More Lost In Space Questions?

[Keith1701]

I have been watching Lost in Space again on DVD. If anybody knows the answers to following questions, please let me know?

a. Why did Doctor Smith in the first episode want the robot to destroy the Jupiter II? I know that he was talking to somebody about his mission, but I never why he wanted to destroy the ship in the first place...

b. Why was Angela Cartwright (playing Penny) not really used very much in every episode? You would thought that would have used her more after the success of The Sound of Music.

c. Did STAR TREK ever beat Lost in Space in the ratings?

d. Did the cast of STAR TREK and cast LOST in Space, ever meet on each others sets? The reason that I'm asking this question is that I saw on youtube that Will Robinson did meet Batman.

e. Also, I saw on youtube that Billy Mumy acted on an episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, doesn't anybody have a picture or clip that they could post from this episode?

f. Did the CBS executives feel the same way about Lost in Space as did the NBC executives felt about STAR TREK?

 

[Maurice]

I have been watching Lost in Space again on DVD. If anybody knows the answers to following questions, please let me know?

I'll take a stab.

a. Why did Doctor Smith in the first episode want the robot to destroy the Jupiter II? I know that he was talking to somebody about his mission, but I never why he wanted to destroy the ship in the first place...

Never explained. His employers wanted the mission sabotaged.

b. Why was Angela Cartwright (playing Penny) not really used very much in every episode? You would thought that would have used her more after the success of The Sound of Music.

She would have been better known to most TV audiences of the time from her role on make Room for Daddy (1957–65). Penny gets a bit more focus in some early episodes, but since boys were portrayed as rambunctious, the writers likely gravitated towards Will. And once they saw how well the Will+Smith+Robot scenes worked the die was cast.

c. Did STAR TREK ever beat Lost in Space in the ratings?

Do you mean did Star Trek ever have a higher rating than any given Lost In Space episode?

d. Did the cast of STAR TREK and cast LOST in Space, ever meet on each others sets? The reason that I'm asking this question is that I saw on youtube that Will Robinson did meet Batman.

Unlikely. Batman and Lost in Space were both shot at the Fox lot, and Trek over at Desilu.

e. Also, I saw on youtube that Billy Mumy acted on an episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, doesn't anybody have a picture or clip that they could post from this episode?

You can Google that yourself. But there's this:
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgZ9_necOC4[/yt]

f. Did the CBS executives feel the same way about Lost in Space as did the NBC executives felt about STAR TREK?

No one really knows how various NBC execs felt about Star Trek. Gene liked to portray the network as some kind of big opponent, but some of the internal memos paint a different picture. As I've said before, if NBC didn't like the show, they've have killed it earlier.

 

[Redfern]

A. The narrator (voiced by Dick Tufeld, also the voice of the Robot) stated in the first episode "other nations" wanted to beat the US in colonizing outer space and would go to any lengths to achieve those ends.

D. A thread within the "original series" sub-forum here displayed a photo of Shatner in the same frame as Jonathan Harris along with the latter's son. Neither were in costume ans I'm not even sure if one was actually visiting the other's set. It may have been somewhere else.

F. I've read conflicting accounts, but again in the TOS sub-forum, one of the members claims CBS was willing to offer Allen a 4th season, but at a budget even Allen thought too cheap. So the series was cancelled.

The others, well, someone will have to answer those.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Keith1701]

I have been watching Lost in Space again on DVD. If anybody knows the answers to following questions, please let me know?

I'll take a stab.

a. Why did Doctor Smith in the first episode want the robot to destroy the Jupiter II? I know that he was talking to somebody about his mission, but I never why he wanted to destroy the ship in the first place...

Never explained. His employers wanted the mission sabotaged.


She would have been better known to most TV audiences of the time from her role on make Room for Daddy (1957–65). Penny gets a bit more focus in some early episodes, but since boys were portrayed as rambunctious, the writers likely gravitated towards Will. And once they saw how well the Will+Smith+Robot scenes worked the die was cast.




Do you mean did Star Trek ever have a higher rating than any given Lost In Space episode?




Unlikely. Batman and Lost in Space were both shot at the Fox lot, and Trek over at Desilu.

e. Also, I saw on youtube that Billy Mumy acted on an episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, doesn't anybody have a picture or clip that they could post from this episode?

You can Google that yourself. But there's this:

f. Did the CBS executives feel the same way about Lost in Space as did the NBC executives felt about STAR TREK?

No one really knows how various NBC execs felt about Star Trek. Gene liked to portray the network as some kind of big opponent, but some of the internal memos paint a different picture. As I've said before, if NBC didn't like the show, they've have killed it earlier.

Thank You so much for your answers. I was hoping that Star Trek would beaten Lost in Space on some episodes in the ratings. When both series were on the air (1965-67), I enjoyed Star Trek from the beginning but over time I started to enjoy Lost In Space as well. I just thought that Lost In Space was more funny than Science Fiction. Also, I have always enjoyed the theme music from both series. Lost In Space had more an action theme which I still enjoy still even today.{both themes}

 

[Keith1701]

A. The narrator (voiced by Dick Tufeld, also the voice of the Robot) stated in the first episode "other nations" wanted to beat the US in colonizing outer space and would go to any lengths to achieve those ends.

D. A thread within the "original series" sub-forum here displayed a photo of Shatner in the same frame as Jonathan Harris along with the latter's son. Neither were in costume ans I'm not even sure if one was actually visiting the other's set. It may have been somewhere else.

F. I've read conflicting accounts, but again in the TOS sub-forum, one of the members claims CBS was willing to offer Allen a 4th season, but at a budget even Allen thought too cheap. So the series was cancelled.

The others, well, someone will have to answer those.

Sincerely,

Bill

Bill,
Thanks, as well for answering some my questions. I was hoping that two casts were have met in some way. It is hard for me to believe that CBS wanted to give Lost In Space a fourth season but NBC must NOT have felt the same way about Star Trek.

 

[RandyS]

I don't know the answers to your questions, but I'd like to pose one of my own. A while back, somebody here mentioned a release of a 10 disk Lost in Space soundtrack set similar to the Star Trek one released in November 2012. I've searched all over the internet, but outside of a mention on Facebook (which also told me nothing but that it was coming), I can't find anything. Anybody here know when it will be released? Or if t was just a rumor?

Also Keith, nice to see you are still doing your Lost in Space re-watch. So am I. Where are you? I'm on Space Primevals, on the second disk of the first half of season three.

 

[Maurice]

Why is it important that Star Trek had better ratings? Lost In Space became squarely aimed at a youth audience, whereas Star Trek wasn't. Fact of the matter is while Lost In Space wasn't a smash hit, it typically fared better in the ratings than Star Trek and clearly was able to attract enough advertisers to keep CBS renewing it.

Also, the shows did not run from 1965–67. Lost In Space ran from fall 1965 into summer of 1968, where Star Trek ran from fall 1966 into summer of 1969.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgZ9_necOC4[/yt]

Thanks for posting that. That's pretty cool, especially hearing the part about needing Paramount's approval to change the line.

 

[Keith1701]

Thanks for posting that. That's pretty cool, especially hearing the part about needing Paramount's approval to change the line.

yeah, I enjoyed that part as well.

 

[Silvercrest]

A. The narrator (voiced by Dick Tufeld, also the voice of the Robot) stated in the first episode "other nations" wanted to beat the US in colonizing outer space and would go to any lengths to achieve those ends.

Jeez, they don't have to sabotage anything. Just send out ships that carry two families instead of one.

 

[Maurice]

That's not how the "space race" worked.

 

[Silvercrest]

LiS isn't exactly how the space race worked, either. I'm just going by the show's own logic. If the U.S. colonization efforts were really run one family at a time, it wouldn't be hard to beat.

 

[Keith1701]

I don't know the answers to your questions, but I'd like to pose one of my own. A while back, somebody here mentioned a release of a 10 disk Lost in Space soundtrack set similar to the Star Trek one released in November 2012. I've searched all over the internet, but outside of a mention on Facebook (which also told me nothing but that it was coming), I can't find anything. Anybody here know when it will be released? Or if t was just a rumor?

Also Keith, nice to see you are still doing your Lost in Space re-watch. So am I. Where are you? I'm on Space Primevals, on the second disk of the first half of season three.

Hello, I'm currently on Season 3, Episode 15 as well, "The Anti-Matter Man" and to me I'm really enjoying watch these old episodes once again on DVD. Please, keep me posted and would like for you to add me your list of friends, here on the TREK BBS.

 

[Velocity]

LiS isn't exactly how the space race worked, either. I'm just going by the show's own logic. If the U.S. colonization efforts were really run one family at a time, it wouldn't be hard to beat.

The US didn't want to risk more people than necessary in this new venture, I guess. The family had a certain route and destination programmed into the Jupiter II and they were going to send information back to Earth about their environment, etc, and depending on their success, other families were going to join them. Dr. Smith sabotaged the ship so they ended up in a totally different and unknown place so he did effectively destroy the mission since there was no communication with Earth possible.

 

[Silvercrest]

I wonder what would have constituted "success." Not dying as soon as they stepped out of the ship? It's not like they'd have the opportunity to be fruitful and multiply. Perhaps if the Jupiter was designed as a cargo vessel with large amounts of material? The Robinsons could have been sent ahead to set up a colony on a known habitable world. Others would follow as soon as they sent the signal. That would justify sending a single family — and it would certainly be nipped in the bud if Dr. Smith sabotaged it. As it was, it's hard to tell what the Robinsons expected to do.

Ah, Irwin, you lovable loon....

 

[Velocity]

Well, Judy and the pilot were pretty friendly and totally able to multiply but anyone else in that group would be icky.

 

[Keith1701]

More Questions:

Does anybody know if the Sci-Fi Channel is going to run another Lost In Space Marathon, since this year is the show's 50th Anniversary?

I just watch the Lost In Space, 1998 movie ~~ Does anybody know if there was any talk of putting the series back on CBS with a different cast?

 

[Starscream2112]

^^

http://deadline.com/2014/10/lost-in-space-reboot-dracula-writers-legendary-tv-848901/