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Lost in Space | ||||||||||||||||||||
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nyone who can remember wanting to be boy astronaut/explorer Will Robinson in the Lost in Space series will surely appreciate the third and final nine episodes in the adventures of the family that is making its campy space journey back home to Earth. June Lockhart, who's known for being mom to Lassie and Timmy, runs the roost with her husband (Williams) and three kids, but by the third season it became obvious to everyone involved that it was all about Will Robinson (Mumy) and the odd nemesis in their midst, Dr. Smith (Harris).
This three-disc set does include the occasional effort to focus on one of the other kids. In the "Princess of Space" episode, it's Penny (Cartwright), who feigns the role of a princess of a planet, with guest appearances by Laugh-In's Arte Johnson and Sheila Allen (who shows up in three episodes in different roles). Then older daughter Judy (Kristen) proves that she is in fact very pretty as she enters the Miss Universe beauty pageant in the "Space Beauty" episode, opposite Farnum B. Showman of the Cosmos (portrayed by character actor Leonard Stone).
But then there are arguably the most campy episodes, like "Junkyard in Space," in which Dr. Smith offers to sell the robot and the Robinson family to a space junk man; the clever "Time Merchant" episode, in which the Jupiter 2 spacecraft interrupts a time traveler's journey; and "The Great Vegetable Rebellion," with life-sized talking carrots stalking the Robinsons.
The robot figures more prominently in these final episodes, too, and sometimes the parents and the older members of the cast aren't in the shows for more than a quick line or two. The 1960s show rightfully centered on eager and naïve Will along with the pompous bumbling Dr. Smith, and that's how the series ended, too, after three seasons in 1968.
Unusually candid commentaries
The other DVD releases of the earlier episodes of the Lost in Space series seemed to lack any extras from the cast or any real retrospective or commentary, and that's a shame. This final DVD release, however, has rare interviews with Mumy and Harris in 1995, when they were doing a Lost in Space revival—and those interviews are very candid, revealing and painful.
Mumy discusses very candidly how he wrote a final movie version that wraps up what becomes of the Robinson family and tells how he brought it to the show's creator, Irwin Allen, and pretty much got snubbed. "Lost in Space was left unresolved. I wanted to resolve it, and Fox agreed to it. They wanted to do it, and the cast wanted to do it. And then [I] took it to Irwin Allen, and he didn't want to read it or talk about it," Mumy says in the interview. "He [Allen] did not want to go back to his TV stuff, and said that if he would go back to it, it would be his script and his idea, and that would be that. That was the last time I ever talked to him."
Mumy, who went on to Babylon 5 as Lennier, did add that he used his story idea in his comic book about the series. Mumy talks about his crush on his "sister" Penny and how older sister Judy introduced him to Bob Dylan music, while Williams (who also played Zorro) showed him how to swordfight. In a wistful moment, he discussed how Momma Lockhart kept the cast and crew in touch over the decades by getting them together every couple of years. He also talked about actor Bob May, who crawled inside the robot every week, and how he loved the part so much "he painted his actor's chair and his trailer silver so he'd feel comfortable being inside the metal casing every show."
The extras also include a few minor bloopers left over from the TV footage, but the interviews are the most interesting.
Harris talked about how he convinced Allen to be billed as a "guest star" every episode—which was unheard of in television until that time. He also talked about how he convinced Allen to turn his character from a "deep dark snarling villain into a comedic villain," and if you go back to the first season, you can plainly see how Dr. Smith turned from a murderous evil villain to a weird uncle who was an integral part of the family. Harris said, "Of all the characters I played, this was the one most dear to my heart."
Allen died in 1991, Williams (the dad) died in 1989, and Harris died in 2002, so this is a nice final RIP for a great series.
The sets reused from planet to planet and episode to episode are funny, and the mismatched outfits—as if someone forgot they were now in living color—are a hoot. So, for pure nostalgia and camp value, this is a true classic! —Mike
Also in this issue: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Twitches
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