Television TV

fireball xl5

This played on the early Saturday morning slots for me in the 1980's. It was the only puppet show that was in black and white but looks modern (all the other Anderson programmes like Captain Scarlett and Thunderbirds were in colour). Some of the programmes were in black and white, though some seemed to have been transferred to colour.

It was a lot of fun and unlike black and white movies that I found boring, just because they were in black and white, I liked that this was in black and white. The series is set between the years 2062 and 2063, and spaceship Fireball XL5 is featured as each episode follows it's adventures. Though who would call a space ship "fireball" is a mystery, it would make the pilot and passengers quite jittery.

Fireball was commanded by Colonel Steve Zodiac of the World Space Patrol. and the illustrious crew included Doctor Venus, a doctor of space medicine (That's right - space medicine); Engineer Professor Matthew Matic and co-pilot Robert, a robot.

Here's a Fireball XL5 fact: Robert was the only character in an Anderson series that was actually voiced by Anderson himself.


Author of this article:



Contributors to this article:

  • There are no contributors yet

Do You Remember fireball xl5?

Do You Remember fireball xl5?

  • Anonymous user
    on
    It was one of the first TV shows I can recall
  • Anonymous user
    on
    From Saturday Jun 3 2023,Talking Pictures TV are going to be showing this series
  • Anonymous user
    on
    Amazed to see that this was televised in the 1980's because it's one of my earliest memories from the early 60's. I remember Steve Zodiac and Venus, and wasn't there a kind of monkey-thing called Loony the lazoon (or something like that!). I have great memories of Fireball XL5 and Supercar, images from my long-distant early childhood!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I loved the theme song to this programme - always used to sing along with it.