"Lost in Space" - any love for this old show?

[Christopher]

*I use the term ‘alien’ very lightly. Usually they look and act exactly human, even though they’re from other planets that Earth presumably has not made contact with.

Par for the course for early SFTV, and even a lot of early prose science fiction despite the lack of budget limitations. I just finished watching the complete Rocky Jones, Space Ranger on YouTube. It was actually a fairly high-budget show for 1950s TV, shot on film with impressive special effects for the day, and mostly consisting of 3-part story arcs that were then compiled and released theatrically (the source of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 movies Manhunt in Space and Crash of Moons). But its aliens, who lived on other planets and moons of the Solar System and beyond (most of them imaginary), were invariably just humans in exotic clothes. In the early episodes, they did a good job having the aliens speak alien languages except for those who'd learned English from previous space explorers, and the storyline that Crash of Moons was a sequel to had an interesting take on computer translation to carry on a conversation. But later in the series, they abandoned that without explanation and had all aliens, even newly contacted ones, speak English.

 

[Christopher]

Jonathan Harris? He's overpaid....

I wouldn't say that. He could be a magnificent screen villain, as you can see in the early episodes before Smith got goofy, when he was basically Iago. (The Shakespeare one, not the Disney one.) I recently saw him in a guest role in the 1957 Zorro series, the first time he worked with Guy Williams that I know of (though they had few scenes together), and he was superbly malevolent. The problem is that he was encouraged to be self-indulgently clownish as Smith.

 

[Noname Given]

I wouldn't say that. He could be a magnificent screen villain, as you can see in the early episodes before Smith got goofy, when he was basically Iago. (The Shakespeare one, not the Disney one.) I recently saw him in a guest role in the 1957 Zorro series, the first time he worked with Guy Williams that I know of (though they had few scenes together), and he was superbly malevolent. The problem is that he was encouraged to be self-indulgently clownish as Smith.

Jonathan Harris is a good actor. He decided he wanted to stay on Lost in Space and he knew that if the character of Dr. Smith remained the way he was at the beginning of the first season; it would be a strain even for the audience to believe that the Robinsons wouldn't eventually kill or send the character packing off on his own in the wastes of a hostile planet. So he morphed to the selfish/idiotic version of Smith that dominated seasons 2 and 3.

 

[Christopher]

he knew that if the character of Dr. Smith remained the way he was at the beginning of the first season; it would be a strain even for the audience to believe that the Robinsons wouldn't eventually kill or send the character packing off on his own in the wastes of a hostile planet. So he morphed to the selfish/idiotic version of Smith that dominated seasons 2 and 3.

Well, no, first he morphed into the comic character he became over the course of season 1, a character defined by greed and cowardice but still participating in relatively decent, watchable stories. What happened in season 2 is that Batman became a breakout hit and LiS's producers tried to emulate its campiness, but they did it badly and it just became obnoxious. There's a difference between comedy and camp, and between good camp and gratuitious inanity.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Don't forget the minefield of exploding beach balls.

 

[Starscream2112]

Don't forget the minefield of exploding beach balls.

I just rewatch "The Golden Man" on Monday! Except for the beach balls not a bad episode. I really like Penney centric episodes.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Yeah it was not a bad episode. Any Penny centered story is usually better then the rest

 

[somebuddyX]

I've not seen any of the old show but I think the new show is probably my favourite sci-fi show in recent times. I read and liked the MAD parody of the 60s show and I felt that 90s film started good but then went downhill.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I loved the Netflix series a bunch but wish the season 2 and 3 were on physical media. They are not. Great show but my only gripe was that there were never any breaks. It was a constant run from peril to peril

 

[Dukhat]

I'm now five episodes into season 3. They've completely revamped the show, starting with the opening credits, which now give the indication that with the changed premise of the Jupiter 2 flying around space instead of being stationary on a planet, they're trying to focus more on the show being action-adventure, rather than the silly camp of season 2, or the drama of season 1. To be honest, it seems like each season of this show is actually a completely different show with the same characters, especially since things are not consistent between seasons. The good news is that the action-adventure format allows the other cast do actually do something, besides just Will, Smith, and the Robot, although it's obvious by now that Judy and Penny have become pretty superfluous. The bad news is that Smith's character (and the other characters' treatment of him) has gone beyond the ridiculous into the absurd. At least in season 2 his hijinks that get the Robinsons in trouble are done in such a way that he can deflect blame off of himself. But now he actively puts the family in danger right in front of their faces, actively doesn't care when family members are routinely lost and presumed dead, and is even willing to sacrifice Will himself in order to get whatever it is he's trying to accomplish in any given episode. And the Robinsons continue to do NOTHING about it. It's gotten way past the point where they should have shoved his ass out an airlock, stranded him on a planet, or at the least, tie him to a damn chair and order the Robot to shoot him if he tries anything. Yet I have the feeling that I'm in store for even more of this idiocy.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I'm now five episodes into season 3. They've completely revamped the show, starting with the opening credits, which now give the indication that with the changed premise of the Jupiter 2 flying around space instead of being stationary on a planet, they're trying to focus more on the show being action-adventure, rather than the silly camp of season 2, or the drama of season 1. To be honest, it seems like each season of this show is actually a completely different show with the same characters, especially since things are not consistent between seasons. The good news is that the action-adventure format allows the other cast do actually do something, besides just Will, Smith, and the Robot, although it's obvious by now that Judy and Penny have become pretty superfluous. The bad news is that Smith's character (and the other characters' treatment of him) has gone beyond the ridiculous into the absurd. At least in season 2 his hijinks that get the Robinsons in trouble are done in such a way that he can deflect blame off of himself. But now he actively puts the family in danger right in front of their faces, actively doesn't care when family members are routinely lost, and is even willing to sacrifice Will himself in order to get whatever it is he's trying to accomplish in any given episode. And the Robinsons do NOTHING about it. It's gotten way past the point where they should have shoved his ass out an airlock, stranded him on a planet, or at the least, tie him to a damn chair and order the Robot to shoot him if he tries anything. Yet I have the feeling that I'm in store for even more of this idiocy.

Just wait till you get the final 2 episodes, although Junkyard In Space was not that bad, but that was the final episode

 

[Starscream2112]

Just wait till you get the final 2 episodes, although Junkyard In Space was not that bad, but that was the final episode

I personally think that The Great Vegetable Rebellion is better than most season two episodes. And I love my Tybo action figure.

 

[Ovation]

I personally think that The Great Vegetable Rebellion is better than most season two episodes. And I love my Tybo action figure.

Cyrano Jones approves.

 

[Dukhat]

BTW, the Robot has yet to utter “Danger, Will Robinson.” I guess this is LiS’s equivalent to “Beam me up, Scotty.”

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

BTW, the Robot has yet to utter “Danger, Will Robinson.” I guess this is LiS’s equivalent to “Beam me up, Scotty.”

That phrase was uttered only once in the entire show's run, courtesy if the IMDB... They don't mention the episode though

 

[Christopher]

I guess this is LiS’s equivalent to “Beam me up, Scotty.”

What people tend to forget is that Kirk did say "Beam us up, Scotty" twice in the animated series, and several variations of "Scotty, beam us up" in TOS ("Have Scotty beam us up," "Scotty, beam us up fast," and "Prepare to beam us up, Mister Scott"), as well as "Scotty, beam me up!" in The Voyage Home. So it's not as much of a "never said" line as people believe.

I don't understand why the popular meme latched onto the "Beam me up" version; if you think about it, beam-ups in TOS usually happened in groups, so the plural pronoun was much more common. I suspect it originated with the T-shirt that read "Beam me up, Scotty, there's no intelligent life here."


As for "Danger, Will Robinson," I take that as a synthesis of two different things the Robot did frequently say, just not back-to-back. Like how Sherlock Holmes often said both "Elementary" and "My dear Watson," just not consecutively within the print canon.

I was a big fan of the Netflix revival, but one thing about it that always annoyed me was that it used "Danger, Will Robinson" as the first English phrase its alien version of the Robot learned and virtually the only words it ever spoke thereafter for at least the first season. I felt that was a clumsy use of it as a catchphrase, pandering to fan expectations and not making much logical sense in-story (how did the Robot pick up so quickly what the word "danger" meant, and if he could do that, why didn't he pick up other words just as fast?).

 

[Dukhat]

I think what annoys me most about this show (besides the aforementioned Dr. Smith and the Robinsons' eternal forgiveness of his antics) is that there's zero character development for anyone. In season 1 it was obvious that there was a budding relationship between Don and Judy, and it just went nowhere. Will and his sisters' relationship is practically nonexistent (most likely to do with the fact that Judy and Penny have become superfluous. If this was a sitcom, they would have been written out of the show.) Other than the fact that the family cares for one another (and inexplicably for Smith), it's always just status quo. Nobody ever seems to learn anything, nobody ever listens to the Robot who constantly warns them of danger, nobody realizes just what a drain on their resources and safety Smith is, and there's no real push to get to where they were supposed to be going in the first place. Even for a show that doesn't seem to take itself all that seriously, the suspension of disbelief is enormous.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I think what annoys me most about this show (besides the aforementioned Dr. Smith and the Robinsons' eternal forgiveness of his antics) is that there's zero character development for anyone. In season 1 it was obvious that there was a budding relationship between Don and Judy, and it just went nowhere. Will and his sisters' relationship is practically nonexistent (most likely to do with the fact that Judy and Penny have become superfluous. If this was a sitcom, they would have been written out of the show.) Other than the fact that the family cares for one another (and inexplicably for Smith), it's always just status quo. Nobody ever seems to learn anything, nobody ever listens to the Robot who constantly warns them of danger, nobody realizes just what a drain on their resources and safety Smith is, and there's no real push to get to where they were supposed to be going in the first place. Even for a show that doesn't seem to take itself all that seriously, the suspension of disbelief is enormous.

The actors wanted to do more with the Don and Judy romance but the network execs did not want a bar of that side of things and demanded it go nowhere

 

[Christopher]

I think what annoys me most about this show (besides the aforementioned Dr. Smith and the Robinsons' eternal forgiveness of his antics) is that there's zero character development for anyone. In season 1 it was obvious that there was a budding relationship between Don and Judy, and it just went nowhere. Will and his sisters' relationship is practically nonexistent (most likely to do with the fact that Judy and Penny have become superfluous. If this was a sitcom, they would have been written out of the show.) Other than the fact that the family cares for one another (and inexplicably for Smith), it's always just status quo. Nobody ever seems to learn anything, nobody ever listens to the Robot who constantly warns them of danger, nobody realizes just what a drain on their resources and safety Smith is, and there's no real push to get to where they were supposed to be going in the first place. Even for a show that doesn't seem to take itself all that seriously, the suspension of disbelief is enormous.

TV shows back then rarely had much character development, at least not in ways that altered the status quo. They tended to exist in a perpetual present. The characters never got closer to their driving goals (e.g. find the One-Armed Man or get off the island), and romantic tension rarely moved beyond the will-they-or-won't-they stage.

And Irwin Allen shows were adventure shows aimed at children and families, not sophisticated dramas. So all that would've been even more true for them.

 

[Christopher]

I hate it when people argue that the Robinsons "should have thrown Smith out an airlock" because he created problems for them. That kind of ruthless pragmatic argument ignores the fundamental truth that the Robinsons are good people. Smith might be a sociopath, but they aren't. They have morals that they refuse to compromise, and they won't sacrifice another person's life for their own benefit. That's what makes them the heroes of the show. 1960s broadcast standards wouldn't have allowed the heroes of a children's show to be less than clean-cut, idealized role models.

It's also a nonsensical argument because it ignores that this is fiction and thus it needs a source of conflict and tension. That's the whole reason Smith was added to the show in reshoots after the pilot -- because there wasn't enough potential for conflict with only the Robinsons and Major West, since they were all nice people who got along with each other and made sensible decisions. Smith was needed to generate stories by generating problems, either through his selfish deviousness or, later on, through his foolishness getting him in trouble he needed to be rescued from.