Sept. 15, 1965: "Lost in Space" premiered on TV

http://www.lismemories.com/lis/FAQ.html#what ^

[lunarbicep]

Lost in Space was Irwin Allen's most successful television program, the second of his" Fab Four" TV programs (along with Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants). It premiered on CBS September 15, 1965. The ratings were sluggish at first, but started to pick up steam by the second month. By January of 1966, Lost in Space was a top ten program, soundly beating the competition on ABC, The Ozzie and Harriet Show and The Patty Duke Show, and seriously weakening NBC's The Virginian. 

ABC then countered with a new show, Batman. Batman did beat Lost in Space initially in the ratings war, but LIS was able to rebuild ratings and eventually outlasted Batman.

When Star Trek premiered in September 1966 on NBC, there were comparisons between the two approaches to Space travel. Lost in Space garnered significantly better ratings than Star Trek. In fact, Lost in Space's lowest ratings were higher than Star Trek's highest ratings. However, Star Trek had 3 seasons of color to Lost in Space's two (first season was filmed in black and white). Because of the preference for color, Star Trek was able to blossom in syndication where Lost in Space couldn't.

By mid second season, Lost in Space had strayed from science fiction into a parody of science fiction. The ratings suffered accordingly, and LIS dropped out of the top 20. Third season found the Robinsons no longer planet-bound and traveling to new planets each week. The focus reshifted back toward science fiction with such classic episodes as Anti-Matter Man, but wavered toward the end of the season with the notorious Great Vegetable Rebellion. 

As the cast was preparing for season 4, CBS quietly canceled the show and replaced it with Daktari, which lasted one season with lackluster ratings.

Irwin Allen still had Land of the Giants on the air, but the ratings were ample evidence that it would not be renewed either. He tried at least five shows without any interest from the networks. So, Allen returned to his roots, spawning an entire genre of films and a new nickname, the "Master of Disaster" as his smash films The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno created the disaster film craze. 

Who was "Lost in Space?"

Irwin Allen used the skills he honed in films to assemble a phenomenal cast of popular and talented actors.

Guy Williams: When Guy signed on to star as Professor John Robison, he was well known as Diego de la Vega, Zorro in Disney's popular TV series. Guy had just concluded a 5 episode appearance on Bonanza as Ben Cartwright's nephew (and possible replacement for Pernell Roberts) when he was approached by Irwin Allen.

June Lockhart: Best known as Timmy's mom in the perennial favorite Lassie, June had just finished a guest appearance on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Irwin saw the dailies for the appearance, and offered her the part of the Robinson matriarch, becoming the first cast member signed for the show.

Mark Goddard: Mark had initially turned down the role of Major Don West, not wanting to do a "kiddy show" after costarring stints on such critically acclaimed series Johnny Ringo and The Detectives (with Adam West). His agent told him the show would never be seen, so Mark agreed to join the cast.

Marta Kristen: Marta was well-known in the industry, with appearances on every TV series from Loretta Young to Leave It to Beaver. Best known at the time for her role as Lorelei the mermaid in Beach Blanket Bingo, Marta had also starred in Savage Sam, the sequel to Ol' Yeller, a role for which she was touted by Disney as the next Annette Funicello.

Angela Cartwright: "America's Little Sweetheart" from Make Room for Daddy, Danny Thomas allowed Angela to miss the last episodes because of a conflict with another project - The Sound of Music. 

Billy Mumy: Once referred to as "the only child actor worth a damn" by Jimmy Stewart, Billy was known as a child actor who actually could act. In addition to Stewart, he also worked with such luminaries as Brigitte Bardot, Rod Serling and Alfred Hitchcock before signing aboard the Jupiter 2

Jonathan Harris: With his extensive background in theatre and films, Jonathan knew that Dr. Smith, as written, would have to be killed off or left behind within a few episodes. So, he began a subtle shift toward a more comedic villain. The rest is television history.

Bob May: Grandson of Chic Johnson of the vaudeville team turned movie stars, Olsen & Johnson, Bob's uncredited work within the robot took all his background in dance and theatre. It brought a vitality and fluid grace to the robot, so much so that it was widely speculated that the robot was actually a mechanical construct.

Dick Tufeld: With nearly 50 years as a voiceover announcer, including the narrator for Lost in Space, Dick's mechanical inflection subtly suggested that the monotone of the robot was more than that of simple mechanical parts, giving the robot a heart in tandem with Bob May giving the robot a soul. 




How did they get "Lost in Space?"

The date is 16 October 1997, the Alpha Control Command Center. The overcrowded Earth's best hope for survival is colonization of the Alpha Centauri star system. The Robinson family, and pilot Major Don West will be the first of millions of families to begin the long journey. As they enter the freezing tubes to cryogenically slumber during the long flight aboard the most technologically advanced spaceship ever created - Jupiter 2, trouble is brewing. Unbeknownst to them, Alpha Control has a spy from a foreign power determined to stop the mission. Dr. Zachary Smith has come aboard the Jupiter 2 and has sabotaged the environmental control robot. After launch, the robot will activate and destroy the ship and all aboard. Unfortunately for Dr. Smith, he is trapped aboard at launch. His added weight throws the trajectory of the carefully balanced vessel off course and into a meteor storm. Smith revives Major West who is able to steer the ship clear - just in time for the robot to activate. In the ensuing pandemonium the Jupiter 2 is thrown into hyperspace, hopelessly off course, severely damaged and lost in space!

The ship lands to effect repairs and immediately runs into problems with 60 meter tall cyclopean aliens, elliptical orbits that threaten to alternately freeze or incinerate the group, drought, various aliens passing through, killer robots and Dr. Smith's increasingly transparent scheming. The family preservers, not through technology, not through subterfuge, but through respect and affection for each other as a family. As John Robison would remark in a subsequent episode, "In all the worlds and galaxies of this universe, there is nothing stronger than love." Or, as Mark Goddard explains when asked about the longevity of the program, "Star Trek was a show that aimed at your head. Lost in Space was a show that aimed at your heart."

 

[Names Ash Housewares]

Dr. Smith's insults to the robot........


Adlepated Amateur

Adlepated Armor Bearer

Aluminum Canary

Animated Weather Station

Arrogant Automation

As Protective as a Leaky Umbrella

Astigmatic Automaton

Automated Oaf

Babbling Birdbrain

Babbling Bumpkin

Bellicose Bumpkin

Big Mouth

Blithering Blatherskite

Blithering Booby

Bloated Blimp

Blundering Bag of Bolts

Blithering Bumpkin

Book-Making Booby

Broken-down Has Been

Brutish Product of the Mineral World

Bubble Brain

Bubble-Head

Bubble-Headed Booby

Bulbous Bumpkin

Bumbling Bag of Bolts

Bumbling Booby

Bumbling Bucket of Bolts

Bumbling Cracker Barrel

Bumptious Booby

Bumptious Braggart

Bungler

Bungling Incompetent

Cackling Cacophony

Cackling Canister

Cackling Clod

Cackling Cookoo

Cackling Coward

Cantankerous Clod

Cold Hearted Clod

Caterwauling Clod

Cautious Clump

Chattering Magpie

Clanking Clod

Clod-Like Collection of Condensors

Clumsy Clod

Clumsy Cloot

Clumsy Clump

Complete Moron

Computerized Clod

Computerized Clump

Confused Compass

Cowardly Clump

Cowardly Friend

Cumbersome Clod

Cumbersome Clump

Cybernetic Simpleton

Cybernetic Skeptic

Defective Detective

Dehumanized Lie Dispenser

Demented Diode

Deplorable Dummy

Deplorable Dunderhead

Despotic Dunce

Digitised Dunce

Dippity Dunce

Disreputable Dunce

Disreputable Dunderhead

Doctor Dunderhead

Dottering Dolt

Dottering Dunderhead

Dunce

Dunderhead

Elephantine Adam

Egomanicale Ethrentricity

Evasive Coward

Ferrous Frankenstein

Fiend in Tin Clothing

Floundering Flunky

Foolish Fop

Frightful Fractious Frump

Frozen Eskimo

Fugitive From a Junkheap

Fugitive From a Junkyard

Fugitive From a Scrap Heap

Fugitive From a Scrap Metal Yard

Gallumphing Gargoyle

Gargantuan Goose

Garrulous Gargoyle

Ghoul

Gigantic Gargoyle

Goose

Gregarious Gremlin

Hard-Headed Harbinger of Death

Hard-Headed Harbinger of Evil

Hardware Hyena

Hopeless Heap of Tainted Tin

Hulking Mass of Mechanical Ignorance

Hypertensive Hypochondriac

Ignominious Ignoramus

Ill-informed Ignoramus

Impersonal Collection of Inanimate Hardware

Incompetent Moronic Lump

Incompetent Walking Ingot

Incompetent Idiot

Incompetent Imbecile

Ineffectual Ineptitude

Inept Gold Bricker

Inept Idiot

Infamous Informer

Ingot of Ingratitude

Ingrate

Insensitive Brute

Insensitive Clump

Insensitive Idiot

Insensitive Machine

Insipid Ineptitude

Iron-Borne Ingrate

Irresponsible Winebibber

Jabbering Jackanape

Jabbering Jeremiah

Jabbering Judas

Jangling Junkheap

Jespoty Dunce

John Barley Corn

Judas

Juvenile Junkpile

Klunker

Know Nothing Numskull

Know-nothing Numskull

Lagert

Lamebrained Lump

Lead-lined Lothario

Lead-lined Lump

Lily Livered Lump

Lily-Livered, Lead-Lined Lummox

Little Mother

Ludricous Lump

Lugubrious Lagert

Lugubrious Lump

Magnificent Mobile

Malicious Moron

Mass of Fear

Mealy-mouthed Rogue

Meandering Mental Midget

Mechanical Dunderhead

Mechanical Friend

Mechanical Meddler

Mechanical Misery

Mechanical Misfit

Mechanical Monolith

Mechanical Moron

Mechanical Murderer

Meddler

Medical School Dropout

Mediocre Medical Misfit

Mental Midget

Metallic Ham

Metallic Monstrosity

Metallic Murderer

Metallurgical Friend

Miserable Mass of Metal

Miserable Mechanism

Misguided Moron

Mechanical Misery

Misshapen Mummy

Monstrous Mountebank

Mechanized Misguided Moron

Monstrous, Metallurgical Meddler

Mr. Wrongway Computer

Mumbling Mass of Metal

My Insensitive Friend

Myna Bird

Nattering Ninny

Neanderthal Ninny

Negligent Ninny

Nervous Ninny

Nickering Ninny

Nincompoop

Ninny

Noxious Ninny

Obsolete Oaf

Obsolete Piece of Scrap Metal

Old Booby

Overcautious Concoction

Overgrown Ninny

Oversized Oaf

Parsimonious Puppet

Pathetic Pomposity

Pedagogical Pip-squeak

Pitiable Pip-squeak

Plasticized Parrot

Pompous Pip-squeak

Ponderous Plumber

Pot Headed Prankster

Pot-Bellied Prankster

Pot-Bellied Pumpkin

Powered Prankster

Preening Popinjay

Presumptuous Pip-Squeak

Presumptuous Popinjay

Pretentious Popinjay

Primitive Pile of Pistons

Proverbial Neanderthal Ninny

Puny Pip-squeak

Pusillanimous Pinhead

Pusillanimous Pip-squeak

Pusillanimous Puncher

Pusillanimous Punkah

Pusillanimous Puppet

Pusillanimous Tyrant

Quivering Quintessence of Fear

Ramshackled Romeo

Rattletrap

Real Great Goose

Ridiculous Robot

Ridiculous Roustabout

Ridiculous Ruin

Robust Rock Hound

Rolly-Poly Rowdy

Rusty Rasputin

Sanctimonious Scatterbrain

Scurrilous Scatterbrain

Sententious Sloth

Sickening Cybernetic

Silent Sentinel

Silly Goose

Silly Old Ninny

Silly Sausage

Silly Sloth

Silly Stupid Lovable Old Ninny

Silver-Plated Sellout

Simple Simon

Slick Sophisticated & Charming

Companion

Snivelling Cinderbox

Sorry Specimen of Computerhood

Stalwart Companion

Stalwart Sortie

Steely-Eyed Sorcerer

Stubborn Clatterbrain

Stupid Friend

Tarnished Friend

Tarnished Trumpet

Tattletale

Terrified Mechanical Dunderhead

Tin-Plated Fool

Tin-Plated Fraud

Tin-Plated Snitch

Tin-Plated Tattletale

Tin-Plated Tintinnabulation

Tin-Plated Traitor

Tin-Plated Tyrant

Tintinnabulation Tin Can

Tiresome Thesaurus

Traitor

Traitorous Electronic Junk Pile

Traitorous Tin-Plated Fugitive

from a Junkyard

Traitorous Tintinnabulation

Traitorous Transistorized Toad

Transistorized Tiger

Treasonous Tyrant

Trusty Aid

Tyrannical Tin Plate

Tyrannus Thesaurus

Unabridged Dictionary

Unconscious Concoction

Unctuous Underling

Uncultured Clump

Ungrateful Underling

Ungrateful Wretch

Unspeakable Insult

Weakling

Worry Wart

Worthless Electronic Scrapheap

Wretch

Wrong Way Computer

[snarks_when_bored]

A TV trivia question for experts (or just the old):

Angela Cartwright played 'Linda' on the Danny Thomas Show. Her brother on the show, 'Rusty', once called her something and it upset her. What did he call her?

[sourcery]

"Danger, Will Robinson" is one of the most classic lines from any TV show.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

"We're doomed! DOOMED!"

[Jeff Chandler]

Where did you find those?

[BikerTrash]

One of the stupidest shows ever, (well, pre 1990 anyway). It was great!

That Marta was a hottie!

[Ingtar]

"Oh! The pain! The pain!"

I met Jonathan Harris at a convention one time. It was an interesting conversation.

[Husker8877]

Dr. Smith would have been the perfect democrat "leader"!

That works on so many levels! Whiny, sissy la-la, lying, conniving cackler of doom and desparation

[lunarbicep]

[Names Ash Housewares]

"Where did you find those?"



http://saveandromeda.com/tarantulas/guestusers/user03/robot_b9/robot_b9_sound_files.htm

[lunarbicep]

One of the stupidest shows ever

actually 1 of the stupidest programs ever premiered the very same night at 9:00:

[BikerTrash]

Yep. Like a train wreck, you couldn't quit watching it.

[tina07]

yes, we watched them all, lol!

[Hank Rearden]

In early '66, I got a private tour of the studio lot where Lost in Space was filmed (friend's mom had connections). Met the entire cast; damn near peed myself from excitement. They were all in pajamas for the scene they were shooting. Angela Cartwright looked hot, even to my 11-year-old eyes. And Jonathan Harris (Dr. Smith) was very nice to the couple of wide-eyed kiddies checking him out. The Robot was parked off to the side, dark and silent.

Then we got to walk into and around the Time Tunnel, poke around the Seaview set from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea followed by the capper of the day - coming around the corner of a soundstage, we ran smack-dab into . . . . . The Batmobile!

Yep, the original George Barris machine; damn that was cool - they even let us sit in it. How many other FReepers can claim to have sat in the original Batmobile and the original James Bond Aston-Martin? (that one came to a shopping center in my town the same year)

Pretty exciting year for me, I tell you what. Come to think of it, I think my entire life peaked out in '66. Damn. Even the music was better back then.

[Critical Bill]

Interview with Angela Cartwright

[Old Seadog]

[Critical Bill]

Angela Cartwright looked hot, even to my 11-year-old eyes.

I was exactly 11 in 1966 as well but I had the hots for the older blonde,Marta?

[Hank Rearden]

That's good - we wouldn't have been fighting over the girls. And Lassie's mom would have made us space cookies and milk.

[BikerTrash]

Good Lord!

I still say she was hot though.

[csvset]

"Danger, Will Robinson" is one of the most classic lines from any TV show.

Yep, that and the generic, " Danger, danger ! " , with the flailing arms. I use that to this day .

[MarMema]

One of my coworkers just did it last week.

[mewzilla]

I thought the Chariot was cool.

[BigCinBigD]

I wish I was Six again. Sitting on the floor in front of a Black and White console TV. I wish I was Six again.

[sourcery]

I thought the Chariot was cool.

The original SUV!

[mewzilla]

That could float! :)

[gridlock]

I gotta chime in with another vote for Angela Cartright. I guess it had to do with your age at the time. Marta Kristen looked like somebody's attractive Mom to my young eyes.

But Penny Robinson?!?

Hubba hubba!

[gridlock]

I loved the washing machine, where you tossed in dirty clothes, and you took out cleaned and folded clothes wrapped in cellophane. It's after 1997... Where can I buy such a machine?

[Critical Bill]

Billy Mumy official site

[WestVirginiaRebel]

The Batmobile...you must've felt like you'd died and gone to heaven!

The closest I ever came was getting to see KITT from Knight Rider on the Universal Studios Tour in 1985.

[Critical Bill]

I know what you mean but even at 11 I still got the hots for some of my mom's friends...:). In a non-sexual way obviously ( or not).

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Penny ranked up there with Mary Anne as one of my favorite childhood fantasies (The others being Lynda Carter and the Bionic Woman.)

[mewzilla]

I loved the washing machine, where you tossed in dirty clothes, and you took out cleaned and folded clothes wrapped in cellophane. It's after 1997... Where can I buy such a machine?

LOL. Yup, I want one of those!

[Larry Lucido]

How many other FReepers can claim to have sat in the original Batmobile and the original James Bond Aston-Martin?

I hate you.

Well, not any more. But I would have hated you back then.

[lunarbicep]

I wish I was Six again. Sitting on the floor in front of a Black and White console TV.

it's a wonder we're not blind from closely watching the dot disappear, from when the TV was cut off. Of course thats after having waited for the TV to warm-up, in the 1st place.

Flip Wilson use to tell a joke about a woman who would set her kids in front of the television every night; cut it on & they would fall asleep waiting for it to warm-up. The catch was; the kids never realized the TV had been broken for 2 years.

[BigCinBigD]

And a dial that "clicked" when you turned it! and something called UHF.

[drlevy88]

And where you actually would have a new picture tube put in, rather than chuck out the old TV and buy a new one.

[Hank Rearden]

And a dial that "clicked" when you turned it! and something called UHF.

You had UHF!!!! Rich guys . . . hmmmmph.

Remember remote controls with wires going back to the TV? Or the mechanical remote that dinged out various tones to do stuff?

Remember before electricity? We had to act out all the shows ourselves inside a hollowed-out early TV. What a pain in the ass that was. And no residuals. And doing the summer reruns was boring.

[mewzilla]

This is pretty close to what we watched it on :)

[BigCinBigD]

Yup that's very close. And when I was Six. I WAS the remote control. ;)

[mewzilla]

I can still remember having to mess with the bunny ears, too. These days the tech is better and the shows are worse.

[BigCinBigD]

Rabbit ears! this thread is opening some files in the back of my brain that haven't seen light in 40 years.

[prion]

I met Jonathan Harris at a convention one time. It was an interesting conversation.

I went to the LIS 30th Reunion Convention in Boston, but I didn't go through the autograph line. All the cast members were there (except Guy Williams, of course), and they were uniformly gracious. Imagine that being the best-remembered role of your career!

Mark Goddard teaches middle school in Western Massachusetts someplace.

Did anybody else struggle with the idea that Don would inevitably be paired off with Judy, but Penny and Will...oh, wait. That was as bad as the weird vibe in the Partridge Family bus.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

" How many other FReepers can claim to have sat in the original Batmobile " ...............

My dad and mom bought my brother and I a Bat Mobile were you can drive it and move it by pedaling it with the peddles.
I can still remember getting it stuck in the mud and having to go run to my dad and mom to get it out of the mud.
My dad and mom bought my brothers and I those toy ( Lost in Space Toy Robots ,,,, I should have saved them, they would be worth a lot of money now ) Robots.
The Toy Lost in Space Robots came with lights in it and you can put batteries in it and the lights would blink on and off and the front part of the Robot ( the chest plate ) would light up in red color, it was so cool back then.

[lunarbicep]

our rabbit ears never seemed to work too well. I remember having to go outside, hand turn a pole with an antenna atop it. all the time with this yelling being relayed, "that's it!!" "go back, you had it" ...

[WestVirginiaRebel]

I just remember the remotes with three clickers on them. We had one that lasted at least ten years before it finally wore out.

And wooden cabinets that you could actually set stuff on top of.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

ahh yes, I can still remember those old Black and White TV sets.
I still remember the changing of the channels as a " CLUNK " sound when you turned the channel changer.
Those old TV sets were as big as a washing machine, and who can't forget those rabbit ears.
I can still remember when an old TV set would go up and break, my brothers and I would take the TV and take it apart ( there is something about the human curiosity of wondering how things work ).
My brothers and I would be so fascinated by the vacuum tubes, the different colors of electric wires in the TV sets, and the circuit boards with all of the transistors, diodes, resisters , and transformers.

[lunarbicep]

this it?

[BigCinBigD]

Televisions were furniture not appliances.:0)

[exDemMom]

Every time Dr. Smith got in trouble and was kidnapped or lost or something, I wondered why the rest of the crew didn't just come to their senses and leave him. But no, they always rescued him so that he could continue to be the supreme irritant. Arggh!