Five Star Five

The peaceful planet Kestra faces a Zargon invasion directed from an asteroid fortress. Colonel Zana turns to freighter captain John Lovell, who gathers an unconventional group to take on the threat. Clarence the talking chimpanzee, Rudy the robot and the mystic Sumara are among the characters who make this a very different kind of rescue mission.

Five Star Five began as an ambitious feature-film project by Gerry Anderson and Tony Barwick. The film was never made, but the story later reached readers and listeners through Richard James’ novelisation and Robbie Stevens’ audiobook performance.

Development followed the end of Space: 1999. During the late 1970s, Gerry worked with music producer Sydney Rose to raise finance, with Tony Barwick developing the script. John Guillermin was attached as director, and preparations included studio bookings for live action at Pinewood and effects at Bray.

The intended 1979 production lost its funding before filming could begin. Surviving material includes the screenplay and a limited body of design and promotional work. It should be approached as an unmade film project, rather than a missing completed production.

Richard James adapted the screenplay as Five Star Five: John Lovell and the Zargon Threat in 2021. The novel follows the original adventure, allowing its planets, characters and large-scale action to exist without the practical limits that had stopped the film.

The audiobook is read by Robbie Stevens, with music and sound design by Benji Clifford and production by Jamie Anderson. It is an audiobook performance of the novelisation, distinct from a full-cast drama or a soundtrack to a finished film.

Listen to the audiobook sample for a first encounter with the world and Stevens’ narration.

Five Star Five: The Doomsday Device is Richard James’ later continuation. It develops the surviving characters, the motives of the Zargons and the consequences of the first adventure. John Lovell’s team remains at the centre, with Colonel Zana taking a larger place in the group.

The distinction matters: The Zargon Threat adapts Gerry Anderson and Tony Barwick’s screenplay, while The Doomsday Device is a new sequel by James. Read his account of continuing the story; the interview discusses events from the first book.

With so little original production design surviving, later artists have explored how the unmade film might have looked. Designing Five Star Five presents one such interpretation of its spacecraft and settings. Those illustrations are later visualisations, not evidence that those exact designs were approved for the 1979 production.

Start with John Lovell and the Zargon Threat, then continue to The Doomsday Device. For another abandoned Anderson screen concept brought to life in prose and audio, explore Intergalactic Rescue 4.

The earlier archive entry preserved this extract from the opening scene. It shows the speed and scale envisaged for the unmade film.

THE TIME …. THE FUTURE THE PLACE …. THE UNIVERSE EXT. PLANET KESTRA. DAY. We are following an AEROSPACE VEHICLE. It is flying at zero feet and travelling at FIVE THOUSAND MILES PER HOUR ! It hugs the contours of the planet; one moment skimming over the sea•••then climbing steeply to cross a 20,000 ft. mountain range•••now diving almost vertically into the plain below•••pulling out to fly along a narrow valley, the hills either side accentuating the already sickening visual sense of speed. INT. AEROSPACE VEHICLE. DAY. 30 SHOCKTROOPS from the aggressive planet ZARGON••• 15 seated each side. Dressed in black, wearing helmets with built-in air supply and communication facilities, the ZARGON SHOCKTROOPS look bizarre. REVERSE ON LEUTNA He is an officer. Young, intense… he sits in a single seat facing his men, his face impassive. The AEROSPACE VEHICLE angles as it streaks under Planet KESTRA’s electronic surveillance.

Original film screenplay: Gerry Anderson and Tony Barwick. Late-1970s development; planned filming in 1979 did not proceed. Director attached: John Guillermin. Novelisation and later sequel: Richard James. First audiobook released in 2021, narrated by Robbie Stevens.