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When I was a kid living in the first house I remember, in the woods at the top of the street there was a fallen tree that I imagined was FIREBALL XL5. I'd sit on the front part of it, pretending it was Fireball Junior and that I was pilot STEVE ZODIAC. When I was around five and a half, we flitted to a bigger house a few minutes away in another street, but I often returned to those woods to play on my tree.
One day my big brother came in and told me that some workmen had turned the tree around while doing something in the woods (no, they weren't bears, so it wasn't that), so at the first opportunity I ran up to see for myself. I was disappointed, not being a fan of change of any kind, but there wasn't anything I could do but accept the cold hard fact of the situation.
When we moved again, I visited 'Fireball' often, even taking some of the loose roots from the upturned base of the tree as mementos of my childhood. At some stage in the '70s (mid-to-late, I think - can't quite remember) old 'XL5' was removed and I never saw it again. (Wouldn't it be weird if there were a wooden ornament in my house made from that tree and I didn't know? I mean, I'd know there was an ornament, but not that it was made from the tree.)
Anyway, fade out the 'TWILIGHT ZONE' theme. I don't have a photo of the tree to show you (took some, but never had them developed), so I thought I'd show you a piccie of Fireball XL5 itself. Don't know who the artist is, but it's a pretty neat illustration. Always loved those jet-mobiles - anyone know where I can buy a real one?
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(Yeah, some of my posts are pretty weird, ain't they? Thing is, I just wanted an excuse to show you this image of Fireball XL5, hence the personal reminiscence.)
4 comments:
Interesting to see how slightly off-model XL5 is....but to the guy doing the pic back then, it was just another job, it was just a kids' TV show, so meh.
These days you could get someone who, at the same age, could do an on-point rendition with barely any reference needed virtually as a labour of love.
Now, if it was "Space Patrol"l.....
'Slightly' being the operative word, BS, as its chief 'flaw' is that Fireball Junior's a wee bit pointed. However, artists weren't always provided with sufficient reference back then (from all the proper angles), sometimes having to make do with just a few photographs. Still a lovely illustration I'd say.
BS raised a point there, which got me thinking, - which did you prefer as a kid, - Fireball or Space Patrol?
For me, it was Space Patrol!
Definitely Fireball. I don't remember with any great clarity actually seeing Space Patrol on TV now, although I know I did because I used to draw the spacecraft thingy. I DO remember seeing it in TV Comic.
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