Fireball XL5: The Vault

32 - Filmed In SUPERMARIONATION/Faster Than Light

In 2014, Gerry Anderson vintage comic issues 2014 of classic ITC shows from the 1960s and 1970s. The Gerry Anderson: A Life In Pictures book was released in June 2014 from Anderson Entertainment, whilst Egmont Books also issued Inside The Worlds Of Gerry Anderson, which showed excellent cutaways of Anderson SUPERMARIONATION crafts by Graham Bleatham. The book was released in November 2014. The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra released another remix of their version of the themes for Fireball XL5 the same year. The Tornados released their remix for the series early in 2015. In 2009, Stephen La Riviere had written his brilliant Filmed In SUPERMARIONATION book, revealing the details about the 7 marionette series. In 2014, he updated his book alongside a critically acclaimed SUPERMARIONATION documentary, with a special BFI screening taking place of the documentary, followed by a general release of the film (packed with special features) on 20th October 2014 on DVD. A deluxe SUPERMARIONATION box set was released the same day with a limited edition of 2,500 units produced. It contained a Blu Ray of the documentary, commemorative postcards, TV21 edition 243, the updated La Riviere book, This Is SUPERMARIONATION and HD21. The Filmed In SUPERMARIONATION and This Is SUPERMARIONATION were released in a double Blu Ray pack, and the HD21 Blu Ray set was released individually on 2nd March 2015. Fireball XL5 appeared in HD again in this set with Space City Special appearing on the This Is SUPERMARIONATION set, and Planet 46 and XL5 to H20 appearing on the HD21 set. The episodes were scanned and restored in HD but were not fully remastered until its later full Blu Ray release. At one stage, the original negatives for Planet 46 went walkabout for a little while before being returned in safe hands.

One little thing about the documentary (this is a bit of tangent, but) is that I feel that the documentary spent a lot of time on the lead up of the AP Films team up to the success of Thunderbirds, but after Thunderbirds, the documentary brushes over Captain Scarlet and the feeling the documentary gives is that "oh it was never going to be as good" as Thunderbirds. The same goes for Joe 90 and The Secret Service, the three series, as the film unfairly depicts, after Thunderbirds had the AP Films/Century 21 Team declining in quality and popularity :(.

In 2015, the Cult TV Awards recognized the works of the Andersons. Steve Zodiac was added to the Hall of Fame for Animated Characters. The SUPERMARIONATION documentary was hailed as the Blu-ray/DVD Presentation of the Year. On 10th March 2015, the Region 1 DVD of Fireball XL5 was rereleased by Shout Factory among a host of SUPERMARIONATION rereleases which contained the previous US commentaries and The Noble Art Of Fireball XL5 documentary. The new DVDs were announced for a rerelease back in late 2014. At the same time in 2015, ITV announced new Gerry Anderson licences meaning that a new wave of merchandise was generated in order to expand its licencing program. A new comic release of various Anderson strips in The Gerry Anderson Comic Collection from the 1960s and 70s brought together a variety of stories from the pages of TV21 including;

Fireball XL5; The Vengeance of Saharis, Electrode 909 and The Giant Ant Invasion.
Stingray; The Flying Fish Mystery, The Medallion Mystery and The Monster Weed.
Lady Penelope; Behind Enemy Lines and Steelman Strikes Back.
Thunderbirds; Revolt on Jupiter, Jungle Adventure, Danger in Deep and Seeking Disaster.
Zero-X; Return to the Red Planet and Prisoners of the Star.
Captain Scarlet; We Will Destroy Earth Communications, Secret Mission and Blue Mysteronised!.
Joe 90: Collision Disaster and Mac Missing.

On 28th September, Amberley Publishing released a book about various Gerry Anderson collectables. Ian Fryer, in April 2016, released his excellent The Worlds Of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson: The Story Behind International Rescue through Fronthill Media, which contained several excellent pages of Fireball XL5. Profiles in History were auctioning off some original Fireball XL5 book artwork by Mel Crawford – with the auction on 9 June 2017. Lot 390 in their Animation Auction consisted of Mel Crawford's original artwork for Fireball XL5's  Little Golden Book Complete including the cover. The book, originally published by Golden Press in 1964, was a Fireball XL5 TV tie-in book. The artwork was done in gouache on artist board. And the pages up for auction measured 8 x 6.5 in. to 8.5 x 7 in. The cover measured 11.5 x 9.5 in. It came with a copy of the Little Golden Book. In fine condition. $6,000 – $8,000 The winner of the lot received a print copy of the Little Golden Book. The collection of art boards was expected to raise between $6,000 – $8,000

At the Fanderson 2017 convention "Special Assignment", a number of tracks from the various Barry Gray scores featured soundtracks to the XL5 episodes Hypnotic Sphere, Space Magnet, and The Doomed Planet. A new trading card set was released of the series among various other Anderson series the same year. In 2018, a new Century 21 Slough documentary was made early in 2019 about the SUPERMARIONATION era and was made available to watch on Amazon Prime, and through Century 21 Films on DVD and Blu Ray. In 2019, a SUPERMARIONATION calendar was released from the Gerry Anderson store containing inside pictures of Fireball XL5. The same year, a remix by DollSquad of Fireball and Aqua Marina from Stingray by Dave Mayberry was featured on the Future Legend Cult Themes Forever album. 

On 7th May 2020, Planet 46 was available with other SUPERMARIONATION episodes to stream on BRITBOX, but the episodes were removed shortly afterwards again. They were put back on 18th March 2021, and were removed again on 7th January 2022. A special release of Filmed In SUPERMARIONATION and This Is SUPERMARIONATION (containing Space City Special) were rereleased on 20th July 2020. The 2020 Profound Records release of Barry Gray-Early Works contained the theme music and song to the series. In January 2021, Silva Screen Records issued their LP and CD release of soundtrack highlights from the series, which contained, only highlights mind you, of, music from the episodes the theme music, Zero G, Fireball, Planet 46, Hypnotic Sphere, Planet Of Platonia, Space Magnet, The Doomed Planet, Plant Man From Space, Space Monster, Flying Zodiac, XL5 to H20, Prisoner On The Lost Planet, Flight To Danger, Space Vacation, 1875, Drama At Space City, Ghosts In Space, and The Day In The Life Of A Space General. The same Fireball XL5/Zero G album from 1962 was also reissued by Silva Screen records the same year.

FASTER THAN LIGHT;

Written by Dennis Spooner

Directed by Bill Harris

Original UK Airdate: 2nd June 1963 (ATV London and Ulster)

Additional Voice Cast:

Major Duncan John Bluthal

This is an interesting and experimental episode which sees the series go in a new direction, beyond where the Fireball crew had gone before into a new realm, further than any man had gone before, which I love! This episode seems to be lit quite darkly but this could be how the best prints have survived. Nevertheless, this adds perfectly to the atmosphere of the series. With a tantalising new concept for the series, perfect for the premise of the series, and a suitable eerie setting, we see another totally different alien the series has to offer - a strange, hostile and aggressive alien bird, produced from the misty fog in space. Dr. Venus, having suffered badly from the alien strain, ensures that she follows the best advice she can for her case - rest! And Paul Maxwell's dramatic performance helps to suggest the high stakes nature of this story. For its interesting concept that fulfils the premise of the series perfectly, combined with its spooky atmosphere, Faster Than Light is I think one of the strongest episodes of the series.