As
I keep saying, some of this stuff is not mine and may very well be pulled for breach of copyright. You can, of course, go looking on YouTube, or its foreign variants, for copies. I am sure you know how.
Fireball XL5, a Supermarionation forerunner of TV21 productions: one of
the first tv series I watched because of an interest, unlike Watch With Mother
which was aimed at toddlers and kept me quiet at dinner time.
This was on TV for a single year in the early 60s but I did not see it
originally. We probably did not have a TV back then.
This SF TV series was from the pens of that husband and wife team, Gerry
and Sylvia Anderson. It wasn't the first and they went on to give us many years
of great adventures for children and young teenagers - Stingray, Thunderbirds,
Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, Space 1999, UFO.....10 years of memorable TV before
cartoons took over.
Set in the mid 21st century (not that far away now, is it?), Colonel
Steve Zodiac commanded the space ship XL5. Ably assisted by Dr
Venus, Professor Matthew Matic, and an on-board Robot, Robert. There was
also Zoonie the Lazoon but the less said about that the better.
Good old science fiction featuring many themes of the golden age - if you
watch or read any SF, you will come across many of these.
The series wears well for what it is but I am sure the modern child would
be less than impressed - oxygen pills that allow you to breathe in a vacuum, no
space suits required, traversing inter-stellar space in 6 weeks, instantaneous radio transmissions,
all aliens speak perfect English! Yes, back in the day we weren't all critics
and for me, that was a good thing. Also, back in the day the production seemed
to be a lot better - lighting, sound, staging, sound, effects - in general far,
far better than much of what came later. Even when you consider that it was a
"mere" children's puppet show!
But the Andersons did get something right - the newer generation of
rockets - Falcon series - do, indeed re-land in one piece for subsequent
re-launch. So it wasn't all wrong.
If you own a pair of rose-tints, there is a Facebook page...
But, if you want to really, really, really want to know about Zoonie:
Not sure what the next blog will be about but stay tuned for an update in a couple of days.
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