This by far was the better of the two theme songs! This version pops more alot hipper! From 1968 I was 8 years old and it still gives me goosebumps listening to it. Kudos to Mr. John Williams & his Orchestra.
I'm 51 years old and I STILL get goosebumps when I hear the Season 3 theme song. Takes me back to being a kid and the summertime reruns. I couldn't wait for season 3! ❤️😊
This is THE "Lost in Space" theme! It is also one of the GREAT television themes of all time. JUST GORGEOUS! And...I can enjoy it...right here on Earth!
It was even more exciting if you were there at the time. I remember being a little kid, watching that first episode of the season, and suddenly the screen freezes and that countdown starts, with the new music... it was genuinely thrilling.
As soon as I hear that music i'm instantly transported back to the house where I grew up. A small, wide eyed 11 year old boy, sitting in front of the warm glow of the new COLOR tv we just got, hanging on to my best friend, Charlie, the family pooch. Eagerly waiting with great anticipation for the show to start. It didn't matter to me that I'd be in trouble once again tomorrow at school for for not having my homework done. All that mattered was that for the next 60 minutes I was going to have a new adventure with my tv family, the Robinsons. Funny how such strong memories can be triggered by such things.
Marc - and now, sitting in your trailer park, clutching your mutt, watching your 5-inch cathode-ray TV, you really wish you had done your homework and becomes a doctor like your mom intended. So sad how LOST IN SPACE ruined your life...
Jesus . . . you're just a couple of years older than me. You probably grew up in middle America . . . I was forced to go to boarding school in England. But every time I'd get back to America I'd haunt shows like this . . . Time Tunnel, Twilight Zone, Outer Limits (the ORIGINAL). Now, what is there . . .? CISMiami, Desperate Housetwats . . . PATHETIC. Ours was truly a Golden Age.
Absolutely Marc...did the same thing...zI could always get the homework done later. It never hurt me..I'm a teacher with two master degrees. Wonderful memories .
somehow i doubt the description you provided is totally accurate. if your tv had a glow that was warm it was probably on the verge of malfunction and radiating highly charged electrons (not good). based on your comment it seems you had an issue with late/lack of homework which suggests to me your caregivers didnt care either. you described yourself as small, wide eyed and im curious how you knew what you looked like if you were watching tv. something is amiss in your story...
Once again, Maestro Williams caught the imagination and the contemporary beat of America in space...what a brilliant man! To drop his original theme on request and come up with a new one in less than a year...? Maestro, maestro!
My number 1 theme of all time. Loved it as a kid and at 51 it still holds its own and then some. loved Lost In Space. John Williams to me is a master at scores and as far as this theme goes John its a 10 out of 10. Thanks for making my youth and to this day special. your work on Lost In Space will live on for many generations to come. that does compute.
What other music has he done? Ok, after reading through the comments, I see that he did the music for Star Wars. I'm not into Star Wars, though. What else has he done? I just love the Lost in Space music! 👏👍❤️
I grew up in the 80's watching reruns of this on Sunday before Church. Remember my dad always saying Major West should have taken Dr Smith out for a long walk on a short cliff. lol
The count down and the horn section, so regal so underrated. Love you LIS, hope to see you soul of a family against all odds prevail beyond the last season.
I was shocked to learn recently they only did the countdown in season 3, the other 2 were animated, the countdown always added to the suspense, and "here we go"
Considering the real-world space launches at the time - maybe up to present day - I can see why Irwin Allen and company figured a countdown would resonate with viewers.
I haven't heard this theme song for over fifty years now. I'm sitting in the living room of my parents' home in 1968/9, watching the next thrilling episode of LIS on the black and white TV. Like all the great theme tunes from that long-vanished period, I can recall them in a blink of an eye. Great stuff.
More than FIFTY years later and this 3rd season theme song from John Williams can still still give me the chills of anticipation and excitement about seeing the show. In the past I have seen and heard school marching bands and orchestras play cover versions of this theme song and thought that sooooo very cool.
Best Theme Song EVER! The credits are SO much more exciting in the thrid season. John Williams managed to come up with a great improvement in this, his second Lost In Space theme. I have always loved the 7 to 1 countdown, but always wondered why they started at 7 insteard of 10!
What I love about this is that William's original theme was scary, tense, and anxious, filled with staccato percussion and depressed and falling notes and scales. I'm not sure why the decision was made to switch themes when they went to color, but this theme has a much better sense of (literal) space, and is ebullient and celebratory of the idea of space travel and the unknown. It was much more suited to the hope and promise of the space race we were in at the time! 8^D
You just have to love that John WIlliams music...even the incidental themes at the start of the story!....and Now Star Wars...the biggest movie ever made!!!
Vinny DeRosa was a legendary session player who suggested to John Williams to write cues for the horn. John Williams has said that DeRosa was instrumental (literally) in directing Williams to write virtuoso horn cues. Many the great television and motion pictures you have seen have included solos written for Vince DeRosa.
This mysterious, chilling tv theme always caught me off guard and scared the crap outta me! Still puts a little chill up my back. Those were the days! ;)
Yes you had to be prepared during the first show part that as soon as things started getting strangely spookily wrong in some way, any second the music would suddenly start in its hyper way with the big numbers countdown! ;-)
Always loved that countdown opening for season 3 of LIS! Even all these years later it still excites me when the picture freezes and the countdown begins! Great memories! I was born in '65 so I didn't get around to watching the show until it was in reruns in the 1970s.
I transitioned to this pepped up theme easily in the early 70's as a tot , it was exciting ! I was absolutely consumed with this show, especially the robot. I got mad when my father & older brother pointed out why it couldn't be real : )
Very few, if any, current programming has an opening theme (sadly)...networks have to use every last precious second for commercials...lovers of money today..
Season 3 had the best theme & opening credits. The theme is so intense. Lost in Space & Batman were my jam. I was 4 when both Lost in Space and Batman ended in 1968. Good memories.
What I loved about this theme song were the "ascending" notes.... like we were all blasting off with them (esp. Dr. Smith).."Oh the pain..the pain"...!
@@peacockblue8407 Season 3 like here: You had to be prepared watching the very start plot portion before the intro theme...as soon as it starts getting newly straaaaaange...any second the 7 etc countdown and tension music intro might start!
+Marc Parella I was born in 1965 when this show debuted. Also Dean Martin, The FBI, Wild Wild West, I Dream Of Jeannie, Get Smart, Hogan's Heros, made there debut in 1965.
this is the first piece of music at the age of 8 that made me emotional to the point of tears, i couldnt wait for seasons 1&2 to be over to hear this theme its so catchy its simply brilliant from the most brilliant composer of our time john williams
Not to be repetitive, but thank you for posting this introduction! I always loved how they froze frame and went immediately to the countdown. It was extremely catchy and really pulled You into the episode with this toe tapping beat. Absolutely brilliant.
I remember it very well from 1967 when Lost in Space began it's final season with the ramped up opening credits and theme music. Marcel Hillaire had a recurring role as the junk man in Junkyard In Space. And the 2nd appearance Of Robby The Robot. I believe the title Special Guest Stat Jonathan Harris had something related to billing. The late actor Kurt Kasznar, Fitzhugh from Land of the Giants, had special guest star billing in the 2nd season.
Much more powerful and dynamic theme. I love it so much more than the other theme (which is a really great theme). When I worked with John William's son Joseph, he said John was upset that producer Irwin Allen wanted him do another theme to the show, but this time to do it in a more "pop" style. John didn't like it but he did it and I think he really upped his game here. I love this theme. He downplayed the "pop" by blending it with a dynamic theme, somehow taking the "curse" off of the "pop" aspect. John Williams just has this amazing way of coming up with the coolest, most memorable themes. Interesting to note that whenever they do a bit on LOST IN SPACE anywhere in the media the theme they always play is this one, the third season theme.
I adore the sudden freeze and countdown tune almost like a crescendo leading into the intro that puts you on the edge of your seat. They certainly knew how to make good TV back then. Limited technology - unlimited imaginations.
![[Intro] Lost in Space - Season 3](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
