To be honest I do not what bothers me more- Dr. Smith or the show's weird habit of dressing up the Robot in strange clothing...
Netflix greenlights new "Lost in Space"
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That's why I prefaced my remarks by saying it works because the Robinsons are so wholesome. They probably should have abandoned Smith after *trying to kill them* and for persistently endangering the welfare of the family. Would you allow him to freely travel and live with you and your family after that? If not kill him outright but I think I'd at least leave him to his own devices somewhere.
I'm not sure they ever really found out that he'd been hired to sabotage the ship -- just that he tried to mutiny once it became clear they had no intention of turning back for Earth.
Plus, of course, he was a medical doctor and was thus valuable to have around. He saved Maureen's life when she had trouble reviving from the freezing process, and that was part of what convinced the others to keep him awake instead of just freezing him. It would've helped if the later episodes had made more use of his medical skills to demonstrate his value to the group.
From what I've read, it seems Harris may have adopted the comedic aspects of his "Mr. Phillips" character from the "Bill Dana Show" (1963-65). In that series, he played the exasperated manager of a hotel, driven to distraction by Dana's character, a bumbling Bolivian bellhop. As it was an arguably successful formula, Harris integrated it in his role as Smith, now berating the Robot instead of a hotel employee.
Was there a reason why Harris was always credited as a special guest star when he was in every episode, or at least most of them, was in the main credits, and even ended up the main focus of what seemed to be the vast majority of the episodes? It just seemed weird to me that he ended up a bigger part of the show than some of the main cast members, but was never actually made a main cast member. Would he eventually have been promoted to full regular cast member if the show continued?
Harris wasn't in the original pilot, since Smith and the Robot were added afterward when it was decided the show needed a regular villain to make it more interesting (and also a robot). But the other actors' contracts already dictated where they were placed in the credits, so Harris had to be billed last, even after the child actors, which would've been ignominious. So they added the "Special Guest Star" label to call more attention to his credit and make it more prestigious. He definitely was a regular main cast member, but this was a time when a lot of TV tended toward an anthology-style format that often revolved around the guest stars at least as much as the regulars -- note Batman's "Special Guest Villain" credits, or how The Fugitive and other shows introduced the featured guest stars with narration in the opening titles, or how Star Trek's end credits billed the guests of the week above semi-regulars like Doohan, Takei, Nichols, and Koenig. So the "Special Guest" phrasing was probably seen as elevating his prestige rather than diminishing it, even though he was in fact a regular.
It actually started a regular practice that continues to this day -- a last-place billing preceded by text like "And Starring" or "And Actor as Character" has come to be considered nearly equal to first-place billing. For instance, when Michael Shanks left Stargate SG-1 for a season, he was removed from his second-place billing and the other actors were bumped up, so when he came back, rather than bumping the other actors back down, they added him to the end of the credits with the billing "And Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson."
Looks like we have our John and Will Robinson.
http://www.comingsoon.net/tv/news/7...ll-jenkins-join-netflixs-lost-in-space-remake
http://www.comingsoon.net/tv/news/7...ll-jenkins-join-netflixs-lost-in-space-remake
Hmm, after the casting of Judy, I was expecting a biracial couple with mixed-race kids. But the new Will is as white as the new John, if not more so. He's a redhead, which is a recessive trait, so both parents would have to have the gene for it. Is Judy adopted? Is Will adopted? Is it a Brady Bunch-style remarriage-with-kids situation? It's theoretically possible for a biracial couple to have one kid who looks white and one who looks black -- I've even heard of an instance where it happened with fraternal twins -- but it's more likely that a TV show would go with adoption as the explanation.
Probably Brady Bunch-style remarriage-with-kids situation, Fear The Walking Dead has that.
I'm not sure how to read this line from the article:
-- Taylor Russell (Falling Skies) was previously set to play daughter Judy Robinson.
Does that mean she's no longer going to be playing the role?
Presumably it just means her casting was announced earlier.
The new John looks like a poor man's Hugh Jackman. The new Will is about as purist as you can get.
I find it interesting that this show does not premier until 2018 and is already announcing cast members and yet Star Trek Discovery starts in 2017 and no cast has been announced yet.
Probably right, the wording seemed off to me. I was reading "was previously set" to mean is no longer currently set.
Looks like Maureen may have been fooling around on John while he was busy working.
If they cast Smith as a black man things might be interesting.
Yeah, I was surprised to see a very white read head as will. I'm thinking either adoption or a mixed family with Will being John's son and Judy Maureen's daughter are the most likely scenarios right now, but it's hard to guess before we find out who's play Maureen.
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