Alicia
I love this movie so much
Phonearl
Good start, but then it gets ruined
Tobias Burrows
It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
Kimball
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Neil Welch
I haven't bought the DVD set (I should add "yet", I suppose. But let me see what I remember:Robert the Robot intoning "On our way home" at the end of the episodeThose fabulous hover scootersZoonie the Lazoon's distinctive vocalisations (and sucker fingers) Venus (ah, Venus! the first artificial female I improbably fancied)(odd that Lady Penelope sounded exactly like her...) That take-off ramp, the second of Gerry Anderson's increasingly elaborate launch sequences My plastic Fireball XL5 model kit Every word of the theme song. All together now, "I wish I was a spaceman..." My die-cast Fireball XL5 model Fireball XL5 in TV21 comicCome on, I was 10! It was great! Now, where can I get those DVDs?
rthorsen
Every Saturday morning I would tune in to see this show, it was my earliest favorite that I can remember. I think I was 5 or 6 years old. It was pretty well done for that time, although in B&W, it featured good characters, cool rockets and special effects, and best of all, it stirred the imagination. I always remember the jetmobiles, and for my birthday, I got an Fireball XL-5 playset, which costs my mother a whopping $5. It was the best. When I got a little older, I figured out that I could do something close with an 8mm camera, using GI Joes as my cast, and plastic models (blown up with fire crackers and set on fire, of course) for special effects. And then along came the "Thunderbirds"...
radiotesla2001
Loved this show as a kid. It definitely shaped my interest in Sci Fi. Also, the theme songs still strike a chord with me, no matter how dated they are! They are simply great in their tone and straight-forward sincerity.Also, as a Star Trek fan, I can not help but wonder if Roddenberry had not been influenced by the XL5 design. After all, the saucer section of the original Enterprise was detachable, just as XL5's nose, even though they never showed it in the original series. Mention was made of it once, when Kirk told Scotty to 'Break out of there with the main section, if you have to', or something along those lines, when the machine Val was pulling the Enterprise down from orbit.XL5 FOREVER!
Rob_Taylor
My partner bought the entire series recently on DVD and I'm now being subjected to it. At least, the first few episodes deserve the word "subjected", because, after several episodes, I'm finding it to be annoyingly compulsive viewing.Sure, the effects are rubbish, the science is just plain silly (people can breath in space, for example, and have to "Swim" to get anywhere), the main HQ building rotates for no apparent purpose and the show is incredibly dated in terms of attitudes to the only female member of the crew and so on.Yet, despite these failings, it still manages to fascinate me. I never saw the show when it originally aired (I wasn't even born!), and my only knowledge of it came from a couple of TV Century 21 annuals I had in early life. I suspect that, had I been a kid when it was shown, I would have loved it. Even now, as an adult, it has things to offer, even if they are only seeing how ludicrous some of the puppets are and what new foolishness the crew can come up with.It's a little annoying to see the patronising attitude towards Venus who is relegated to housework (aboard the ship) and repeating the phrase "Steve, I'm scared" a lot.Still, for its day it was ground-breaking stuff and, although it may not stand up to modern values (both in production and sexism terms) it still is fun to watch.Ignore how cheap it all looks and just enjoy it.
