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The series features the spaceship of the title, commanded by Steve Zodiac of the World Space Patrol. Also aboard were the glamorous Doctor Venus, middle-aged scientist Professor Matthew Matic, and Zodiac's co-pilot Robert the Robot, notable for being transparent, and also for being the only character in a Gerry Anderson series that was actually voiced by Anderson himself, although his voice was distorted by a vocoder.

Fireball XL5 is based at Space City, located on an artificial island in the South Atlantic, headquarters of the World Space Patrol headed by Commander Zero. Zero's Communications Officer is Lieutenant Ninety (whose name was later to inspire the name of another Anderson character, Joe 90Joe 90 is a mid 1960s Sylvia and Gerry Anderson television show which used a form of puppetry called " Supermarionation", concerning the adventures of a young boy who could be programmed with any imaginable skill using a large computer called BIGRAT (an a). For some unspecified reason the headquarters is based in a rotating tower. Fireball XL5 takes off along an inclined track or sky ramp - see link below - which Anderson claims was insired by an old Soviet design, although it had also been used in the movie When Worlds CollideWhen Worlds Collide is a 1951 science fiction film directed by Rudolph Mate. Filmed in Technicolor. When Worlds Collide was Winner of the 1951 Academy Award for Best Special Effects. The film is based on a book of the same name co-written by Philip Gordon.

Barry Gray's closing theme song, "Fireball", with added lyrics about space travel and imagination, became a minor hit in Britain.

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1 Cast of characters

• Colonel Steve Zodiac
• Doctor Venus
• Professor Mathew Mattic
• Robert the Robot
• Zoony the Lazoon
• Commander Zero
• Lieutenant Ninety

2 See also

• Sylvia and Gerry AndersonGerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson are most famous as the production team for several futuristic children's television shows involving specially modified marionettes, a process called " supermarionation". Their most famous production is Thunderbirds which
• Supermarionation
• Supercar (television)Supercar was a children's TV show produced by Gerry Anderson's AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment. 39 episodes were produced between 1961 and 1962. In the UK it was seen on ITV and in the US in syndication. The format utilizes puppets in a technique c
• Thunderbirds (TV series)Thunderbirds is a mid- 1960s Sylvia and Gerry Anderson television show which used a form of puppetry called " Supermarionation". Cast, crew, and production notes Thunderbirds was the fourth and by far the most successful of the children's series made by A