Fireball XL5 was the second of legendary Gerry Anderson's to go out under the iconic banner "Filmed In SUPERMARIONATION". Set between the years 2062 and 2063, the series told the heroic adventures of Colonel Steve Zodiac and the crew of Fireball XL5...
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Barry Gray pioneered the use of early synthesisers such as the theremin and the ondes Martenont (a French instrument which produced sound oscillations controlled from a keyboard). In the opening titles, saxophones are used at the start, followed by electronic music; ondes Martenot. In scores for Supercar and Fireball XL5, the scores were made in conjunction with orchestral instruments, blending the styles like Maurice Jarre had on Lawrence Of Arabia (1962). Various music of Fireball and Zero G, a specifically scored piece of music for the series, was released in various different formats. Zero G - originally released as a single in 1964 by "Barry Gray and his Spacemakers", this fast-paced piece is introduced by Steve Zodiac (even if to me it sounds more like David Graham's voice than Paul Maxwell's), Venus, and Robert the Robot. The single HMV POP1148 mono also released in 1963 did in fact contain the Zero G theme music on a record that also contained another Blackwell song called Caviare. A Fireball XL5 record containing Fireball and Zero G was released as a single Melodisc 1591 in mono sound in 1962. This was the same record that was released in Australia the same year. In the late 1970s, Barry Gray recorded a list of his favourite compositions for the various Anderson shows he provided music for. Out of the tracks from Fireball XL5, his two favourite tracks were "Fireball" and "Formula Five" - first heard in the episode The Doomed Planet. These are the known recording sessions for music he composed for;
Fireball Melesodic - 2nd February 1962, venue at Olympic Sound Studios, time, 1400-1700, 13 musicians
Fireball XL5/Planet 46 - 1st June 1962, IBC Studio A 0930-1330, 20 musicians
Hypnotic Sphere/Space Magnet - 22nd June 1962, IBC Studio A Studio 0930-1330, 10 musicians
The Doomed Planet/Plant Man From Space, 26th July 1962, IBC Studio A 0930-1330, 10 musicians
Planet Of Platonia, 20th September 1962, IBC Studio A, 14 musicians
XL5 to H20, 19th October 1962, BGS 1400-1800, 11 musicians
Instrumental, 20th February 1963, Olympic, 4 musicians
Journey To The Moon, 19th August 1964, 6 musicians, Jacky Lynton provided vocals for
http://www.tvcentury21.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68:rhapsody-in-gray&catid=116:barry-gray&Itemid=182 - provides an excellent summary of some of Gray's best musicians
The time of recording sessions were made to the best of knowledge, and does not include all the music composed for the entire series. Music was also composed for Space Monster, Flying Zodiac, Prisoner On The Lost Planet, Flight To Danger, Space Vacation, The Granatoid Tanks, Drama At Space City, Ghosts In Space, The Day In The Life Of A Space General, and Space City Special. It was also possible to reuse previous scores from earlier Gray scored productions such as Four Feather Falls and Crossroads To Crime. Scores from Supercar appeared regularly throughout the series, with tracks from the first series such as "Full Boost Vertical" and Amazon Adventure, plus from The Runaway Train, Precious Cargo, Operation SuperStork, Hi-Jack, Calling Charlie Queen, Space For Mitch, Jail Break and The Day Time Stood Still. Fireball XL5's music would later be reused in later Anderson productions. For example, as well as Zodiac's reused puppet appearing in the episode, music from Flying Zodiac is reused in the Stingray story Stand By For Action. The "Formula Five" score from The Doomed Planet appeared in Marineville Traitor, and music from Plant Man From Space was reused in Eastern Eclipse. The same Formula Five music appeared on the radio of Thunderbirds 5 in Trapped In The Sky. Sun Probe reused music from Hypnotic Sphere, Danger At Ocean Deep also reused music from Flying Zodiac, and The Duchess Assignment used tracks from Planet Of Platonia. More Flying Zodiac music appeared in the Captain Scarlet episode The Launching, and many tracks from Planet Of Platonia and XL5 to H20 appeared in the Joe 90 episode Breakout. In See You Down There, the haunting music from Ghosts Of Space was reused.
The music Gray composed for the series is as memorable as always, providing a massive impact and scale to the Anderson shows to Fireball XL5. Oddly, the space style music of the series did not reappear so much throughout the later Anderson (right up to Space: 1999 and even Thunderbirds 2086!) as the music to the other SUPERMARIONATION shows did. Perhaps the comedic and dramatic music was not so suitable for later Anderson productions, but Gray's brilliant efforts here still cannot go unmentioned in helping Fireball XL5 and the Anderson productions become such fondly remembered classics as they are.
WINGS OF DANGER;
Written by Alan Fennell
Directed by David Elliott
Original UK Airdate: 3rd February 1963 (ATV London, Ulster and Anglia)
Additional Voice Cast:
Subterrain 1 John Bluthal Subterrain 2 David Graham
We see the first return of the Subterrainians, who despite being the show's main antagonists, appear in only 4 stories. We also make a return visit to Planet 46 in this episode, and nice to see the Subterrainians who appear in a few episodes of the series' long run of episodes. This is another episode that sticks well into my mind. We see a strange bird floating about Space City, haunting Steve Zodiac. Is it real? Or is Steve going mad? A brilliant mystery surrounds this episode, making it one of the stories that stands out well in the series.
