Revisiting Lost In Space...

[Warped9]

For some reason I find myself on something of a nostalgia trip...to a point. To that end I've gathered together some older sic-fi series and plan to give them a revisit. It could be interesting from a more contemporary perspective and given all the other sic-fi we've had over the decades.

In another thread you can check out what I found when I revisited the original Star Trek as well as find a link in the beginning to a revisit of TNG. More recently I revisited the Six Million Dollar Man and a bit before that Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea. The SMDM's 1st season actually held up quite well with some genuinely decent episodes even by today's standards. VTTBOTS didn't do as well although it still had some decent outings. VTTBOTS often suffered from resorting too often on sci-fi cliches (of the era) and heavy handed writing. All that is only partially offset by the still very cool hardware in the series, namely the Seaview and the Flying Sub.

I've also gathered together UFO and Space: 1999 which I'll go through after Lost In Space. Note that I'm focusing on LIS' 1st season since after that the series became unbearably campy.


The first instalment was the unaired pilot "No Place To Hide" in which the Robinson family is dispatched on a deep space voyage to Alpha Centauri for the purpose of proving the viability of deep space colonization to relieve Earth's overpopulation crises.

The episode starts out all right and played rather straight dramatically. I have to admit that I found the depiction of the year 1997 to be somewhat amusing. Everything looked exactly like mid 1960s except for perhaps the computer systems which were/are identical to every other computer system shown in an Irwin Allen sic-fi production of that era. The depiction of way oversized television monitors in what was the Gemini 12's launch command centre made me smile with the knowledge that even in the actual 1997 no such monitors were possible. And it's only recently that we're beginning to see large flat panel monitors of 70-80 inches and up.

Science obviously isn't the strong point here although I'm sure a lot of it would have been missed by most in a 1960's television audience. Hell, a lot of contemporary audiences probably wouldn't catch the science flubs in this. First was the reference to "other galaxies" when humanity had (story wise) barely gotten out of the solar system. The second (and the biggee) was saying that at the speed-of-light the Gemini 12 would take 98 years to get to Alpha Centauri. Is there another Alpha Centauri(?) because the one we all know is only 4.3 light years away (which was already known in the early '60s) and a speed of light ship is only go to take a little more than four years to get there. Of course this ignores the fact that nothing can go at the speed of light, but this is sci-fi after all so it's a gimme. Another big flub (for me) was the depiction of "asteroid's" slamming into the spacecraft and referenced as moving at 25,000 m.p.h. Excuse me, but firstly asteroids are huge objects and even small objects hitting a spacecraft at 25,000 m.p.h. is going to thoroughly total said spacecraft. Story over.

The episode really borrows heavily from The Day The Earth Stood Still soundtrack and theme song which works I suppose for an unaired pilot.

I rather liked the suspended animation tubes with a glow of light rather than something more pedestrian looking and they depict that these were also some sort of inertial chambers that protected the crew from the extreme g-forces of high acceleration. That idea and the look of it does evoke the similar idea seen in Forbidden Planet. What follows next is a mix of nice shots of the spaceship in flight and it's eventual hard landing with more sci-fi cliches. One of the obvious cliches were the crews' silvery flight suits that were probably accepted without question in 1965 (being somewhat similar to the public's general idea of what a real astronaut's suit would be like), but looks so cheesy today.

After the ship lands the episode goes downhill from there. It doesn't veer into camp, not deliberately I think, but it's so laden down with stilted writing and over-the-top acting. Essentially nothing that follows makes any real sense. You have giant cyclopean monsters in a barren desert region with no inkling of what could support these creatures' existence. The native lifeforms shown are badly done as they're basically redressed chimpanzee and an over feathered ostrich(!). But what really got me laughing was seeing John Robinson piggybacking his daughter Penny and her pet alien chimp on his jet rocket pack and yet they're not wearing any safety harness while zipping along at least dozens of feet off the ground! The next moment like this is when Don West goes atop the storm tossed Chariot to effect repairs and yet again without at a least a safety line. What's worse is that when he does get washed over and is hanging on by one hand everyone is freaking out about it when all anyone had to do was look out the transparent side of the Chariot to see West hanging there. I know this may sound like nitpicking, but it's all just too ridiculous to convey any tangible sense of jeopardy and drama.

Part of what makes decent science fiction is more than cool looking gadgetry (which this episode has), but also creating credible scenarios. It just doesn't happen here. After a promising introduction this is essentially comic book level sic-fi done as live-action and similar to many similar B-grade sci-fi films of the 1950s and '60s. Of course it has to be acknowledged that this is also largely what the general public accepted as genuine sci-fi: over-the-top escapism.

It must be noted that this episode does not feature the later familiar Robot or stowaway Dr. Zachary Smith. Both of them would be retconned in later.

I couldn't watch this without thinking of another unaired pilot made around the same time. I'm referring, of course, to Star Trek's unaired 1st pilot "the Menagerie" or what eventually became known as "The Cage" after "The Menagerie" became a two-part episode in Star Trek's first season. The differences between the two unaired pilots are really striking. Whereas as "No Place To Hide" played on so many then familiar sci-fi cliches Star Trek's pilot went out of its way to avoid most of those cliches. Within the context of 1960's era television "The Cage" comes across as really thoughtful and adult level. And it still holds up rather well in most respects.

I admit I was more than disappointed with "No Place To Hide" because I expected more. It wasn't what I remembered of Lost In Space's" early 1st season and I'm interested to see if my memory holds up. As it is I'd grade the episode a 2 out of 5---acknowledging effort, some decent ideas and hardware, but really lacking in overall polish and execution.

 

[sojourner]

Even as a little kid I thought LIS was stupid.

 

[Warped9]

Even as a little kid I thought LIS was stupid.

It goes without saying that LIS can't be looked at with quite the same critical eye as some other SF and sic-fi. It falls apart with any serious scrutiny. The first BIG conceptual flaw for me is the idea of a single family as well as a lone male pilot comprising the entirety of humanity's first colonization effort. It's just way too small a gene pool to even consider such a thing. We're also looking at this with something of a jaundiced eye of contemporary eyes as opposed to the then more common wide-eyed wonder many then had for the idea of space travel.


"The Reluctant Stowaway" ***

An agent of a foreign power sabotages America's first interstellar starflight.

While I've rated it only one star more the series first aired episode is a huge step up from the previous unaired pilot. The writing has been tightened up and the unfolding events make more sense. The addition of the character of Dr. Zachary Smith and the robot are a welcome addition primarily because there's added tangible tension amidst the characters that was previously absent. The meteorite field still strikes me a silly, but most of the other technical references have been rewritten a bit more smartly or at least less obviously arbitrary.

There's, of course, a lot of reused footage from the unaired pilot as I believe there will continue to be throughout the early episodes, but at this point it's mostly exterior space shots. We also get to see more of the now renamed Jupiter 2's interior.

The acting is better this time around and what humour is attempted comes across as more intentional rather than accidental. At this point Dr. Smith's character is much less the comical buffoon he will eventually become and much more a somewhat sinister threat waiting for a chance act.

Suffice to say it's still nowhere near on the same level as Star Trek, but it's a sight better than Lost In Space's previous unaired pilot.

 

[Saga]

Lost in Space is awesome. its simply meant to be a fun show with no deep meaning or message. if you put it under a microscope and analyze every ep you'll just drive yourself mad.

 

[Warped9]

Lost in Space is awesome. its simply meant to be a fun show with no deep meaning or message. if you put it under a microscope and analyze every ep you'll just drive yourself mad.

And this is indeed the way to look at it. What I'm looking at here is how does it still work as just straight adventure.

LIS is definitely something of its time. And it's interesting to note that in its day Lost In Space was quite popular and more so than Star Trek largely because it catered to general audience expectations when it came to sic-fi. Star Trek worked for those who took SF a bit more seriously and it was something that many had to grow into.

At this point early in the series it's rather interesting to see that LIS had a sense of drama, but even this early you can see the initial kernels of silliness that would eventually become a major element of the show.

 

[Kemaiku]

Even as a little kid I thought LIS was stupid.

Yup, the family in space thing is fundementally stupid compared to the extreme investment and importance of the mission. A ragtag crew picked for their expertise, yes, whiny ass kids and arguing parents in space, yawn.

 

[RandyS]

Even as a little kid I thought LIS was stupid.

Yup, the family in space thing is fundementally stupid compared to the extreme investment and importance of the mission. A ragtag crew picked for their expertise, yes, whiny ass kids and arguing parents in space, yawn.

And yet, everybody praises New Galactica, when at it's core, THIS is what it was about.

Lost in Space was a fun show. I have to admit, I don't understand this trend of bashing everything. Even the writers and producers of the shows they make are embarrased by them. Aren't we supposed to be, you know, FANS of this stuff?

 

[sojourner]

Even as a kid in the 70's I was never a fan of LIS. And back then there was so little scifi on tv that virtually everything was treated as gold.

 

[Warped9]

Like many things it comes down to execution. Star Trek has a lot of fictional science, but it was put across in a completely different way. Star Trek was done totally straight as most SF fans like while a more general audience doesn't sweat that stuff. Star Trek made a conscious effort to shed the silliness image that many had/have of sic-fi. LIS made no such pretensions. Indeed LIS embraced the cliches and silliness.

While I can't help but notice all the things that make me cringe about how badly science is depicted in LIS I try not to let it distract me too much from the unfolding story.

One thing I do like about LIS, and something I'd like to have seen in Star Trek TOS, was the inclusion of stellar phenomena like nebulas to sometimes offset the mundanity of just plain black space with a few stars.

 

[Klaus]

Even as a kid I wasn't fond of it, but it does have a certain goofy charm.

...and it was valuable in that it taught me the concept of continuity glitches because EVERY shot of a spaceship taking off was the same clip, no matter what it looked like. I remember being amused to finally see the one with the ship they used every time so it matched.

 

[davejames]

The fact LiS was so cheesy and ridiculous never bothered me. It was the fact there was hardly any wit behind it (unlike other 60s shows like Batman or The Avengers). Except for a handful of fun exchanges between Smith and the Robot, most of the writing was just painfully generic and hackneyed.

Somehow you always end up expecting the show to be a lot more fun than it really is.

 

[mos6507]

What people seem to forget is that Lost in Space was a family show that just so happened to have a science-fiction skin on it. The stories were meant to teach family values, with Doctor Smith always succumbing to temptation and proving the old adage that power corrupts. When you look at it as these moralistic fables, then you begin to appreciate it more.

 

[MacLeod]

Not saying that they got it exaclty right but if I remember my physics correctly. As you apprach the speed of ligh time slows down. So whilst only 4 years might pass for you almost a century could pass for others.

 

[Silvercrest]

Uh, no. Not in this example.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I liked Lost In Space all the way through. It was a fun psychedelic romp. Comparing it to Star Trek is like comparing the DC Comics of the 60s to the Marvel Comics of the 60s-- they're completely different animals with entirely different intentions, but both can be enjoyed by people who like variety in their entertainment.

LIS is really two shows, though. The first five episodes, which were all derived from that unaired pilot, told the story of a pioneering family in space; if TOS was a wagon train to the stars, LIS was homesteaders out in the galaxy. The rest of the first season followed pretty much in that vein. The second and third season headed into the Alice-In-Wonderland territory that the show is remembered for. While I enjoyed both approaches, I really would have liked it if the themes and ambiance of those first few episodes had been maintained.

 

[Galileo7]

I always liked the Lost In Space Family Robinson premise. The Jupiter 2 interior upper deck and lower deck SETS were impressive for '60s television. The full-scale Spacepod mockup, working Chariot and working Rocketbelt were impressive too.

 

[Warped9]

Not saying that they got it exaclty right but if I remember my physics correctly. As you apprach the speed of ligh time slows down. So whilst only 4 years might pass for you almost a century could pass for others.

Right, but if you're traveling at almost the speed-of-light than four years for those left behind may be only hours to minutes for you. Or, as you said, four years to you (a long time to be in flight) would be a very long time back home.



"The Derelict" ***

The hopelessly lost Robinsons come across a seemingly deserted alien spacecraft.

Although not billed as such this is essentially the second part of the previous episode. Taken as a whole I found these two episodes together more satisfying than the original unaired pilot.

Popular sci-fi has rarely got the depiction of zero gravity right and it's no different here and in the previous episode as we see John Robinson struggling while going EVA to effect repairs. What really got me was seeing him wavering back-and-forth after he drifts off the ship's hull when he should have just kept on drifting away in a straight line. The only way he wouldn't have gotten farther away is if the ship sought to maintain a steady position relative to Robinson adrift, but there is no such reference to that effect. Funny, but I found the depiction of zero-g in the film Destination: Moon much better than in LIS and that film was made fifteen years earlier.

The other silliness was having a comet approach and generating intolerable heat. ??? A comet is just a big ball of dirty ice and rock. There's nothing hot about it unless it starts getting really close to a parent star.

Now that stuff aside we start getting into more familiar space adventure when the Robinsons encounter a large alien spacecraft that pulls them inside. They start to explore the interior of the ship to find it has some form of crystalline power structure and also apparently possess sophisticated star charts, something which could be of great use for the Robinsons to figure out where they are.

In the meantime the precocious young Will Robinson encounters what appears to be a member of the alien ship's crew and tries to communicate with it. Unfortunately Dr. Smith's impatience compels him to fire upon the alien wherein the Robinson's have to flee the alien ship with next to nothing for their troubles.

A lot of this looked really budget conscious to me, but that aside I admit I wanted to know more. It was effective enough to keep a lot of the alien ship's interior in shadow to convey a sense of alienness. It also became apparent that these aliens weren't of a biological nature which is a rather extreme concept from an early 1960's perspective even though we likely wouldn't blink an eye over it today. I thought it could have been interesting if we could have learned more about the aliens and their ship's objectives. As is it's presented as just another weird something for the Robinsons to contend with rather than understand. Even more disappointing given young Will Robinson controlling his own fears and trying to communicate with the aliens until Smith loses his cool.

In all honesty when I look at these two episodes together as the introduction for a series I don't find it that far off the mark, Setting the unconvincing nature of the initial expedition aside it really wouldn't have taken much tweaking to have made this a more lasting effort. There are things I like in these early efforts that do come through some of the surrounding clumsiness.


"Island In The Sky" **

The Jupiter II finally males planetfall on an unknown world.

The crew decides to make planetfall in order to effect and facilitate repairs to the damaged Jupiter II. This is evidently long before the Space Pod was thought of because instead of using that to make a preliminary surface survey John Robinson elects to enter the planet's atmosphere using some form of personal rocket jets. Of course his jets malfunction and he apparently falls towards the planet surface from orbit(!). Smith wants the ship turned back towards Earth while West and Maureen Robinson want to land to search for the fallen John Robinson. They manage to overcome Smith's resistance and make an emergency landing wherein they discover that the ship's landing rockets have been tampered with just as John Robinson's jets. Once landed the search party assembles the Chariot to effect their search and enroute find a native primate that Judy Robinson adopts. Oh, and they also manage to find Professor Robinson who miraculously survived his fall from orbit... Uh, yeah... In the meantime Smith plots to hijack the ship and either strand everyone else or kill them outright.

Although he is still played with a sinister undertone Smith has quickly become a comic opera villain. His manner of speech is so over-the-top it becomes quickly unbearable. As has been mentioned before it's too bad the Robinsons are too damned civilized to have just spaced Zachary Smith early on. Never mind Smith being a constant potential threat, he's just so annoying.

This episode underlines an evermore apparent schizophrenic nature of the show as it veers alternately between light comedy and drama. It can't seem to decide what it is and as such each tends to cancel out the other.

 

[stj]

The Lost in Space theme was fantastic.

The show was too ignorant of physical reality to work as a genuine Space Family Robinson. The surreal humor was better because it had three genuinely memorable characters, Dr. Smith, the Robot and Will. Jonathan Harris apparently had a lot of input into creating Dr. Smith. Feeling that a true villain would have to be killed off, he softened the character, in search of a permanent job. Harris apparently had some stage background but the Dr. Smith that emerged seems to have come from mashing up some Falstaff, some Micawber and some of Clifton Webb's Mr. Belvedere. It was a genuininely successful performance. I used to be puzzled as to why people ignored how Gaius Baltar was derived from Dr. Smith.

 

[Warped9]

I've already mentioned there are aspects of the show that appeal to me, but sometimes you just can't ignore things that make you cringe, not when they get in the way of enjoying whatever else the show may have to offer. The truth is in each episode so far there has been a decent story to be told only to be veiled with extraneous stuff.

The parajet idea could have been (barely) feasible, but they just don't depict it the least bit credibly. Granted Star Trek's episode "The Enemy Within" had a redressed dog with a unicorn horn attached to it, but somehow that didn't come off as silly as a chimpanzee with grossly oversized ears on LIS. Probably the major difference is everything else surrounding the individual efforts. TOS took pains to draw you into an emotionally engaging story so that you likely don't pay much attention to the funny looking dog whereas the big-eared chimp just screams ridiculousness because you're not really involved in the story.

It's all very well to say that LIS should be taken as light entertainment, but (at least early on) they're not really making a conscious effort to play for genuine laughs. If they had then you could see it in a wholly different light. Put another way many of LIS efforts seem to be playing like TOS' "Spock's Brain" only one after another week after week. each episode seems to be a respectably decent idea sadly muddied up.

Back in the '60s I quite enjoyed Lost in Space as well as Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, Time Tunnel and Land Of The Giants. But back then I wasn't even ten years old. Then in 1970 I discover Star Trek as well as UFO in reruns and it drastically changed my view of science fiction on television and film. While you can reflect and understand what can appeal to a younger mindset you cannot revert your acquired perspective to that once much younger mind.

From the very beginning you can see LIS is not all that serious no matter what Irwin Allen's initial intentions might have been. While the early episodes do seem smarter in general than the unaired pilot there's still obviously goofy stuff in them. And the comedic element and Harrison's mugging are already there right from the beginning albeit much more scaled back than what will come later.

It can be said that the introduction of Smith as a threat from within added another element to the show. Otherwise any conflict had to come from outside the group in the form of whatever they encountered, which is actually quite similar to what we'd see decades later in TNG. With LIS a threat was more in the form of physical threat or circumstance. In TOS the conflict was often borne right out of character dynamics. Some of TOS' best moments were two characters facing off against each other. In episodes like "A Taste Of Armageddon" you've got Kirk and Anan 7, in "Space Seed" you've got Kirk and Khan, and in "The Doomsday Machine" you've got Spock (mostly) and Decker. All great stuff.

The problem with Smith as a threat from within is that his survival is really dependent on the Robinson's survival. Once he became a stowaway his survival was tied to theirs. They die and he dies. So he can't really menace them anymore. He can just be a pain in the ass and so he can't really be played for much more than comedic relief.

Could something like LIS be done today? Maybe... A lot would depend on the setup. The idea of them being the initial foray of a colonization effort is nonsense and isn't convincing. Now if you push it a little further far future and make the Robinson's setting out to join an already existent colony and something sends them off course then you might have a scenario easier to swallow. But you still run into the problem of generating interesting drama. Do you go for monster of the week? Alien of the week? Environmental threat of the week? It would take some smart thinking to keep today's audience interested long term because society as a whole isn't of the same mindset as a 1960's audience. Back then popular sic-fi wasn't nearly as polished in general and there was a fascination with the idea of space travel. It's just not the same today.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The only LIS episode I liked was the evil-universe episode. It had duplicates of John Robinson, Maj. West and the Robot, AFAIK.