A Quick Look at TV: LOST IN SPACE

   Lost In Space was producer Irwin Allen's follow-up to the successful adaptation of Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea to television. Basically a space-age update of The Swiss Family Robinson, the series followed the adventures of the family Robinson -meant to be the founding family of a colony on another planet. Technical issues sent the ship off course and resulted in the family being lost in outer space. They tried to find their position in space and make their way back to Earth, but kept running afoul of assorted adventures which kept them farther and farther from their goal. The pilot film was a masterful science fiction piece filled with dark, moody photography and earnest survival drama. The executives felt the show needed a little something extra, however, and a new pilot was commissioned to include these elements. One was a robot to serve as a mechanical man Friday. The other was a human villain in the shape of the nefarious Dr. Smith. Smith was an enemy agent tasked with sabotaging the colonization flight by tampering with the robot, but unfortunately for him this included his own entrapment aboard ship before take-off. Johnathan Harris played Smith, and was sure his character would be written out after a couple of episodes. Figuring it wasn't going to hurt things, he began doing his practiced comical heavy routine. This actually endeared him to viewers and Smith became an established fixture of the show, quickly morphing from evil spy to cowardly comic relief. The first season was considered pretty solid TV science fiction. The second season, in full color and airing opposite Batman, went completely wild. The result was some of the most hallucinogenic family programming ever seen. The third season toned down things a bit, and focused more on the family (as Smith and the robot had basically taken over the series in the second season). Cancelled after the third season, the show became a hit in syndication. A lot of credit goes to the cast, which included Guy Williams as the daring scientist father figure, June Lockhart's nurturing mother, and Mark Goddard's man-of-action pilot. Of course, Bill Mumy played young Will Robinson, junior genius who became straight man to Dr. Smith's hysterics. Despite the talent backing him up, Mumy seemed to emerge as the true star of the series. The show was full of technical contradictions. The miniature effects were some of the best ever seen, while the monsters tended toward slapdash goofy. The bulk of spacemen seemed to be regular human beings with silver skin. The family pet, a space creature called the Bloop, was a chimp with a big-eared helmet strapped onto it -something the chimp wasn't very fond of! Still, the show certainly delivered what it's audience came to get! This remained true even when things seemed to indicate the series was in trouble. The most infamous episode was "The Great Vegetable Rebellion" in which humanoid plants menace our heroes. This episode is a scream to watch, as cast members are constantly looking away and composing themselves, lest they break out laughing.