Fireball XL5
British DVD release
Genre	Supermarionation Science Fiction Adventure
Created by	Gerry Anderson
Starring	Paul Maxwell
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	39 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	25 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV
Original run	October 28, 1962 – October 27, 1963

Fireball XL5 was a science fiction-themed children's television show produced in Britain in 1962 by the husband and wife team of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson through their company APF in association with ATV for ITC Entertainment. Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Supermarionation (standing for super marionette animation) is a puppetry technique devised by the British production company AP Films and used extensively in its numerous action-adventure series, the most famous of which is undoubtedly Thunderbirds. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Look up adventure in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Gerry Anderson, born 14 April 1929, is a British producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called Supermarionation. His first television production was the 1957 Roberta Leigh childrens series The Adventures of Twizzle. ... Paul Maxwell (b. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... This is an episode guide for the Gerry Anderson television series Fireball XL5, made for the British production company ITC Entertainment and first broadcast between 1962 and 1963 on ATV London. ... It has been suggested that Channel 3 (UK) be merged into this article or section. ... October 28 is the 301st day of the year (302nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 64 days remaining. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... October 27 is the 300th day of the year (301st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 65 days remaining. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... Gerry Anderson, born 14 April 1929, is a British producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called Supermarionation. His first television production was the 1957 Roberta Leigh childrens series The Adventures of Twizzle. ... Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson are most famous as the production team for several futuristic childrens television shows involving specially modified marionettes, a process called supermarionation. Their most famous production is Thunderbirds, which was produced by their production company, originally known as AP Films and later renamed Century 21... AP Films (APF) was a British independent film production company of the 1950s and 1960s. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The ITC Entertainment logo The Incorporated Television Company (ITC) was founded by television mogul Lew Grade in 1954. ...

The show featured the Anderson's Supermarionation marionettes, a form of puppetry first introduced in Four Feather Falls (1960), and later used in shows such as Supercar (1961-1962), Stingray (1964-1965), Thunderbirds (1965-1966), Captain Scarlet (1967-1968), and finally, Joe 90 (1968-1969). Special effects in Fireball XL5 were by Derek Meddings, with music by Barry Gray. Supermarionation (standing for super marionette animation) is a puppetry technique devised by the British production company AP Films and used extensively in its numerous action-adventure series, the most famous of which is undoubtedly Thunderbirds. ... Phillip Huber (L) and David Alexander of the Huber Marionettes perform with marionettes hand-made by Huber for scenes for the feature film Tillamook Treasure 2005 Marionette in Prague A marionette is a type of puppet moved by strings, as in a puppet show. ... Four Feather Falls was the third puppet TV show produced by Sylvia and Gerry Anderson, from an idea by Barry Gray. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... Supercar was a childrens TV show produced by Gerry Andersons AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... Cover from Stingray DVD box set (2001). ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of puppetry dubbed Supermarionation. The series followed the adventures of International Rescue, an organisation created to help those in grave danger using technically advanced equipment and machinery. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often referred to in shorthand as simply Captain Scarlet, is a science fiction television series produced by the Century 21 Television company of Sylvia and Gerry Anderson and Lew Grade and first shown in Britain (originally on ATV Midlands, but later the whole of the... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday. ... Joe 90 is a 1968 Sylvia and Gerry Anderson television series concerning the adventures of a nine-year-old boy, Joe McClaine, set in the years 2012-2013. ... For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ... Derek Meddings (15 January 1931–10 September 1995) was a British television and cinema special effects expert, initially noted for his work on the Supermarionation television puppet series produced by Gerry Anderson. ... Barry Gray (July 18, 1908 in Lancashire, England - April 26, 1984 in Guernsey, Channel Islands) was a British musician and composer who is best known for his work for Gerry Anderson. ...

Thirty-nine black and white half-hour episodes were made on 35mm: all future Anderson series would be produced in color. Black-and-white or black and white) can refer to a general term used in photography, film, and other media (see black-and-white). ... Simulated 35 mm film with soundtracks _ The outermost strips (on either side) contain the SDDS soundtrack as an image of a digital signal. ...

A very similar program often confused with Fireball XL5 is Space Patrol (know as Planet Patrol in the US) due to a number of similarities and settings. Many people over time have come to confuse the two and think that there was only Fireball . Space Patrol was a puppet TV series from the United Kingdom, made in 1962, written and produced by Roberta Leigh in association with the Associated British Corporation It featured the vocal talents of Dick Vosburgh, Ronnie Stevens, Libby Morris, Murray Kash and Ysanne Churchman, and comprised 39 half-hour episodes. ...

The show was a major success for the Andersons, being the first of their marionette shows to be sold to a US TV network (NBC), a rarity for British programmes at the time. NBC (an acronym for National Broadcasting Company) is an American television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ...

Set in the years 2062/63 the series features the spaceship Fireball XL5, commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac of the World Space Patrol. Also aboard as part of the crew were the glamorous Doctor Venus, middle-aged navigator and engineer Professor Matthew Matic, and Zodiac's 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. My name is tyler bonin. ... Transparent glass ball In optics, transparency is the property of allowing light to pass. ... Electrolarynx device A mechanical larynx is a medical device used to produce clearer speech by those who have lost their original voicebox, usually due to cancer of the larynx. ...

Fireball XL5 is based at Space City, located on an unnamed island in the South Pacific Ocean, headquarters of the World Space Patrol headed by Commander Zero. Zero is assisted by 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 control tower which turns fast enough for the people inside to suffer from vertigo. Luckily within the tower there is no sensation of movement (and the outside world appears stationary) suggesting some form of gravity control is being used. Fireball XL5 takes off along a mile-long launch rail ending in a 40 degree incline, or sky ramp, which Anderson claims was inspired by an old Soviet design, although it had also been used in the movie When Worlds Collide. The Pacific Ocean (from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, peaceful sea, bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan) is the worlds largest body of water. ... Joe 90 is a 1968 Sylvia and Gerry Anderson television series concerning the adventures of a nine-year-old boy, Joe McClaine, set in the years 2012-2013. ... Soviet redirects here. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... When Worlds Collide DVD cover This article is about the 1951 film. ...

There were a number of 'XL' ships, XL5 being only one of them. The ship itself was in two sections. The winged nose section, known as Fireball Junior contained the cockpit and was detached from the main body to land on planets.(A similar device was used in the later series UFO, with a detatcheable jet fighter -'SKY-1'- launching from the front of the submarine SkyDiver). The rest of the ship contained a laboratory, and fuel and rockets for interplanetary journeys and would stay in orbit. The crew never wore space suits. Instead they took "oxygen pills" to survive in the vacuum of space, moving in zero gravity with the aid of thruster packs or jetmobiles . Somehow Fireball XL5 managed to travel around the universe without actually going faster than light speed until an accident causes XL5 to race ever faster and it finally breaks the light barrier in an episode called 'Faster than Light'. Some fans of the series have therefore speculated that Fireball XL5 must travel through hyperspace (ie folded space-time). UFO can mean: Unidentified flying object United Future Organization, a Japanese-Brazilian electronic jazz band UFO, the rock band that previously featured Michael Schenker UFO, the Gerry Anderson TV series United Farmers of Ontario, a political party that formed the government in Ontario from 1919 to 1923 U.F.O...

Fireball XL5 was noteworthy as the only Anderson series run on a U.S. network. NBC (the National Broadcasting Company) ran the series at 10:30 am (Eastern) in its Saturday morning children's block from 1963 through September, 1965. NBC (an acronym for National Broadcasting Company) is an American television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ...

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 Anderson's 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. The theme music of a radio or television program is a melody closely associated with the show, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits. ... Don Spencer is an Australian Childrens TV presenter and musician, best known for his long-running role as a presenter on Play School in both Australia and the United Kingdom. ... Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of puppetry dubbed Supermarionation. The series followed the adventures of International Rescue, an organisation created to help those in grave danger using technically advanced equipment and machinery. ...

In addition to the hit theme song, the series spawned a number of other successful licensed merchandising spinoffs including toys, model kits including a plastic kit which made Fireball XL5, puppets, and books. In Britain four Fireball XL5 annuals were printed, while in the United States Gold Key Comics printed a single issue comic book. Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing cteated for comic books distributed to newstands. ...

Cast of characters

• Colonel Steve Zodiac, pilot and commanding officer of Fireball XL5 (voiced by Paul Maxwell)
• Doctor Venus, Doctor of Space Medicine, 5 years of service on the XL5 crew (voiced by Sylvia Anderson)
• Professor Matthew Matic, engineer, navigator and scientist of XL5 (voiced by David Graham)
• Robert the Robot, co-pilot of XL5, invented by Professor Matic (voiced by Gerry Anderson)
• Zoonie the Lazoon, lazy semi-telepathic pet of Dr. Venus from planet Colevio (voiced by David Graham)
• Commander Wilbur Zero, World Space Patrol Commander and Space City's Chief Controller (voiced by John Bluthal)
• Lieutenant Ninety, Assistant Space City Controller (voiced by David Graham)
• Jonathan Zero, Commander Zero's young son (voiced by Sylvia Anderson)
• Jock Campbell, Space City's Chief Engineer (voiced by John Bluthal)
• Eleanor Zero, Commander Zero's wife (voiced by Sylvia Anderson)

Paul Maxwell (b. ... Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson are most famous as the production team for several futuristic childrens television shows involving specially modified marionettes, a process called supermarionation. Their most famous production is Thunderbirds, which was produced by their production company, originally known as AP Films and later renamed Century 21... David Graham is a British character actor and voice artist, whose work may be more familiar than his name. ... David Graham is a British character actor and voice artist, whose work may be more familiar than his name. ... John Bluthal (born 1929) is a film and television actor, mostly in comedy. ... David Graham is a British character actor and voice artist, whose work may be more familiar than his name. ... Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson are most famous as the production team for several futuristic childrens television shows involving specially modified marionettes, a process called supermarionation. Their most famous production is Thunderbirds, which was produced by their production company, originally known as AP Films and later renamed Century 21... John Bluthal (born 1929) is a film and television actor, mostly in comedy. ... Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson are most famous as the production team for several futuristic childrens television shows involving specially modified marionettes, a process called supermarionation. Their most famous production is Thunderbirds, which was produced by their production company, originally known as AP Films and later renamed Century 21...

Episode list

Main article: List of Fireball XL5 episodes

This is an episode guide for the Gerry Anderson television series Fireball XL5, made for the British production company ITC Entertainment and first broadcast between 1962 and 1963 on ATV London. ...

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.

• Elements of Fireball XL5 are shown in an episode of Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet, entitled "Mercury Falling".

• British Heavy Metal musician Steve Zodiac borrows the name of the Fireball XL5's space hero.

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

Sean Pertwee (born June 4, 1964) is a British actor. ... Love, Honour and Obey is a film released in 2000. ... A Karaoke machine Karaoke 空 kara, empty or void, and オーケストラ ōkesutora, orchestra) pronounced [kärÄ•-ōkÄ•];   is a form of entertainment in which an amateur singer or singers sing along with recorded music on microphone. ... A spin-off (or spinoff) is a new organization or entity formed by a split from a larger one such as a new company formed from a university research group. ... Marvel Comics (Stan Lee is behind many of the superheros) is an American comic book line published by Marvel Publishing, Inc. ... Meggan is a comic book superheroine in the Marvel Comics universe. ... Captain Britain (Brian Braddock), briefly known as Britannic, is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. ... Thomas Tom Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor, Emmy winning director, voice-over artist and movie producer who starred in family-friendly and screwball comedies before achieving notable success as a dramatic actor in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump. ... That Thing You Do! is the name of a 1996 film, written and directed by Tom Hanks. ... Gerry Andersons New Captain Scarlet (or more commonly New Captain Scarlet) is a United Kingdom-produced computer-generated imagery action-adventure TV series which debuted in February 2005 as part of the Ministry of Mayhem on ITV1. ... Cover of the Lets Go EP Steve Zodiac is a rock guitarist and prolific songwriter from New Wave Of British Heavy Metal band Vardis. ... Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing cteated for comic books distributed to newstands. ...

Translations

• (French) : Fusée XL5

External links

• Fireball XL5 at the Internet Movie Database
• Gerry Anderson's Fireball XL5 (fansite)
• Fireball XL5 (fansite)

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ...