I regret I don't recall much of this show, and I have no knowledge of it ever being rebroadcast or issued on video, but I believe it tried to be technically accurate in its predictions of foreseeable future technology. For example, the spaceships ('galaspheres' - spelling?) were toroidal, and rotated to simulate gravity. I also have an idea that they used suspended animation on long trips (journey times never seemed to be more than a couple of hours in Fireball XL5!), but can't be certain of that. In response to the question "why 39 episodes?": I believe that TV series are/were often commissioned for 13-week 'seasons', so 39 episodes = 3 series/seasons.