"I'D FLY AROUND The UNIVERSE..."

Copyright relevant owner

Hard as it may be for you Crivvies to believe, the original name for FIREBALL XL5 was CENTURY 21 - and though remarkably similar to the shape we all know and love, was actually a silver, sleek and shiny futuristic sky-craft which really did look as if it was a product of the 21st century.  In fact, if memory serves, FIREBALL appeared (or was prepared) as a comic strip in TV COMIC (might've been an annual) before it was broadcast on TV and, although the colours were accurate, the shape was much more in accord with the original Century 21 design by DEREK MEDDINGS. 

So why was it changed?  Honest answer -  I don't know, but the first version of the craft looks as if it had been designed today, not back in the early '60s - it hasn't dated at all.  However, you'll just have to take my word for it until I can dig out the relevant source material and scan it for your perusal.

But that's a post for another time.  For the moment, you'll just have to be satisfied with the covers of the four annuals and the GOLD KEY comic from back in the '60s. Fireball XL5 was the only GERRY ANDERSON programme to be broadcast on network TV in America (the others were syndicated), and consequently was the most successful of all the AP/CENTURY 21 productions in that country.

Remember - click on an image to enlarge, then repeat to enlarge again.  As a bonus, here's the box art illustration from the 1963/'64 QUERCETTI parachute toy.