Season 1
- Paul Maxwell as Col. Steve Zodiac
- Sylvia Anderson as Dr. Venus
- David Graham as Prof. "Matt" Matic / Lt. Ninety
- Gerry Anderson as Robert the Robot
- John Bluthal as Cmdr. Wilbur Zero
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 1]
Planet 46
Shown 28 Oct 62
An alien planet has launched an ISBM (Inter-Stellar Ballistic Missile) at Earth. Space command sends in the nearest ship, XL5, commanded by stereotypical space hero Steve Zodiac. He has a beautiful blonde assistant to add some glamour, and a smart guy with glasses for exposition and comic relief. They discover the missile came from an apparently uninhabited planet which has a secret society of humanoid underground-dwellers.
This is a black-and-white precursor to Anderson's later shows. The spaceship is reminiscent of the Thunderbirds , while the stories (down to the character interactions) are similar to Stingray . If you liked those shows, you will like this one as well.
The special effects are the product of Derek Meddings, who went on to do amazing work in James Bond movies like The Spy Who Loved Me . However, the marrionettes' strings are sadly very visible.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 2]
The Doomed Planet
Shown 04 Nov 62
Steve Zodiac and the crew explore a strange planet. Afterwards they fly home to Earth. However, a flying saucer-shaped spaceship follows them home.
This all begs one serious question. Why do they bother with Space City? They would be better off with an orbital facility, so that the Fireballs could all dock there and then use shuttles to travel to Earth.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 3]
Space Immigrants
Shown 11 Nov 62
The Lilispacians, an alien race based on the Liliputians from Gulliver's Travels , have captured the commander of XL-7. They plan to capture more Earthlings to use as slaves on their planet - 632 Light Years away from Earth.
On Earth, a load of colonists board the Mayflower 3. Venus is going to be in charge. Unfortunately the pilot is Jock, an old-fashioned sexist. They have to transport an atmospheric converter, so when they get to New Earth they can terraform it. For some reason they chose a planet without a breathable atmosphere, and with no gravity either!
The Mayflower 3 colony ship takes off from planet-side, with full cargo and enough fuel to go to New Earth. However, they use direct take-off rather than the sled-launch shown in the opening credits. Yes, the colony ship must be more efficient than the Fireball series!
Sexist Jock falls ill with severe apendicitis, and must rely on Venus the female doctor. However, the Lilispacians have sabotaged their mission by controlling Robert the Robot and forcing him to bin the medical supplies. Luckily the trip of 632 light Years only takes a couple of days.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 4]
Plant Man from Space
Shown 18 Nov 62
Professor Matt has a visit from an old friend, Dr Roots, and has Sexist Jock give them a guided tour of Space City's nuclear power plant. Meanwhile, Steve and Venus are overseeing the test of a new ejection system for the fireball class of starships. This is very important, since it is a kids TV show and the audience are too young to have to deal with character deaths.
Someone sabotages the city's power supply. As soon as they get it working again, they detect an incoming missile. The nearest starship is XL-26, but it is too far away to help in time. XL-5 is under a systems check, so is unavailable. Commander Zero orders the launch of XL-1A, piloted by Officer Ross.
The missile crashes into the nearby beach, seemingly harmlessly. Perhaps they should have built Space City in Colorado, at high altitude rather than at sea level. Anyway, the salty sea air does not impede the massive overnight growth of massive amounts of alien foliage. By incredible coincidence, Dr Roots is an expert in alien vegetation. He accompanies Steve and crew on the XL-5 to find the planet that launched the missile. How long before the sudden but inevitable betrayal?
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 5]
Spy in Space
Shown 25 Nov 62
When XL-9 is damaged on a mission, XL-5 is sent to investigate. They stop off at a space station, a classic Ring design, and discover that the villains are a couple of space spies. Not Boris and Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle ... but Boris and Griselda. Yes, totally different.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 6]
The Sun Temple
Shown 02 Dec 62
Space Command launches a missile that looks like a Saturn V moon-rocket. The plan is to set off a nuclear warhead near an inhabited planet.
The locals, a pair of sun-worshippers, think of this as blasphemy. They abduct Dr Venus, and prepare to sacrifice her to their Sun god. Can Steve Zodiac get into the Sun Temple in time to save her?
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 7]
XL5 to H2O
Shown 09 Dec 62
An alien planet, Zophide, is attacked by a creature named the Aquaphibian. Using a rifle-sized weapon called a Heat Ray, it depopulates an entire planet. The only two survivors, a pair of creepy-looking males, send out an emergency broadcast to get help from Earth. Since their species is as good as dead without the ability to procreate, they may as well just accept their fate.
XL-5 responds, and we get a good idea of the capabilities of both the ship and the crew. XL-5 is launched by rocket sled, the second stage has the FTL capability, and the cockpit serves as a detachable landing pod named Fireball Junior. Somehow the lander can operate underwater, and return to orbit without refueling. The professor provides technical support, while Venus (the token girl) is the medic for away-team missions. Robert the robot is the autopilot ... on legs. Yes, very 1960s.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 8]
Space Pirates
Shown 16 Dec 62
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 9]
Flying Zodiac
Shown 23 Dec 62
The crew go to the space circus. Venus is an animal-trainer, while Steve Zodiac takes up his family tradition as a trapeze artist.
Boris and Griselda from Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 5] Spy in Space have infiltrated the circus. The leader of the Carnies has hired them to get his people a homeland, but to do this they must kill Steve and make it look accidental. If this does not make any sense, it is explained by the conclusion. Sort of.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 10]
Space Pen
Shown 30 Dec 62
A pair of criminals are flying around in a stolen spaceship, For some reason, they are clad in ugly checked suits. Well, this is the 1950s idea of criminal attire - unlike the late 1970s approach taken in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century , when the imagined future was all lycra.
The crooks burglarise Steve Zodiac's apartment, then fly off to planet Convo. It is a prison planet, currently under military interdiction because of a prison revolt. Naturally, recurring villains Boris and Griselda are the instigators of the prison revolt.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 11]
Space Monster
Shown 06 Jan 62
Fireball Xl-5 is sent to investigate the disappearance of another Fireball ship. Steve lands in Fireball Junior, and discovers that the other ship has been destroyed. The good news is that the crew are hiding in a nearby cave, cornered by a Space Monster. The bad news is that Steve and Venus get trapped there too.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 12]
The Last of the Zanadus
Shown 13 Jan 63
Major Jim Ireland, the famous space explorer, returns to Earth after his ten-year mission. His old friend Colonel Steve Zodiac invites him over for dinner, since they have not seen each other in a decade. For after-dinner entertainment Jim brings along his vacation slides, or rather the video-tapes her manually recorded on his ten-year expedition. For convenient exposition, Jim mentions he visited the planet Zanadu ... where the natives were wiped out by Lazoons, the same species that Venus' pet Zuni belongs too.
It turns out that Jim has been brainwashed by Kudos, AKA The Last of the Zanadus. Kudos lives alone in the catacombs with his embalmed ancestors, listening to the chants of his deceased predecessors on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. His mission is to kill all Lazoons.
Jim feeds some poisoned Martian Delight (the futuristic version of Turkish Delight) to the pet Lazoon. Steve quickly joins the dots, and they fly off to find the cure. Does this mean that they are okay with the genocide of the Zanadu species? And was Turkist Delight renamed for politically correct reasons? Probably not, because that would just be cultural appropriation. The real reason was probably to make it s4eem more space-aged.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 13]
Planet of Platonia
Shown 20 Jan 63
Earth is about to seal a trade deal with a planet named Platonia, which is rich in platinum but lacks other elements that Earth has access to. Steve Zodiac and his crew are sent to convey the Platonian ruler to Earth.
The Platonian ruler comes across as something of an idiot. He has miraculously survived almost half a dozen assassination attempts, but it barely even occurs to him that there might be an inside man. The ruler's trusted sidekick is not so trustworthy. Of course, the traitor may be smart but he lacks courage. Steve uses this predictable flaw against him.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 14]
The Triads
Shown 27 Jan 63
World Space Command detects a series of massive explosions in the vicinity of a newly-discovered planet named Triad. It is so-called because it is an Earth-type planet but is three times the size of Earth itself. They do not specify if this means three times the circumference or three times the mass.
Triad is outside of explored space. However, Fireball XL-5 is patrolling Sector 25 nearby so HQ sends them to investigate. It takes over six days to get there ...
When Fireball gets to the planet, they discover it has three times Earth's gravity. This means that Fireball Junior, the shuttle-craft, burns up three times as much fuel as expected. Yes, the crew never factored the local gravity into their plans!
The local inhabitants save the crew from a stock-footage lion. Like the planet itself, the inhabitants and the lion are three times bigger - taller and wider, that is. Since the crew landed near the local launch site, their rescuers are the local rocket scientists. Will Steve and the crew help the creepy scientists to perfect the rocket fuel and give them space travel? Well, Fireball Junior is out of fuel so they need to help the locals in order to get home. But how long until the sudden but inevitable betrayal?
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 15]
Wings of Danger
Shown 03 Feb 63
The Subterrains have a plan to take revenge for the events of Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 1] Planet 46. They have built a drone aircraft, which they refer to as a Robot Bird, and send it to Earth. As well as having a faster-than-light drive it also has the ability to circle indefinitely at low altitude within the Earth's atmosphere.
The drone's mission is to follow Steve Zodiac and shoot him regularly with radium pellets. With their space radar jammed, Earth's defences seem useless. Despite all the facilities at their headquarters, the only doctor available to look after Zodiac is Venus - his team medic from his own field unit.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 16]
Convict in Space
Shown 10 Feb 63
Fireball XL-5 captures a criminal as he tries to escape on his own spaceship. Unfortunately the secret documents he stole from the US government are nowhere to be found. Later on, after the trial, Zodiac and the crew are carrying him to a prison planet.
Boris and Griselda, last seen half a dozen episode ago, ambush XL-5 and free the convict. He takes them to where he stashed his loot. Steve is hot on their tail, keen to free their hostage.
Boris and Griselda plan to double-cross their new partner. Unfortunately, while they plan to double-cross him they do not expect him to beat them at their own game. Presumably this is why villain team-ups are rare and extended storylines were a relative rarity in Twentieth century TV shows.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 17]
Space Vacation
Shown 17 Feb 63
The trio take a vacation on the planet Olympus. This consists of hanging around dressed in hawaiian shirts, and having dinner with the local ruler. Unfortunately he has a grudge with his neighbour, and the trio get caught in the crossfire.
The ruler's son is poisoned. Dr Venus is the only one who can cure him, and she is abducted by the neighbour. Steve must rescue her before the son dies ... or the professor will be executed by the Olympian ruler.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 18]
Flight to Danger
Shown 24 Feb 63
Lieutenant Ninety, the ground controller, undergoes training to become an official astronaut. Steve Zodiac teaches him how to pilot XL-5, although landing is dangerous.
The final test is a solo orbit of the moon. What the audience knows, but the characters do not, is that the nuclear micro-reactor aboard Ninety's pod is damaged. Just like in every episode of Thunderbirds , there is a suspenseful countdown and a rescue attempt.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 19]
Prisoner on the Lost Planet
Shown 21 Oct 62
The scientist has upgraded the space radio so the ground control operator can now get ultra-long-range transmissions. They detect one from beyond known space, so Steve Zodiac takes Fireball XL-5 to investigate.
The good news is the transmission was sent by a beautiful woman who has been marooned alone on an uninhabited world. The bad news is that she was legally imprisoned there by Amazonia, and since Earth has a treaty with Amazonia they cannot interfere. The best Steve can do is help her launch a legal appeal against her sentence.
To give an action-packed climax, the prisoner activates a machine that allows her to control the planet's volcanos. Well, she was so dangerous the Amazons gave her an entire planet as her prison. Steve Zodiac is knocked out, so the suporting team-members must save the day.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 20]
The Forbidden Planet
Shown 10 Mar 63
Steve Zodiac, Venus and the Boss watch an interstellar TV broadcast sent to every world in the stellar alliance. Professor Matic the scientist is on a space-station, testing the new Ultrascope. It allows them to remotely scan other planets, so they test it on one outside known space. It turns out the planet they choose is M-Class, with fields and roads. A New Utopia that the scientists nickname Nutopia.
Although Nutopia has clearly got signs of agriculture, nobody suspects that it has already been colonised. The locals have their own Ultrascope, which they use to back-trace the scientists to their space station. They also have an interstellar teleporter, so they can travel to the space station without needing a ship. This certainly saves on the bidget, like in Star Trek: TOS .
There are only two inhabitants of Nutopia, so they are clearly colonists rather than natives. They take Venus prisoner, and start to fight over her. After all, she is the most beautiful woman they have ever seen. They are technically not Incels but Men Going Their Own Way - all the way to an uninhabited world outside of known space.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 21]
Robert to the Rescue
Shown 17 Mar 63
Last week Professor Matic the scientist was on a space-station, testing the new Ultrascope. Now he has built himself a ten-dollar telescope, and is using it for astronomy as a hobby. He claims to have discovered a new planet, which he humbly names after himself. Space Command uses their radar telescope, and can find nothing. Then a mysterious uncharted planet causes a solar eclipse ...
Steve Zodiac and the crew get sent up to investigate in Fireball XL-5. Venus notes that Robert the robot blindly obeys orders - clearly foreshadowing for something that will become important later. When they arrive at the mysterious planet, they discover that it is actually artificially constructed - like the Death Star! Will the inhabitants be more friendly?
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 22]
Dangerous Cargo
Shown 24 Mar 63
The Fireball crew visit Planet Pharos, to explore a cilivium mine that was founded in 1998. The planet's crust is fragile due to over-mining. It is close to trade routes, and if it breaks up naturally it will create a damaging asteroid field.
Some bipedal alien, the Subterrans from Planet 46, are also hanging around on the planet. They have worked out that the Earthlings want to destroy the planet, and they will use the most powerful explosive - Vesivium Nine.
Venus left her alien pet Zuni at HQ on Earth. It finds the unlocked door of the building's power plant, and messes something up which makes the building rotate at maximum speed. The boss blames the poor animal, which does not know any better, instead of the incompetent humans who let the disaster take place.
Fireball XL-5 must ferry the explosives, with Zuni locked in the brig for safety.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 23]
Mystery of the TA2
Shown 29 Sep 62
The crew discover the wreck of the TA2, a spaceship that went missing fifty years earlier. They search a nearby ice planet in the hope of locating the pilot.
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 24]
Drama at Space City
Shown 15 Apr 63
Steve and Venus head off on a break, leaving the Professor to repair Robert the Robot. Meanwhile, the boss's wife and son pay a visit. The wife looks like Zelda from Terrahawks , while the boy is an annoying twit.
Unfortunately there is confluence of events. The boy is obsessed with visiting Fireball XL-5, which is sitting on the launch-pad. He gets Zuni the Lazoon to take him aboard. However, Zuni has learned to mimic new words - Full Power. Now Robert is repaired, he takes this as an order ...
With Steve Zodiac away on vacation, the boss and his sidekick must save the day. Can they catch Fireball and board it in time?
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 25]
1875
Shown 14 Apr 63
Professor Matt invents a time-machine, and sends the XL-5 robot autopilot Robert back to the year 1875. For some reason he does not send them to Florida, and instead he ends up in what looks like Arizona.
That night, after Matt has locked the lab and gone to bed, Commander Zero leads Steve and Venus to inspect the lab. They use rank to intimidate the guard, and get themselves locked inside the transporter. Worse, they let Zuni the Lazoon mess around with the controls.
Steve and the others end up in Arizona, with period-authentic clothes and swiss-cheesed memories. Venus and Commander Zero become bank robbers, while Steve signs on as sheriff in the one-horse town their aim to rob. Can Matt get them back before they kill each other?
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 26]
The Granatoid Tanks
Shown 21 Apr 63
A couple of scientists are working inside an outpost on a remote planet. Unfortunately they detect six incoming vehicles that have been landed on the opposite side of the planet. These vehicles are tanks - tracked armoured fighting vehicles with a fixed main gun, so they are more like Swedish S-Tanks than anything else. The crews are androids called the Granatoids, far more advanced than Robert the XL5's autopilot. They will destroy the outpost when they get there, so it is a race against time for XL5 to come save them.
Back in Space City, Steve and Matt visit a shop to buy a new music album. The albums are all vinyl records, because this show pre-dates audio-tapes. To listen, the customers use a sound-proofed booth because this show pre-dates head-phones. The real purpose of this scene is not to show how anachronistic the technology is, but to introduce a new character. The little old lady who runs the music store is obsessed with the idea of taking a trip on XL5, even though she is a civilian and XL5 is a patrol ship. Her other interesting attribute is that her father once told her not to fear the Granatoids, when he gave her a necklace made of a mysterious and rare mineral.
There are two possible ways to defeat the Granatoids. One is a portable energy weapon, possibly some kind of EMP-gun, that Professor Matic builds en route. The other is a mysterious and rare mineral that nobody knows where to get.
The villains are inorganic life-forms, so it should be permissable even in a kids' show for the tanks to be destroyed. However, the mineral seems to emit a form of radiation that interferes with the robots' circuits while having no effect on humans or Earthling technology. The robots have no choice but to retreat and get evacuated home to Planet Granatoid. Yes, they are not androids from Planet Granite ...
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 27]
The Robot Freighter Mystery
Shown 16 Feb 63
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 28]
Whistle for Danger
Shown 05 May 63
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 29]
Trial by Robot
Shown 21 Jun 63
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 30]
A Day in the Life of a Space General
Shown 02 Jul 63
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 31]
Invasion Earth
Shown 19 Aug 63
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 32]
Faster Than Light
Shown 02 Jun 63
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 33]
The Day the Earth Froze
Shown 09 Jun 63
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 34]
The Fire Fighters
Shown 16 Jun 63
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 35]
Space City Special
Shown 23 Jun 63
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 36]
Ghosts of Space
Shown 6th October 1963
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 37]
Hypnotic Sphere
Shown 13th October 1963
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 38]
Sabotage
Shown 20th October 1963
Fireball XL5 (1962) [Season 1, Episode 39]
Space Magnet
Shown 27th October 1963
