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Lost In Space (1965)
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 24, 2024 9:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Many television series, no matter what the genre is, will produce spin-off or backdoor pilots. "Assignment: Earth" was a backdoor pilot from Star Trek. Gomer Pyle, USMC was a spin-off from The Andy Griffith Show (which was itself a backdoor pilot from The Danny Thomas Show).

So I always found it odd that with having produced 4 TV science fiction series that Irwin Allen never used any of those 4 shows to have any spin-off or backdoor pilots for another series of his creation.

Then I came across this item. Allen produced a demo reel for a potential SF series called The Man From the 25th Century that would star James Darren (The Time Tunnel).

Premise: In the 20th century, Robert Prentiss (James Darren) is kidnapped as a child by aliens and brought back to their planet for indoctrination and training. Prentiss (called Tomo by the aliens) is returned to Earth as an adult. His mission is to sabotage Project Delphi which is a defense system that prevents the aliens from invading Earth.

Turns out that the Robert Prentiss was going to appear to the Robinson family on Allen's Lost In Space in one of their episodes. When he meets them he recounts, via a flashback, his life story. This LIS episode would have served as a backdoor pilot for The Man From the 25th Century.

The snag happened when LIS was cancelled and Irwin Allen could no longer use that series to do the backdoor pilot for the James Darren series.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 25, 2024 11:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Wow. . .

To quote the guy with the pointed ears, "Fascinating."

That premise certainly sounds like a serious science fiction concept — and a very interesting one, too. Based on the description, I don't think that introducing the idea to the audience who watched LIS would have been a good way to promote the new series. They would naturally assume it would be a jokey show like LIS, and then been disappointed if it was a serious sci-fi program.

But that's an unfair assumption on my part, based on too little evidence. So, I wish that Allen had given the series a chance.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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