ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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This pilot for the disappointing
series is surprisingly serious when compared to the frequently silly episodes. Too bad it didn't maintain the quality of the pilot.
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Lost In Space (1965)

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This was the original, unaired pilot for the show. It has a 'Swiss Family Robinson-in-outer space' feel, but also was influenced by Forbidden Planet and uses music from The Day the Earth Stood Still.

There were no Dr. Smith or Robot characters in this one, as yet. It was in b&w like all first season episodes. Footage from this pilot would be incorporated into and spread out among the first few episodes of the regular series, so this was like a concise version of those first 4 or 5 episodes.

In the plot, the family of 5 Robinsons (parents — headed by patriarch John, played by Guy Williams — and 3 children) along with Dr./Major Don West (Mark Goddard) are getting ready to take off in a spaceship. It's Oct. 16, 1997, in a large control room.

There is a surprising amount of detail in telling the audience of the crew's qualifications, such as the wife/mom (June Lockhart) being a biochemist. Info is supplied by a voice-over from an announcer, who doesn't change his tempo later, even as the saucer is pummeled by a swarm of meteors. The crew is in suspended animation, and they end up on a desert-like planet about 3-and-a-half years later (going by their atomic clock), Then the story skips to 6 months later, after they have already settled in.

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The action kicks in when the men run into a resident one-eyed cyclops creepy-looking giant, about 50 feet tall. It's Will Robinson (Billy Mumy) to the rescue with a ray gun! Then they all have to move in their 'Chariot' (a tractor-like all-purpose vehicle) to another region due to a cold freeze.

There's a pointless scene of John showing off their flying jet pack before they have to rush off. They explore a cave for some reason, which turns out to be a crypt for aliens. An earthquake chases them out.

Oh, and, they run into a one-eyed cyclops giant again.

Finally, they reach some inland sea and traverse this just as a storm hits — bad luck all around, but the excitement never stops! They make it, of course, and it ends on an intriguing note, suggesting more mysterious aliens.

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This pilot episode functioned as a travelogue on another planet, displaying several sources of adventure for the lost family, in a systematic fashion. The pilot was almost like a fifties sf film, truncated to about 50 minutes. It switched to different locales, seemed well-budgeted for TV, and was straightforward adventure (without the comedy that began midway through the first season). It presented the various possibilities that would be confronted by a civilized small group or family in outer space and, in this respect, Irwin Allen obviously succeeded — the show was a go and went on for 3 years.

BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10



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