Gerry Anderson's Fireball XL5 in colour!

[unclealister]

Forgot to say... I've still got a Fireball XL5 annual from the 1960s :-)

[unclealister]

This is really brilliant. I've never seen Fireball in colour before. I remember watching the original B&W episodes after school with my friend Stevie, both of us sitting cross-legged on our living room floor just before tea, staring up at the tiny 12-inch TV screen. Obviously things have come a long way since then. I hope they bring out all the Fireball episodes in colour. I shall certainly buy the DVDs if they do. Thanks for sharing this. It brings back vivid memories of a very happy childhood.

[datapolo]

Amazing work!

[grimman55]

I watched it in black and white and the color is much better !!

[CYRAPHYM]

Hey check this out - the opening scene logo "SUPER MARIO NATION" now that's way to coincidental...lol

[Nefarioso]

It looks phonier in colour. Viva black and white.

[johnxgin1]

@Nefarioso compleatly disagree.

[SpeedTriple59]

Zodiac is still the man..

[kaledranger18]

i would only see this if it was in colour

[TheAshterminator]

cool

[TheAshterminator]

wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooow

[PurpleSixAndNine]

COLOUR!!! Dope. :D

[moaardeeb]

wow in colour Ive NEVER seen that I was born 1959 and watched this all the time along with space patrol superb. if theres a Gerry Anderson show that should be made into a film with REAL actors its this one!

[eisemanrenyardjake]

@moaardeeb I want to make a live-action remake of this show, too! Maybe we could compare ideas, plots, etc.

[STARSOLDIERNO]

Since I was a child at the time, at Junior school we used to enact xl5, supercar and Thunderbirds. This was our life. Also dont forget me and my mates were watching all Gemini and Apollo launches. The whole of the early to mid 60s was all about space. It was the era or epitome of creativity. Shame it didn't carry on really. What have we got now, oh yeah a bloody space station that does as much as an electronic windmill ! As far as the UK is concerned then I say Robert the robot for PM.

[hardakml]

@STARSOLDIERNO You are me. My memories of this time are identical. Born 1958. I bet you're within a year of me. What exciting times we lived though, and what a pity that Apollo 17 was the final moonshot, back as far as Dec 1972.

Happy memories!

[CYRAPHYM]

@hardakml - @STARSSOLDIERNO - I was born '57, Ealing Broadway and loved this, T-birds, Stingray oh yeah...lest we forget, Bill and Ben the Flower Pot Men (Weeeeeed too), Magic Roundabout, oh if only I could remember more... I was living between London ('61, '62, '85 & Toronto ('63,'64), then went to Malaysia as a RAF brat until '69, then back to Toronto...what a journey...but I had the best of 3 Worlds of entertainment...

[rorigiles]

@CYRAPHYM Logging in from Wellington, New Zealand. Man I used to go to some real grouse parties in Ealing-Broadway when I was living in London in 1973!

[CYRAPHYM]

@rorigiles - memories eh! In '73 you where 26ish, I was 16 and a rookie dj in Toronto - al the best in 2012

[CYRAPHYM]

@hardakml - and I know you will enjoy watching this - movie?v=uqQ3lgrDCHY

[CYRAPHYM]

@STARSOLDIERNO - ...and I know you will enjoy watching this - movie?v=uqQ3lgrDCHY

[fanguyos]

Maravilloso!

[The99Gambo]

Supercar was great. Fireball XL5 was wonderful!

[CaptainThrice]

Technically and artistically amazing!

[fiddlerpin]

That's great in color . I have the episode pack ordered from amazon. All B &W

Thanks for posting  Full Power!

[winguln]

I love all the creations (supermarionetion) Gerry Anderson.

[PanpipeLover]

Oh Network DVD, how good you are. What a shame ITV didn't let you do the Thunderbirds blu-ray.

[Strawberry7Lynn]

Take another look at the last five seconds of this clip, where you'll see headshots of the XL5 crew, including Robert the Robot, looking like an upside down glass tumbler. Ha ha ha!!

[SenorZorrozzz]

COLORIZE THEM ALL NOW!!!!

[masterstarfox]

@SenorZorrozzz now now.as steve would say on invasion earth "we've got to wait.until we know the score"

[Strawberry7Lynn]

You know what, when sound pictures came out, silent films were out the window. The same should have happened to black and white when colour came along.

[Renshen1957]

@Strawberry7Lynn Not exactly, Colour and B/W co-existed in the US into the late 1960's, a lot of classic TV was filmed in Black&White, also true with many movies. Color had been around since the 1950s but few stations had the technology, to broadcast it until much later. Some inventors would claim they had a method to display Color TV on B/W sets which the demonstrations failed, at least on our sets.

We didn't have a color TV until Apollo 11, I had always assume XL5 was in color.

[altfactor]

@Renshen1957 Given that "Fireball XL-5" was broadcast here in the 'States on NBC, I had assumed for years it has been filmed in colo(u)r so it could be seen "In Living Colo(u)r" on that network.

[Renshen1957]

@altfactor Supercar came first, then Fireball XL5, however, children shows usually in the UK and the US for that matter were low budget, thus filmed in Black and White. Dr. Who (originally sold to the BBC as a children's show) likewise was in Black White. Many shows first seasons were shot in Black & White in for the networks: Lost in Space, Bewitched, I dream of Jeannie, a good number of classics Munsters, Addams Family, Giligans Island. Color TV were expensive pre solid state.

[masterstarfox]

@Renshen1957 Bewitched and I dream of Jeannie were colourized by west wing studios for dvd release in england while america got the black and white version.

[masterstarfox]

@Strawberry7Lynn not to be rude but there are still fans of black and white photography but i'm not one of them to say.

[reticulan5]

@johnxgin3 You maybe right the studio may have done some color test shots during Fireball's production.But Stingray was the first tv series to be shot in color from start to finish.The first tv series in Europe to do so,a great effort and forward thinking for Gerry anderson and team.

[cricketbat08]

They should colorize the whole series. Old black and white movies are great, but puppet shows look better in colour.

[masterstarfox]

@cricketbat08 i agree.supercar also should be given the colour treatment too.

[thebladezmanII]

This looks wonderful! Technology is plain and simply amazing! Wish they would have colorised all the episodes. Surprised they didn't do that in the first place since today's media is all about quality!

[scotpens]

Normally I'm against colorizing old black-and-white films -- but it's okay when it's done to puppets!

[Realmasterorder]

Kick ass series !

I used to play around with furniture as a kid mimicking the seats and spaceships they were in ..

[Rico8458]

i was 7 when this came out. lol

[locomotive1804]

Now look at that. The rocket doesn't take off vertical - it's horizontal.

[reticulan5]

I heard that Stringray was the first tv show to be shot in color in Europe.I wish filmmakers could of started shooting color years earlier.Some were shot in B&W till 66.

[altfactor]

When will the colo(u)rized "XL-5" DVD's be available in the United States (and other "Region 1" areas)???

[masterstarfox]

will supercar be colourised?if so will it be on blu-ray?

[britshop]

@masterstarfox Now you are really going back,and I thought that i was one of a few .That 's where it all began.

[masterstarfox]

@britshop aboult what?the whole series/supercar on blu-ray or the first colourisation of fireball xl5?

[PIEEATER617]

I SEE THE STRINGS NOW HE HE

[sumerianelohim]

I built this ship from scratch part by part.

[restcure]

Color or not - as long as the dialog retains the incredibly un-necessary exposition!

[99Gambo]

When I was about eight, growing up in the South Wales valleys, there was a track on a mountain side upon which coal trucks were pulled. But I assumed that this was the track where Fireball XL5 took off from!

[drmdrmy]

I'm from Barry - what a great time to have been born - after the 50's -60's nothing has happened

[mickeyg57]

Well I think it Looks Great Colourized.... I too miss the day's when I was seven or eight and couldn't wait for Saturday Morning at 730 ...And these were day's with just 7 channels... The animation here is great, Like shows like fireball XL5, The Thunderbirds,and Supercar these shows were the best even to today's standards...Ya hav to luv this especially when you grew up in the 60's....

[ITT56RLC]

More episode's in colour please ,if its good enough for Laurel and Hardy, its good enough for our childhood hero's .

[rarebutgreat]

XL5 looks great in colour. Brings it bang up to date

[RocketJ42]

Looks great. Just wish that more than one ep had been colorized

[masterstarfox]

you may be lucky.i saw a clip from the first episode of fireball xl5 colourized.

[riccles1960s]

Yes, but if like me, one already has the set as previously issued, it would take more than one colourized episode to Buy It Again !

PR

[DSVOP]

Saw preview on a French site...looks striking.

[xenbear]

Just one episode colourised ? Are they going to do all 39 ?

Wonder why they didnt pick one of the better episodes - 'The Granatoid tanks' or my personal favourite 'XL5 to H20' which terrified me back in the 60s as a kid....

[masterstarfox]

well colour design takes aboult two or three weeks.one designed and approved

the colourizing starts in less than a month.that means it could take ten months to colourize all 39.and they would have to do a lot of research and a lot of colour photos(if they are lucky)

[chetpooner]

Looks amazing in colour!

[romanaii]

drak green kilt

[masterstarfox]

really?!?!i thought it was red.

[romanaii]

went to screening today - fab gerry anderson is such a nice man , still prefer black and white

[masterstarfox]

what did jock and commander zeros wife look like in colour?

[romanaii]

jock's kilt looked fab, the zero's missis in curlers with dark hair funny

[masterstarfox]

really??

[masterstarfox]

really?was jocks kilt red and green?

[kez6666]

Wow. That's just . . . ugly. Glad they didn't do more than a clip.

[masterstarfox]

actully  they colourised a whole episode.

[MrJim]

I think it looks quite good.  Why do you think its ugly Kez?

[masterstarfox]

actully they colourized a whole episode.

[masterstarfox]

it looks as though they asked legend films to colourize it.

[keithangler]

The good old stuff that much of what come later had to have used and basic building blocks.  Recall how Star Trek used the same outward side wings to be space engine nacelles and hovercraft in Star Wars like in this show from 1962. This was the leading edge of the space age story plots. I loved my XL5 toy rocket when I was 5 and 6 years old. It was the best of times. Way before "warning Will Robinson! Danger Danger" was part of the lexicon.

[jmessy007]

oh lovely!!! this is soooo COOOL!

[masterstarfox]

i think fireballxl5 looks better in colour instead of b/w.

[masterstarfox]

oh cool!

[ROXYMAGIC]

looks lovely - are all the episodes colourised?

[MuppetPro]

From the creators of Thunderbirds?

[AndrewJimScott]

From Gerry Anderson.

Hell yeah.