At last, a company with access to the Gerry Anderson programmes which knows that not all HD programming has to be butchered to 16:9. Network's toe-in-the-water release of Fireball XL5 shows how vintage programming can be treated with dignity and respect. They have included their newly-colourised version of the XL5 episode A Day In The Life Of A Space General on this disc along with an extended version of A Wonderland Of Stardust (the excellent documentary featured in their XL5 boxset) and Four Feather Falls Gun Fight On Main Street.

If you've already got Network's XL5 and Falls DVDs there's really not too much to say about the content of this release, as you'll have seen these episodes already. Of course, you may not have been tempted to buy the XL5 set, feeling that with Carlton's 2003 edition you had everything you needed. So what does the Blu-ray Disc version offer over the DVD? It should go without saying that the detail on Blu-ray is stunning, enabling you to count Commander Zero's eyebrow hairs as he bawls out Lieutenant Ninety. The downside of this clarity is, however, that the puppet wires are even more noticeable than on DVD! What is encouraging, as you can see from these pictures, is that like ITV Global Entertainment's HD mastering of Space:1999, Network has taken in as much of the original film as possible whilst completing the HD transfer. So much so, that you see more of Space City and Four Feather Falls - more of the peripheral detail. Strangely, there's even more than on the colourised DVD version of A Day In The Life Of A Space General, which was actually created from the same HD master as the Blu-ray version.

Of interest to Fanderson members outside the UK will be whether, as with ITV's release of Thunderbirds, these discs can be played around the world. The good news is the HD content on the test disc supplied (XL5 and Four Feather Falls) played on both region A and B players and should therefore work fine on players pretty much anywhere except central/south Asia, China and Eastern Europe. As it was recorded in Standard Definition PAL A Wonderland Of Stardust will only play on region B (UK) players.

Unfortunately, despite being discussed on various internet forums, Network haven't taken this opportunity to correct the fault in the colourised A Day In The Life Of A Space General. It happens at 20:45 - the tanker and freighter have collided and Space City is burning. We see General Ninety's lips move but we just hear explosions, then in the next scene over the scene of destruction we hear Ninety say "Commander Zero, what have I done?". Clearly, somewhere in the colourisation process the pictures of this tiny piece were transposed as the black-and-white version runs correctly. It's a minor but annoying problem, and it's a shame that no-one thought to tell Network directly so they could put it right. This must be an expensive (and important) release for Network and one tiny error cannot be allowed to stop us supporting them by buying the disc, thus encouraging them to give the HD treatment to more in their Anderson catalogue.

A fuller review will appear in FAB 65.