Caught in a time warp, the family of the Jupiter 2 discovers they have returned to Earth in the year 1947. They are perceived as Martians and must find their way back to the future.
When you see Guy Williams in the season 3 opening credits, they show this sequence. I always hear the words in my head, although my ears hear only Johnny Williams's kick-ass theme.
The mother not knowing how to use the phone doesn't make sense, since the show was set in 1999, she would have been old enough to remember when those phones were around.
It's plausible that Maureen didn't know how to operate the old fashioned candlestick phone. She recognized it as a phone, at least. Many kids today would recognize a rotary dial phone but might have to pause a minute before figuring out how to use one. I was born in 1961 and I don't recall ever seeing an actual operating candlestick phone. Easily recognizable as a phone in 1961, but long obsolete by then, in most places. I'm sure in some rural areas they still functioned. The actress, June Lockhart having been born in 1925 would certainly have known how to use a candlestick phone.
