Fireball XL5

From the very outset, I was hooked by this show as a child. In a lot of ways, it was very advanced with a WOMAN doctor...even though Venus spent most of her time making coffee, cleaning up, or needing to be rescued. Robert was the best robot around, and Professor Mattic was just eccentric enough to be interesting, too. Coulda lived without the Lazoon, though. This show even had a first rate music score, too. But, it was that ship that had me! It was unlike most of the cramped ships in sci fi at the time. This one had a lounge, sleeping quarters, too. Its nose cone was detachable, and could land on the planets they visited. Most of the plots were pretty simple, but some stood out. One episode had XL5 in an unexplored area of space. The ship had been hit by meteors, and was losing its oxygen. They knew they had just a short time left, and even as a child, I was fascinated with how they were facing death. Of course, they just HAPPENED to wander into a part of the universe with its own air pocket, but hey..!

I used to think I was the only person who even cared about this show, but thanks to the wonders of the Internet, I found out there were a LOT of fans out there world wide!

I loved this show when I was young. I got as many episodes as were available on VHS when I could, and now, I see the entire series is on DVD! It probably won't win too many new fans in this day and age, but if you loved this show as a child, its a little reminder of a more innocent time. Enjoy the ride!

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.

I was very young when I saw this show, but I still remember the special effects, especially the opening sequence of the rocket speeding down that track and the changes in the engine sounds just before it took off from the track into the air. The marionettes, especially the robot and his electronic voice. And I remember being very moved by a story involving a mermaid. The ending was sad. I would love to get this series on video. is it available?

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.

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!