HYPNOTIC SPHERE

The production team are clearly still finding their feet in this early episode. Script and direction don’t quite gel at certain points, and Alan Fennell’s comic strip background is evident in some of the rather corny dialogue, eg: “he’s got us cold.” Oddities that should have been removed at script editing stage also find their way into the script, such as Steve’s meaningless utterance: “Landing procedure 473. Ten minus zero.” In general, Gerry and Sylvia made quite a poor job of script editing Fireball, certainly in these early episodes, and many inconsistencies are allowed to creep through.

Barry Gray’s score, by contrast, is exemplary, and the music from Hypnotic Sphere ranks amongst Fireball’s best, with a moody jazz theme underscoring the scenes where Steve and Matt approach the EFZ tanker. Sadly, little or none of it was deemed suitable for re-use in later episodes.

There are a number of poorly-lit scenes: a left to right angle across the control cabin is oddly murky and lacking contrast. Similarly, the scenes as Fireball approaches Mirana are dark and obscured by an ill-judged attempt to introduce a smoky atmosphere. It’s possible these few scenes may have been shot on different film stock: they are the worst examples of photography in the entire series, and the effect is jarring when intercut with the crisp, well-exposed black and white footage that was the norm on Fireball. Similarly, the episode suffers rather badly from visible strings on screen. This would be considerably improved as the series progressed. In this instance, the pulsating light from the hypnotic sphere seems to have caused most of the problems.

Visual inconsistencies include Fireball landing directly onto its launching cradle, and the tanker pilots’ uniforms: in subsequent episodes, all space pilots are seen in variants of the Fireball uniform, whereas the pilots in Hypnotic Sphere are dressed similarly to Lt. Ninety. One might infer from this that the original Fireball pilots’ uniform was intended to be the same as that worn by Space City personnel, and indeed Reg Hill’s early production drawings depict Steve Zodiac in this more basic outfit. The EFZ tanker, though not featured in subsequent episodes, can be seen again on the Space City apron in Plant Man From Space, and evidently caught the eye of artist Eric Eden, who included it in two illustrations for the second edition of WM Collins’ Fireball XL5 Annual.

Alan Pattillo’s direction shows some of his trademark effects, such as extreme closeups and inventive angles, especially noticeable in the scenes where Steve and co. confront the brain creature.

In summary, one of Fireball’s weakest episodes, unevenly paced, with no genuine moments of drama and none of the humour that would come to characterise the series. Someone, either at APF or ATV, evidently realised Hypnotic Sphere was a dud, for despite being one of the first episodes completed, it remained unbroadcast until close to the end of the original transmission run.