Lost in Space.html

For other uses, see Lost in Space (disambiguation).

Lost in Space
Publicity photo (1967) for Lost in Space: shows cast members: Angela Cartwright, Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen, Jonathan Harris, June Lockhart, Guy Williams & Bill Mumy.
Genre	Science fiction
Directed by	Irwin Allen Robert Douglas Alvin Ganzer Harry Harris Leonard Horn Nathan H. Juran Sobey Martin Irving J. Moore Leo Penn Don Richardson Seymour Robbie Sutton Roley Alexander Singer Paul Stanley Ezra Stone
Starring	(See article)
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	83
Production
Producer(s)	Irwin Allen
Associate producer(s)	Jerry Briskin William D. Faralla
Camera setup	Clyde Taylor
Running time	1 hour
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	September 15, 1965 – March 6, 1968
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Lost in Space is a science fiction TV series created and produced by Irwin Allen, produced by 20th Century Fox Television, and broadcast on CBS. The show ran for three seasons, with 83 episodes airing between September 15, 1965 and March 6, 1968. The first season was shot with black and white film, the rest in color.

Production

The series is a space-age adaptation of the novel Swiss Family Robinson. The astronaut family Robinson, accompanied by a military pilot and a robot, set out to colonize Alpha Centauri from overpopulated Earth. Their 1997 mission is immediately sabotaged by Dr. Zachary Smith, who slips aboard the spaceship Jupiter 2 and reprograms the robot to destroy the ship and crew. Smith is trapped aboard, saving himself by prematurely reviving the crew from suspended animation. They save the ship, but consequent damage leaves them lost in space. Eventually they crash on an alien world: here they must survive a host of adventures. Smith (who Allen intended to kill) remains through the series as a source of comedic cowardice and villainy, exploiting the forgiving (or forgetful) nature of the Robinsons.

At the start of the second season, the repaired Jupiter 2 launches again, but after two episodes the Robinsons crash on another planet and spend the season there. In the third season, they travel to other worlds in attempt to return to Earth or to settle Alpha Centauri. (Which would turn out to be impossible, as hostile aliens have a colony there.)

Following the format of Allen's first TV series, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, fantasy-oriented adventure stories were emphasized. The show delivered a visual assault of special effects, explosions, monstrous aliens, spaceships, and exotic sets and costumes drenched in the bright, primary colors that were typical of early color television.

Unlike Star Trek, character development, deep philosophical discussion, dramatic depth, and coherent storyline between episodes were secondary. "Don't get logical with me!" was Allen's frequent retort to writers who objected to changes to their scripts. ¹

Plot

In 1997, the Earth suffers from overpopulation and natural resource depletion. Professor John Robinson ( Guy Williams), his wife, Maureen (June Lockhart), their children, Judy (Marta Kristen), Penny (Angela Cartwright), Will (Billy Mumy), and their friend and pilot, Major Don West (Mark Goddard), are chosen to travel on the "Jupiter 2" to Alpha Centauri to search for a habitable planet for mankind to colonize.

After the Robinsons are placed in suspended animation, but before the launch, foreign agent Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris) sneaks aboard on a sabotage mission. He reprograms the ship's robot to destroy the ship shortly after it leaves Earth. He becomes trapped during launch, however, and his extra weight throws the Jupiter 2 off course, causing it to encounter a meteor storm. The robot's rampage causes the ship to become lost.

The Robinsons are often placed in danger by Smith, who is by turns a villain or an indigent. In the second and third seasons, Smith's role assumes a less evil overtone - although he continues to display many character defects. In "The Time Merchant", Smith travels back in time to before the Jupiter 2 launch, changing his fate. He learns that without his weight altering the ship's course, it would be destroyed. In an act of redemption, Smith elects to remain on board, thus saving the Robinsons' lives.

Cast

Doctor John Robinson: The expedition commander, a pilot, and the father of the Robinson children. He is an astrophysicist who also specializes in applied planetary geology.

Doctor Maureen Robinson: John's biochemist wife. Her role in the series is often to prepare meals, tend the garden, and to help with light construction, whilst adding the much needed "voice of reason". Her status as a doctor is mentioned only in the first episode.

Major Don West : Smith's intemperate and intolerate foil. There is a romantic interest in Judy that is never developed on screen. In the pilot, West was also an astrophysicist and expert in interplanetary geology.

Judy Robinson: The oldest child. She planned a career in musical theater, but went with her family, instead.

Penny Robinson: She loves animals and classical music. She acquires an alien pet she names Debbie (To viewers, quite obviously a chimpanzee wearing a fur hat). The chimp made one sound, "Bloop", and is sometimes remembered by that name.² Penny, however, named the creature Debbie.

Will Robinson. The youngest, a child prodigy in electronics. Often, he is a friend to Smith when no one else is.

Doctor Zachary Smith: A specialist in environmental and intergalactic psychology, and an enemy agent (these roles are dropped early in the series). His attempt to sabotage the mission strands him aboard the Jupiter 2.

The Robot: The Robot is a Model B-9, Class M-3 General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robot, which had no given name (Harris once jokingly suggested the robot be named "Clawed"). Although a machine endowed with superhuman strength and futuristic weaponry, he often displayed human characteristics such as laughter (usually at Smith, thus provoking the latter's rage), sadness, and mockery. The Robot was designed by Robert Kinoshita (whose other cybernetic claim to fame is as the designer of Forbidden Planet's Robby the Robot) and was performed by Bob May in a prop costume built by Bob Stewart. The voice was dubbed by Dick Tufeld, who was also the series' narrator.

Episodes

Main article: List of Lost in Space episodes

Equipment

The Robinsons in suspended animation tubes.

One critical technology is the suspended animation technology. In addition to the Robot, primary tools included the three-deck Jupiter 2 flying saucer spacecraft, a glass-walled tracked exploration vehicle called the "Chariot", and the space "Pod" (a small spacecraft modeled on the Apollo Lunar Module). On occasion, characters (notably John Robinson) used what was then an exciting new invention: the jet pack.

The Jupiter 2 had technology that simplified or did away with mundane tasks. The "washing machine" took seconds to work, packaging cleaned clothes in plastic bags. The ship had no light bulbs, Maureen says the lights are "transistorized". On the other hand, sound and voice recording was less advanced, for example, using reel-to-reel tape recorders.

Series history

Allen produced a series pilot, "No Place to Hide". After CBS accepted the series, the characters Smith and the Robot were added. The ship was redesigned with a second deck, and named the Jupiter 2. (It had been the Gemini 12.) For budget considerations, a good part of the pilot episode was reworked into the early series episodes. According to Lockhart, the show was intended to be called "Space Family Robinson", but Disney would not release the copyright.^{citation needed}

The first season emphasized adventure. It chronicled the daily adventures that a pioneer family might well experience if marooned on an alien world. These included dealing with dangerous native plants and animals, and off-world visitors. In the first season, only the special effects shots were filmed in color, in anticipation of reusing shots in color seasons.

The show aired in the same time slot as Batman (TV series), and it has been suggested that the camp tone was adopted to compete with Batman. There was a growing emphasis on Smith, Will and the Robot at the expense of the other characters. Smith's change in character was not appreciated by the other actors. According to Billy Mumy, Mark Goddard and Guy Williams disliked the shift from serious science fiction.³

The third season had more adventure, but episodes like "The Great Vegetable Rebellion" — with actor Stanley Adams as Tybo, the talking carrot — still demonstrated humorous fantasy. Other episodes were whimsical and emphasized humor, including fanciful space cowboys, space hippies, pirates, and a beauty pageant.

During the first two seasons, episodes concluded in a "live action freeze" anticipating the following week, with the cliff-hanger, "To be continued next week!". There was little ongoing plot continuity between episodes, except in larger goals; for example, to get enough fuel to leave the planet. For the third season, the episode would conclude and then a "teaser" for "next week's exciting adventure!" would show highlights from the next episode just before the closing credits began.

After cancellation, the show was successful in reruns, and syndication for many years, most recently on FX and Sci-Fi Channel.

Stylistically, the series was of high quality, featuring what was expected for space travel at the time; eye-catching silver, tapered space-suits, laser guns and spectacular props and sets.

Ratings and popularity

Although it retains a following, the science-fiction community often points to Lost in Space as an example of television's perceived bad record at producing science-fiction^{citation needed} (perhaps overlooking the series' deliberate fantasy elements), comparing it to its supposed rival, Star Trek. However, Lost In Space was a mild ratings success, unlike Star Trek, which received very poor ratings during its original network TV run, often not placing any higher than 60th place, while "Lost in Space" finished season one with a rating of 32nd, second season in 35th place, and the third and final season rating 33rd.

The final primetime episode to be broadcast across the USA was a cast and crew favorite, a repeat from the second season, "A Visit to Hades".

Lost In Space is remembered, at least, from oft-repeated lines of the Robot, such as "Warning! Warning!", "That does not compute", and "Danger, Will Robinson!" Smith's frequent put-downs of the Robot are also still popular ("You bubble-headed booby!") as are his trademark lines: "Oh, the pain...the pain!" and "Never fear, Smith is here!"

Cancellation

It is unclear why Lost in Space was cancelled. Several theories have been suggested.

Budget too high

The show had ratings to ensure a fourth season, but it was expensive. The budget for season one per episode was $130,980, and for Season Three, $164,788. During that time, the actors' salaries increased, in the case of Harris, Kristen and Cartwright, nearly doubling. (Their negotiated salaries for the fourth season were presumably even higher.) There is other evidence that at least a part of the cost problems were the actors themselves, for example director Richardson saying of Williams requiring that there be frequent closeups of him:

"This costs a fortune in time, it's a lot of lighting and a lot of trouble and Irwin succumbed to it. It got to be that bad."⁴

Budget cut

According to Mumy, the show had already been picked up for the fourth season, but with a cut budget, Allen said he couldn't continue the show under those circumstances. In fact, at the fourth season renewal meeting with CBS chief executive Bill Paley, Allen got up and walked out when being told that the budget was being cut 15% from season 3, thereby sealing the show's cancellation.⁵

Disliked by an executive

Robert Hamner, one of the show's writers, states (in Starlog, #220, November 1995) that Paley despised the show so much that the budget dispute was used as an excuse to terminate the series. In 1997 Paley stated this was incorrect and that he was a fan of "the robot".

Declining ratings and escalating costs

The Lost in Space Forever DVD cites declining ratings and escalating costs as the reasons for cancellation. ⁶

Diminishing Interest

Probably not the main reason, but a contributing factor, at least, was that Lockhart and director Don Richardson were no longer excited about the show. Lockhart is quoted as saying in response to being told about its cancellation by Perry Lafferty, the head of CBS programming, "I think that's for the best at this point..." (although she goes on to say that she would have stayed if there had been a fourth season). Richardson had been tipped off that the show was canceled, was looking for another series, and had decided not to return to "Lost in Space," even if it continued.

Harris (Smith) and Bob May (the man inside the robot) had started out as friends to begin with - but, by the time the series eventually ended, a bit of a rot had set in - it eventually got to the stage where the older actor would not let the younger actor into his dressing room.⁷

Music

Album cover of Lost in Space Original Television Soundtrack, Volume 1 CD, with music by John Williams (ASIN B000001P1R).

The theme music for the opening and closing credits was written by John Williams, who was listed in the credits as "Johnny Williams."

For season three, the opening theme was revised (again by Williams) to a more exciting and faster tempo score, accompanied by live action shots of the cast, featuring a pumped-up countdown from seven to one to launch each week's episode. Seasons 1 and 2 had animated figures "life-roped" together drifting "hopelessly lost in space" and set to a dizzy and comical score.

Much of the incidental music in the series was written by Williams and other notable film and television composers, including Alexander Courage, who contributed six scores to the series. His most recognizable ("Wild Adventure") included his key theme for "Lorelei" composed for organ, woodwinds, and harp – thus cementing this highly recognizable theme with Williams' own "Chariot" and main theme for the series.

A series of soundtrack CDs were released containing only background and incidental music from the original TV series.

Legal questions

In 1962 Gold Key comics (formerly Dell Comics), a division of Western Publishing Company, began publishing a series of comic books under the title, Space Family Robinson. The story was largely inspired by The Swiss Family Robinson but with a space-age twist. The movie and television rights to the comic book were then purchased by noted television writer Hilda Bohem (The Cisco Kid), who created a treatment under the title, Space Family 3000.

In July 1964, science fiction writer and filmmaker Ib Melchior began pitching a treatment for a feature film, also under the title Space Family Robinson. There is debate as to whether or not Allen was aware of the Melchior treatment. It is also unknown whether Allen was aware of the comic book or the Hilda Bohem treatment.

As copyright law only protects the actual expression of a work, and not titles, general ideas or concepts, in 1964 Allen moved forward with his own take on Space Family Robinson, with characters and situations notably different from either the Bohem or the Melchior treatments (It is interesting to note that none of these versions contained the characters of Smith or the Robot).

Intended as a follow up to his first successful television venture, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (TV series), Allen quickly sold his concept for a television series to CBS. Concerned about confusion with the Gold Key comic book, CBS requested that Allen come up with a new title. Nevertheless, Hilda Bohem filed a claim against Allen and CBS Television shortly before the series premiered in 1965.

A compromise was struck as part of a legal settlement. In addition to an undisclosed sum of money, Western Publishing would be allowed to change the name of its comic book to Lost in Space.

There were no other legal challenges to the title until 1995, when New Line Cinema announced their intention to turn Lost in Space into a big budget motion picture. New Line had purchased the screen rights from Prelude Pictures (which had acquired the screen rights from the Irwin Allen Estate in 1993). At that time, Melchior contacted Prelude Pictures and insisted that Lost in Space was directly based upon his 1964 treatment. Melchior was aided in his efforts by Ed Shifres, a fan who had written a book entitled Space Family Robinson: The True Story. (Later reprinted with the title, Lost in Space: The True Story). The book attempts to show how Allen allegedly plagiarized Melchior's concept, with two outlines presented side-by-side.

To satisfy Melchior, Prelude Pictures hired the 78-year-old filmmaker as a consultant on their feature film adaptation. This accommodation was made without the knowledge or consent of the Irwin Allen Estate or Space Productions, the original copyright holder of Lost in Space. Melchior's contract with Prelude also guaranteed him 2% of the producer's gross receipts, a provision that was later the subject of a suit between Melchior and Mark Koch of Prelude Pictures. Although an Appellate Court ruled partly⁸ in Melchior's favor, on November 17th, 2004, the Supreme Court of California⁹ denied a petition by Melchior to further review the case.

It is significant that no further claim was made and that Space Productions now contends that Allen was the sole creator of the TV series Lost in Space.

References in popular culture

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (October 2007)

The animated television series Freakazoid features a character named Professor Jones. The generic name, and the lines given to the character were obvious riffs on Dr. Smith (such as "Weren't you on a TV show with a robot?"), and the character was in fact voiced by Jonathan Harris.
In The Simpsons episode "Fear of Flying" Marge Simpson dreams she is Maureen Robinson and left behind on an alien planet when her father blasts off in the Jupiter 2 without her. In a later episode, "Mayored to the Mob", Dr. Smith and the Robot appear at the Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con. Bart Simpson claims he's seen the movie and the actor signing autographs, a parody of Jonathan Harris, is not Dr. Smith. It is implied that Dr. Smith attempts to lure him away to molest him. The Robot prevents this from happening with his alarm, "DANGER! DANGER! BART SIMPSON!"
The Family Guy episode Fore Father refers to Lost in Space in one of their many-known cutaways. John Robinson is parodied as pairing up the characters in ways that match several season 1 and 2 episodes. He is fully aware of how inappropriate this is, saying Major West and his unmarried daughter Judy are to ride around in the chariot all day. Will is left to the mercy of a boy-hungry pedophile, implied to be Dr. Smith. Maureen and Penny are to be left at the ship defenseless.
The Oink! strip "Pete's Pimple" about a boy with a giant zit once had an episode where he was blasted into space and met the Robinsons, but when he mistakenly used the robot to urinate on, it went crazy and wiped out the entire cast.
Lost in Space was parodied during a host segment on the cult TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000 in the episode "Time Chasers".
In 1997, a musical parody called Danger, Will Robinson! opened in Chicago and became a cult hit. It featured songs from the 1950s and 60s integrated into the plot. Scenes were performed on Mancow's Morning Madhouse on Q101 radio.

Guest stars

Many actors guest-starred, among them Al Lewis, Edy Williams, Arte Johnson, Don Matheson, Kurt Russell, Strother Martin, Francine York, Michael Rennie, Mercedes McCambridge, Michael J. Pollard, Allan Melvin and Henry Jones, Daniel J. Travanti, Kym Karath, and Michael Conrad .

Spin-offs

Comics

Bill Mumy scripted an authorized Lost in Space comic book for Innovation Comics. The company continued the series for some time, at one point focusing on a time many years after the end of series, the children had long ago grown up.

Prior to the appearance of the TV series, a comic book named Space Family Robinson was published by Gold Key Comics and written by Gaylord Du Bois. (Du Bois did not create the series, but he became the sole writer of the series once he began chronicling the Robinsons' adventures with Peril on Planet Four in issue #8, and he had already written the Captain Venture second feature beginning with Situation Survival in issue #6). Due to a deal worked out with Gold Key, the title of the comic later incorporated the "Lost in Space" sub-title. The comic book is not a spinoff of the TV series but was in print prior to the conception of the show. Also, there is an unlicensed comic in which Will Robinson meets up with Friday the 13th character Jason Voorhees.

Cartoon

In the 1972-73 television season, ABC produced The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, a weekly collection of 60-minute animated movies, pilots and specials from various production companies, such as Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, and Rankin-Bass -- Hanna-Barbera Productions contributed animated work based on such TV series as Gidget, Yogi Bear, Tabitha, Oliver Twist, Nanny and the Professor, The Banana Splits, and most importantly, Lost in Space. Dr. Smith (voiced by Jonathan Harris) was the only character from the original program to appear in the special, along with the Robot (who was named Robon and employed in flight control rather than a support activity). The spacecraft was launched vertically by rocket, and Smith was a passenger rather than a saboteur. The pilot for the animated Lost in Space series was not picked up as a series, and only this episode was produced.

Feature film

In 1998, New Line Cinema produced a Lost in Space feature film. It included numerous nods, homages and cameos related to the series, including:

Dick Tufeld as The Robot's voice;
Mark Goddard played the General who gives Major West his orders for the mission;
June Lockhart played the principal of Will Robinson's school;
Angela Cartwright and Marta Kristen appeared as reporters.
The film's Jupiter II was launched into orbit by a vehicle called the Jupiter I, which closely mimics the series' spacecraft, complete with rotating propulsion lights.
Reference is made to the Chariot and Space Pod, both of which are reported wrecked.

Additional cameo appearances from the original series were considered, but did not make it to the film: Harris was offered a cameo appearance (as the Global Sedition businessman who hires, then betrays, Smith). He turned down the role (which eventually went to Edward Fox), and is even reported to have said "I play Smith or I don't play." Harris appeared on an episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien mentioning that he was offered a role: "Yes, they offered me a part in the new movie--six lines!" Bill Mumy was offered a key role in the film, that of an aged Will Robinson who appears in the "Spider Smith" sequences, but due to a scheduling conflict, Jared Harris was cast instead. Guy Williams had died years earlier.

Novel

In 1967, a novel based on the series with significant changes to the personalities of the characters, and a redesign of the Jupiter 2 was published by Pyramid Books. Written by Dave Van Arnam and Ron Archer (as Ted White), the book was three short stories woven together. In one scene, where a character is randomly speaking English to provide data for translation, the book correctly predicted Richard Nixon winning the presidency after Lyndon Johnson (but also predicted a Kennedy (likely Robert F. Kennedy) winning after Nixon).

Second TV series

In late 2003, a new TV series, with a somewhat changed format, was in development in the U.S. It was intended to be originally closer to the original pilot with no Smith, but including a robot. The pilot (entitled, The Robinsons: Lost in Space) was commissioned by the The WB Television Network. It was directed by John Woo and produced by Synthesis Entertainment, Irwin Allen Productions, Twentieth Century Fox Television and Regency Television.

The Jupiter 2 interstellar flying-saucer spacecraft of the original series was changed to a non-saucer planet-landing craft, dispensed from a larger inter-stellar mothership.

The pilot script featured the characters of John and Maureen, but an elder son, David, was added, as well as Judy, an 'infant' Penny, and ten-year-old Will. There was no Dr. Smith character, but the character of Don West was described as a "dangerous, lone wolf type".

The confirmed cast included Brad Johnson as John Robinson, Jayne Brook as Maureen Robinson, Adrianne Palicki as Judy Robinson, Ryan Malgarini as Will Robinson and Mike Erwin as Don West.

It was not among the network's series pick-ups confirmed later that year.

The producers of the new Battlestar Galactica show bought the sets. They were redesigned the next year and used for scenes on the Battlestar Pegasus.

DVD releases

20th Century Fox has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date	Additional Information
Season 1	30	January 13, 2004	Un-Aired Pilot "No Place To Hide" included (see above) CBS Network Presentation (5.5 minutes)
Season 2 Volume 1	16	September 14, 2004
Season 2 Volume 2	14	November 30, 2004	Original 1966 Lost In Space Interviews 17 stills from the Guy Williams and June Lockhart interview 15 stills from the Jonathan Harris interview
Season 3 Volume 1	15	March 1, 2005	"Lost in Space" memories - 20 nostalgic video clips with cast members offering a fond look back at favorite episodes and highlights of the show!
Season 3 Volume 2	9	July 19, 2005	Next on Lost in Space: Princess of Space, The Time Merchant, The Promised Planet, Fugitives in Space, Space Beauty, The Flaming Planet, The Great Vegetable Rebellion, Junkyard of Space and The Condemned of Space Target Earth Act Break Interstitial Blooper / Bill Mumy Interview Clips (from 1995): Resolving the show, Bob May and The Robot, Thoughts on the cast / Jonathan Harris, Getting the role, Comedic Villain and Motivation for Dr. Zachary Smith

Title in other languages

Brazilian Portuguese: Perdidos no Espaço
Croatian: Izgubljeni u svemiru
Finnish: Matkalla avaruuteen
French: Perdus dans l'espace
Japanese: 宇宙家族ロビンソン (Uchuu Kazoku Robinson = Space Family Robinson)
Korean: 우주가족 로빈슨 (Uju Gajok Robinseun = Space Family Robinson)
Polish: Zagubieni w kosmosie
Romanian: Pierduţi în spaţiu
Spanish: Perdidos en el espacio

Trivia