Continuity mistake: We see that the XL18 pilot is sitting in the right seat of the cockpit. In the next shot he has changed to the left seat.
Fireball XL5 (1962)
Starring: David Graham, John Bluthal, Paul Maxwell, Sylvia Anderson
Continuity mistake: In one shot, the XL18 Pilot is sitting in the right seat of the cockpit. In the next shot he has changed to the left seat.
Factual error: As the robot bird approaches Earth, South America is the wrong way around.
Trivia: At the beginning of the episode when Venus is telling the story to Jonathan in his room, look at the bookcase behind him and you can see a "Supercar" book, which was Gerry Anderson's previous show.
Trivia: Producer Gerry Anderson provided the voice of Robert the Robot in this series.
Trivia: The characters of "Fireball XL5" frequently left the protection of their spacecraft and floated around in open space with no helmets or spacesuits whatsoever. Producer Gerry Anderson's lame explanation was that, in the year 2067, spacefarers used "oxygen pills" that not only kept them oxygenated but also protected them from vacuum, lethal radiation and temperature extremes (so they didn't need spacesuits). In reality, the "Fireball XL5" characters didn't wear spacesuits or helmets because costume changes meant literally ripping the previous costumes off the puppets and meticulously sewing on new costumes, which would have exceeded the show's production schedule and budget.
Question: In various episodes, Steve Zodiac, Venus and Matt use odd slang, such as "tootie" and "tooties" and "toot," usually in a demeaning or disparaging way. Venus says, "I'm a tootie!" when she forgets to make the coffee, for example, and Steve says "I'm a tootie!" when he forgets to press a certain button or something. In at least one episode, Matt is called "a cheating old toot." I gather that saying "toot" or "tootie" is like saying "fool" or "doofus" or something similar. Is this slang that producer Gerry Anderson just arbitrarily dreamed up? Or is it part of an English dialect that I've never heard elsewhere?
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Answer: Been living in the UK, man and boy, for 70 years and "tootie" is not a word we have ever used. So why Gerry Anderson uses it is a complete mystery.