As others have rightly noted, "Lost In Space," the series, began with a premise that fit the era. In the 1960s, the world was a turbulent, dangerous and volatile place. There were "wars" raging both within the USA and in a far off Asian country. Everything seemed to be happening at a faster and faster pace. So, it was only appropriate that Irwin Allen pitched the idea of putting the standard American Family out into the wilderness of space (it was the Space Age, after all)! The concept of Space Family Robinson was born.
The show was to feature the family dealing with life beyond the Van Allen Belt in the late 1990s, and trying to survive as they encountered situations and creatures they had no idea about.
With Guy Williams as the patriarch and June Lockhart as his wife, the series gave us Zorro and Lassie's mom in silver flight suits! Mark Goddard with his rocket-related last name was the hot headed pilot and Marta Kristen, the impossibly perfect teen daughter. Younger sibs Angela Cartwright and Billy Mumy rounded out the family, plus the high tech gadget, the robot, acted by Bob May and voiced by famed announcer Dick Tufeld, and the ship's inadvertent stowaway and special guest star, Jonathan Harris as the infamous Dr. Zachary Smith.
Ratings are a double edged sword for a program. The concept of a show can be as noble and as sound as you could imagine, but if people aren't tuning in, it doesn't matter how great the concept; it won't be seen. At the same time as Lost In Space, and at the same studio (20th Century Fox) there was another program being filmed called "Batman." Not only that, but the programs aired at the same time on opposing networks: CBS for LIS and ABC for the Bat. For better or worse, Batman began to trounce the world for Nielsen points with a style that could only be described as camp, and, in an effort to keep pace, the producers and writers for LIS changed the format, responding to the "Batman" success by camping it up, too. As such, story lines, characters, and behaviors became broader, more colorful (also because LIS switched from a black and white series to color) and sillier, to match what was happening on the successful "Batman." The result was a shift in focus from the family struggling to survive in the harsh realm of another galaxy to three characters: Dr. Smith with his pedantic vocabulary, The Robot who was straight man to Smith (no jokes, please) and Will, who was the smart, sensitive one that Smith could grab at a moment's notice, when there was danger! Danger! Presumably Smith clutched out for Will to use as a human shield, a security blanket or perhaps something else. In any event, he certainly screamed a lot during such moments.
Though the show continued to be entertaining throughout the run, it certainly did not retain any sense of logic or integrity from one episode to another. The one constant was the music written for the program, which had elaborate scores that were constantly used throughout the run of the series by several different composers, in addition to its two theme songs, both brilliantly written by Johnny Williams.
Also the costuming was outrageous, and not in a good way! The recycled costumes from "B" movie horror films never provided a truly frightening creature to oppose our little family. But, really, it became about what outrageous position Smith, Will and The Robot wound up in that provided the focus in the show's final two years.
The Robinsons encountered hippies (one played by a young Daniel J. Travanti), a department store floorwalker, a gambling cousin of Smith, an intergalactic junkman and a giant talking carrot among many odd creatures along the way. Suffice it to say, this had nothing to do with the original premise! Still, if you were into camp and were into the space scene (and everyone was at the time) Lost In Space was the show to see.
The show was to feature the family dealing with life beyond the Van Allen Belt in the late 1990s, and trying to survive as they encountered situations and creatures they had no idea about.
With Guy Williams as the patriarch and June Lockhart as his wife, the series gave us Zorro and Lassie's mom in silver flight suits! Mark Goddard with his rocket-related last name was the hot headed pilot and Marta Kristen, the impossibly perfect teen daughter. Younger sibs Angela Cartwright and Billy Mumy rounded out the family, plus the high tech gadget, the robot, acted by Bob May and voiced by famed announcer Dick Tufeld, and the ship's inadvertent stowaway and special guest star, Jonathan Harris as the infamous Dr. Zachary Smith.
Ratings are a double edged sword for a program. The concept of a show can be as noble and as sound as you could imagine, but if people aren't tuning in, it doesn't matter how great the concept; it won't be seen. At the same time as Lost In Space, and at the same studio (20th Century Fox) there was another program being filmed called "Batman." Not only that, but the programs aired at the same time on opposing networks: CBS for LIS and ABC for the Bat. For better or worse, Batman began to trounce the world for Nielsen points with a style that could only be described as camp, and, in an effort to keep pace, the producers and writers for LIS changed the format, responding to the "Batman" success by camping it up, too. As such, story lines, characters, and behaviors became broader, more colorful (also because LIS switched from a black and white series to color) and sillier, to match what was happening on the successful "Batman." The result was a shift in focus from the family struggling to survive in the harsh realm of another galaxy to three characters: Dr. Smith with his pedantic vocabulary, The Robot who was straight man to Smith (no jokes, please) and Will, who was the smart, sensitive one that Smith could grab at a moment's notice, when there was danger! Danger! Presumably Smith clutched out for Will to use as a human shield, a security blanket or perhaps something else. In any event, he certainly screamed a lot during such moments.
Though the show continued to be entertaining throughout the run, it certainly did not retain any sense of logic or integrity from one episode to another. The one constant was the music written for the program, which had elaborate scores that were constantly used throughout the run of the series by several different composers, in addition to its two theme songs, both brilliantly written by Johnny Williams.
Also the costuming was outrageous, and not in a good way! The recycled costumes from "B" movie horror films never provided a truly frightening creature to oppose our little family. But, really, it became about what outrageous position Smith, Will and The Robot wound up in that provided the focus in the show's final two years.
The Robinsons encountered hippies (one played by a young Daniel J. Travanti), a department store floorwalker, a gambling cousin of Smith, an intergalactic junkman and a giant talking carrot among many odd creatures along the way. Suffice it to say, this had nothing to do with the original premise! Still, if you were into camp and were into the space scene (and everyone was at the time) Lost In Space was the show to see.