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

[The Master™]

And let us not forget the several guest appearances of a VERY young Kurt Russell!!!

 

[Princess Ivy]

i want re-runs!

 

[The Master™]

Of Kurt Russell, pre-pubity??? Wearing a silver outfit (and silver make-up)... With Michael Ansara (as Kang in Star Trek, Elric the Technomage in Babylon 5 and Kane in Buck Rogers) playing his father... Episode was called The Challenge!!!

 

[Princess Ivy]

kurt russell isn't my bag baby. but i do love cheesy sci-fi

 

[Jeffbert]

I still enjoy the show, though the boy-genius part I will forever dislike, with one exception: DEXTER'S LAB; & that, only because it is so over the top funny. Anyway, I too, much preferred the 1st season, with its more serious approach. Also, the B&W made things appear more frightening; though I believe my family did not get a color TV until the late 60s, perhaps the early 70s.

About GOLD-KEY, I understand it made an unlicensed ASTROBOY comic, though I think only 1 issue was printed.

Some of the episodes were based upon literature or films; I recall my pleasure at watching, I believe it was MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, with Charles Laughton as the ship's captain, bellowing orders, reminding me of one of LIS' pirate adventures.

 

[Starbeast]

I'm still a tremendous fan of this classic show. Lost in Space had a marvelous cast, cool guest star appearences, great stories and a brilliant soundtrack composed by John Williams.

I highly recommend the documenary about the show called, Lost in Space Forever.

If any of you out there obtain the entire series on DVD, there are some cool extras too.

Some of my favorite episodes:

The Golden Man - Two alien races battle each other

The Keeper - An animal collector meets the Robinsons

The Prisoners of Space - The Jupiter 2 crew are on trial in an alien court

The War of the Robots - An alien robot may replace B9

The Galaxy Gift - Penny is trusted to keep a powerful device from evil aliens

Follow the Leader - Prof John Robinson is possessed by an alien spirit

Wish Upon a Star - Dr Smith finds a "wishing" device.

Treasure of the Lost Planet - A space pirate adventure

The Challenge - The Robinsons meet a father and son who are space warriors

Revolt of the Androids - A super android is sent to destroy a friendly android

All That Glitters - Dr Smith finds a device that turns anything into platinum

The Anti-Matter Man - A parallel universe where there is an evil twin of John & Don

My Friend, Mr Nobody - Penny meets an invisible being

 

[Jeffbert]

I watched the Pilot on HULU last week, which HULU identified as episode #1. I was particularly interested in the interior of the saucer, which, as I recall, was called the Gemini 12. There was a nice spin of the camera showing the interior, but I was not sure that all was shown.

Sadly, once the pilot's basic plot had been approved, they gave the saucer a lower deck, in the same way that Dr. Who's phone booth is much larger inside than outside. I vaguely recall the early days of the internet, when I was interested in the LUNAR MODELS Jupiter II, and not being familiar with the lack of physical room for a lower deck, wondered why the model lacked one.

So, anyway, I think there should have been sufficient drama without the added Dr. S., & they should have kept the saucer as it was in the 1st place. I guess the guys who designed it were, perhaps, not thinking beyond the pilot. The people clearly needed someplace to live and sleep. Why make that saucer if its just going to be shipwrecked in the 1st episode. Must have cost a good deal of $$; though I do not believe there was actually much of a full-scale exterior ever built. Very few 1:1 exterior views were ever seen. There were no landing gear shown in the pilot. No seats at the control panel! Yet the controls are mounted low so that seats are needed to easily reach them. I am sure that the freezing tubes are closer together, but views of them in the pilot are few.

MOEBIUS MODELS has a highly detailed J2, but the company's web page for its kits are lacking detail. Amazon has images: MOEBIUS MODELS JUPITER II. this model even has details added by Moebius or perhaps the builder of this kit, that were never seen elsewhere.

the elevator is at the top, barely discernible at the size of this image. I think LUNAR models had both the series and the pilot version. Sadly, my modelling skills are not up to the task, or I would have had both of those.

So, assuming that there was to be the shipwreck on some unknown planet, and they would be there for the entire series, they would be living in tents, etc., clothes reduced to shreds, and such. Those bald 'aliens' would be instead of loincloth-wearing savages. But execs obviously said that they needed to have more space travel; and what is a space - based TV show without a robot? And why not add a saboteur, who is trapped in the ship when it lifts off.

So, the pilot went all the way, with nearly nonstop danger or action, props, sets, and such. It would be interesting to see what they might have done if they had been true to the pilot.