# Danger, Will Robinson! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 30, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750 "2016-06-30T01:35:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/41 "2016-07-01T18:44:21Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Neil Patrick Harris as Doctor Smith No, no. What about Bill Mumy? I’m sure he’d jump at the chance. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/42 "2016-07-01T19:36:39Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > No, no. What about Bill Mumy? I’m sure he’d jump at the chance. He’d actually be about the right age too. I liked him as Lennier, in Babylon 5. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/43 "2016-07-01T19:39:06Z")
Paul Reiser as Dr. Smith. He can mention an unfortunate past incident on LV-426. ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/44 "2016-07-01T20:29:02Z")
If the show is done right I think it could make for a very enjoyable and relevant series. As for the original series, I can still enjoy it even though the first season is practically a different show form the second and third. I recall Jonathan Harris in an interview saying that Dr. Smith was supposed to have been killed off in one of the early episodes and he wouldn’t have minded since he was an awful person. I also recall that Guy Williams was upset when the show went campy because he liked the action and adventure of the first season. But if it hadn’t gone the way it had, I doubt people would still remember it all these years later. Also, I was probably close to Will Robinson’s age when I watched the show and always liked Penny and had many thoughts about her through the years. When the Sci-Fi channel came on and had _Lost In Space_ I was stunned to realize Penny was just a kid herself. That’s when I realized I was getting old. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/45 "2016-07-02T01:30:05Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > A pilot was produced, yes. I think you can still see it on YouTube. It bears absolutely no resemblance to the original series. There were two attempts to revive “Time Tunnel” One in 1976 that had them going back to Chicago 1871 to get a cure for a plague invented by Richard Basehart (he couldn’t escape acting in Irwin Allen projects), the other in 2002 that had them in the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest in World War II, pretending to be Germans named Colonel Klink and Sergeant Schultz. Unfortunately FOX knew nothing, nothing, and rejected it for the putrid show “Firefly” ---
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/46 "2016-07-02T02:00:36Z")
Harvey Firestone would be interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/47 "2016-07-02T02:03:31Z")
> [@Arizona\_Mike](#): > > Harvey Firestone would be interesting. As Mrs. Robinson! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/48 "2016-07-02T04:20:49Z")
Jared Harris for Dr Smith. Neil Flynn as John Robinson Jane Kaczmarek as Maureen Robinson Joe Jonas as Don West … After that it gets hazy. Any actors below the mid-20s age range is out of my wheelhouse these days. ---
**Author:** ![Commodore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Commodore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commodore)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/49 "2016-07-02T04:47:39Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I predict disaster. Watching some of the old eps on Youtube is a laugh riot. The mom is always expected to cook and the girls help her, while the men folk do the men stuff. The girls are all, “c’mon girls, let’s show the men we can survive until they get back!” and then they’re all fussing about their hairdos. They always find a way to lecture the aliens: “in our culture, women are considered the equals of men!” > > I could see it as a spoof of the culture of the time. Or, they’ll feel the need to update it for politically correct reasons and everyone will be race and gender-role swapped. Political correct version of it would make Dr Smith the hero in fact. Remember how back then most people looked down on him in the 60’s as a pitiful creature and now as we have all now evolved in the year 2016 he would be revered for his nature as just a normal new age guy and a hero. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/50 "2016-07-02T05:17:15Z")
> [@](#): > > Political correct version of it would make Dr Smith the hero in fact. ??? What does that even mean? ---
**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:** [July 2, 2016, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/51 "2016-07-02T06:22:27Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > There were two attempts to revive “Time Tunnel” One in 1976 that had them going back to Chicago 1871 to get a cure for a plague invented by Richard Basehart (he couldn’t escape acting in Irwin Allen projects), the other in 2002 that had them in the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest in World War II, pretending to be Germans named Colonel Klink and Sergeant Schultz. Unfortunately FOX knew nothing, nothing, and rejected it for the putrid show “Firefly” I’ve never heard of the one in 1976. Was it actually filmed? 😕 I wouldn’t say it was “unfortunate” that Fox rejected the second. I thought it was pretty putrid myself. Never saw an episode of _ **Firefly** _, so cannot comment on their respective quality. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/52 "2016-07-02T11:57:32Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > ??? What does that even mean? Commodore believes that “political correctness” is the appropriate term for coddling those Nancy-boys while demonizing true, red-blooded he-men. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/53 "2016-07-02T13:00:09Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > ??? What does that even mean? You can’t run Mr. Smith down just because he is a coward and a stowaway and an ass. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/54 "2016-07-02T15:51:31Z")
Everyone forgets that he was also a Commie spy and saboteur. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/55 "2016-07-02T15:56:19Z")
Did they ever confirm for which country he was a spy, or was he just an “enemy spy?” I’m amazed someone like him would ever have gotten promoted to spy or trusted with anything. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/56 "2016-07-02T17:19:54Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Did they ever confirm for which country he was a spy, or was he just an “enemy spy?” I’m amazed someone like him would ever have gotten promoted to spy or trusted with anything. Originally, he was not a total douche. That came later, for comedy relief. Back in the '60s, there were really only two powers he could have been spying for, just like on the original _ **Mission: Impossible** _. They were, of course, never identified, merely insinuated. Even if it was a proxy government, you still knew who was pulling the strings. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/57 "2016-07-02T18:50:59Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > According to [this](https://sites.google.com/a/depauw.edu/lost-in-space2/home/episode-overview), the episode was “Ghost In Space.” > > A F% tornado is F5, right? 😉 God, I love the internet. I can find out something I didn’t know it was possible to find. Thank you for that! And yes, that would have been F5. This is a link to a photo of the tornado itself. [june 8 1966 topeka tornado - Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?q=june+8+1966+topeka+tornado&biw=1024&bih=679&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj0_ZOnuNXNAhVFQyYKHYyRA0QQ_AUIBygC#imgrc=e7UTTXHsdMNs1M%3A) Unlike today, when surveillance cameras are ubiquitous, and it’s easy to film from your phone, there is little video of the storm. Most of what was taken was by one buy, who had been intending to use a home movie camera at a little league game. There are photographs like this one, but most were taken, like this one, at the point it was entering the city. After that, very little. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/58 "2016-07-02T19:00:09Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > There are photographs like this one, but most were taken, like this one, at the point it was entering the city. After that, very little. Holy crap! Topeka looks like Berlin in 1945! :eek: Whatever possesses people to live in such a place?!? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/59 "2016-07-02T21:02:02Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Originally, he was not a total douche. That came later, for comedy relief. > > Back in the '60s, there were really only two powers he could have been spying for, just like on the original _ **Mission: Impossible** _. They were, of course, never identified, merely insinuated. Even if it was a proxy government, you still knew who was pulling the strings. CONTROL. And KAOS ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750/60 "2016-07-02T21:55:07Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Did they ever confirm for which country he was a spy, or was he just an “enemy spy?” I’m amazed someone like him would ever have gotten promoted to spy or trusted with anything. In World War II, the OSS at one time used former baseball player Moe Berg to go to Switzerland to hear Heisenberg give a speech and kill him if Germany was close to building an A Bomb. Did they really think Berg, who speak 10 languages (but couldn’t hit in any of them) with a general understanding of physics would understand Heisenberg and was this Nazi Scientist really going to say “we will in a few months be able to wipe out a city with one bomb”? And berg was known as a flaky guy…wouldn’t read a newspaper if someone else had. I believe it was “sinister forces”. which is to the east of Val Verde (and mentioned in “Commando”, “Die Hard 2” and “Predator”, among others). In Irwin Allen’s other show of the era “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”, in the first season the sinister bad guys (usually Asiatic in appearance) are from “The People’s Republic”. “Soviet Union” is mentioned by name specifically in one episode “Hot Line” when a rocket with a nuclear pile inadvertently lands near San Francisco and they dispatch two scientists to the “Seaview” to disarm it. John Banner was the Russian chairman. Nice to know Schultz got a good job when WWII ended. In the first few episodes Smith is pretty clever. He has programmed the robot to obey only him until Will figures out by imitating Smith’s voice and choice of words, he too can control it. There is also an episode “Welcome, Stranger” where he suggests and later remove a guidance system from the robot to help astronaut Jimmy Hapgood (Warren Oates) get his space craft Travelling Man back to earth (with him on it while the parents want Will and Penny to go). But Oates decides to head out wandering by himself, Texans don’t want to be pinned down to a small area like Earth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danger-will-robinson/758750.md?page=4)