I wish the rest of LIS had retained the hard sci-fi and family surviving in the wilderness look, instead of descending into the comic mess with Dr. Smith in it. I understand that to the great regret of Irwin Allen when he allowed Jonathan harris to improvise his routines that this would cause the show to become really silly. Had it been like the first 6 episodes the whole show it could have been a worthy competitor to star trek. The only show with drama and less fantastic comedy was voyage to the bottom of the sea.
After episode 6, CBS executives decided to reformat the show as "family television", which meant eliminating anything that might frighten children or be difficult for them to understand. Hence the change from fairly good sci-fi to the pap we all remember.
One wonders what the show would have been like if it had gone the way Guy Williams had though it would/should. The family dynamic vs. the uncharted dangers of deep space would have been much more interesting than the "Dr. Smith and The Robot Comedy Hour".
@@ian-fm2xc This is what the show became. It had potential to be something different, and to me, more interesting. Don’t get me wrong, I do adore Dr. Smith and the Robot (Jonathan Harris was an incredibly lovely, consummately professional man and it was a pleasure meeting him many years ago at “Chiller”) and I can still do reasonable impressions of both. That doesn’t stop me from wondering about and desiring what could have been.
I love how they were able to an apartment building with 35 foot ceilings and its own gravitational field into space. Plenty of room for Dr. Smith to stow away. But apparently the trip did something to his brain, and he became a blithering queen.
@@silvereagle2061 My understanding is that it was done at Jonathan Harris' request, as he pointed out, if Doc Smith continued being the evil super spy, he'd get flushed out an air lock or left behind on a planet.
There is a reason the main characters were the Robinson family. Sad that the show couldn’t stay with the original conception. I loved watching it as a child. It’s painful to revisit as an adult. Clear proof that the show’s makers didn’t really take it seriously.
Whoever put this together did a great job. Most of this footage wasn’t on the original show. You can tell because the first shows were in black and white.
I started learning about computers on an IBM 360 and a TI99 4A BASIC programming. 1983 I was still watching this show in re-runs on WLVI (Boston) although I lived in the "West"ern part of the state! A nod to Major West!
I loved Lost in Space !!! This was a great SCI FI series, the first of its kind in the early 70's. As a kid, I was not alone sitting in front of our huge black and white television for every episode, the Robinson's were the family I never had, a Father that actually cared about his wife and kids, a wonderful Mom and siblings that cared about each others well being...
When this was made, astronomers did know that “galaxies” were huge swirling masses of stars far outside our own galaxy. How they could call neighboring star systems “galaxies” is beyond me. That’s a pretty fundamental error.
When this was made, scientists did know that "gravity" on a spacecraft is impossible without centrifugal force. How could an astronaut maintain bone density without it is beyond me. That’s a pretty fundamental error.
Thank you for the post. Magnificent video. The special effects of the launch were awesome. The first season of the show is still one of my all time favorites of any show. Makes me wonder about what could have been if they had stayed with that format/formula.
I had forgotten how much of the interior of the Jupiter 2 was recycled from The Forbidden Planet Starship C-57D. But then, they also resurrected Robbie, against type, as an 'evil' robot.
Love this updated version of the Jupiter 2's launch. I live near the Space Center so I could imagine what a spectacular sight it would be, especially at night. 💥🌎🚀
Grew up with lost in space too bad they didn't have an episode where they landed back to earth that would have been great to end the show after many seasons.
What blows me away is , no one knew of the existence of a planet in the binary centaury system until a few years ago. Its a good thing we found it or the Robinson's would be SOL . LIS was a great sf-fy show the first season. Then it had to get campy to compete with the " batman" show. Sigh.
Nicely done! I've been a LIS fan since the 60s and is still my favorite show of all time. I like the changes. Many of the changes, including the gas venting from the Jupiter 2 at the launch gantry was an excellent touch. Long live the Jupiter 2! Bravo!
I also liked the robots with that halting, syllable-by-syllable pronounced speech impediment they had. These ones they got now could smooth talk your girlfriend right away from you. And that's no AI, I meant lie.
Space Family Robinson was a comic book before this show appeared both inspired by Swiss Family Robinson and guess producers did not know that Comic Book exist.
Had to chuckle. The announcer use the term "intergalactic" for a ship limited to speed of light. I believe that might be inappropriate. "Interstellar" might be more appropriate.
It was partially due to the time it was made. The Batman TV show and many others went for comedy and silly plots, and the networks and studios fought for audience share.
Hmmm. Interesting idea, that you have there. That the navigational dome that you have lowering onto the central pillar is the main computer. Implication is that the Jupiter 2, is a robot, in and of itself. Obviously the amount of data fed into it vastly exceeds what the model B-9 robot can handle... This explains much of the design of both. With each being a reflection of the job each is expected to perform. In the Jupiter 2's case the intelligence is reflected into the ship to the crew. The B-9's is reflected outward to the crew and the environment...
This was a great beginning, but fellow Americans, I thought it was ridiculous for a father to kiss everyone in his family before entering into suspended animation but NOT his son. Give me a fucking break. My brother and I kiss our boys all the time, we don't shake their hands like business partners.
Intergalactic capacity to travel to... Proxima Centauri. Seems over kill for reaching the closest star system, building a ship capable of travelling to Andromeda and Triangulum.
I so loved this show, "Danger Will Robinson, Danger'! Hooooh but that Peny Robinson, every show I wanted to meander off with the fox from Space and she likes "C" rock hunting in, I mean with her. That really would have been fun! On all those Planets too. What a life with so many opportunities with my dearest Penny Robinson, but to any nah sayers? Yes, she would have sought me first and always eagerly waiting for our next adventure!!! Sadly, sometimes we would have to leave the beautiful kitty indoors depending, on the safety first policy.
Actually, since they omitted Dr. Smith's parts, this would be more like the original pilot, were the ship was the Gemini 12, and Don was Dr. West, not Major.
0:57 The world population was but 4 gigapersons then, today it is 8 gigapersons and rising at the rate of 255,000 every day. We solved the problem not by moving into space but by determining that the human population can spiral upward forever.
Personally I liked the comic relief of the robot and Smith. What I didn't like was Allen going from hard Sci-Fi to fantasy. It looked silly. The science was never strong in this one; Alpha Centauri is in our Milky Way galaxy so this was to be an inter stellar or "deep thrust" mission not inter galactic. No wonder they lost their way. Still, the space walk scene with the Milky Way galaxy in the background is scary because so far from home. If only they stayed with the space exploration idea how much longer the show may have lasted. Oh well.
Jupiter 2 in the final story line, but that's Gemini XII on the launch pad, similar but different from the final Jupiter 2 design. Like the other Irwin Allen shows the series begins as serious sci-fi with a good, interesting concept. But that concept is not fully or very well developed and the show falls flat, and then Jonathan Harris took initiative and moved the show in another direction to keep the Dr. Smith character from becoming disposable.
Don't you like how casually the crew prepare for launch with only seconds left in the countdown? One more long kiss and they would have gone into overtime!
Dr.Smith would have been launched out the airlock. First order of bussiness. Originally he was an enemy agent,and not a squealing buffoon . He was sent to sabotage the mission. Therefore imediate death by being spaced.
My only beef with the show was that they should've kept Smith the way he was in the 1st couple of episodes where his serious tone appeared to be more of a murderous villain. Either way i love the show, my father didn't watch the show and would get annoyed whenever he heard Smith screaming.
@@georgebreakfast5890 Not sure if time dialation was well known when the show came out. Plus you've got your acceleration time. 0 seconds don't give you a lot of time to step on the brakes when you get there.
@@the_omg3242 In the pilot they stayed in the freezing tubes and without anyone to pilot the Jupitor II crashed...the original set didn't have any controls or pilots chairs In the HBO remake the Robinsons all sat at the dining table while the ship crashed itself, must have been a homage to the original
It was a great watch as a child.... but as an adult I thought.... ummm. It takes about 30 males and 30 females to make a stable genetic stock so how could one family breed to populate a new world?
It’s was a brilliant show but always wander how the ship could have 2 levels it just didn’t correlate with the design of the ship the scale was all wrong😀
Irwin Allen would not hire actual writers. He gave the job to his gay friends. Few of them ever really wrote for anybody but Irwin Allen. That's how you know they weren't really writers. The first 5 episodes were created from the original pilot that was written by television writer and Broadway playwright Shimon Wincelberg. That's why those episodes rock and everything after sucks.
Was the Jupiter 2 going to be the first of many because I always thought that they were going to colonize Alpha Centauri and realistically Judy and Don were the only viable breeding pair 🤔
@ 0:41-0:43 this narrator indicated that up to 10 million families will follow this family and Don per year. This family's mission along with the robot is to find out the planet's physical compatibility with humans and the weather system. They are the vanguard to a later large immigration. This film also implies multi-year flights.
