Fireball XL5

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.

I can't believe anyone outside of my brother or me remembers this show. There were times throughout my life when I had to question if the show ever really existed. We were so mesmerized by all of the episodes and we played XL5 for hours up on hours. I believe that for us the spaceship itself was the real focus of our enjoyment. There just wasn't anything like it at the time. Rail launching a space ship was definitely ahead of it's time.

I must admit that that I don't really remember much of the show. Robby's electro-voice saying `Fire Retro Rockets' has definitely remained with me over the years. I still get a thrill when I reminisce about the rare episodes when XL1 was employed to help save the day. I remember a friend in school had the XL5 lunch box and I used sit and study it, on the rare occasion when he would let me. It was in color! I am a father now and my children grew up on Transformers and Power Rangers. However, the looks on their faces when these characters would save the day would sometimes take me back to the days of my childhood and XL5 and for that brief moment we shared an emotion of childhood that I will always treasure. I can only hope that they will some day be lucky enough to experience the same with their children. I plan on purchasing the DVD set of XL5. I am not sure if I will try to talk the kids into watching them with me but the opportunity will be there if they choose.

First of all, I didn't think that anyone else remembered this show. You guys are getting OLD. Don't believe I ever saw a rerun of the series, I watched em when they ran originally in '62. Yeah, I'm getting old, too. This was the first opportunity for Baby-Boomers to watch any real sci-fi on TV. At least where we lived, these were not shown in the afternoon, but rather on Saturday morning, early, about 7:30 or maybe 8:00, so you couldn't sleep in. I can still see my little brother and me lying on the living room floor in our pajamas, eating cereal as the Saturday morning wonderland unfolded. And didn't everybody who saw the show want a Robby the robot of their own? OK, so the name wasn't original, he was still the best robot ever. This show may seem hokey and stupid with primitive special effects to a Star Wars generation, but it was the only game in town for those of my age. The next opportunity to see a sci-fi series on TV was, I guess, Lost In Space, which DOES look hokey and stupid to me now. maybe you just can't lose the love you had for a program as a small child.

Whatever the reason, I'm delighted to hear that the series is available on DVD, I suspect I'll have to update my Xmas wish list to include it. What an opportunity, indulge my own nostalgia AND drive my family nuts simultaneously!

Update!: I did receive the DVD set with the complete series for Xmas, 2004, and it was all I remembered. Incidentally, It DID drive my family nuts as I spent about a week straight watching the whole series and singing the stupid theme song with the show.

Loved this show as a kid. It definitely shaped my interest in Sci Fi. Also, the theme songs still strike a chord with me, no matter how dated they are! They are simply great in their tone and straight-forward sincerity.

Also, as a Star Trek fan, I can not help but wonder if Roddenberry had not been influenced by the XL5 design. After all, the saucer section of the original Enterprise was detachable, just as XL5's nose, even though they never showed it in the original series. Mention was made of it once, when Kirk told Scotty to 'Break out of there with the main section, if you have to', or something along those lines, when the machine Val was pulling the Enterprise down from orbit.

XL5 FOREVER!

My school bus got me home exactly at 4:00 and rather than dawdle and get involved in the snowball or dirt clod fight, I would head straight for the T.V. Back in those days it took about 4 minutes for the set to warm up so the only way I could catch the opening was to stay home sick from school, which I tried as often as I could. I loved this show, as did my best friends and we would re-create the episodes the next day on the school bus. My brother and sister would make it to the basement in time for the closing theme and we would all sing along. Then it was time for my other favorite, "Jonny Quest". This was my favorite hour of the day. On a recent trip to London, a friend surprised me with a video tape of two episodes. As clunky and silly as the show was it brought back so many "warm fuzzies" that I still smile to think about Captain Steve and the rest of the crew.