Lost in Space

For other uses, see Lost in Space (disambiguation).

Lost in Space
File:Lost In Space.jpg Publicity photo (1967) for Lost in Space: shows cast members: Angela Cartwright, Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen, Jonathan Harris, June Lockhart, Guy Williams & Bill Mumy.
Genre	Science fiction
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	83
Production
Producer	Irwin Allen
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	September 15, 1965 – March 6, 1968

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 83 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.

Conceptually the series is a space-age adaptation of the classic adventure novel Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss. During the first two seasons, the series follows the adventures of an astronaut family that is shipwrecked on an alien world after getting lost trying to reach the Alpha Centauri star system. In the third season they travel to other worlds in their never-resolved attempts to reach their destination, which was either Earth or Alpha Centauri.

Following the successful format of Allen's first TV 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 special effects, explosions, monstrous aliens, spaceships, and exotic sets and costumes drenched in bright, primary colors. On the other hand, unlike the other space TV show of the day, 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 non-discriminating 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

In 1997, the Earth is suffering from massive overpopulation and depletion of natural resources. Professor John Robinson (played by Zorro alumnus Guy Williams), his wife, Maureen (Lassie alumna 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 Alpha Centauri to search for a habitable planet for mankind to colonize. After the Robinsons have been placed in suspended animation for the long journey, but before the launch, foreign agent Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris) sneaks aboard the spacecraft on a sabotage mission. He reprograms the ship's robot to destroy the vehicle shortly after it leaves Earth. However, he becomes trapped on the spaceship during the launch. His extra weight throws the Jupiter 2 off course, causing it to encounter a meteor storm shortly after launch. The robot's subsequent rampage does not destroy the vehicle, but does finish the job of getting the crew completely lost. Dr. Smith continues to fulfill his role as saboteur throughout the episodes, although no one seems to notice besides Maj. Don West. The Robinsons (especially young Will) are often placed in danger by Dr. Smith.

Cast

• Doctor John Robinson (Guy Williams) is the expedition commander, a pilot, and the father of the Robinson children. He is an astrophysicist who also specializes in applied planetary geology.

• Maureen Robinson (June Lockhart) is John's biochemist wife. Her role in the series is often to prepare meals, tend the garden, and to help with light construction.

• Major Don West (Mark Goddard) is the pilot of the spacecraft and is frequently Dr. Smith's untolerable young partner. There is a romantic interest in Judy Robinson which is never developed on screen. In the pilot, West was also an astrophysicist and expert in interplanetary geology.

• Judy Robinson (Marta Kristen) is the oldest child. She planned a career in musical theater, but went with her family, instead.

• Penny Robinson (Angela Cartwright) is the middle child. She loves animals and classical music. She acquires an alien pet she names Debbie. (To viewers, quite obviously a chimpanzee wearing a fur hat). The chimp made one sound, "Bloop", and is sometimes remembered by that name

• Will Robinson (Bill Mumy) is the youngest, a child prodigy in electronics. Often, he is a friend to Dr. Smith when no one else is.

• Doctor Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris) is ostensibly a specialist in environmental and intergalactic psychology, but is an enemy agent (These roles are dropped early in the series). His attempt to sabotage the mission strands him aboard the Jupiter II. He begins as sinister, but while never losing his self-serving qualities, he evolves into passive-aggressive, often cowardly and effeminate behavior as comic relief. He frequently traded barbs with the Robot and Major West.

• The Robot is a Model B-9 Environmental Control Robot, which had no given name. The Robot was designed by Robert Kinoshita and performed by Bob May in a suit built by Bob Stewart, with voice by Dick Tufeld, who was also the series' narrator.

Series history

Irwin Allen produced a pilot film for the series, No Place to Hide. After CBS accepted the series, characters Dr. Smith and the Robot were added. The ship was redesigned with a second deck, and named the Jupiter II. (It had been the "Gemini 12".) For economy, a good part of the pilot was reworked into the early series episodes. According to June Lockhart, the show was intended to be called "Space Family Robinson", but Disney wouldn't release the copyright.

The first season was filmed in black-and-white and was more serious in tone than the subsequent two. It chronicled the daily adventures that a pioneer family might well have marooned on an alien world. These included dealing with dangerous native plants and animals, and occasionally off-planet visitors.

The second and third seasons were filmed in color, were more whimsical and fantastic, and emphasized humor, including fanciful space cowboys, space hippies, pirates, and a beauty pageant. The show aired in the same time slot as Batman (TV series), and it's been suggested the camp tone was adopted to compete. There was a growing emphasis on Dr. Smith, Will and the Robot at the expense of the other characters. Smith's change in character was not appreciated by the other actors, according to Billy Mumy, and Mark Goddard and Guy Williams disliked the shift from serious science fiction. The third season had slightly more adventure emphasis, but episodes like "The Great Vegetable Rebellion" — with talking carrots — still demonstrated humorous fantasy.

The first two seasons, shows ended with a trailer anticipating the following week, with the cliff-hanger "To be continued next week!". There was usually little ongoing plot continuity between episodes, except in larger goals, for example, to get enough fuel to leave the planet. The third year, the end of each episode merely showed clips from the next episode.

After cancellation, the show was successful in reruns, and syndication for many years, lately on FX and Sci-Fi Channel.

File:Lis-tos-02.jpg

Stylistically, the series was of high quality, featuring what was expected for space travel at the time; eye-catching silver, tapered space-suits, laser guns and a number of spectacular props and sets, including the control cabin of the Jupiter 2.

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 mild ratings success, unlike Star Trek, which received very poor ratings during its original network TV run, often not placing any higher than 60th place, while LIS finished season one with a rating of 32nd, second season in 35th place, and the third and final season rating 33rd. The last primetime episode to be broadcast nationally across the USA was a cast & crew personal favorite, a repeat from the second season appropriately titled "A Visit to Hades". Starting the next week, CBS replaced the Wednesday night favorite with the fourth season premier of the wild life adventure series Daktari in September 1968.

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 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.

Cancellation

While sometimes the reasons for a show's cancellation are simple and explicit, in other cases there may be any number of reasons given, according to viewpoint and knowledge. Such is the case with "Lost in Space."

The Budget Theory

The show had ratings to ensure a fourth season, but it was expensive. The budget for Season One per episode was $130,980, and for Season Three, $164,788. During that time, the actors' salaries increased, in the case of Harris, Kristin and Cartwright, nearly doubling. (Their negotiated salaries for the fourth season were presumably even higher.) There's other evidence that at least a part of the cost problems were the actors themselves, for example director Richardson saying of Guy Williams requiring there be frequent closeups of him:

"This costs a fortune in time, it's a lot of lighting and a lot of trouble and Irwin succumbed to it. It got to be that bad."

The Cut Budget Theory

According to Billy Mumy, the show had already been picked up for the fourth season, but with a cut budget. Irwin Allen said he couldn't continue the show under those circumstances. In fact, at the fourth season renewal meeting with CBS's Bill Paley, Irwin Allen got up and walked out when being told that the budget was being cut 15% from season 3, thereby sealing the show's cancellation.

A Bigwig Hates the Show Theory

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 the budget dispute was used as an excuse by Paley to terminate the series.

The Declining Ratings and Escalating Costs Theory

The Lost in Space Forever DVD cites declining ratings and escalating costs as the reasons for cancellation.

The Disinterest Theory

Probably not the main reason, but a contributing factor, at least, was that June Lockhart and director Don Richardson were not excited about the show, anymore. Lockhart is quoted as saying in response to being told about cancellation by Perry Lafferty, the head of CBS programming, "I think that's for the best at this point..." (although she goes on to say that she would have stayed if there had been a fourth season). Richardson had been tipped off the show was canceled, was looking for another series, and had decided not to return to "Lost in Space," even if it continued.

Music

File:TV-Lost-in-Space-Volume-1-music-CD-1997-cover.jpg

Album cover of Lost in Space Original Television Soundtrack, Volume 1 CD, with music by John Williams (ASIN B000001P1R).

The theme music for the opening and closing credits was written by John Williams, who was listed in the credits as "Johnny Williams."

In Season Three, the opening theme was improved (again by Williams) to a more exciting & faster tempo score, accompanied by live action shots of the cast, featuring a pumped-up countdown from seven to one to launch each week's episode. Seasons 1 & 2 had animated figures "life-roped" together drifting "hopelessly lost in space" and set to a dizzy and comical score.

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 (TV series), Allen quickly sold his concept for a television series to CBS. 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 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 New Line Cinema announced their intention to turn Lost in Space into a big budget motion picture. New Line had purchased the screen rights from Prelude Pictures (which had acquired the screen rights from the Irwin Allen Estate in 1993). At that time, Ib Melchior contacted Prelude Pictures and insisted that Lost in Space was directly based upon his 1964 treatment. Melchior was aided in his efforts by Ed Shifres, a fan who had written a book entitled Space Family Robinson: The True Story. (Later reprinted with the title, "Lost in Space: The True Story"). The book attempts to show how Irwin Allen allegedly plagiarized Melchior's concept, with two outlines presented side by side.

To satisfy Melchior, Prelude Pictures hired the 78-year-old filmmaker as a consultant on their feature film adaptation. This accommodation was made without the knowledge or consent of the Irwin Allen Estate or Space Productions, the original copyright holder of Lost in Space. Melchior's contract with Prelude also guaranteed him 2% of the producer's gross receipts, a provision that was later the subject of a suit between Melchior and Mark Koch of Prelude Pictures. Although an Appellate Court ruled partly in Melchior's favor, on November 17th, 2004, the Supreme Court of California denied a petition by Melchior to further review the case.

It is significant that no further claim was made and that Space Productions now strongly contends that Irwin Allen was the sole creator of the TV series called 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.

In The Simpsons episode Fear of Flying Marge Simpson dreams she is Maureen Robinson and left behind on an alien planet when her father blasts off in the Jupiter 2 without her. In a later episode, Mayored to the Mob, Dr. Smith and the Robot appear at the Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con. Bart Simpson claims he's seen the movie and the actor signing autographs, a parody of Jonathan Harris, is not Dr. Smith. It is implied that Dr. Smith attempts to lure him away to molest him. The Robot prevents this from happening with his alarm, "DANGER! DANGER! BART SIMPSON!"

The Family Guy episode Fore Father refers to Lost in Space in one of their many-known cutaways. John Robinson is parodied as pairing up the characters in ways that match several season 1 and 2 episodes. He is fully aware of how inappropriate this is saying Major West and Judy are to ride around in the chariot all day. Maureen and Penny are to be left at the ship defenseless. Will is left to the mercy of a boy-hungry pedophile.

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.

In 1997, a musical parody called Danger, Will Robinson! opened in Chicago and became a cult hit. It featured songs from the 1950 & 60s integrated into the plot. Scenes were performed on Mancow's Morning Madhouse on Q101 radio.

Myths

Gene Roddenberry—the creator of Star Trek—often claimed that CBS executives listened to his Star Trek pitch only as a ploy to glean ideas for doing sci-fi on a TV budget. But this is unlikely given that by the time Roddenberry pitched Star Trek, Irwin Allen was already a successful, Emmy award winning producer who already had a science fiction television series television in production: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (TV series). 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 "Chariot", and the space "Pod" (a small spacecraft modeled on the Apollo Lunar Module). On occasion, characters (notably John Robinson) used what was then an exciting new invention: the jet pack.

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 and Henry Jones. Future Hill Street Blues stars, Daniel J. Travanti, Kym Karath (who also worked with Angela Cartwright on The Sound of Music), Lynn Blake, and Michael Conrad also made featured appearances.

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 on such TV series as Gidget, Yogi Bear, Tabitha, Oliver Twist, Nanny and the Professor, 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 Lost in Space feature film. It included numerous nods, homages and cameos related to the series, including:

• Dick Tufeld as The Robot's voice;
• Mark Goddard played the General who gives Major West his orders for the mission;
• June Lockhart played the principal of Will Robinson's school;
• Angela Cartwright and Marta Kristen appeared as reporters.

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 cameo appearances from the original 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 (which eventually went to Edward Fox), and is even 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 Jared Harris 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 (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 F. Kennedy) winning after Nixon).

Second TV series

In late 2003, a new TV series, with a somewhat changed format, was in development in the U.S. It was intended to be originally closer to the original pilot with no Doctor Smith, but included a robot. The pilot (entitled, "The Robinsons: Lost in Space") was commissioned by the The WB Television Network. 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.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date	Additional Information
Season 1	30	January 13 2004	Un-Aired Pilot "No Place To Hide" included (see above) CBS Network Presentation (5.5 minutes)
Season 2 Volume 1	16	September 14 2004
Season 2 Volume 2	14	November 30 2004	Original 1966 Lost In Space Interviews 17 stills from the Guy Williams and June Lockhart interview 15 stills from the Jonathan Harris interview
Season 3 Volume 1	15	March 1 2005	"Lost in Space" memories - 20 nostalgic video clips with cast members offering a fond look back at favorite episodes and highlights of the show!
Season 3 Volume 2	9	July 19 2005	Next on Lost in Space: Princess of Space, The Time Merchant, The Promised Planet, Fugitives in Space, Space Beauty, The Flaming Planet, The Great Vegetable Rebellion, Junkyard of Space and The Condemned of Space Target Earth Act Break Interstitial Blooper / Bill Mumy Interview Clips (from 1995): Resolving the show, Bob May and The Robot, Thoughts on the cast / Jonathan Harris, Getting the role, Comedic Villain and Motivation for Dr. Zachary Smith

Title translated

• Brazilian Portuguese: Perdidos no Espaço
• Croatian: Izgubljeni u svemiru
• French: Perdus dans l'espace
• Japanese: 宇宙家族ロビンソン (Uchuu Kazoku Robinson = Space Family Robinson)
• Korean: 우주가족 로빈슨 (Uju Gajok Robinseun = Space Family Robinson)
• Polish: Zagubieni w kosmosie
• Romanian: Pierduţi în spaţiu
• Spanish: Perdidos en el espacio

Trivia

• Comedy Series Fast Forward sent-up Lost In Space In Series 1 (1989).
• Although the Robot had no name, in the third-season episode entitled "The Time Merchant," it was shown in its packing crate, and the crate was labelled "ONE General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental ROBOT" with the G, U, N, T, E, and all letters in "ROBOT" in red capital letters, while all the other letters were black; some have suggested that this was supposed to convey the acronym "GUNTER".

• Doctor Smith and the Robot did not appear in the first, unaired pilot episode (which has since been made available on VHS tapes,iTunes and on the DVD release of the entire series). Story editor Anthony Wilson came up with the idea of including a "Long John Silver" type villain to act as a constant irritant to compensate for the lack of conflict within the Robinson family. Writer Shimon Wincelberg fleshed out the character, giving him an exotic foreign-sounding name. Irwin Allen wanted a plain all-American name for the doctor so it was changed to the generic "Smith."

• According to Lost in Space: The Ultimate Unauthorized Trivia Challenge for the Classic TV Series, by James Hatfield and George "Doc" Burt, the role of Doctor Smith was originally written for Carroll O'Connor (who turned it down). Character actor Jack Elam was also considered before Jonathan Harris was chosen for the role.

• Smith is blamed, in "The Reluctant Stowaway", for the Jupiter II encountering a meteor swarm shortly after leaving Earth -- his weight caused the autopilot to miscalculate so it could not dodge the swarm. However, as learned in the third-season episode "The Time Merchant", the Robinsons & Major West owe Dr. Smith an ENORMOUS debt because, had he not been aboard, the stable, planned flight path would have caused the ship to collide with an uncharted asteroid six months into its flight destroying the Jupiter 2 & killing everyone onboard!

• Harris was the last to be cast but chafed at the thought of his name appearing at the end of the opening credits. To enhance his billing status he invented a title for himself: "Special Guest Star."

• In early episodes Dr. Smith is a purely evil, cold-hearted saboteur who makes repeated attempts to murder the Robinsons. He was even given eye-liner to make him look more sinister and cat-like. Harris hated playing the snarling, unappealing villain and knew his character would soon be killed off unless changes were made. To that end he saved his role—and, many say the series itself—by gradually transforming him into a sympathetic comedic-villain. The revamped Smith was really a composite of previous roles. On The Bill Dana Show Harris played the pompous, irritable manager of a snooty hotel—imperious to his employees and obsequious toward his guests. On The Third Man he played a fussy, cowardly, eager-to-please accountant. Combine the two and add some childlike flaws (lazy, selfish, and deceitful) and you have Smith. In fact, Harris played a variety of Smith-like characters, or characters with one or more of those traits, throughout his long career.

• Two of the show's stars did not appear in the final episode, supposedly as punishment for being unable to keep from laughing during the filming of "The Great Vegetable Rebellion".

• The Forbidden Planet character Robby the Robot guest starred in two episodes: War of the Robots, and Condemned of Space. Robby was also designed by Robert Kinoshita, who designed the Lost in Space robot nearly ten years later.

• The Robot has inspired a dedicated fan base, many striving to build their own Robot. Since the series conclusion, hobbyists around the world have built at least 15 detailed full-size replicas of the Robot. Two versions of the robot were used during filming: a 'hero' costume worn by Bob May, and a static, 'stunt' robot used for distance or hazardous shots. Both versions fell into disrepair after the series, but have since been discovered and restored. The 'hero' is in the private ownership of Kevin Burns, who commissioned a replica in the early 1990's for touring and conventions. The 'stunt' robot is on display at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, Washington.

• Jonathan Harris, Bill Mumy and Mark Goddard are the only actors to appear in every episode of the series. Marta Kristen and Angela Cartwright appeared in the second highest amount of episodes, appearing in 82 of the 83 episodes produced (having to appear in almost every episode of the series with the exception of 1).

• Harris was supposed to reprise his role as Dr. Zachary Smith on a TV movie, Lost In Space: The Journey Home, but was taken ill and died late in 2002, hence, production was scrapped.

• With the passing of Jonathan Harris on November 3, 2002, Bill Mumy, June Lockhart, Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen and Angela Cartwright are the only surviving members of Lost in Space. On November 27, 2002, just three weeks after Harris' death, the producers of A&E did a biography of Jonathan Harris: Never Fear, Smith Is Here!, where Space co-star Bill Mumy, provided the narration.

• In 2005 a replica of The Robot was featured in an ANZ Bank advertisement in Australia along with a Dalek from Doctor Who.

• The show was a re shown in the United Kingdom in the late 80's and early 90's on Channel 4.

External links

• Lost in Space TV.com
• Irwin Allen News Network (The Irwin Allen News Network's Lost in Space site)
• Lost in Space Photo Vault
• AlphaControl.org (The Lost In Space Wiki)