Fireball XL5 was the second of legendary Gerry Anderson's to go out under the iconic banner "Filmed In SUPERMARIONATION". Set between the years 2062 and 2063, the series told the heroic adventures of Colonel Steve Zodiac and the crew of Fireball XL5...
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Above: Merchandising sheet for sales of distributors of merchandise.
By 1963, it was realised that toy product was a powerful source of royalty revenue to companies marketing from their films to turn into toys. Prior to Disney, the Anderson productions were the first big merchandising success in Britain.
These were the only sequences of Fireball XL5 that were ever shot in colour.
Careful management of Fireball XL5 merch was handled by managing director Keith Shackleton (who joined the company in 1960), general manager Derek Cook, and merchandising manager Richard Culley. The success of Fireball XL5 also spawned tie-ins including toys, 2 jigsaws in 1963, 52 sweet cigarette cards issued by Como Confectory limited spread across 2 seasons of 26 cards each, an MPC with rocket ship and figures, a Thermos Flash that came with a lunch box in 1964 from King-Seely Thermos, model kits, paint books from W.m Collins sons and co. Ltd, puppets, ray guns, water pistols, comic strips, and 4 annuals from 1963-1966. Many of these items are now highly prized by collectors.
Several models of Fireball were produced; Fairylite brought out a friction drive model on wheels, while a limited edition Airfix kit of Fireball was available through a Lyons Maid promotional offer. Most fun of all, however, was the 'flying' Fireball rocket from Quercetti (released in the UK through J Rosenthal) which could be catapult-launched up to one hundred metres and returned safely to Earth on the end of a parachute. Shackleton, a vital member of the success of the merchandising products, first met Anderson when they were both non-commissioned officers at RAF Manston in 1948.
