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''Lost in Space'' is a Science Fiction TV Series created and produced by Irwin Allen . The series was released by Fox Television and broadcast on CBS . The show ran for three seasons, with eighty-three episodes airing between September 15 , 1965 and March 6 , 1968 . ''Lost in Space'' was the second of Allen's four science fiction TV series. The show's main theme was Space Travel adventure. The show's first season was in black and white, but the second and third seasons were in color. The show starred veteran television actors Guy Williams ( ''Zorro'' ), June Lockhart ('' Lassie ''), Mark Goddard and Jonathan Harris . Conceptually the series is a space-age riff on the classic adventure novel '' Swiss Family Robinson '' by Johann David Wyss . Initially, the series follows the adventures of an astronaut family that is shipwrecked on an alien world while en route to Alpha Centauri. In the later episodes they travel to other worlds in their never-resolved search for a way back to Earth. Following the successful format of Allen's first series, '' Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea '', the emphasis was on creating exciting fantasy-oriented adventure stories. Each week the show delivered a fast-paced visual assault of dazzling special effects, explosions, monstrous aliens, spaceships, and exotic sets and costumes drenched in bright, primary colors. On the other hand, unlike its space-competitor '' Star Trek '', character development, serious issues, dramatic depth, or even maintaining a coherent story were ignored. ("Don't get logical with me!" was Allen's frequent retort to writers who objected to changes to their scripts. Source: ''Starlog'' #219) Critics complained that this was the television equivalent of dangling a shiny object to distract the nondiscriminating viewer. However, in spite of criticism, the show still became a success. Allen had hit upon a winning formula which he used to create a third fantasy-adventure show, '' The Time Tunnel '' (1966-1967), followed by his last and most ambitious series, '' Land Of The Giants '' (1968-1970), all of which have become cult, if not critical, favorites. PLOT The year is 1997 , and the Earth is suffering from massive overpopulation and depletion of natural resources. Professor John Robinson ( Guy Williams ), his wife, Maureen ( June Lockhart ), their children, Judy ( Marta Kristen ), Penny ( Angela Cartwright ), Will ( Bill Mumy ) and their friend and pilot, Maj. Don West ( Mark Goddard ) are chosen to travel on a space vehicle named the Jupiter 2 to the Alpha Centauri system to find a habitable planet for mankind to colonize. Prior to launch from Alpha Control but after the Robinsons have been placed in suspended animation on the ship for the long journey, Dr. Zachary Smith ( Jonathan Harris ), a malevolent agent who was sent to sabotage the family's mission, sneaks aboard the Jupiter 2 . In the process, he becomes trapped on the ship during the launch. His excessive weight throws the Jupiter 2 off course when it encounters a meteor storm shortly after launch. Despite efforts by Alpha Control to locate the ship, eventually the Robinsons are presumed lost in space. The series chronicles the adventures of the Robinsons as they try to find their way back home. CAST The regular characters of the series were the Robinson family, their pilot, their robot and their unintended passenger, Dr. Smith.
SERIES HISTORY Irwin Allen first produced a pilot film for the proposed series, titled '' No Place To Hide ''. After CBS picked up the series for its 1965 season, the format was changed slightly to add the characters of Dr. Smith and the Robot, neither of whom appeared in the original pilot. Also, the ship was redesigned to feature a second deck, and rechristened the Jupiter II, whereas it had been the Gemini 12 in the pilot. ''No Place to Hide'' was cut into pieces, and new scenes written and filmed around them, thus making economical use of the expensive pilot footage to flesh out the early episodes of the series. The first season was filmed in Black-&-white and was more serious in tone than subsequent seasons. It chronicled the adventures of the Robinson family starting in the year 1997 , a group of Earth pioneers whose mission to colonize Alpha Centauri almost ends in disaster after Saboteur Dr. Smith attempts to destroy their spaceship. The second and third seasons were produced in color, and were more whimsical and fantastic in tone. These two seasons seemed skewed more towards children than for other demographic groups, with stories about space Cowboy s, space Hippie s, space Pirate s, and space Beauty Pageant s. The show was aired opposite the '' Batman '' series, and it's been suggested the lighter, Campier tone was adopted in order to compete. In the third season there was some attempt to go back to more adventure-based stories, but episodes like the penultimate " The Great Vegetable Rebellion "—featuring one of the few intelligent space Carrot s in cinematic history—proved that the camp was still with the show right to the end. In the first two seasons, each show ended with a cliff-hanger "To be continued next week!" which was not integral to the main plot of the current week's show and could be tacked onto the end of any episode. In the third year, the end of each episode merely showed clips from the next episode. The show had high enough ratings to ensure a fourth season, but it was abruptly cancelled for budgetary reasons. The series was the most expensive in television broadcast history. Each episode was estimated to cost $400,000, a considerable sum in the mid-sixties. It remained the most expensive series on TV until ''''. The cast members were never told; every member learned that the show had been cancelled by reading about it in the newspapers. Robert Hamner, one of the show's writers, states (in ''Starlog,'' #220, November 1995) that Bill Paley, the head of CBS, despised the show so much that this dispute was used as an excuse to terminate the series. In 1975 , Allen returned to the original source material to produce '' The Swiss Family Robinson '', a short-lived TV series based upon the novel. RATINGS & POPULARITY Although it retains a cult following, the science-fiction community often points to ''Lost In Space'' as an example of TV's bad record at producing science-fiction (perhaps overlooking the series' deliberate fantasy elements), comparing it to its supposed rival, ''Star Trek''. Ironically, ''Lost In Space'' was a ratings success, unlike ''Star Trek'', which received poor ratings during its original network TV run. The show's fans tend to split into two groups: those who enjoy the more serious episodes of the first season, and those who enjoy the wild, campy episodes that came later. The general public now most recognizes ''Lost In Space'' via the memorable, oft-repeated warning lines of the Robot, "Warning! Warning!", "That does not compute.", and, of course, " Danger, Will Robinson !"; although the last sentence was only said once, different variations of it were used. Doctor Smith's endless put-downs of the Robot are also still popular ("You bubble-headed booby!") as his often-repeated whines: "Oh, the pain... the pain of it all!" and "My back is extremely delicate today." Smith would consistently employ the latter excuse when asked to perform manual labor. MUSIC (ASIN B000001P1R).]] The theme music for the opening and closing credits was written by John Williams . In Season Three, the opening theme was changed (again by Williams) to an exciting faster tempo action theme and featured a pumped-up countdown from seven to one to launch each episode. Much of the incidental music in the series was written by Williams and other notable film and television composers, including Alexander Courage , who contributed six scores to the series, his most recognizable, "Wild Adventure" included his key theme for "Lorelei", composed for organ, woodwinds, and harp thus cementing this highly recognizable theme with John Williams' own "Chariot" and main theme for the series. In the unaired pilot episode "No Place to Hide" the opening theme music, and much of the incidental music was borrowed from the 1951 classic '' The Day The Earth Stood Still ''. LEGAL QUESTIONS In 1962 Gold Key Comics (formerly Dell Comics), a division of Western Publishing Company, began publishing a series of comic books under the title, Space Family Robinson . The story was largely inspired by "The Swiss Family Robinson" but with a space-age twist. The movie and television rights to the comic book were then purchased by noted television writer Hilda Bohem ("The Cisco Kid"), who created a treatment under the title, "Space Family 3000." In July 1964, notable science fiction writer and filmmaker Ib Melchior , began pitching a treatment for a feature film, also under the title, "Space Family Robinson." There has been some debate as to whether or not Irwin Allen was aware of the Melchior treatment. It is also unknown whether Allen was aware of the comic book or the Hilda Bohem treatment. As copyright law only protects the actual expression of a work, and not titles, general ideas or concepts, in 1964 Irwin Allen moved forward with his own take on "Space Family Robinson," with characters and situations notably different from either the Bohem or the Melchior treatments. (It is interesting to note that none of these versions contained the characters of Dr. Smith or the Robot.) Intended as a follow up to his first successful television venture, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea , Allen quickly sold his concept for a television series to the CBS Network. Concerned about confusion with the Gold Key comic book, CBS requested that Allen come up with a new title. Nevertheless, Hilda Bohem filed a claim against Allen, CBS and Twentieth Century-Fox Television shortly before the series premiered in 1965. A compromise was struck as part of a legal settlement. In addition to an undisclosed sum of money, Western Publishing would be allowed to change the name of its comic book to "Lost in Space." There were no other legal challenges to the title until 1995, when allegedly plagiarized Melchior's concept, with two outlines presented side by side. To satisfy Melchior, http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/minutes/documents/SNOV1704.DOC denied a petition by Melchior to further review the case. It is significant that no claim has been made since and that Space Productions strongly contends that Irwin Allen was the sole creator of what became popularly known as Lost in Space. REFERENCES IN POPULAR CULTURE The animated television series '' Freakazoid '' features a character named Professor Jones. The generic name, and the lines given to the character were obvious riffs on Dr. Smith (such as "Weren't you on a TV show with a robot?"), and the character was in fact voiced by Jonathan Harris. The song "Blast Off" by the Stray Cats makes reference to both Dr. Smith and the Robot. Family Guy refers to Lost in Space in one of their many-known cutaways. The Oink! strip "Pete's Pimple" about a boy with a giant zit once had an episode where he was blasted into space and met the Robinsons, but when he mistakenly used the robot to urinate on, it went crazy and wiped out the entire cast. Lost in Space was parodied during a host segment on the cult TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000 in the episode Time Chasers . MYTHS ''). In addition, CBS already had ordered and picked up the LIS pilot before Roddenberry was pitching "Trek." While some may contend that LIS production values and special effects were of a higher calibre than those of "Trek," it is hard to suspend disbelief during such sequences as double-exposed shaken mylar "curtains" used as "space storms". Another myth is that ''Lost in Space'' became campy in response to the serious tone of ''Star Trek''. However, ''Lost in Space'' had already gone campy by the start of its second season, the same time ''Star Trek'' went on the air. If any show directly influenced a turn towards camp, that show would have been the hit show '' Batman '', which began airing on the ABC television network in January 1966. It has been reported that ''Lost In Space'' was the favorite TV series of John F. Kennedy, Jr. while growing up in the 1960s . Others who admired the series were Tim Allen, John Laroquette, Candice Bergen, John Lasseter, "Weird Al" Yankovic and also Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who also watched "Dark Shadows!" EQUIPMENT In addition to the Robot, the primary tools used by the Robinsons in their exploration of strange alien worlds included the twin-decked Jupiter II flying saucer spacecraft, a glass-walled tracked exploration vehicle called the "the Chariot", and the space "Pod" (a small spacecraft modeled on the . The Jupiter II spaceship and its equipment also featured several technological breakthroughs that simplified or did away with mundane tasks. The "washing machine" took seconds and packaged cleaned clothes in plastic bags. The ship had no light bulbs or even compact fluorescent lamps -- in one episode, Maureen says the lights are "transistorized". However, on the other hand, sound and voice recording technologies imply arrested technology -- reel-to-reel tape recorders instead of solid-state digital storage media. One of the key breakthroughs is suspended animation technology that was employed only in the first and third episodes of the series. A ROSTER OF GUEST STARS During its three year run, many actors guest-starred on the show, among them: Al Lewis , Edy Williams , Arte Johnson , Don Matheson , Kurt Russell , Strother Martin , Francine York , Mercedes McCambridge , Michael J. Pollard , Allan Melvin , Henry Jones , among many others. Future '' Hill Street Blues '' stars, Daniel J. Travanti and Michael Conrad also made featured appearances, as well. SPIN-OFFS Comics Bill Mumy scripted an authorized ''Lost In Space'' Comic Book for Innovation Comics . Prior to the appearance of the TV series, a Comic Book named Space Family Robinson was published by Gold Key Comics and written by Gaylord DuBois . Due to a deal worked out with Gold Key, the title of the comic later incorporated the "Lost in Space" sub-title. The comic book is not a spinoff of the TV series but was in print prior to the conception of the show. Also, there is an unlicensed comic in which Will Robinson meets up with Friday The 13th character Jason Voorhees . Cartoon In the 1972 - 73 television season, ABC produced '' The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie '', a weekly collection of 60-minute animated movies, pilots and specials from various production companies, such as Hanna-Barbera , Filmation , and Rankin-Bass -- Hanna-Barbera Productions contributed animated work based ''Gidget, Yogi Bear, Tabitha, Oliver Twist, The Banana Splits,'' and most importantly, ''Lost in Space''. Dr. Smith (voiced by Jonathan Harris) was the only character from the original program to appear in the special, along with the Robot (who was employed in flight control rather than a support activity). The spacecraft was launched vertically by rocket, and Smith was a passenger rather than a saboteur. The pilot for the animated ''Lost in Space'' series was not picked up as a series, and only this episode was produced. Feature Film In 1998 , New Line Cinema produced a Feature Movie Adaptation . It included numerous nods, homages and cameos related to the series, including:
The film's Jupiter II was launched into orbit by a vehicle called the Jupiter I, which closely mimics the series' spacecraft, complete with rotating propulsion lights. Reference is made to the Chariot and Space Pod, both of which are reported wrecked. Additional links to the series were considered, but did not make it to the film: Jonathan Harris was offered a Cameo Appearance (as the Global Sedition businessman who hires, then betrays, Dr. Smith). He turned down the role, and is reported to have said "I play Smith or I don't play". Bill Mumy was at one point considered for a key role in the film, that of an aged Will Robinson who appears in the 'Spider Smith' sequences, but another actor was cast instead. Guy Williams , the remaining original cast member, had died some years earlier. Novel In 1967, a novel based on the series (with significant changes to the personalities of the characters) was published by Pyramid Books. Written by Dave Van Arnam and Ron Archer (writing as Ted White), the book was three short stories woven together. In one scene, where a character is randomly speaking English to provide data for translation, the book correctly predicted Richard Nixon winning the presidency after Lyndon Johnson (but also predicted a Kennedy (likely Robert) winning after Nixon). Second TV series In late . It was directed by John Woo and produced by Synthesis Entertainment , Irwin Allen Productions , Twentieth Century Fox Television and Regency Television . The "Jupiter 2" inter-stellar flying-saucer spacecraft of the original series was changed to a non-saucer planet-landing craft, dispensed from a larger inter-stellar mother-ship. The pilot script featured the characters of John and Maureen, but an elder son, David, was added, as well as Judy, an 'infant' Penny, and ten-year-old Will. There was no Doctor Smith character, but the character of Don West was described as a "dangerous, lone wolf type". The confirmed cast included Brad Johnson as John Robinson, Jayne Brook as Maureen Robinson, Adrianne Palicki as Judy Robinson, Ryan Malgarini as Will Robinson and Mike Erwin as Don West. It was not among the network's series pick-ups confirmed later that year. However, the producers of the New ''Battlestar Galactica'' show bought the sets. They were redesigned the next year and used for scenes on the Battlestar Pegasus . DVD RELEASES 20th Century Fox has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. TITLE TRANSLATED
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