Lost In Space - I saw an episode of the 1960s Sci-Fi TV Classic on Detroit's Channel 38.1. It was broacast in B&W, so it had to have been from their first season (1965).
It was funny seeing the pre-women's lib dialogue. Professor John Robinson, Major Don West and young Will Robinson are away on a mission. Wife Maureen Robinson is left behind on the "Jupiter 2" with grown daughter Judy, pre-teen daughter Penny, and cowardly, egocentric Dr. Smith. The women fret that their men are away and not able to protect them from the undetermined menace of a creature that they hear howling. That setup allowed Dr. Smith to say his trademark line "Never fear, Smith is here!" :lol:
The menace was an alien who wore a gorilla-suit and a devil-like face. Scary!
I remember the show was more popular than Star Trek. How far in the future is the series set? 1997!
I recall the series is Irwin Allen's space-age adaptation of the novel The Swiss Family Robinson. The astronaut family Robinson, accompanied by military pilot Major Don West and an "enviromental robot", set out to explore & establish a colony in Alpha Centauri for an overpopulated Earth.
Prior to Jupiter 2's launch (October 16, 1997), the ship is sabotaged by enemy spy, mission physician Dr. Zachary Smith. He slips aboard the spaceship during countdown to sabotage the astro-navigation while everyone are in cryo-statis. He also reprograms the robot to kill the crew.
Dr. Smith is unable to leave before the ship launches, so he is forced to save himself by reviving the crew from suspended animation in order to avoid a meteor shower that he had steered the ship into. Smith pretends to be innocent and onboard by accident.
The robot emerges from its bay saying "Crush, Kill, Destroy". Although it has deadly electricity arcing from it's claws, the simple minded robot is rendered inoperative when its power pack is removed. The Professor and the Major save the ship, but consequent damage leaves them lost in space far from Earth. They eventually crash-land on an alien world, later identified as Priplanis. Low on fuel, the Robinsons must mine ore for the necessary fuel they need to lift off, while surviving various adventures.
Originally portrayed as a sinister & self-serving villain, Dr. Smith (whom Allen originally intended to kill off) became the series' source of conflict & comedic cowardice, exploiting the forgiving nature of the Robinsons. Most of us would have jettisoned Dr. Smith from the airlock in their circumstances.
