Revisiting Lost In Space...
- Thread starter Warped9
- Start date
Well they also have a clothes washing machine that cleans, presses and even packages your clothes in less than a minute as well as a hair dryer like apparatus that will perfectly change your hairstyle in about a minute. Must work for the men too because they always have perfect hairstyles.
Like TOS Lost In Space has a curious mixture of really advanced tech (some to the point of magic) and stuff thats dated even by our standards.
"My Friend, Mr. Nobody" *
Penny Robinson is befriended by a disembodied voice in a cave.
Today a disembodied voice would give one a cause for suspicion, but here Penny is so bored and desperate for some distraction that she almost instantly makes friends with this voice in a dark cave. Today we'd be worried about such a disembodied voice reaching children through the internet, but this was during a supposedly more innocent time when folks weren't instantly suspicious of everything and everyone.
I think there could actually have been a story to be explored here, but it doesn't really go anywhere. All we get our Smith's scheming to get rich on diamonds that have no worth in their present situation. In the end some form of intelligence is alive in the planet and then evolves into something that flies off into space with not the least bit of musing on what this could have been.
Frustrating and disappointing I'd say.
"Invaders From The Fifth Dimension" *
Aliens require a humanoid brain to guide their extra-dimensional spacecraft.
This could be LIS' version of "Spock's Brain" yet without any of the charm. Smith also shows how worthless he really is in willing to sacrifice young Will Robinson to aliens just to save his useless hide. In the end the aliens show themselves to be not all that advanced if they require a living mind to run their navigational system when a sufficiently advanced computer could easily do the job. And a lot of screen time is wasted showing the others searching for Will and Smith.
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There was a 3rd season episode where Will went down to the power core, which was apparently in the sub-basement of the Jupiter II. That ship is definitely bigger on the inside. 
There was a 3rd season episode where Will went down to the power core, which was apparently in the sub-basement of the Jupiter II. That ship is definitely bigger on the inside.
No doubt they had the same space dimensional shifting technology that exists in the Federation in the 29th century as sceen in ST Enterprise on the Jupiter II.
Or even in the 23rd. In Final Frontier, the Enterprise-A somehow managed to have 75 decks.
"The Oasis" **
The Robinsons have to deal with a drought and the results of strange fruit.
Although it's not tied together seems to me the giantism effect of this strange fruit could explain the cyclopean giants we saw earlier but haven't seen since.
Again at heart there's a decent story in here where the castaways are still learning about the strangeness of their new home. But I found it somewhat ruined by Harris' over-the-top acting again and the silliness in how his size was put across. And my eyes nearly rolled out of my head listening to the others lament their treatment of Smith when he seems to have disappeared. Also interesting how Smith's clothes grew and shrank in direct proportion with him.
Actually while watching this I couldn't help but think of TAS' "The Infinite Vulcan." "The Oasis" makes the Trek story seem like rocket science in comparison.
"The Sky Is Falling" ***
An alien device and mute like aliens come calling as potential neighbours.
Although the alien probe looks cheaply done I must say I still liked its basic idea. It certainly didn't look like any machinery humans would design except as a toy, and yet it doesn't look like a toy. I liked the WTF moment of the alien device dematerializing and dematerializing to get inside the Jupiter II. Cool.
I like the essential story here of being unable to communicate with the aliens too easily. I suspect the aliens were telepathic with each other, but couldn't read humans or perhaps simply couldn't understand human language even in thought. They certainly didn't seem to be empathic. And it was a nice touch that these weren't just another bunch of evil minded beings, but rather explorers in their own way. Their method of travel was interesting, essentially teleportation without the business of supplying and navigating a spacecraft.
The Robinsons have to deal with a drought and the results of strange fruit.
Although it's not tied together seems to me the giantism effect of this strange fruit could explain the cyclopean giants we saw earlier but haven't seen since.
Again at heart there's a decent story in here where the castaways are still learning about the strangeness of their new home. But I found it somewhat ruined by Harris' over-the-top acting again and the silliness in how his size was put across. And my eyes nearly rolled out of my head listening to the others lament their treatment of Smith when he seems to have disappeared. Also interesting how Smith's clothes grew and shrank in direct proportion with him.
Actually while watching this I couldn't help but think of TAS' "The Infinite Vulcan." "The Oasis" makes the Trek story seem like rocket science in comparison.
"The Sky Is Falling" ***
An alien device and mute like aliens come calling as potential neighbours.
Although the alien probe looks cheaply done I must say I still liked its basic idea. It certainly didn't look like any machinery humans would design except as a toy, and yet it doesn't look like a toy. I liked the WTF moment of the alien device dematerializing and dematerializing to get inside the Jupiter II. Cool.
I like the essential story here of being unable to communicate with the aliens too easily. I suspect the aliens were telepathic with each other, but couldn't read humans or perhaps simply couldn't understand human language even in thought. They certainly didn't seem to be empathic. And it was a nice touch that these weren't just another bunch of evil minded beings, but rather explorers in their own way. Their method of travel was interesting, essentially teleportation without the business of supplying and navigating a spacecraft.
Watching Harris in this clip it's easy to see he so easily played Zachary Smith. Doesn't change the fact that I really dislike the character. I rarely find Smith amusing. Mostly I want him to just shut up and/or go away. Of course occasionally I've met a few individuals like that in real life too.
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I haven't seen the show in ages, so I can't say how I might feel about the performance, if I saw it now. I think his character works alright for kids, especially quite young ones. Eventually, you can't help but agree with Don and want to deck the clown, or just leave him behind on one of the planets they leave.
This is another interview that covers some more about developing the character. It seems Harris was given a lot of freedom to interpret the scripts for his part. I'm sure it was great fun for him as an actor, but whether that helps the show or not is another issue altogether.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0qnWhwvuWs&feature=related[/yt]
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TILsnAMhoZo&feature=related[/yt]
"Wish Upon A Star" ***
An alien device found within the decaying wreck of an alien spacecraft causes dissension amongst the group.
Not bad. I found the moralizing a bit heavy handed, but still not bad. It seems the device was really a communicator or conduit to the alien who really produced whatever was wished for. The ending left me puzzled as to the exact nature of the alien, almost as if it had been a figment of everyone's imagination. Sometimes it really does seem like things are just thrown into these stories for "what the hell" reasons and then just not explored. It's all very well to say not everything has to be explained or commented upon, but when practically nothing is explained or commented upon it gets tiresome. There were some decent exchanges between Will and Smith and we can see some sort of bond there, although based on what we've seen of him it's weird that someone as bright as Will obviously is could find a character like Zachary Smith likeable.
I rather like the episodes filmed in black-and-white. It lends the stories a feeling, a greater sense of drama and straightforward adventure. Sometimes the b&w image belies some of the silliness that's actually going on.
An alien device found within the decaying wreck of an alien spacecraft causes dissension amongst the group.
Not bad. I found the moralizing a bit heavy handed, but still not bad. It seems the device was really a communicator or conduit to the alien who really produced whatever was wished for. The ending left me puzzled as to the exact nature of the alien, almost as if it had been a figment of everyone's imagination. Sometimes it really does seem like things are just thrown into these stories for "what the hell" reasons and then just not explored. It's all very well to say not everything has to be explained or commented upon, but when practically nothing is explained or commented upon it gets tiresome. There were some decent exchanges between Will and Smith and we can see some sort of bond there, although based on what we've seen of him it's weird that someone as bright as Will obviously is could find a character like Zachary Smith likeable.
I rather like the episodes filmed in black-and-white. It lends the stories a feeling, a greater sense of drama and straightforward adventure. Sometimes the b&w image belies some of the silliness that's actually going on.
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"The Raft ***
The Robinson construct a small lifeboat sized spacecraft in hopes it can carry one of them into space and back to Earth.
This was kinda fun...as long as you don't think too much about the logic holes....
Okay, I can't help it. They disassemble the Jupiter II's main reactor to build a habitable space pod? Uh...okay. And the size of this thing was actually in the Jupiter II down below? Uh...okay. And this thing with no apparent FTL star drive is going to make it back to Earth when they don't even know where they are? Uh...okay. Add to that it apparently isn't built for an extended voyage and the Jupiter II itself was supposed to take five years to get to Alpha Centauri.
Actually the series is full of this kind of throwaway thinking. It's best to try to focus of the hardware and even some of the cheesy aliens where you can see good ideas that often are just begging for more polished production values and a little smarter execution.
"One Of Our Dogs Is Missing" *
A space capsule bearing a dog lands on the planet.
A puppy dog and a furry primate thing crawling out of a meteorite crater. Smith disassembles all the hand weaponry for...who the hell knows why. This episode was just schlock with no redeeming aspect whatsoever. Okay there were some Chariot scenes but it was reuse of stock footage.
Really this whole episode was a waste of screen time. Up to now most of the episodes had something interesting to them, but this last was just pointless.
The Robinson construct a small lifeboat sized spacecraft in hopes it can carry one of them into space and back to Earth.
This was kinda fun...as long as you don't think too much about the logic holes....
Okay, I can't help it. They disassemble the Jupiter II's main reactor to build a habitable space pod? Uh...okay. And the size of this thing was actually in the Jupiter II down below? Uh...okay. And this thing with no apparent FTL star drive is going to make it back to Earth when they don't even know where they are? Uh...okay. Add to that it apparently isn't built for an extended voyage and the Jupiter II itself was supposed to take five years to get to Alpha Centauri.
Actually the series is full of this kind of throwaway thinking. It's best to try to focus of the hardware and even some of the cheesy aliens where you can see good ideas that often are just begging for more polished production values and a little smarter execution.
"One Of Our Dogs Is Missing" *
A space capsule bearing a dog lands on the planet.
A puppy dog and a furry primate thing crawling out of a meteorite crater. Smith disassembles all the hand weaponry for...who the hell knows why. This episode was just schlock with no redeeming aspect whatsoever. Okay there were some Chariot scenes but it was reuse of stock footage.
Really this whole episode was a waste of screen time. Up to now most of the episodes had something interesting to them, but this last was just pointless.
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There was a 3rd season episode where Will went down to the power core, which was apparently in the sub-basement of the Jupiter II. That ship is definitely bigger on the inside.
There is ALOT about the Jupiter II that does not make sense.
For instance:
Why did the Jupiter II require an elaborate launch gantry system when it took off from Earth? Subsequent episodes showed the ship taking off and landing on its own without the need for any external systems.
Where exactly were they keeping the Chariot and how did they get it out? The ship crashed and looking at the set, the entire lower deck is buried underground. So where is the Chariot?
Lets talk about that hatch on top with its built in ramp...why does the ship have the at all? Now admittedly, the gemini 12 was originally a single deck, but the Jupiter II was 2 (possibly 3) decks. Remember that the ship crashed. It was meant to land on 3 feet. So why does that top hatch have a ramp? (was it for the Robot...who noticeably had no other way of getting out of the ship in its proper landing configuration?)
Actually the Chariot and the Space Pod are further proof that the USA had access to time lord technology. Neither of them would fit in the ship as shown on screen.
Until I saw some of the (very nice) technical reference books to Lost In Space I always assumed the Chariot had to be assembled. Indeed it still makes more sense than it being stored whole somewhere below. Star Trek, just like a lot of other sci-fi shows, also suffered from this discrepancy between interior sets and exterior mockups, but nothing on the order of Irwin Allen's shows.
When the chariot first appeared, they specifically said that it had to be assembled. The space pod just came out of the blue, though; it was clearly not part of the ship in the first couple of years. My guess is that the Robinsons got involved in some time travel incidents occasionally that we never saw and that altered the timeline and therefore the ship's configuration.
"Attack Of The Monster Plants" *
Smith discovers plants that apparently can replicate anything.
A weak revisit of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers idea? Actually I have nothing to say about this complete disappointment. Nothing but :roll eyes:
As a '60s family show obviously violence was going to be scaled back, but seriously Smith is one first-class piece of crap and they should have let West kick Smith's ass over the horizon. He's conniving and yet also cowardly and hasn't a shred of decency in him. It gets to a point where it really isn't amusing anymore, but just lame that the rest of group tolerate him. Shoot the bastard or at least feed him to the next monster that comes along.
"Return From Outer Space" **
Will Robinson manages to get beamed back to Earth.
On the one hand there was something likeable about this story as Will tries to get people to believe him. But just like his parents they all write him off as just some kid with an overactive imagination. On the other hand I found this story exasperating because everyone but Will came off as really dense and unimaginative. And in particular I'm thinking of Will's parents and everyone else form the Jupiter II. After everything that has already transpired you'd think Will would have earned himself some credibility, but no such luck. And at no point from what we've already seen has Will shown himself to be an overly imaginative exaggerator.
What I found somewhat amusing and also stupid beyond belief was how no one in Hatfield, Vermont thought of looking up a photograph of the "real" Will Robinson just to verify (or not) Will's story. If the Jupiter II's launch had been such a big deal then there would have least been newspaper records. It was also amusing that in 1997 early 20th century style telephones as well as live operators were still being used.
Smith discovers plants that apparently can replicate anything.
A weak revisit of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers idea? Actually I have nothing to say about this complete disappointment. Nothing but :roll eyes:
As a '60s family show obviously violence was going to be scaled back, but seriously Smith is one first-class piece of crap and they should have let West kick Smith's ass over the horizon. He's conniving and yet also cowardly and hasn't a shred of decency in him. It gets to a point where it really isn't amusing anymore, but just lame that the rest of group tolerate him. Shoot the bastard or at least feed him to the next monster that comes along.
"Return From Outer Space" **
Will Robinson manages to get beamed back to Earth.
On the one hand there was something likeable about this story as Will tries to get people to believe him. But just like his parents they all write him off as just some kid with an overactive imagination. On the other hand I found this story exasperating because everyone but Will came off as really dense and unimaginative. And in particular I'm thinking of Will's parents and everyone else form the Jupiter II. After everything that has already transpired you'd think Will would have earned himself some credibility, but no such luck. And at no point from what we've already seen has Will shown himself to be an overly imaginative exaggerator.
What I found somewhat amusing and also stupid beyond belief was how no one in Hatfield, Vermont thought of looking up a photograph of the "real" Will Robinson just to verify (or not) Will's story. If the Jupiter II's launch had been such a big deal then there would have least been newspaper records. It was also amusing that in 1997 early 20th century style telephones as well as live operators were still being used.
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When the chariot first appeared, they specifically said that it had to be assembled. The space pod just came out of the blue, though; it was clearly not part of the ship in the first couple of years. My guess is that the Robinsons got involved in some time travel incidents occasionally that we never saw and that altered the timeline and therefore the ship's configuration.
Meh, I'll give most sci-fi a break for the plot devies and props they use that don't fit the original configuration of the ship.
That aboriton of the movie, ST Nemesis has one believe that within the bowls of the Enterprise D are giant caverns with scaffolding that completely doesn't fit any reasonable ship designs for the vessle.
I don't even remember that....
"Attack Of The Monster Plants" *
Smith discovers plants that apparently can replicate anything.
A weak revisit of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers idea? Actually I have nothing to say about this complete disappointment. Nothing but :roll eyes:
As a '60s family show obviously violence was going to be scaled back, but seriously Smith is one first-class piece of crap and they should have let West kick Smith's ass over the horizon. He's conniving and yet also cowardly and hasn't a shred of decency in him. It gets to a point where it really isn't amusing anymore, but just lame that the rest of group tolerate him. Shoot the bastard or at least feed him to the next monster that comes along.
"Return From Outer Space" **
Will Robinson manages to get beamed back to Earth.
On the one hand there was something likeable about this story as Will tries to get people to believe him. But just like his parents they all write him off as just some kid with an overactive imagination. On the other hand I found this story exasperating because everyone but Will came off as really dense and unimaginative. And in particular I'm thinking of Will's parents and everyone else form the Jupiter II. After everything that has already transpired you'd think Will would have earned himself some credibility, but no such luck. And at no point from what we've already seen has Will shown himself to be an overly imaginative exaggerator.
What I found somewhat amusing and also stupid beyond belief was how no one in Hatfield, Vermont thought of looking up a photograph of the "real" Will Robinson just to verify (or not) Will's story. If the Jupiter II's launch had been such a big deal then there would have least been newspaper records. It was also amusing that in 1997 early 20th century style telephones as well as live operators were still being used.
I always found "Return from Outer Space" to be an odd episode precisely because nothing about that town suggested that it was 1997 (even by 1960s standards) or existed in a society with interstellar travel. That town seemed so retrograde that it would have made more sense for will to have gone back in time. Ironically an episode from the last season of the show has the Jupiter II do just that. The weird thing is that the town the Jupiter II lands in in 1947 seemed more up to date that the town will visits in 1997. Maybe it was just that the episode in the final season was in color which helped it look more contemporary.
Yeah, It's like the producers forgot what year the show was set in and acted like it was a contemporary setting. They didn't do anything to make it feel like 30 years in the future. Hell, touch tone dialing was introduced in 1963, and they could have simply had everyone have those phones and it would have seemed more futuristic even then.
The story is also weirdly illogical (as are most episodes, really). Will's there barely a few hours and no one figures to just park him at the Sheriff's and wait for his parents to come looking for him. They're ready to ship him off to a Boy's Home without even really thinking it through. And this old aunt is ready to adopt him based on a few minutes with him. If he'd been stuck there days instead of hours maybe you could buy it, but really...
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Yep. Pretty much adds to what I bought made no sense in this epode. You can allow for compressed time in a story, but this was too much.
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