DVD Review: Fireball XL5
Written by Ian Cullen on June 17, 2009 – 11:40 am -
DVD Art For Fireball XL5
Synopsis: Set in 2163 Fireball XL5 follows the adventures of Colonel Steve Zodiac and his 300 foot Rocket Fireball XL5. This puppet series when released in 1963 captured the imagination of children living in a time when the space race between the USA and Russia was just starting to heat up. This is the second series which saw Gerry Anderson teamed up with Lou Grade and ITC, and is perhaps the show largely responsible for Anderson’s later offerings of Stingray, Captain Scarlet and Thunderbirds.
The Review: To start off I’m going to give you a quick run down on my experience of Fireball XL5. I’m by no means an expert on the matter, or am I an authority on Gerry Anderson shows. As a rule growing up I was more exposed to Thunderbirds and Stingray, and didn’t actually see an episode of Fireball XL5 until the early 1980’s when ITV decided to repeat the series as part of their summer morning line up of kids television, back in the day when they would schedule a whole six weeks of kids programing in the mornings for Winter, Spring and Summer breaks. Which was when most kids of my generation got their feet wet in the collective works of Gerry Anderson. So viewing this DVD was really the first time that had seen many of these episodes.
As stated in the synopsis this show, which is entirely in Black & White, a fact which would put off most of todays children centres of Steve Zodiac and his adventures. Along for the ride are Venus voiced by Sylvia Anderson and Robert the Robot who was voiced by Gerry Anderson. The of Fireball XL5 worked for The World Space Patrol and were under the command of Commander (Wilbur) Zero. The series followed their adventures as they patrolled sector 25 of space.
The first thing you notice as a viewer is the portrayal of Venus who is supposedly from one of the eastern European countries. Which in 1963 was kind of a daring thing to go with due to the cold war between the East and West, however Venus only seems to be there to serve Steve Zodiac with cups of tea and is very much a 1960’s representation of how women were viewed at that point in time. If Fireball XL5 were ever to be updated for today’s kids. The Venus character would have to change.
The Marionettes work as well for Fireball than they do in Thunderbirds and other later shows. One of the disadvantages of shooting in Black & White is that the strings are more blatantly obvious than they are in colour, however this does not distract from the story-lines that run throughout all 39 episodes.
All episodes have cleaned up well.
Where this DVD set really excels is with the extras. It includes a new documentary about the making of the show, which explored the creation of the sets and how the actors came up with the various voices for the characters. I especially enjoyed hearing about how Gerry Anderson came up with the voice for Robert The Robot, and his story about how he came up with the name for Fireball XL5.
Fact is this DVD has so much in the way of extras that you could literally take much of it and create a Fireball XL5 pub quiz out of it.
The big question though is. Are you getting value for money. I think you are, though I also think the price tag is a little ambitious given that you can get Star Trek The Original Series on Blu Ray disk for around the same price, and that has just as many extras. That said, perhaps I’m underestimating the devotion of Gerry Anderson’s fan base, which this DVD set is squarely aimed at.
But £59.99 seems a big ask for any devoted fan.
Score 7/10
Related posts:
- Gerry Adderson’s Fireball XL5 Special Editon Coming Soon To DVD
- Gerry Anderson To Land At Forbidden Planet
- Gerry Anderson Interviewed
- More Anderson shows for SciFi Channel UK
- Gerry Anderson Upbeat About UFO Movie
Tags: DVD Review, Fireball XL5, Gerry Anderson, Steve Zodiac, Venus
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