Fireball XL5 Ep 9: Flying ZodiacRating out of 10: 4.5
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0803295/?ref_=ttep_ep9Review (SPOILERS AHEAD):This one was... dated in its views, to say the least. It had a few good underpinnings of ideas, but any merit these had was more than undercut by and utterly horrible framing/plotwriting.
The basic plot is "Fireball does a circus, gypsies plan world domination". This is not a great starting point. There are some not-awful aspects to it; the idea of aliens seeking a permanent home using spies to infiltrate earth isn't bad at all, and the characterisation of their leader is relatively good. The explicit implications and inherent othering of "evil gypsies" as a trope is however bothersome, and utilises some deep rooted and quite unpleasant prejudices. The mix of the zany circus plot with the "serious" world domination plot just doesn't work - the Nomadians' motivations aren't explored effectively or interestingly (again, relying too heavily on the idea of "circuses attract travelling people who come and take over your settled regions").
And that's not the end of it either; the framing of the story is
terrible. The "it was all a dream" framing hook is horrible and should (almost) never be used. Big losses of score for doing so. Fireball isn't incapable of doing cleverer framed episodes (Space Pirates for example is fine as it indicates some nice ambiguity) but having the whole thing obviously being a daydream takes any tension out of anything that happens and serves no other obvious or useful purpose.
Basically, not one to bother watching a second time, or indeed a first time unless you want to for the sake of completeness.
