Fireball XL5 - The Complete Series!

Fireball XL5 gives the viewer space opera at its finest. We travel into the future world of 2062 (only forty years away and I might see it if I live to be over one hundred). In this black and white vision of the future mankind is but one of many races spread across space on numerous planets. Steve Zodiac is our classically handsome hero who stays calm and becomes a rock for his crew to lean on times of crisis. His crew is made up of the lovely Doctor Venus (love interest of course -- an area Supercar never ventured into) and the eccentric Professor Matt Matic. Also aboard the ship is Robert a see-through robot who can fly the ship and more along with an alien critter called a Lazoon which seems to be on board mostly stir up trouble. 

Each of the half-hour episodes has Steve and the crew confront some menace to proper running of space whether that's pirates, spies, or bloodthirsty aliens such as the Subterrains from Planet 46. On Earth they are assisted by Commander Zero and Lieutenant Ninety who operate from the constantly spinning home base in Space City. Each episode is a nifty and brisk entertainment which whisks the viewer off to a future which will never exist, even if the people weren't all marionettes. 

Above is an exceedingly cool Gold Key cover by George Wilson for a one-shot comic featuring the Gerry Anderson's Fireball XL5. 

(Robert the Robot, Professor Matic, Steve Zodiac and Doctor Venus)

This is a cool black and white classic space adventure series, and I found this online presentation of the Gold Key comic at "The Secret Sanctum of Captain Video" (run by friend of the Dojo Britt Reid) by writer Paul S. Newman and artist Ray Bailey. One source identifies the artist though as Mel Crawford -- I can't tell. Give it a look. There's a ton of neat facts and even a glimpse of the vintage show itself.

NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

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