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| Century 21. Art by Derek Meddings |
Two posts back, I referred to the fact that, when FIREBALL XL5 was first envisaged, it was called CENTURY 21. In the above illustration by the late DEREK MEDDINGS, we can see what the craft was originally intended to look like. Why did they change it? At this point I don't know - the original design was certainly more futuristic, so one can only wonder as to the reasons for the revision.
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| Century 21/Fireball XL5 hybrid by Neville Main |
In the above picture drawn by NEVILLE MAIN, we can see that this is the Century 21 ship with Fireball XL5's colour scheme. This comes from the 1963 TV COMIC Annual, published before the series had even premiered on TV, so presumably Neville was supplied with the original design as his primary source of reference. Perhaps the XL5 colours were added at the last moment before the strip was shipped to the printers - any further information from anyone knowing the pertinent facts will be welcome. However, going by the shape of the ship, my speculation seems like a reasonable one, as there's no other scenario I can think of which would explain the results.
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| Art by Reg Hill |
Next up (above) is a presentation illustration of the Century 21 logo, as well as a couple of pics of, again, (in my humble opinion) far more futuristic-looking jetmobiles. These illos are by REG HILL, who was joint designer - along with Meddings - of the Fireball XL5 ship.
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| Steve on jetmobile. Art by Reg Hill |
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| Art by Reg Hill |
A fascinating look at what could have been, don't you think?
6 comments:
Excellent article - thank you!
Thank you, sir.
Another XL-5 proto-ship appeared in the SUPERCAR 1962 annual. It was called the SUPER-R
Thank you, sir. I'll take a look.
I see what you mean about Century 21 Kid. On balance I do think Fireball XL5 is a catchier name. I've often wondered if this was the first appearance of the phrase Century 21 in the worlds of Gerry Anderson. It is a pity that JR21 didn'y issue it as a standard friction drive or remote control toy, rather than the Quercetti inspired flyer they released.
That would've been great, but I don't think JR21 started doing toys until Thunderbirds came out, unless I'm mistaken. There was a friction-drive Fireball toy, as you'll know, as well as an accurately-detailed Airfix kit, neither of which I had as a kid. However, I remember seeing the FD toy in a shop window once, but my parents wouldn't buy it for me.
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