February 1965, this was a semi-educational adventure about a sleeping boy who has a dream in which he meets the XL5 crew, who teach him about spaceflight and the Apollo programme. Patrick Moore was scientific advisor on the production. Fireball XL5 also spawned tie-ins including toys, an MPC playset with rocket ship and figures, model kits, puppets, ray guns, water pistols, comic strips, and annuals. A black-and-white comic strip, drawn by Neville Main, was printed in TV Comic from 1962 to 1964. In January 1965, the strip moved to the newly-launched TV Century 21 comic, where it remained for the next five years. The comics adventures, written by Tod Sullivan and drawn by Mike Noble, were printed in colour until 1968, when it evolved into a text feature. Four annuals, featuring comic strips and text stories, were published by Collins between 1963 and 1966. The Fireball XL5 strips from TV Century 21 were reprinted in Countdown (later named TV Action) in 1971 and 1972 and again in Engale Marketing's Action 21 in 1988 and 1989. In the US, Gold Key Comics published a single-issue comic book in 1963; the following year, Little Golden Books published a colour illustrated storybook which was released in the UK under the title Fireball XL5 – A Big Television Book. The series was released on Region 1 DVD by A&E Home Video in 2003. A Region 2 box set with new bonus material was released in 2009, superseding a 2004 version which had no extras. Also in 2009, a colourised version of the episode "A Day in the Life of a Space General" was released on Blu-ray Disc. In 2021, Network Distributing released the full series on Blu-ray. Translations : Fusée XL5 : El Capitán Marte y el XL5. In the version shown in Latin American countries, Colonel Zodiac is called Capitán Marte ("Captain Mars") : Πύρινη Σφαίρα (Pyrine Sphaera = Ball of Fire) : 宇宙船XL-5 (Uchuusen XL-5 = Spaceship XL-5) References Works cited External links Fireball XL5 at the official Gerry Anderson website 1960s British children's television series 1960s British science fiction television series 1962 British television series debuts 1963 British television series endings AP Films Black-and-white British television shows British children's action television series British children's adventure television series British children's science fiction television series British television shows featuring puppetry English-language television shows Fictional spacecraft ITV children's television shows Marionette films NBC original