Lost In Space The Original Version

[Megotastrophe]

I try to like Lost in Space. I do. I try watch full episodes. I can’t. Some episodes are good. I can’t remember any offhand but I remember liking some. Last nights Pirate episode I got 14 minutes into and had to shut it off. I couldn’t get further.

[powersthatbe]

I can understand that. Things just become dated over time.

[Megotastrophe]

I don’t even know if time had that much to do with it. I remember turning off the tv as a kid when the Carrot Man showed up. And I had hopes that the hippies on the space motorcycle would fly around on it but no it just popped in and out in a shower of smoke and sparks. The Irwin Allen Snap and Pop to supplement the missing Kirby Crackle. I’m not saying Star Trek was always good, but it was always better than this.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I'm in the same boat. I think it's Jonathan Harris' Dr. Smith. He's so ridiculously over the top. They let him steal the show, and I know Guy Williams wasn't happy about it.
It didn't air in syndication when I was a little kid, and I only started watching it here and there on Sci-Fi in the early 90s. The early black and whites are better, but once it became a comedy with Smith, Will and the Robot...most episodes are unwatchable for me. Nothing against those who love it, but Harris kills it for me.

[apes3978]

It was never in reruns around here when I was a kid either, but I always heard things about it/read little things about it here 'n there, etc. throughout the years.

I was at Walmart one day (a few years ago now) and seen they had the complete series on DVD for something like $15.00, so I bought it. I watched a few episodes (starting at the beginning) and thought it was okay, but nothing great. I've not returned to the set since then.

[shaunaconda]

The first season in B&W is really good, more of a serious show. After that I think they were trying to compete with Batman, and became a more campy show. The theme song was great though!

[MIB41]

I grew up with it in first run through the 60's and then syndication in the 70's in Louisville. It goes without saying, the first season in black & white was tonally much different from the rest of the series. I think its an accurate time piece of family values back in the 60's with John Robinson being the matriarch and hero who saves the day in many of those early adventures. However, Dr. Smith is the very antithesis of what he's generally known for today. He was very much a villain who wouldn't hesitate to the kill the Robinson family if afforded the opportunity. Unfortunately, the phenomenon of Batman impacted everything on television, so networks tried to acclimate to the bright colors and comedic overtones to compete for ratings. Lost in Space also fell victim to that thinking, so they flipped the script in season two, leading to allot of stories and OTT characterizations (notably Dr. Smith) that fuel much of the fracture in opinions we see to this very day. That being said, they still managed to pull in some memorable stories through all of those changes. The Anti Matter Man remains one of my all time favorites.

[phil]

As a kid watching the show in the ‘70s I loved it. There were Season Two episodes I couldn’t stand even then. The ones with the Space Vikings and the one with the Knight spring to mind.

[palitoy]

I discovered the show at ten, fell in love with that first season but the later seasons got so silly that I was rolling my eyes by the end.

As an adult, yeah, I don't have the affection I do for it that I do for other franchises. It is fun though.

[Werewolf]

I'm not even a big fan of the show and I have to defend it.

It was definitely a product of its time. My older sister loves it. LIS has a similar kind of campy trippy Sid and Marty Krofft vibe that never really clicked with me. But I can't fault them on the silliness. The main audience was children and they loved the Robot and Dr Smith. and they also loved the campy Batman series the show was competing with. So, you can see why they went in that direction. I also don't think it was in Irwin Allen Productions DNA (or budgets) to make more serious Star Trek level sci-fi shows. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea also got pretty camp and cheesy.

[Megotastrophe]

Voyage might be their most serious and that isn’t saying a lot. Land of the Giants is less…stupid I guess . The people seem stupid as hell at times. But it doesn’t seem to actively insult me for watching.

[Jorge Galvan]

Dated, yes. I grew up on it too and while it was what WAS available in 1972-77, and if years to come, compared to all the other stuff available to view in this day and age it seems a bit...


Campy. But is some ways that is part of the charm,


When I am watching BONANZA, I see that some of the topics discussed are STILL RELEVANT today. And if I am lazy, I am stuck watching the Rifle Man and Wagon Train and those shows however entertaining are not up to quality as Bonanza is. Sorry.

Lost In Space has its fanbase and when Bill Mumy did that comic book series in the 90's and 00's I bought it and I did go see the Remake film with Sid Vicious as Dr. Smith and it does not compare to the original.

The Vegetable Rebellion episode was indeed the worst episode of the series and also the last one, There were some good ones, the VERNA-Super Android one was good, the The Keeper two parter with Michael Rennie was good, the Robbie the Robot episode was good. The one with the Jupiter Two returning to 1947 Earth was good.


I enjoyed the trio relationship between Smith, the Robot and Will, it was very touching. Whenever a break up seemed to occur, it was sad. I guess that's why I dug it, the three of them all had affection for one another.


And... I envied Bill Mumy. Here was a kid on a spaceship and here was living this wild life in outer space and I wasn't. Even when he had his music career however limited it was, I envied him. He OWNED his legacy unlike a certain Star Ship Captain who's a huge PRAT!


DO I still watch it on Saturday nights on Metv? No, not really, the whole METV Saturday Scifi IRWIN ALLEN broadway Follies as they think they are doing us a favor repeating everything for all eternity has me NUMB. I am busy watching DS9 reruns or hardcore porn if the Paramour is spending the night !! I have the complete series on dvd so I have access to it when I need it. I still have to get the Bill Mumy bio and the photo book by Angela Cartright and Bill. And I do have the 1966 REMCO Robot in the fortress of Solitude (Storage unit) somewhere buried. So I guess I am a fan for life. Love it or hate it Lost in Space has a life of its own.