Lost In Space began its path to life in the Winter of 1964. Irwin Allen was riding on the crest of a wave after the ratings success of the critically slammed Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. A pilot was set up that would launch Allen's next attempt at proving that he could make a hit show from an idea that nobody liked. Shimon Wincelberg was given a set of character outlines by Irwin Allen and told to write the script for the pilot. He thought it was the worst set of guidelines he’d ever seen. He remembers that all six lead characters appeared to be identical. He thought the show would never succeed.
Mark Goddard, who played Major West, remembers that he agreed to do the pilot as his agent told him Lost in Space would never get taken up as a series. He thought no one could be so stupid. Lost in Space was taken up as a series by CBS. After an initial rush by the regular cast to get themselves excused from their contracts subsided work began on how to make the series succeed. To get around the problem of all the characters being identical, Dr Smith was introduced. The script described Smith as a ruthless villain so Jonathan Harris decided to play him as a slimy coward. After the writers got used to this the programme settled down to one series as a boring adventure show.
It reputedly had one of the lowest budgets of all network shows. The same stock monster suits turned up every other week. When one shot required three times as many monsters as the producers owned all the monsters walked around the camera three times. When Irwin Allen was told that an alien’s spaceship would cost $10,000 the alien ended up walking. For the three years that Lost in Space was on air the same planet set was used for nearly every world the ship landed on. The Jupiter 2 always managed to find itself surrounded by five foot of sand and a photograph of a desert.
When Batman was put on against it, Lost in Space flopped. There was a shift towards comedy and the stories became centred on Dr Smith. Every week Smith managed to find a way to stop the spaceship from reaching Earth. Among the favourites was having Smith seduced by alien females, which lead to him changing the Jupiter 2's course causing the ship to run out of fuel.
The Robot developed a personality all of its own. No longer did it just wave its slinky spring arms around and shout “Warning! Danger Will Robinson! Danger!” Now it sang, tried to commit suicide, fell in love, and delivered lectures on how its sensitivity always lead to it being exploited by Dr Smith. This bizarre change lead to the robot becoming the most popular member of the cast, getting more fan mail than any of the others.
Jonathan Harris also became more and more popular. This lead to him being despised by the other members of the cast. Mark Goddard recalls sitting on a studio gantry throwing peanuts at Harris to make him fluff his lines. Directors and actors alike have commented that as the show went on the real Jonathan Harris became inseparable from Dr Smith. Jonathan Harris has said in interviews that his heart is still with Lost in Space.
Lost in Space became a comedy for all the wrong reasons. It was television's own Plan 9 From Outer Space. Just like Plan 9 it has managed to inspire a cult following that is incomprehensible to anyone who is not part of it.
Classic Lost in Space
The Great Vegetable Rebellion
Dr Smith is taken captive by a giant carrot after it objects to him “murdering” flowers to give to the Robot for it’s birthday.
Junkyard in Space
The Robot is saved from being burnt to death by becoming engulfed by a protective field of love.
The Mechanical Men
An army of miniature versions of the Robot attack the Jupiter 2 and swap Dr Smith and the Robot’s personalities around.
Two Weeks In Space
Dr Smith secretly turns the Jupiter 2 into a hotel for beautiful alien tourists who are really hideous monster criminals in disguise.
Deadliest Of The Species
The Robot falls in love with a female mechanoid who is programmed for evil.
The Promised Planet
An alien treatment turns Dr Smith into a hippy and Penny into a go-go dancer.
