Actually, Smith was a brilliant move. Any course on writing stories will tell you that there needs to be a protagonist AND an Antagonist. Smith was the ultimate antagonist! His actions usually caused the problems that moved the story along. Yes However, I agree that he took over the show TOO much, and all other cast members, other than Will and Robot became merely background characters. 2 of my fav episodes were “Follow the Leader”, and “The Anti-Matter Man”, which both featured John. Sadly, these were just a little too similar to each other. Gotta admit though, “Evil John” chewed up the scenery!! Smith became a ridiculous comic relief buffoon!!
As a fellow life-long fan I always wondered, even as a kid, why the ship didn't have the airlock in the scene where Will was fixing the scope by the door. It wasn't until many years later when they released this un-aired pilot that we learned that the scene was reused after the ship was redesigned to include the airlock and the lower deck for the second pilot. I appreciate you including this episode in your commentary. You've shown how important it is to understanding how the show was created.
Anonymous call to Irwin Allen: “Hey Irwin, I got an idea to liven up that dead-ass pilot of yours. I know this guy Johnny Williams who can write some tunes to liven things up”!! THANK GOD HE LISTENED!!! John Williams’ music, in retrospect, was one of my FAVORITE parts of this show!! I vividly remember playing this music in my head, or sounding it out as a kid playing imaginary Lost in Space with toy spaceships and army men in the sandbox!!! Born in 1962, I barely remember the original run, other than 7:30 pm Wednesday nights. I really got into it during the early 70’s when it began showing in reruns on local TV!! Back on topic, this pilot had brilliant set design and visual effects for it’s time, but the characters and plot were rather dull. Even the blast off and crash landing were dull without the music and proper sound effects. I’m so glad they salvaged the best parts and added Smith, the robot, GREAT John Williams soundtrack, (the best of ANY TV show IMO), and better sound effects! This made it a great show!! (Even if not scientifically correct)!!
Everyone received a personalized bucket with illustrated instructions!! Also, how was there a cabin for Smith?? Judy and Penny bunk up?? Better than Will and Smith bunking!!!!😂😁
Well the pilot was essentially just stretched into 4 episodes, because episode 2, The Derelict, was a new story not included in the pilot with all new special effects and it actually turned out to be one of the best of the series.
Plus, it had a new soundtrack by Herman Stein which was the only other music that was reused throughout the series run, ( other than “Johnny” Williams compositions for the other of the 1st 5 episodes)! EDIT: Williams also did the soundtrack for “My Friend, Mr Nobody”, which much was also reused. It was amazing this music was reused so much and it always fit the mood and never got dull, thanks to excellent sound editing!
5:20. Don WAS in the freezing tube in the show! Remember Don threw Smith in the freeze tube, then told Maureen he would ride the crash out in the freezing tube. This was a clever decision so they could reuse that footage. But yes, all the other tubes were empty!
Pilots in that era weren't necessarily designed to be aired. This was to demonstrate what the show would be like. The story really in more Swiss Family Robinson than the series ended up being: they marooned on an island in the sky struggling against the elements. You don't need a "villain" you just need character conflicts, but the show made everyone too goody goody. And the pilot wasn't a bomb. CBS picked it up and it went right to series, but with changes. One thing that isn't clear, though, is that about the cyclopses, Debbie and the aliens seen at the end. The cyclops and Debbie both have similarly shaped tall ears to suggest they are from the same planet. The baldies at the end don't, which suggests they're from somewhere else. Next, freeze frame it when Will's flashlight hits the mural in the abandoned city. There's a stylized cyclops there (complete with six fingers and toes) AND (very hard to see) those bald aliens. Check this out: www.uncleodiescollectibles.com/html_lib/lis-props/00073.html
Shimon Wincelberg, who wrote the teleplay from Irwin Allen's original story, did not like expanding the original unaired pilot across the first five episodes. He went along with adapting it---- but used his alias, "S. Bar-David", on the first episode, "The Reluctant Stowaway". After "The Hungry Sea", he and Allen parted company.....and never wrote for him again.
The cryotube stuff was almost certainly ripped off from "This Island Earth," where they similarly had these magical tubes the passengers went into to survive. All these scifi shows ripped off each other, like Star Trek taking the transporter setup from "Forbidden Planet." It all makes sense if you've seen enough 1950s scifi (the pilot's theme music was from "The Day The Earth Stood Still," etc.). Then the original Battlestar Galactica ripped off LiS's journal idea, with Adama just dictating it rather than actually writing.
I think the intro music to this unaired pilot was taken from The Day the Earth Stood Still. Sometimes they reuse music for pilots rather than composing and recording original music, kind of like a placeholder.
The theme was taken from the movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still". In fact this and other incidental music from that movie was used a lot in Lost In Space, especially in scenes with alien tech (War Of The Robots etc...) Irwin Allen must have loved this music as he used it in other shows: Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea: "The Indestructible Man" (About a robot...)
I did see this pilot in the early ‘90s when I got the Columbia House VHS series. They sent 2 episodes a month. I cancelled into S2, when the show turned into ass! I agree the pilot had all the great set pieces and model work, was still not that interesting, as far as the story went! Those pieces were much more exciting when broken up into the first handful of episodes! Especially with the new music, (best ever), and new sound effects! I did not feel these shows had too much “filler”! I hung on every minute! I think their biggest success was weaving this pilot footage into the show, because it was too good to waste! And the addition of Smith and the Robot. I know there a lot of Smith haters, but it wouldn’t have been the same without him. (They could have eased up in the last 2 seasons, and not made him the focus of 90% of the show)! That was just lazy writing! They would set up Smith-centered shows, and just let Harris write his own dialog!!
Travelling at the speed of light there is no time, for the crew the journey to alpha centuri would be instantaneous, only for those back in Earth the journey would look like 4 1/2 years.
In a later time episode in color, we find out that if Dr Smith wasn't in the Jupiter 2, it would have been destroyed in a meteor shower and the whole crew would have died.
Also, special relativity says that nothing with mass can travel at the speed of light, and even if they go at 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999% of the speed of light, they ignore any relativistic effects such as time dilation.
When thexepisodes went from black and white to color, the episode with Kronos the time master, says if Dr Smith doesn't stow away, the crew,will be killed in a meteor shower.
I dont think test audiences cared about the scientific inaccuracies more thant the screenwriter did. The whole 'pioneer family in a wagon but in space' take just didn't work.
Irving they needed to do this pilot show so they could sell it to CBS for a new fall season premiere program they liked it made some changes the rest is history .😀😀😀
Well, if you're traveling at close to the speed of light for 5 years, a lot more time will pass on Earth. Maybe 100 years? I wouldn't know. The pilot did give me a chance though, to see what the series might have been like without "Smith". The robot was a great addition but "Smith" just made it all too silly. They really didn't need him getting them into trouble. On an alien planet, there are plenty of other things that might give you problems. Jonathan Harris was a great actor, but his character made it too unbelievable.
I never could watch lost in space the first minute turned me off . Casting I guess the boy was too cute the June Lockart yuk the lame stupid stage setting. . I'm talking about the first minute which is all I could stand. But if Irvine Zoo thinks its worth commenting on , I give it another shot Lost in space is similar to Gilligan's Islans . Lame lame lame. But I did watch Gilligan island . . I liked the Jim Backus and the professor The Roll as a duffus was over contrived for Gillian . Yet the actor Gillian was a hit in the Doby Gillis Show . Sorta the same with Tim Conway in McNavy a great addition to the cast but a total flop on the Carol Burnette Comedy show of the early 70
Thank you for listing the first three humans in space in chronological order.
One thing i noticed, they never ran out of coffee.😊
Nice explanation. I never quite understood the unaired pilot vs the first five episodes. Thanks, Dave!
I'm glad they added the robot. Could have done without Smith.
Actually, Smith was a brilliant move. Any course on writing stories will tell you that there needs to be a protagonist AND an Antagonist. Smith was the ultimate antagonist! His actions usually caused the problems that moved the story along. Yes However, I agree that he took over the show TOO much, and all other cast members, other than Will and Robot became merely background characters. 2 of my fav episodes were “Follow the Leader”, and “The Anti-Matter Man”, which both featured John. Sadly, these were just a little too similar to each other. Gotta admit though, “Evil John” chewed up the scenery!! Smith became a ridiculous comic relief buffoon!!
As a fellow life-long fan I always wondered, even as a kid, why the ship didn't have the airlock in the scene where Will was fixing the scope by the door. It wasn't until many years later when they released this un-aired pilot that we learned that the scene was reused after the ship was redesigned to include the airlock and the lower deck for the second pilot.
I appreciate you including this episode in your commentary. You've shown how important it is to understanding how the show was created.
Anonymous call to Irwin Allen: “Hey Irwin, I got an idea to liven up that dead-ass pilot of yours. I know this guy Johnny Williams who can write some tunes to liven things up”!! THANK GOD HE LISTENED!!! John Williams’ music, in retrospect, was one of my FAVORITE parts of this show!! I vividly remember playing this music in my head, or sounding it out as a kid playing imaginary Lost in Space with toy spaceships and army men in the sandbox!!! Born in 1962, I barely remember the original run, other than 7:30 pm Wednesday nights. I really got into it during the early 70’s when it began showing in reruns on local TV!!
Back on topic, this pilot had brilliant set design and visual effects for it’s time, but the characters and plot were rather dull. Even the blast off and crash landing were dull without the music and proper sound effects. I’m so glad they salvaged the best parts and added Smith, the robot, GREAT John Williams soundtrack, (the best of ANY TV show IMO), and better sound effects! This made it a great show!! (Even if not scientifically correct)!!
Well, 5 and a half year is a lot of food and water. Plus we never see the bathroom on the Jupiter 2!
Everyone received a personalized bucket with illustrated instructions!! Also, how was there a cabin for Smith?? Judy and Penny bunk up?? Better than Will and Smith bunking!!!!😂😁
One problem with a 4.5 year journey... Where would the put enough food? Hence the need for hibernation.
Well the pilot was essentially just stretched into 4 episodes, because episode 2, The Derelict, was a new story not included in the pilot with all new special effects and it actually turned out to be one of the best of the series.
Plus, it had a new soundtrack by Herman Stein which was the only other music that was reused throughout the series run, ( other than “Johnny” Williams compositions for the other of the 1st 5 episodes)! EDIT: Williams also did the soundtrack for “My Friend, Mr Nobody”, which much was also reused. It was amazing this music was reused so much and it always fit the mood and never got dull, thanks to excellent sound editing!
October 16, 1997: the space program provided a welcome distraction from Kenneth Starr's investigation of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
We're regressing culturally.
5:20. Don WAS in the freezing tube in the show! Remember Don threw Smith in the freeze tube, then told Maureen he would ride the crash out in the freezing tube. This was a clever decision so they could reuse that footage. But yes, all the other tubes were empty!
Because she and the rest of the family were below deck, strapped in their seats for the impact when the Jupiter crash landed on the planet.
You never mention that they had to get under shelter from the intense heat as the planet travels closer to the sun
Brilliant in every way !
Actually Don IS in the freezing tube when the ship crashes, from "Island In The Sky".
Yes, they wrote into the story that Don would put himself in the tube to ride out the crash, since the original footage only show Don in his tube!
Pilots in that era weren't necessarily designed to be aired. This was to demonstrate what the show would be like. The story really in more Swiss Family Robinson than the series ended up being: they marooned on an island in the sky struggling against the elements. You don't need a "villain" you just need character conflicts, but the show made everyone too goody goody. And the pilot wasn't a bomb. CBS picked it up and it went right to series, but with changes.
One thing that isn't clear, though, is that about the cyclopses, Debbie and the aliens seen at the end. The cyclops and Debbie both have similarly shaped tall ears to suggest they are from the same planet. The baldies at the end don't, which suggests they're from somewhere else. Next, freeze frame it when Will's flashlight hits the mural in the abandoned city. There's a stylized cyclops there (complete with six fingers and toes) AND (very hard to see) those bald aliens. Check this out: www.uncleodiescollectibles.com/html_lib/lis-props/00073.html
Shimon Wincelberg, who wrote the teleplay from Irwin Allen's original story, did not like expanding the original unaired pilot across the first five episodes. He went along with adapting it---- but used his alias, "S. Bar-David", on the first episode, "The Reluctant Stowaway". After "The Hungry Sea", he and Allen parted company.....and never wrote for him again.
No, Wincelberg also wrote Invaders from the 5th Dimension, one of the better episodes of season 1.
Ground Control was too busy talking to Major Tom... :D
I could not stop laughing!
The cryotube stuff was almost certainly ripped off from "This Island Earth," where they similarly had these magical tubes the passengers went into to survive. All these scifi shows ripped off each other, like Star Trek taking the transporter setup from "Forbidden Planet." It all makes sense if you've seen enough 1950s scifi (the pilot's theme music was from "The Day The Earth Stood Still," etc.). Then the original Battlestar Galactica ripped off LiS's journal idea, with Adama just dictating it rather than actually writing.
I think the intro music to this unaired pilot was taken from The Day the Earth Stood Still. Sometimes they reuse music for pilots rather than composing and recording original music, kind of like a placeholder.
12:23- "NEXT WEEK- 'Invaders from the Fifth Dimension', on...... *'LOST IN SPACE!!!!'"*
The theme was taken from the movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still". In fact this and other incidental music from that movie was used a lot in Lost In Space, especially in scenes with alien tech (War Of The Robots etc...) Irwin Allen must have loved this music as he used it in other shows: Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea: "The Indestructible Man" (About a robot...)
i.e.Bernard Hermann
He loved it since he didn’t have to pay for it! It belonged to the studio!
I did see this pilot in the early ‘90s when I got the Columbia House VHS series. They sent 2 episodes a month. I cancelled into S2, when the show turned into ass!
I agree the pilot had all the great set pieces and model work, was still not that interesting, as far as the story went! Those pieces were much more exciting when broken up into the first handful of episodes! Especially with the new music, (best ever), and new sound effects! I did not feel these shows had too much “filler”! I hung on every minute! I think their biggest success was weaving this pilot footage into the show, because it was too good to waste! And the addition of Smith and the Robot. I know there a lot of Smith haters, but it wouldn’t have been the same without him. (They could have eased up in the last 2 seasons, and not made him the focus of 90% of the show)! That was just lazy writing! They would set up Smith-centered shows, and just let Harris write his own dialog!!
Travelling at the speed of light there is no time, for the crew the journey to alpha centuri would be instantaneous, only for those back in Earth the journey would look like 4 1/2 years.
In a later time episode in color, we find out that if Dr Smith wasn't in the Jupiter 2, it would have been destroyed in a meteor shower and the whole crew would have died.
Also, special relativity says that nothing with mass can travel at the speed of light, and even if they go at 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999% of the speed of light, they ignore any relativistic effects such as time dilation.
When thexepisodes went from black and white to color, the episode with Kronos the time master, says if Dr Smith doesn't stow away, the crew,will be killed in a meteor shower.
He says that they will collide with an uncharted asteroid.
I dont think test audiences cared about the scientific inaccuracies more thant the screenwriter did. The whole 'pioneer family in a wagon but in space' take just didn't work.
Irving they needed to do this pilot show so they could sell it to CBS for a new fall season premiere program they liked it made some changes the rest is history .😀😀😀
Well, if you're traveling at close to the speed of light for 5 years, a lot more time will pass on Earth. Maybe 100 years? I wouldn't know. The pilot did give me a chance though, to see what the series might have been like without "Smith". The robot was a great addition but "Smith" just made it all too silly. They really didn't need him getting them into trouble. On an alien planet, there are plenty of other things that might give you problems. Jonathan Harris was a great actor, but his character made it too unbelievable.
Since they were in space billions of miles away from Earth, they could have just left him somewhere.
I have read pn StR log magazine that CBS didn't like the plot so they added The Robot 🤖 and Dr Smith
Is this your Favorite because no Dr Smith ??
Well ! They did get something dead on correct about 2001, that's the good old laundry basket.
Even 2022, laundry baskets have not evolved at all!!! They should levitate, and carry it for you! (This would have come in handy)!
I never could watch lost in space the first minute turned me off . Casting I guess the boy was too cute the June Lockart yuk the lame stupid stage setting. . I'm talking about the first minute which is all I could stand. But if Irvine Zoo thinks its worth commenting on , I give it another shot
Lost in space is similar to Gilligan's Islans . Lame lame lame. But I did watch Gilligan island . . I liked the Jim Backus and the professor The Roll as a duffus was over contrived for Gillian . Yet the actor Gillian was a hit in the Doby Gillis Show . Sorta the same with Tim Conway in McNavy a great addition to the cast but a total flop on the Carol Burnette Comedy show of the early 70