Blast from the Past: Space Family Robinson aka Lost in Space

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ray gower

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Before the film rescued it. Before the awful TV series ruined it. There were comics!

I never actually bought the comics, but I did recently buy back my 1969 Space Family Robinson Annual from a jumble sale. I know it was mine, it had my name in it twenty years and two hundred miles from when and where I threw it away!

The sixties was when man was just starting to get to grips with shunting man into space. Marvel were launching the Silver age of comics with Spiderman and the X-Men, with DC lumbering hard on their heels, reinventing Superman for the third time. Up pops a new kid on the block, in the shape of West US based, Gold Key Comics, with a real Sci/Fi comic, if based upon a somewhat older work by Robert Louis Stephenson:- Space Family Robinson, the combined product of editor/writer Gaylord DuBois and artist Dan Spiegle.

Spiegle in particular obviously loved creating the unique look of Space Family Robinson. He displayed a distinctive style for rendering futuristic settings which, in the '60s set him apart from most of his East Coast peers in the industry. Despite the typical "comic book" scientific inaccuracies and gosh-wow "Buck Rogers-isms" that often crept in to mar SFR scripts, Spiegle's space hardware and alien architecture showed a particular 'feeling' for realistic differences.

They were quite novel and convincing when compared with the dated designs of most of the other established comic artists of the time: here were alien cities that looked alien, instead of those interminable Flash Gordonesque depictions of alien worlds as something like a outlandish hybrid of all the World's Fairs held between the turn of the century and 1940. And while the Robinsons' own technology was quite streamlined and almost advanced enough to blend in with the hardware of many of the alien races they encountered, Spiegle didn't shrink from the challenge of differentiating the alien guest stars' buildings and vehicles by clever design. Even if it was simply by either creating something looking just a bit more exotic, or by going to the other extreme and using something even more plain. Spiegle's 1960s designs, while dated in some ways, are still worthy of study after three decades.

Even the ship the Robinsons' were marooned upon is/was different to the television and film. No dull saucers. They were for some of the other races. The Robinsons vessel was a marvelous flying square 'H'.

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/9680/ish-one.html
 
I never knew this was based on a comic! I always thought when people referred to it as "Space Family Robinson" they were just referencing its Robert Loius Stevenson inspiration, rather than the title of the comic it was adapted from.
 
I think the film was based more upon the TV series than the comic.
As far as I know there was never a robot and Doctor Smith was notable by his absence in the annual I have.
 
To add to the confusion a little, possibly?

Lost in Space is technically different from SFR.

It is rumoured, in some corners that the two were produced independently, and that Irwin was not aware of the comic. This is largely based on the fact that SFR significantly lacked:- Robot, Dr Smith and Major Wot-sit.

However, Goldkey managed to obtain the rights to produce comics of all of the Irwin shows, from 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea' through 'Time Tunnel' and 'Land of the Giants' and seemingly at no cost. Which other rumours obviously suggest was a cheap pay off for what would inevitably be an expensive court case.

The truth is undoubtedly in the middle somewhere. As they both look as if they fed off of each other for everything during the overlap.
 
Welcome to Ascifi!

This isn't news though; this report from E! Online in October has more:

WB Gets "Lost in Space"

by Lia Haberman

Danger, Will Robinson! The clan's about to be shipped back to outer space.

The WB has won the right to launch an updated version of the 60's TV classic Lost in Space, putting up more than $2 million for a pilot order.

Bids were submitted by at least three other networks for the 20th Century Fox project, conceived by John Woo, who may direct the pilot, and scribe Doug Petrie (Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

Ultimately, the WB's fantasy track record and high-priced pilot commitment swayed the studio toward the Frog.

"We think the WB is the perfect network to support a show like this," 20th Century Fox TV prez Gary Newman told Variety.

The WB also agreed to a hefty licensing fee of $1.2 million per episode, which could increase if the series is a success.

That's a far cry from the quarrel between the WB and 20th Century three years ago, when the two parties failed to reach a renewal deal for Buffy. The new financial arrangement eliminates the possibility of another such clash.

"With the exception of [the final season of] Buffy, we've had a good and rewarding business relationship with 20th," Levin said. "Reba has been the most recent example of shows that have been win-win for both sides."

Another collaborative success story is Angel. The network confirmed that it had placed a full season order for the 20th Century production, which has flourished in its new Wednesday night timeslot this season.

On the bubble until the very end of last season, Angel returned for a fifth season with its future unclear. The net had an option to cut the show back to 13 episodes if it failed to perform but the series has averaged 5.2 million viewers since its return last month--better than last season's average of 3.7 million viewers per episode.

As for Lost in Space, an intergalactic retelling of The Swiss Family Robinson that originally aired on CBS from 1965 to '68, the new version will be set in the year 2097 (as opposed to 1997) but continue to follow the adventures of the Robinson family and their trusty robot.

"It's not about laser blasters and starships and funky aliens, though there will be bags of all of those," Petrie told Variety. "That stuff is just the best window dressing, the way monsters provided a way for Buffy to say high school is hell. The show is going to be more based on what's going on with the typical American family rather than a sweeping space opera."

In addition, the remake won't feature a Dr. Smith character. Smith was the saboteur and unintentional stowaway who got the Robinson family lost in space after he knocked them off their five-year course to explore distant planets.

This is a second attempt for executive producers Jon Jashni and Kevin Burns to revive the franchise for television. The duo had previously approached NBC with a two-hour Lost in Space TV reunion under their Synthesis Entertainment shingle. But the project fell apart in November after the death of original cast member Jonathan Harris, who played the sinister Dr. Smith.

The franchise's previous reincarnation came in the form of a disappointing 1998 movie starring William Hurt, Mimi Rogers, Heather Graham, Matt LeBlanc and Gary Oldman.
Click to expand...


If you're a fan, we'd be happy to have a 'Lost in Space' mini-forum here at Ascifi. There should be one. There are actually quite a few threads here on 'Lost in Space' but mostly about the film, not the original TV series.

Personally, I never watched it originally, though I've seen it since. I read somewhere that people were either 'Star Trek' fans or else 'Lost in Space' fans, but never both. I guess I was the former.
 
A "Lost in Space"

If you're a fan, we'd be happy to have a 'Lost in Space' mini-forum here at Ascifi.
Click to expand...
I am a fan and I think a 'Lost in Space' mini-forum would be great!

Personally, I never watched it originally, though I've seen it since. I read somewhere that people were either 'Star Trek' fans or else 'Lost in Space' fans, but never both.
Click to expand...
I'm the exception to that rule, lol!

I'm more of a fan of the "props" from the show than the show itself. The first season is my favorite, before they went over the edge to total camp.

I know the new TV show isn't 'news', however the article I mentioned was a personal interview I did with Kevin Burns that I thought some fans might find interesting.

I run the "official" Robot fan club as well. www.B9RobotBuildersClub.com
You know these fans must be devoted to put in the money and time to create full size Robot replicas!

Thanks for the welcome, glad to be aboard!

Best!
MikeJ
 
Casting begins.....

Warner Brothers' new version of 'Lost in Space' which may air before the end of 2004 has begun casting.

FilmJerk has posted full details of the casting notes:

http://www.filmjerk.com/nuke/article733.html

Bureau 42 has also seen the notes sent out to agencies. Doug Petrie is to write, John Woo to direct Kevin Burns and partner Jon Jasini to produce.

http://www.bureau42.com/view/1710

And so has TV Tome:

http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-22268/

Casting is supposed to begin in March, but Tabitha said that according to the Futoncritic http://www.thefutoncritic.com newcomer Adrianne Palicki has been cast as Judy Robinson already.
 
Variety via Scifi Wire has cast details already:

from Scifi Wire

Lost Cast Found

The WB has set the cast for The Robinsons: Lost in Space, its upcoming pilot updating the classic 1960s SF series, Variety reported. Brad Johnson (Left Behind: The Movie) has joined as John Robinson; Ryan Malgarini (Freaky Friday) will play Will Robinson. The duo join cast members Jayne Brooke, Mike Erwin and Adrianne Palicki, the trade paper reported.
Click to expand...
 
I've never read the comics, nor have I read "Swiss Family Robinson" (which incidently was written by Johann David Wyss not Robert Louis Stevenson though the stockade sequence in "Treasure Island" is similar and both have pirates.)

But I recently re-watched the '60's Disney film on TV (with John Mills.)

Originally posted by ray gower
Lost in Space is technically different from SFR.....

This is largely based on the fact that SFR significantly lacked:- Robot, Dr Smith and Major Wot-sit.
Click to expand...

Actually I was struck by the number similarities between Swiss Family Robinson and Lost In Space.

In Swiss Family Robinson there is a mother and father, the father has the great ideas, the mother is more stay at home. The eldest son is a hunk, athletic, country-pursuits loving. There is no sister, they instead pick up a tom-boy hiding from pirates who scrubs up well. The youngest son is inquisitive, picking up any stray animals (but no robots) and always getting into trouble setting off coconut bombs, attacking tigers, etc. The middle son could be Dr Smith. He is the scientist, knows everything in theory, but is not very practical.

I'm not disagreeing that they are very different, just saying that they are distant cousins.
 
Think you would be even more impressed by the similarities between Space Family Robinson and Swiss Family Robinson.

Everything in the book did appear somewhere during the life of the comic. We had two brothers, mother, father and the stow-away female.

The only thing replaced was the flying H for an island.
 
Not in the WB 2004-05 schedule?

from SciFi Wire

WB Light On SF&F Fare

The WB's 2004-'05 prime-time schedule, unveiled May 18 in New York City, surprised SF&F fans with the absence of expected shows, including the previously reported Dark Shadows update, a rumored Lost in Space remake and TV movies based on its canceled Angel vampire series. Instead, the network that was once home to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Roswell, Tarzan and Birds of Prey announced only the return of Charmed and Smallville for fans of science fiction and fantasy. Charmed will retain its current timeslot, Sundays at 8 p.m. PT/ET. Smallville will stay on Wednesdays at 8 p.m.
Click to expand...

I was looking forward to this, but I'm not quite sure what this all means. They've outbidded two other studios, paid for a pilot, and signed up the cast. Surely they must be still making it? So, is it to be a mid-season replacement, or held back until next year?
 
Did you know.......

Even though they say it was a "unaired" version , I have seen it at least 3 times.

Did you know that the original pilot "No Place to Hide" did not have the B9 (robot) and Dr Smith.

The Jupiter 2 was called Gemini

They were headed for Alpha Centauri and was knocked off course by a asteriod storm.


Stryker
 
So does anyone have any news on this promising idea?

I have searched the www but it seems to have dropped like a stone in a bottomless lake...

I guess I could always email WB?
 
IMO a lost in space series would be kewl


I grew up watching the original series...so a new series would be fine to be.

No robot? or Dr smith? would be weirdnot having them in it

Hope they do it right.

If they make it.... and there is a forum ....I will be there.




Stryker
 
Blast from the Past: Lost in Space

Probably the best description one could give is the show represented an amalgamation of two popular television formats popular in the 1960's. Science fiction on television was fairly commonplace as America's space race with the Soviet Union reached a fevered pace. The media gave detailed, almost daily, reports on the United States expensive race to be the first humans to step onto the lunar surface. Because of that, it was only natural to tap into this national frenzy with a slick television series where the audience could travel with those astronauts.

The show was "big" in scope and included two full size mockups of the famous Jupiter 2 the family space vehicle, a converted SnoCat for all terrain travel on new worlds referred to in the series as The Chariot, and a wonderfully impressive Environmental Control Robot known simply as "Robot". Our family members would set out each week on adventures in a strange new world.

Cast:
Guy Williams
Role: Professor John Robinson
Angela Cartwright
Role: Penny Robinson
Marta Kristen
Role: Judy Robinson
Mark Goddard
Role: Major Donald West
Jonathan Harris
Role: Dr Zachary Smith
Bill Mumy
Role: Will Robinson
June Lockhart
Role: Dr Maureen Robinson
Bob May
Role: (Inside) Robot
 
Danger, Will Robinson!

And people complain that the episodes of "Star Trek:TOS" were cheap-looking and cheesy. "Lost in Space" had ST beat in those characteristics by light-years. But, you know, I watched that show faithfully and I have very fond memories of it.
 
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