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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 accompanying 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 change.
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| Century 21/Fireball XL5 hybrid by Neville Main |
In the next pic (by Neville Main), we can see that this is the CENTURY 21 ship with the FIREBALL XL5 colour scheme. This comes from the 1962 TV COMIC Annual, which was published before the series premiered on TV, so presumably Neville was supplied with copies of the original design as his primary source of reference. Perhaps the XL5 colours were added at the last moment before the contents were shipped to the printers - any further information from anyone who knows the facts will be gratefully accepted.
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| Art by Reg Hill |
Next up is a presentation illo of the CENTURY 21 logo, as well as a couple of pictures of, again, far more futuristic-looking (in my opinion at least) jetmobiles. These three illustrations are by Reg Hill, who was joint designer - along with Derek 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?
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