# 1960's TV Series "Lost In Space"-How Does It End? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561 "2012-09-03T18:08:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/41 "2012-09-04T13:40:59Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Now that I’ve explained the joke (to them and Mrs P) they’ve started doing it too, even though they have never seen the show. You’ll have to get the DVD set. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/42 "2012-09-04T14:34:14Z")
props and costumes were shared between this and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants. Oh, the pain, the pain. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/43 "2012-09-04T14:44:25Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The pilot episode comes around every now and then, if you’re bored. No Dr. Smith, no Robot, not much Jupiter 2 even. Painful thing to watch. The pilot I saw certainly had Dr. Smith; he programmed the robot to kill the crew and was caught on the ship when it took off. Harris played him as straight villain, and the original plan was that he would be killed off. But the Robinsons needed a foil, and Harris started camping up the role when he realized that it would get boring to have him constantly scheming and trying to kill everyone. The robot appeared, but had no personality. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/44 "2012-09-04T14:57:39Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The pilot I saw certainly had Dr. Smith; he programmed the robot to kill the crew and was caught on the ship when it took off. Harris played him as straight villain, and the original plan was that he would be killed off. But the Robinsons needed a foil, and Harris started camping up the role when he realized that it would get boring to have him constantly scheming and trying to kill everyone. The robot appeared, but had no personality. I saw the aired pilot when it was first broadcast, and it did indeed have Dr. Smith and the Robot. But he’s clearly referring to the _unaired_ pilot, which lacks both: [http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie/lost-in-space-no-place-to-hide-(unaired-pilot)/](http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie/lost-in-space-no-place-to-hide-(unaired-pilot)/) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/45 "2012-09-04T15:14:04Z")
> [@](#): > > The characters of Dr. Zachary Smith and the Robot were not in the original pilot. > **[List of Lost in Space episodes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Lost_in_Space_episodes)** > > This article provides a list of episodes of the television series Lost in Space. > In the year 1997, the Robinson family leaves Earth in the Gemini 12 spaceship and sets out on a journey to be the first humans to colonize Alpha Centauri. Disaster strikes when their ship encounters a meteor storm, veers off course and crash-lands on an alien planet. By December 2001, after a delayed revival from suspended animation, the family has settled in over a six-month period and made the planet their hom... ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/46 "2012-09-04T15:27:53Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The pilot episode comes around every now and then, if you’re bored. No Dr. Smith, no Robot, not much Jupiter 2 even. Painful thing to watch. no Jupiter 2 at all. Oh, the pain, the pain. (not really) ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/47 "2012-09-04T16:21:21Z")
I loved that show. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/48 "2012-09-04T18:47:12Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Few television shows back then ended with resolution. “The Fugitive” in 1967 with the two parter where Dr Kimble is finally cleared, is an exception. When you consider the huge ratings that got, I wonder what took television so long to make “final episodes” into a huge, must see event. Perhaps decisions to renew or not were made after filming was stopped for a particular season. I believe that TV shied away from any final resolutions ever since deciding that they needed to bring Davy Crockett back from the dead after the Alamo episode of the 1955 miniseries. Basically, executives wanted the option of going on forever. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/49 "2012-09-04T19:17:27Z")
And every now and then found a reason for Guy Williams to swordfight. Good times. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/50 "2012-09-04T19:55:14Z")
“The version I heard was,” it ends with every member of the cast discovering that the show had been cancelled by reading about it in _Variety_. As for the original pilot, it’s available online on Bing; the episode title is “No Place to Hide.” Keep in mind that it’s almost a literal “Space Family Robinson,” as it is set on a planet where they crash, and the ending makes it sound like they weren’t leaving the planet any time soon, if at all. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/51 "2012-09-04T21:35:41Z")
No **Time Tunnel** on Netflix. Not yet, anyways. ---
**Author:** ![NTRPRZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ec9cab/32.png) [@NTRPRZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NTRPRZ)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/52 "2012-09-05T00:04:26Z")
I beg to differ. “Lost in Space” was not “dreadful.” It was fun. You have to remember watching it as a 10-year-old who already was enamored with the US space program. Yes, it started out as straight science-fiction, and sadly devolved into a sometimes campy mess, but there were several strong messages: love, family, loyalty, morals and being true to your values. The Robinson family and Maj. Don West, had all these in spades and even the villainous Dr. Zachary Smith occasionally had a change of heart. Unfortunately, the series never had a true ending. Many 1960s TV series like “Lost in Space,” when cancelled, simply left the air without any finale episodes (an exception would be “The Fugitive.” but that’s another story. No ending was planned because, although the ratings had gone down, CBS still intended to pick up the show for a fourth season in 1968. But the network also wanted to cut the budget and the show’s producer, Irwin Allen, refused. The result: pink slips for all the actors. In fact, several of the cast learned of the cancellation through the media. The show still has many fans. Although we’re not as large a group as the Trekkers, we’re out here. “Lost in Space” was not perfect, but it provided some rollicking good entertainment back then and brings back a lot of good memories. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/53 "2012-09-05T03:10:54Z")
It was quite common for Irwin Allen series to start out beautifully, and then kind of peter out after a season or two. (The same thing happened to many other series, but Allen’s in particular, IMHO.) This was especially true of “Lost in Space” and “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”; a lot of it had to do with network tampering (budget cuts, demands for more “monster” episodes, and so on), but mostly I think the writers just ran out of steam (as was largely the case in the third season of STAR TREK). “Time Tunnel,” my absolute favorite Allen series, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) was never given the same chance; I was devastated when it was cancelled after only one season. I still love watching it today, even though it requires a complete suspension of disbelief for me to do so. ---
**Author:** ![NTRPRZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ec9cab/32.png) [@NTRPRZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NTRPRZ)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/54 "2012-09-05T10:34:30Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > It was quite common for Irwin Allen series to start out beautifully, and then kind of peter out after a season or two. (The same thing happened to many other series, but Allen’s in particular, IMHO.) This was especially true of “Lost in Space” and “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”; a lot of it had to do with network tampering (budget cuts, demands for more “monster” episodes, and so on), but mostly I think the writers just ran out of steam (as was largely the case in the third season of STAR TREK). > > “Time Tunnel,” my absolute favorite Allen series, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) was never given the same chance; I was devastated when it was cancelled after only one season. I still love watching it today, even though it requires a complete suspension of disbelief for me to do so. I quite agree. After giving all of his shows a strong start, Irwin basically turned the reins over to others and let his shows drift. As I mentioned earlier, Star Trek was written and sold as more adult science fiction, which Irwin really never aspired to. He just wanted adventure. If things didn’t always make sense, he probably shrugged his shoulders and said, “So what? I’m giving them what they want.” While I think the writers could have come up with some brilliant ideas (just look at the fanfic), Irwin kept a basic stable of writers who apparently couldn’t come up with things other than space hippies and talking vegetables. I recall Jonathan Harris said the writer of LIS’s most infamous episode, “The Great Vegetable Rebellion,” apologized profusely for the story. Peter Packer allegedly told Harris, “I’m sorry, but I didn’t have another damned idea in my head.” And remember TV in the 1960s was a lot simpler then. Many issues we talk about openly today were taboo or only just starting to be discussed. All that said, I still enjoy watching LIS, as well as VTTBS and the Time Tunnel (never was a fan of Land of the Giants). I do wish TT had continued as well. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/55 "2012-09-05T12:26:42Z")
"How does it end? Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends." (fades in orrery sphere) ---
**Author:** ![Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eugene_of_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/56 "2012-09-05T18:35:19Z")
I watched the show religiously from the pilot forward. Being the same age as Bil Mumy at the time it was right up kids my age’s alley. I remember Mumy became an instant child star, there were all sorts of toys and collectors items as well. Mumy was slated to make a promotional appearance of some kind in our town and all the kids in the whole state went bonkers. Practical Biebermania and he never did any singing or anything that I recall. Just Will Robinson. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/57 "2012-09-07T01:19:56Z")
> [@Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](#): > > I watched the show religiously from the pilot forward. Being the same age as Bil Mumy at the time it was right up kids my age’s alley. I remember Mumy became an instant child star, there were all sorts of toys and collectors items as well. Mumy was slated to make a promotional appearance of some kind in our town and all the kids in the whole state went bonkers. Practical Biebermania and he never did any singing or anything that I recall. Just Will Robinson. Fish heads, Fish heads, Roly-poly fish heads… ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/58 "2012-09-07T01:30:26Z")
The Robinsons actually did get back to Earth in one episode. Unfortunately, they had been time-warped back to 1947… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/59 "2012-09-07T01:42:27Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > The Robinsons actually did get back to Earth in one episode. Unfortunately, they had been time-warped back to 1947… Yep, I remember that one. It was aired right around Christmas, 1965. (I watched it sitting on the floor at my dad’s and playing with my new slot car set.) It was one of the black-and-white episodes. The final line was delivered by some rube watching the Jupiter II hurtle skyward: “Whuddidit look like? Well … I guess you _could_ say it looked like a _flying saucer_! Yeah, that’s it! A _flying saucer_!” ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561/60 "2012-09-07T01:43:29Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > The Robinsons actually did get back to Earth in one episode. Unfortunately, they had been time-warped back to 1947… “Chickasaw Falls indeed!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-tv-series-lost-in-space-how-does-it-end/633561.md?page=4)