Let's take a look at my full size Lost In Space Robot replica! Link to the builders club www.b9robotbuildersclub.com/ Link to me inside Craig's robot at Starfest convention: • Mark Goddard and the B...
This is incredible! It's interesting how you nitpick your own work while all of us viewers find it amazing and impressive. Great work, and thanks for sharing!
As a kid I always regarded the bubble as it's brain. I was concerned for it because it seemed so delicate. Cool video. Your next robot will be AI controlled with the same voice.
I loved how the robot quickly evolved on the show, from Smith’s cold blooded assassin into an actual character and part of the family! Loved it when he and Smith would exchange insults!! Especially when the Robot would laugh!!
@@Geezer-yf8hv Yes! The Robot was definitely my favorite! His laugh was hilarious! Yeah my dad was so cool for helping me build the robot! We still marvel that we even did it! 😄
So very cool… thanks so much for sharing… great memories to have shared this with your Dad. 😢sorry for your loss concerning your dear friend, Kyle. Love robots myself… kinda jealous, just a bit. Wouldn’t mind having a robot of my own, but would never have a spot for him where I live. Grateful for all the smaller versions that I still enjoy and share some moments of my own imagination.
Awesome job! The power pack was my favorite part too...a bit of a design flaw that it was so easily accessible to shut him down lol. Loved that a robot could have a personality. Thanks for sharing the memories.
If you are still accepting suggestions I’ve got a couple. You can use push on clips instead of silicon adhesive drops for mounting plates. Flasher bulbs are common for Christmas decorations. Same effect when heated up starts flashing randomly. I’ve considered the power pack within the show’s logic was like a fuse / circuit breaker for the robot as a panic button.
Fun clip !. Thanks for explaining your cool project. I loved watching Lost In Space on TV in New Zealand in the 60' and repeats in the early 70's. A neat dad & son project..... 🧓👱♂️.
Supposedly they worked on the robots spinning ears between season 1 and 2 to make them quieter. After they began filming the first episode in season two, with the ears spinning, they realized the noise was still too loud and was being picked up by the microphones. They just turned them off, and didn't use them again until the one episode at the end of season three where one ear briefly spun.
It's too bad they couldn't use them. I thought they looked cool when they were spinning. I mentioned it spinning in my season 3 video on the episode "Junkyard In Space".
Thank you for your quick replay. $6000 sounds like a steal for that and you have that wonderful experience with your Dad. When I saw the price of $25000 from the other company (which no longer makes them), I thought that was a bit steep. As the others have said, I love the Robot. A favorite character from my childhood. Loved the video.
Thank you! Well the equivalent to today would be around $10,000. Plus keep in mind that the $25,000 ones were completely electronic with moving brain mechanisms and ears, remote control, working power pack, digital library of vocal tracks and I think the torso was motorized. They were very expensive to produce and there was supposed to be a limited edition of 150. The gentleman that owned that company had invested an incredible amount of money into getting that company going. Plus Synthesis Entertainment was getting a piece of the pie as well.
This pops up for me every once in a while and I always click on it, I really love it - it brings a lot of joy to see. Great work. It’s really something special
@@outsider238 Last night I clicked through the builders club link you provided to see what goes into it and prices alone scared me off sadly - but I wouldn’t have expected any less. Can’t imagine shipping costs to Australia too 😂
The robot was my favorite character on the show. Danger danger Will Robinson! Beautiful job on the robot. I would love to have seen Mark's reaction when he put the power pack on and you woke up the robot. Also I had no idea the bubble on top was the robot's brain and eyes! Loved the video.
Thank you so much! Yeah Mark was super nice and I really enjoyed hanging out with him. I wish the guy operating the voice was better at doing it. I really wanted to be able to interact with Mark more.
Wow what a great video! I have always loved him in the show. I have a smaller version I bought on Amazon, a table top version that says about 20 different things. Now I’ll have to get it out and check and see how many of the details mine has lol. Thanks for the info and knowledge that you passed on. We are EMO friends so to find out you love this Robot too is awesome!
Really enjoyed this. In several ways your robot looks better than the original. I also enjoyed your I Dream of Jeannie bottle video which led me to this.
I have loved the Lost In Space robot ever since I can remember, and your personal one is an eye-catching representation. Invaluable that this was a father/son project for you as the memories will last a lifetime. Also nice that you allowed us in on how the build helped you through a personal loss. Having a constructive activity to focus on does help with hard times like that and yes, B9 was always helpful and dependable. Way, way beyond cool that you hung out with Major West himself! So much to discuss with your gracious close-ups and info, but just to comment on the robot's collar: Watching the show on Blu-Ray, I was always looking to catch a glimpse of Bob May in there. Nothing definitive except for one time. There's a scene in Follow The Leader with the robot talking to Dr. Smith in the hydroponic garden. On the robot's close up I am sure I can see Bob May's blinking eye in there and it looks like some sort of netting or mesh is in there as well. Maybe not a big thing, but oh well. Anyhow, your hard work definitely paid off and I think 10 months is making great time. Your robot is fantastic.
Wow! Thank you so much!! Yes, building him was quite the experience and ended up being such a personal uplifting one as well at a time when I really needed it. Mark Goddard was so nice and amazing to hang out with. A very down to Earth guy that really enjoyed hanging out with us in the Robot Room even though it took away from his making money at his signing booth. On the second day, he asked if we could bring my friend's robot down to the photo op area and have me inside so we could do some fun pictures with the fans that paid for pictures (Mark made the money. We didn't. We're not allowed to make money on our Robots at shows). There was a line of people and we did a bunch of photos. Afterward, the photographer had us do some "candid" shots where we were goofing around or I'd have my arms around him so the Robot was hugging him. We also did some photos with the Robot's head removed and my head sticking out and making goofy faces. It was a blast and Mark was such a good sport about everything. I'm definitely going to have to check out that scene you mentioned in "Follow The Leader"! There's an episode in season 3 near the end of the series (I wish I could remember what episode it was) where you can clearly see the shadow inside of Bob's head moving around in there. It's at the beginning of the episode and Dr. Smith is talking to the Robot and the Robot is very close to the camera. There's a ton of fun bloopers in the series some of which have become iconic. Haha! Thank you for the kind words and great comment!!
@@outsider238 Still going over this robot stuff Outsider. You talking about being inside the robot reminds me of something. There is a BTS photo on the Uncle Odie's Collectibles site that seems to be taken on the set of The Space Destructors. Five men who look to be crew members surround the robot with his head lifted off and a young boy inside the robot looking out. Someone's son I suppose, but these types of photos with no explanation always have me in a "who what where why when" mood. Thanks for listening, I'm something of a chatty Cathy tonight.
@@Nathan-jq1uw Haha! I haven't seen the photo on the website but I think I've seen the photo before. I'm pretty sure that the boy inside is the son of Johnny Borguese (I'm pretty sure I butchered the spelling of his name) who was one of the original "Robot Wranglers" back then who helped maintain and build the Robot. He was one of the guys that helped Bob May get in and out of the robot as well. Johnny's son is in special effects now today. Or at least he was about 10 years ago.
There have been a couple over the years. Icons was a scam. The other company (I can't remember their name) was legit and sold around 75 of them but then the economy tanked and they ended up not making the full run of 150 robots. Those robots were very nice.
Awesome B9. You and your father did a great job on him. I grew up watching Lost in Space and B9 was my favorite character. For some reason I've always loved robots including the old Japanese toy tin robots built by Horikawa. My favorite being the Horikawa fighting robot that I had as a young kid. All the best to you.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. I know what you mean. I love robots too. Always had a fascination for them. Japan has some of the coolest stores that have all kinds of robots that I'd like to check out. The tin ones are still classics and I think have a special place in our memories for sure!
I love this! I tried to contact the folks in the club. I think it's no longer active. I think would be a cool and rewarding project. Kudos tou your dad for helping you. You guys did a great job! Thank you for sharing.
@@outsider238 I did find them, and my number from 20 years ago was still on record. I have started my own build, but parts are very hard to come by, and the ones you can purchase from members are not exactly affordable. So far I have most of the parts to start on the torso, and already 3k into it. I had the blue and red remco back in 1965, I got for Christmas.... I was a bit let down by it's size and unworthy likeness to the big guy on TV. I ended up breaking it soon after. Wish I had that cheapo plastic hunk now. :)
@@johnwood406 Haha! It's amazing how collectible that Remco robot is today. Sounds like you have a good start on the build. Mine cost $6,000 back in 2000 when we finished him. I'm sad not to be able to keep up with the club nowadays but I don't want to be on Facebook. The parts in the club are pricey but most of them are high quality.
Oh yes! I too was a member! I got one of those very hard to get bubbles for the brain. Mine still needs the claws and power pack. Great video your B9 is excellent
It looks really good. I would have made the power pack disconnect the power when it's removed though. Nothing fancy, just short two of the connectors on the power pack and run the power cable to the jacks on the inside so that when it's pulled out, the circuit is broken. I grew up watching the syndicated repeats of Lost in Space and B9 was always my favorite robot. I even still have my Remco toy, although it's not exactly in mint condition. I have to admit though, that I never knew the lights at the corners of the head piece were his eyes. To be honest, I never paid that much attention to the stuff in his bubble and just kind of thought of the radar section as his face. I never really gave much thought to how the robot would see.
Thank you! When we were building him, I considered making the power pack actually work but I didn't know enough about electronics to pull that off. Especially because everything is powered separately on the inside. I'm surprised we even made him work as much as we did since we built him in the early days of fans building their own robots. I haven't done any upgrades to him since the day we completed him. I was so exhausted at the end, I was ready to just be done with the build but it was all very much worth it. 😁
@@outsider238 Separate power supplies would make that tricky. To be honest, I don't really know anything about electronics. I can build a simple circuit, if I have a diagram to go by, or replace a damaged cord on something, but that's about it. I can't personally design anything more complicated than a battery connected to something with an on/off switch. For something like I suggested, I just know that if you interrupt one of the power wires, stuff shuts off, and if you use something like the power pack to reconnect it, stuff turns back on. :) I would love to have my own life-sized version of the robot, but don't have the money to spend on such a project, nor the tools and skills that would be needed to build it.
Very cool! There were some brave souls in the early days creating these. I was always amazed at their ambitious enginuity to pull it off. Much easier now thank goodness.
I enjoyed every second of this SO much! Thank you for sharing your passion with us; it’s inspiring and contagious. Your B-9 is a true beauty, and in another sense so is your incredible father. How lucky you two are to have each other... oh, sorry about that, robot! I meant how lucky the THREE of you are to have one another! I sincerely wish Kyle was still there to make it more like the old days, but of course it’s the brevity of our lives that makes them precious. So keep moving forward, as I’m sure the robot would advise any of us to. Thanks again!
Wow! What a great comment! Thank you so much! I very much appreciate all that you said. I'm glad you enjoyed the video! Building the Robot was a labor of love. My dad enjoyed helping me build him more than I think he realized he would. Haha! I wish Kyle was still here too. I miss him everyday. Thank you again for the kind words! Be well and be happy!
@@outsider238 Thanks! You know, I should have mentioned something that happened when I was about six. One morning when my little brother and I woke up and opened the bedroom door, blocking our exit directly in front of us stood a robot towering over our heads! It wasn’t a B-9 or a Robbie, a Gort or anything else based on film or TV, and he wasn’t a toy from a store. This had been made for us overnight by our father. It wasn’t any holiday or a birthday, but Dad had spent hours making our robot out of cardboard boxes, shipping tubes, Christmas lights, tin cans, etc, just because he loved his boys. I don’t know how many days it survived all the fun we had playing with it, but for decades we had a Polaroid snapshot of Rick and I standing on either side of it. It kills me that I haven’t been able to find that photo in years now, but if I ever do I’ll make so many copies of it that it won’t be lost again. But far better than having any photo is the fact that Rick and I at 59 and 60 are fortunate enough to have the father we love so much with us today, now 87 and in the room next to me as I write these words. How lucky can a kid get?
@@GrantTarredus Oh man, I'm not gonna lie, that brought a tear to my eye. I guess we are a couple of lucky guys to have such wonderful fathers who truly love us and took the time to share with us such special times. We grew up in good times and I'm grateful to have been a part of that. I think that your father is awesome to have made that robot for you and your brother. You can tell he really put the time and thought into it. And you'll always remember that which goes to show how important that moment turned out to be. I loved that story! Thank you for sharing that!
@@outsider238 Thank you, brother. I’m tearing up a bit too, and hearing the Lost in Space “father and son” theme... now we need a monster to attack and change the pace for us. Fortunately it’s Halloween!
Well that all depends on what you want him to do or what all you want to put into it. If he's going to have mechanical movement, it'll cost more. It also depends on how much you can build yourself vs. how many parts you buy. I know some guys that have put $30,000 into their robots and some that put in less then $1,000. It really depends on so many factors. I'd say if you're going to build something like this, don't cheap out on the parts. It really makes a difference in the end. There's a guy that's selling fully built robots on a website called Gotham Cruisers. I'm not sure how much he's charging though.
Thank you! I found out there's a company making full size Lost In Space robots called Gotham Cruisers. They look really good. I'm not sure how much they are though.
In many scenes the robot was shot from the knees up, allowing Bob May to not have to wear anything below the knees except shoes and socks. The are a few bloopers that show this.
Yes they were called the "Bermuda Shorts" by Bob May! 😁 The worst blooper showing Bob's legs sticking out occurs in the first season episode "Invaders From The 5th Dimension" when the Robot walks behind some bushes and you can clearly see his legs and a power cable! 🤣
@@outsider238 Yes the ears did but collar they were attached to rotated as well was my point and that being the ears can end up on ether side, red or yellow.
@@3ccdmike So the collar as it's referred to in the B9 Builders Club, is the clear, molded, acrylic square rods that are just above the neon. That doesn't turn. When the head turns, that section above the acrylic collar turns. That's referred to as the radar section. When the head turns, the radar section along with the ears and the bubble and brain all turn together. If you were to turn the head 180 degrees so that the red and yellow ears switch sides, the brain would be facing the wrong way, towards his back (the flat side of the brain) because that whole assembly is one piece. So in the third season when the ears switched places, it was likely that the prop guys were doing some maintenance on the head, removed the ears for whatever reason and then replaced them on the opposite sides without realizing it. The ears (just the red and yellow part) could be removed if needed. There was never any consistency on the robot. His front lights changed colors frequently. The chest buttons coloring became more solid right in the middle of an episode! (The Ghost Planet Season 2). The black knob on the front changed styles and the two large white dialights switched colors when season 3 started. Back then, no one paid any attention to all that so a lot of it went unnoticed.
@@outsider238 I thought you did great...Been wanting a full scale B-9 for many years,myself...Hopefully one day. I do have a functional 24'' B-9 and another by Franklin Mint etc...but not the real McCoy...Yet..
@@bonsaibobby1 Thank you. I just made a video of the Franklin Mint B9 but I'm not sure when I'll upload it. I hope you are able to get a full size robot one day. I think there's a gentleman named Doug Hines that is making and selling full size B9s if you don't want to build one. The website is Gotham Cruisers. Doug provided a few parts on my robot 20+ years ago. I'm not sure how much they are but they look really good.
@@outsider238 Thanks for the tip! Will definitely check it out...Also,looking forward to the Franklin Mint video...I really love mine and am carefull to check batteries periodically,for potential leakage...
@@bonsaibobby1 Good idea. Mine seems to have lost its volume. It doesn't seem as loud as it used to be. I haven't turned it on in at least ten years though.
I wonder why B9 wasn't used in other shows and movies after the show ended. Robby from "Forbidden Planet" has been in so many things he has his own IMDB page.
He was used in a Saturday morning kids show in 1977 called "Mystery Island". Unfortunately he was heavily modified but you could still tell he was the Lost In Space Robot. You can find some episodes here on RU-vid.
@@outsider238 Just looked that up. Jesus, they did some awful mods on him, painted him blue and white for starters. I'm glad to see he's been restored to his original look.
@@TheNeonRabbit Yeah the legendary Greg Jein restored him back to his original look. I have the actual bubble head (or what's left of it) from the Mystery Island robot as well as the hero wrist communicator that Kreeg, the head of Dr. Strange's henchmen wore on his wrist that has the working lights from that show.
Excellent reproduction! The LIS robot motivated me to build my own R/C robot which I made part of a show. But I always thought the LIS robot's claws were straight. Yours has them bent inwards. Was this the only way to get them?
I watched Forbidden Planet with a friend when we were 14 or so. He said that that Robby was the same robot as the Lost in Space one. I was skeptical but I believed him because the show wasn't on anymore. I got here because I wanted to see if that was true. After watching clips of Forbidden Planet and Lost in Space, I can now see that he was full of **it. Which shouldn't surprise me because that was generally the case. Amazing amount of time, effort and money went into this replica. I am a DIY person but I would never attempt a project of this complexity.
That's one of the most common misconceptions between Robby and the B9 robot. I still have people that come in and say "Oh, it's Robby!" and I always have to correct them. That's why I have that little Robby next to him to show them the difference. Robby and the Lost In Space Robot were designed by the same man, Robert Kinoshita and that's why there are similarities. People often get them mixed up which is interesting since Robby showed up on 2 episodes of Lost In Space and you can see them side by side. As for building him, it was definitely a big project but not too bad if you just buy the pre-made parts. Some of which did need some work but were excellent overall. Some guys choose to make their own parts which is fine as long a the dimensions are correct. Otherwise it just looks wrong. Thank you for your comment!
Now make a full-sized Dr. Smith, complete with shrieking fearful yells and shouts, and a 10 year old Will Robinson he can use as a body shield when in danger.
I Soooo STILL want one..... I know there is one, somebody made Fully R/C....! if I did, I'd exaggerate the treads section... Ala that bad movie version- a reworked johnny5 bot body...
@@outsider238 What’s R/C, air conditioned? If so how easily I understand, having played a robot on stage in a costume that felt like being cooked alive in an oven.
@@GrantTarredus It stands for Remote Control. I know the feeling being inside the Robot at conventions. I'm inside it for up to 2 and a half hours at a time and it's pretty hot and confining! But it's fun and worth it.
With today's technology you could probably have him respond to your voice. Mine uses CDs but the guys building their robots today use a software that has tons of phrases from Dick Tufeld who did the actual voice for the Robot.
I think I got them from Allied Electronics. You can find the whole list on the B9Builders website. But here's some info that should help from Allied Electronics: T3 1/4 Miniature Bayonet Lamps #755 Stock No. 937-7355. $7.56 for a pack of 10. Bases, #31099 Stock No. 937-6154. $4.29 each. Transparent Dome, (this is for the blue ones but there's other colors for the belly lights) Part No. 30113, Stock No. 937-6222. Not sure the price of those or if these are the current prices. I hope this helps!
@@outsider238 Ok thanks for the reply, yeah those bases are discontinued now as well as blue non fluted lenses. I am finding a lot of stuff listed on B-9 site is outdated and no longer made. Thanks anyway!
@@seanstraindepot Oh really? Very interesting. I'll have to let someone know about that. Yeah, it's getting harder to find the old parts now as time goes on. I'm not sure where some of the guys are getting theirs now.
...who made those two large B-9, and Robby the Robot figures that are on your shelf there with all the other smaller Robots, and where did you get them??? Thanks!
The B9 was made by a Japanese company called Masudaya. It was from the 80s I believe and are expensive and somewhat difficult to find. It's been so long I don't remember where I got it. It's more of a model and you'll have to paint it. I've seen them on ebay but they're pricey. Robby was made by X Plus. I think I got it from Entertainment Earth but it was a long time ago so I'm not sure. It is probably the best and most accurate Robby I've ever seen. They've long been out of production and are extremely expensive now the last time I looked. There was another version before this one that had a figure of a man inside (presumably Frankie Darrow, the man inside Robby in Forbidden Planet) and also has lights. That version is even more rare and expensive. The Masudaya B9 I see pop up on ebay fairly frequently. I hope this helps!
@@rocksteel44 I'm glad I could help. Hopefully you can get your hands on them. They're really cool. The B9 has a voice box inside and he talks in English and Japanese. You can see the button that activates it on his front, lower torso vent. It used a not so great record player mechanism.
Any chances you have the dimensions of the two rubber tracks, width, length of the blocks, measurement of the gaps, thickness of the thin and the blocked areas of the treads,
For the wider treads: The blocks are 2 inches wide and 1 inch tall. 1/2 inch at the thickest point and 1/4 inch at the thinnest. The gap is 1/4 inch. For the thinner treads, everything is the same except the width is 1 inch. The length I can guess around 68 inches long for each one. I do wish they were slightly longer as they fit really tight. You'll have to measure the length to be sure as I can't measure them exactly. I hope this helps!
They are expensive. I had to just space everything out and buy the parts piece by piece when I had the money. I had saved previously since I knew I was going to take on this project.
Sorry for the very late response. He wore a headpiece inside that allowed him to turn the Robot's head and raise and lower the bubble. The robot that I got into at conventions had the exact same headpiece and it worked really well.
There's actually a company called Gotham Cruisers that makes and sells full size robots. I don't know what they cost. Probably pretty pricey as these aren't cheap to build. Check it out online if you think you'd be interested.
