fireball Junior travels down to the surface.

The World Space Patrol is based at Space City, located on an unnamed island in the South Pacific Ocean. The organisation is headed by Commander Zero, assisted by Lieutenant Ninety. For unspecified reasons, the city's 25-storey, T-shaped control tower is shown to rotate (in one episode, a character accidentally causes it to turn fast enough for those inside to suffer vertigo). XL5's deep-space patrols are missions of three months' duration; between missions, the ship is on call at Space City. The ship blasts off from a mile-long launch rail ending in a 40-degree incline. On its return to Space City, it lands vertically in a horizontal attitude using underside-mounted retro-rockets.

Until the episode "Faster Than Light", XL5 travels through space at sub-light speeds. Its rocket motors, powered by a "nutomic" reactor, provide a maximum safe speed of "Space Velocity 7", allowing the ship to reach the outlying star systems of charted space within a few months. The crew do not wear spacesuits outside the ship: instead, they take "oxygen pills" to survive the vacuum while using thruster packs to manoeuvre. The ship's "neutroni" radio enables virtually instantaneous communication with other craft over vast distances.

Episodes

Characters

Regular

• Colonel Steve Zodiac (voiced by Paul Maxwell): the pilot and commanding officer of Fireball XL5. In the episode "Space City Special" he is declared "Astronaut of the Year".
• Doctor Venus (voiced by Sylvia Anderson): a doctor of space medicine, of French origin. Zodiac personally selected her to be a member of the XL5 crew. According to the episode "The Last of the Zanadus", Venus has served on the ship for five years.
• Professor Matthew "Matt" Matic (voiced by David Graham): XL5's engineer, navigator and science officer.
• Robert the Robot (voiced by an uncredited Gerry Anderson through an artificial larynx): the co-pilot of XL5, a transparent robot invented by Professor Matic and Earth's most advanced mechanical man.
• Zoonie the Lazoon (voiced by David Graham): Venus' lazy, semi-telepathic pet from planet Colevio. During his early appearances, he can say no more than "welcome home". His vocabulary expands as the series progresses, often due to him mimicking other characters.
• Commander Wilbur Zero (voiced by John Bluthal): the operational commander-in-chief of the World Space Patrol and chief controller of Space City. Despite his gruff exterior, he shows great respect and care for his subordinates, especially Zodiac. Zero's rank appears to be above that of Colonel but below that of Space General.
• Lieutenant Ninety (voiced by David Graham): Space City's assistant controller. He is young, inexperienced and the one most often on the receiving end of Commander Zero's scathing attitude (although Zero also refers to him as "the best lieutenant Space City has"). In one episode he is shown training to be an XL pilot.

Recurring

• Jock Campbell (voiced by John Bluthal): Space City's chief engineer, of Scottish origin.
• Eleanor and Jonathan Zero (both voiced by Sylvia Anderson): Commander Zero's wife and young son.
• Captain Ken Ross (voiced by John Bluthal): pilot of Fireball XL7. He often needs rescuing by the XL5 crew.
• Mr and Mrs Boris and Griselda Space Spy (voiced by David Graham and Sylvia Anderson): a villainous husband-and-wife pair of Russian origin who first appear in the episode "Spy in Space".
• The Subterrains (voiced by John Bluthal and David Graham): a race of hostile aliens from Planet 46.

Planets

Many episodes of Fireball XL5 feature exotic planets:

• Amazonia – a planet mentioned in the episode "Prisoner on the Lost Planet" as being a member of the United Planets Organisation along with Earth and which had banished its mad queen to an unnamed planet of active volcanoes.
• Arctan - an ice planet seen in "Mystery of the TA2" which is inhabited by the Ice People and ruled by "King" Colonel Denton.
• Aridan – a desert planet seen in "Space Pirates" which once had water but is now an arid wilderness.
• Conva – a regularly seen planet introduced in "Space Pen" as a planet-wide prison for criminals and prominently featured in the episode "Convict in Space", in which one of its convicts escapes.
• Granatoid – home of the Granatoid robots who appear in the episode "The Granatoid Tanks" and described as having a completely technocratic society, led by a robot voiced by an uncredited Gerry Anderson.
• Granvenia – a planet mentioned as the destination of fuel tankers that are being diverted to the planet Suventa in the episode "Hypnotic Sphere".
• Hedera – a planet rich in plant life that is visited in "Plant Man from Space" and home of a rampant strain of ivy called Hedera helixa.
• Herbos – a jungle planet seen briefly in "Last of the Zanadus".
• Magneton – a planet visited in "Space Magnet", inhabited by the invisible Solars.
• Membrono – a planet that was nearly destroyed by another, unnamed planet, from the episode "The Doomed Planet". An advanced alien race lived on Membrono's moon.
• Minerra – a planet rich in radioactive minerals needed on Earth, seen in the episode "Space Pirates".
• Mirana – a perpetually burning planet seen in "Hypnotic Sphere".
• Monotane – a desert planet inhabited by a space monster, seen in the episode "Space Monster".
• New Earth – a planet with a thin atmosphere and little gravity that is to be colonised by the crew of the Mayflower III in the episode "Space Immigrants" until Fireball XL7, sent to prepare for Mayflower's arrival, is captured by megalomaniacal aliens.
• Planet 46 – a barren planet with an oxygen atmosphere, home to the Subterrains; introduced in the pilot episode "Planet 46" and featured in several other episodes.
• Planet 73 – a planet colonised by Earth and 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 "Planet of Platonia" which is revealed to be rich in platinum and inhabited by silver-skinned aliens who eat 23-course meals. A trade agreement with Earth has led to a power struggle on the planet, which the XL5 crew is sent to calm.
• Rajusca – a desert planet featured in "Sun Temple", in which the Earth is attacked by the sun-worshipping Rajuscans.
• Suventa – an ice planet that is home to an unnamed brain-creature which hopes to use hypnotic satellites to take control of the universe.
• Triad – a planet featured in the episode "The Triads" which is virtually identical to Earth except for the fact that it is three times its size. Consequently, all organisms on the planet are three times the size they would be on Earth. The gigantic human inhabitants are friendly, but are at least 100 years behind Earth technologically and are just attempting their first space launches when they are visited by the crew of XL5.
• Zanadu – a planet that features a mysterious temple; seen in "Last of the Zanadus".
• Zofeit – a planet featured in the episode "XL5 to H₂0" whose inhabitants, the Zofeits, have been almost wiped out by a lone alien. The crew of XL5 rescue the two survivors, who are evacuated to Earth.

Tie-ins and home video

The TV series was supplemented by an audio play, Journey to the Moon, which was produced by APF in association with Pye Records. Written by Alan Fennell and released as a 7-inch vinyl EP in February 1965, this was a semi-educational adventure about a sleeping boy who has a dream in which he meets the XL5 crew, who teach him about spaceflight and the Apollo programme. Patrick Moore was scientific advisor on the production.

The series also spawned tie-ins including toys, an MPC playset with rocket ship and figures, model kits, puppets, ray guns, water pistols, comic strips, and annuals. A black-and-white Fireball XL5 comic strip, drawn by Neville Main, ran in TV Comic from 1962 to 1964. In January 1965, the strip moved to the newly-launched TV Century 21 comic, where it remained for the next five years. The comics adventures, written by Tod Sullivan and drawn by Mike Noble, were printed in colour until 1968, when it evolved into a text feature. Four annuals, featuring comic strips and text stories, were published by Collins between 1963 and 1966. The Fireball XL5 strips from TV Century 21 were later reprinted in Countdown (later renamed TV Action) in the years 1971–1972; and again in Engale Marketing's Action 21 in 1988–1989. In the US, Gold Key Comics published a single-issue comic book in 1963; the following year, Little Golden Books published a colour illustrated storybook which was also released in the UK under the title Fireball XL5 – A Big Television Book.

Like most of the Supermarionation series, Fireball XL5 was given a "complete series" DVD release in Region 1 by A&E Home Video. A Region 2 version with new bonus material was released in 2009, superseding a 2004 release that had no extras. Also in 2009, a colourised version of the episode "A Day in the Life of a Space General" was released on Blu-ray Disc.

Translations

•  : Fusée XL5
•  : El Capitán Marte y el XL5. In the version shown in Latin American countries, Colonel Zodiac is called Capitán Marte ("Captain Mars")
•  : Πύρινη Σφαίρα (Pyrine Sphaera = Ball of Fire)
•  : 宇宙船XL-5 (Uchuusen XL-5 = Spaceship XL-5)

See also

In Spanish: El Capitán Marte y el XL5 para niños