Mom and I BOTH enjoyed 'Lost in Space,' for obvious reasons! ;)
Posted on 05/14/2008 7:19:58 PM PDT by B-Chan
I've been watching Lost In Space reruns over at hulu.com recently, and it's been quite an enjoyable time. In fact, in many ways I enjoy the show now more than I did as a child, which was a lot. A a child, I loved watching the original Star Trek, of course — and I still do — but I have to admit that in my early childhood I found a great deal of it to be baffling and or slightly scary. Lost In Space, however, was my favorite — the show I'd fight my little brother to see. It was never scary. It was exciting, yes, and suspenseful, but it far more suited the mental and emotional level of the slightly neurotic seven-year-old me than did the more cerebral Trek. I mean, what child of the moon landing era wouldn't love to see a kid his own age having noisy, brightly-colored interplanetary adventures on distant worlds? What kid nurtured on Hogan's Heroes and Gomer Pyle USMC era wouldn't cackle at the hilarious antics of a batty, pompous, and totally unpredictable fussbudget and his rapier-witted robot straight man?
The show itself is packed with entertainment. (For those unfamiliar with Lost In Space, the story centers on the family Robinson, a clan of astronauts who set out on a colonization mission to the star Alpha Centauri on October 16, 1997. Soon after their launch, however, their onboard robot "Robot B-9" is sabotaged by a stowaway saboteur, resulting in damage to the spacecraft, leaving the Robinson family hopelessly "lost in space".) In just one episode, the Space Family Robinson might find themselves facing the imminent destruction of their planet, while at the same time foiling the machinations of space croppers, bulb-headed aliens, and/or living statues, while at the same time dealing with the egotism-driven mishaps created by their hilariously prissy stowaway.
The actors in Lost In Space stand out as well. The series' headline star, the late Guy Williams ("Professor John Robinson"), was a fine actor, and his on-screen relationships with TV wife Dr. Maureen Robinson (June Lockhart, the mom from Lassie) and kids Judy (Marta Kristen), Penny (Angela Cartwright of The Sound Of Music fame) and Will Robinson (the ubiquitous Bill Mumy) were warm and believable. (Williams' son maintains a touching memorial to his father that is well worth a look.) Mark Goddard, as Major Don West (the Jupiter 2's pilot) is cocky and fun, especially when playing foil to the instantly memorable stowaway/saboteur Dr. Zachary Smith, portrayed with great brio by the show's regular "special guest star", the late Jonathan Harris. And of course everyone loves the warm-hearted, wry Robot (Bob May, voiced by Dick Tufield).
As production went on, the series' focus began to change from more-or-less serious sci-fi to a sort of space farce. During the first season, the episodes centered on the heroic and self-sacrificing John Robinson character, but as the show went on it began to shift from straight-up action/adventure to a sort of Laurel-and-Hardy-In-Outer-Space comedy centered on the trio of Will, Dr. Smith, and the Robot. More than anything else, folks who remember the show recall with pleasure the many zinger-laden exchanges of repartée between the arch and self-aggrandizing Dr. Smith and the unflappable and dry-humored Robot. Even as Harris, Mumy, Tufield and May moved into the center spotlight, however, the rest of the cast continued to play the Robinsons and Major West absolutely straight, making the witty interplay between Will, Dr. Smith and the Robot all the funnier by contrast.
The special effects were truly special. Sure, the planetary surface sets and occasional monsters were cheap and unconvincing, and the "aliens" usually nothing more than character actors wearing whatever B-movie props the show's producer (the late Irwin Allen) found out on the Fox backlot, but when taken together, the show's visual effects were actually fairly sophisticated for a mid-'60s TV show.
And there was an upside to the cheesy effects. The series' low-budget SFX approach actually resulted in some of the most memorable sci-fi bad guys ever; at one point or another our heroes were variously menaced by space Vikings, space miners, and even "Chavo", the silver-skinned Space Mexican. (That episode must have been a hoot for series star Guy "John Robinson" Williams, who had famously played Zorro in a successful prior series.) The reliance on backlot props also facilitated some of the show's truly wacko episides, like the one where the Robot dons a crown and ermine robe from God-knows-which grade-Z Fox knights-in-armor epic and proceeds to rule over a race of tiny toy duplicates of himself. (He also recites the preamble to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in that episode. Now that's value for one's entertainment dollar!)
There were other attractions. The Space Family Robinson lived in a split-level flying saucer (the Jupiter 2), drove a cool, jeep-like vehicle (the Space Chariot), and actually did stuff, like escaping exploding planets and whatnot, instead of talking the viewer to death. They also loved one another and stayed together no matter what, which at the time seemed more fantastic to me than the split-level flying saucer. All this, combined with fast-paced direction, lots of things blowing up, and "eerie" outer-space SFX (usually created by flashing lights of one sort or another) make for a solid hour of TV fun.
(As an aside, I must admit that as I grew older Lost In Space took on an added dimension of enjoyment for me, in the form of a monstrous crush on Angela Cartwright. Through my now-middle-aged eyes she appears in the show as a talented and cute child actress, but in 1973, the seven-year-old me regarded her as a mysterious and disturbingly attractive older woman.)
Lost In Space was, at its heart, a silly kids' show — a futuristic fairy tale designed to appeal to the romanticism and love of adventure that we kids of the Space Age grew up with. And there's nothing wrong with that. Sure, we all love Star Trek and so forth, but in this world of serious TV science fiction (e.g. Battlestar Galactica) it's fun to occasionally step away from the realistic dialog and densely-plotted storylines and enjoy an hour of good dumb fun.
As I watch Lost In Space today, the word that comes most readily to my mind is "charm". The show was charming — the bright colors, the earnest young actors, the goofy plots, and all. It was pure family entertainment in the best sense: traditional without being hackneyed, warm without being overly corny, thrilling without being frightening, and imaginative without being self-consciously weird (as so many shows of the late '60s were.) Sure, as science fiction it was a joke — I mean, come on, a vegetable rebellion? — but Irwin Allen thankfully saw no need to try and capture the high-brow skiffy audience with the show; he just wanted to entertain kids and make a buck doing it.
Mission accomplished, Mr. Allen.
Been loving Hulu.com. Currently I’m about 1/2 way through Miami Vice season 1.
Mom and I BOTH enjoyed 'Lost in Space,' for obvious reasons! ;)
I bought the complete first season a couple of years ago. A good call IMHO. :^)
I had a crush on him too!
ping
Crush... Kill... Destroy... Crush... Kill... Destroy... Crush... Kill... Destroy...
Oh, my yes. The ship’s computer was a wall of blinking lights and it started showering sparks every time a giant squid attacked, and they’d hit it with fire extinguishers...huh. Pretty much sounds like my Navy days...
I liked Voyage as well, but to me it didn't have the same awesome vibe as Lost in Space. I did like the Seaview and Flying Sub, though!
LOL
Who could forget Barbara Eden in a crisp, well fitting Navy uniform?
Thanks! I didn’t even know about lulu dot com!
That’s “hulu.com”, and you’re welcome.
Marta Kristen was, is and will always be beautiful - Out of this world.
If you ever get a chance to meet her, get her photo with Mark Goddard. If you don’t fall in love with just her golden hair and sparkling eyes, then you are strange, or a girl.
Other Sci-fi chicks of great beauty - Marina Sirtis; Terry Farrell; Nana Visitor; CHASE MATERSON - my fav; Mary Monaghan (B5)- stunning, I say, stunning; Sherry Jackson - hot, hot, hot.
Met all by Visitor and Jackson, but I’m trying.
Penny in those mini skirts. Ahhhh........
Wasn’t all that crazy about the show...but I wanted their space buggy so bad. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. Your picture of it brought it all back. It could float and everything.
That would be real cool to take to the grocery store.
Hulu.com has allot of oldies, and they are still enjoyable to see again.
Fancast.com and Veoh.com are a couple of other sites that stream allot of old TV programs and movies.
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