Interesting points here on the commemoration of the show's 50th anniversary. First off, it was creator-producer-director Irwin Allen's second television series after the phenomenal success of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea",and his first weekly television series for CBS. "Lost In Space" was the first big-budget, prime-time science fiction/fantasy action-adventure series for television that originally aired on its Wednesday night time slot in prime-time. "Lost In Space" ran for three seasons airing from September 15, 1965 until March 6, 1968 producing 83 episodes. Only the first season was in black and white producing 29 episodes that ran from September 15, 1965 until April 27,1966. The next two seasons of the series produced 54 episodes in color(Season 2 consisting of 30 episodes and the third and final season 24 episodes)that ran from September 14, 1966 until March 6, 1968 for Irwin Allen Productions/Twentieth Century-Fox Television and the CBS Television Network.
"Lost In Space" had a top-cast of well known and respected actors that included Guy Williams("The Legend of Zorro"), June Lockhart("Timmy and Lassie"),Jonathan Harris("The Third Man",and "The Bill Dana Show"), Mark Goddard("Robert Taylor's The Detectives",and "Johnny Ringo")and Marta Kristen("The Man From UNCLE"),and two of the best child actors of the era Billy Mumy("The Twilight Zone"),and Angela Cartwright("Make Room For Daddy").Throughout it's impressive three season run and 83 episodes(more episodes than Star Trek on NBC)it was usually the highest- rated show in its time slot(going up against NBC's The Virginian and usually coming in neck to neck with Batman on ABC,believe it or not). The series boasted top name writers for some of the episodes ranging from Peter Packer to Carey Wilbur, Barney Slater, William Welch, Allen Balter, Jack Turley, Robert and Wanda Duncan, Herman Groves, Irwin Allen, and William Read- Woodfield. Top name directors ranging from Don Richardson, Sobey Martin, Nathan Juran, Ezra Stone, Harry Harris, Sutton Roley, Jus Addiss, to Leo Penn, Irving J. Moore, Leonard Horn, Alvin Ganzer, Paul Stanley, and Alexander Singer.
Big name guest stars ranging from Albert Salmi, Michael Rennie, Kurt Russell, Warren Oates, Michael J. Pollard, Gerald Mohr, Henry Jones, Malachi Throne, Liam Sullivan, Vitina Marcus, Strother Martin, along with Mercedes McCambridge, Francine York, Sherry Jackson, Kevin Hagen, Daniel J. Travanti, Arte Johnson, Alan Hewitt, Lyle Waggoner, Al Lewis, and Richard Basehart. Spectacular art direction by William Creber(of Fantastic Voyage and Planet of the Apes),make-up by John Chambers(Planet of the Apes),and an iconic Robot designed by Robert Kinoshita(Forbidden Planet and Fantastic Voyage),and ultra-cool theme songs and music by John Williams(of Star Wars and Jaws fame). It had alien chimps(Debbie the Bloop in Season 1),one-eyed cyclopeses,and even talking carrots. What made the series stand out was it's cliffhangers during the first 2 seasons with the family facing constant peril and danger where it left viewers in suspense("To Be Continue...NEXT WEEK...Same Time, Same Channel)until the next episode and so much more. The format cliffhangers from the first 2 seasons would change over by the show's third and final season.
Getting to the episodes and let me say that the show's first season opens with five dramatic and suspenseful episodes that rival some of the best science fiction stories out there ranging from the pilot episode "The Reluctant Stowaway" to "The Derelict". Then there were the other three that also stood out from "Island In The Sky","There Were Giants In The Earth",to "My Friend, Mr. Nobody", the two-part episode "The Keeper",and "The Hungry Sea" where the first season hits a road bump with "Welcome Stranger" which was very dramatic in its impact. Then the show takes a lurching turn in "The Sky Pirate". Season 2 picks up where the Season 1 left off this time in color with several good episodes ranging from "The Prisoners of Space","Trip Through The Robot",and "The Ghost Planet". The third and final season of the series saw "The Anti- Matter Man", "Hunter's Moon", "Visit to a Hostile Planet",and "Condemned of Space" stood out as the best episodes of the series.
The worst episodes that came out of Lost In Space's three-year run consisted of the worst of them all "The Great Vegetable Rebellion",and from there the episodes got even worst and some outrageously over the top and ridicious ranging from "The Thief of Outer Space", "The Space Croppers", "Princess of Space", "Castles of Space", "The Questing Beast", "The Girl From The Green Dimension", "Space Beauty", "West of Mars", "The Curse of Cousin Smith",and "Mutiny In Space".
When "Lost In Space" was abruptly canceled in the Spring of 1968 after three seasons and 83 episodes the powers that be over at CBS didn't waste any time in finding a replacement on it's Wednesday night prime time schedule for the 1968-1969 season which was the another action/adventure series from creator-producer Ivan Tors called "Daktari" that eventually replaced "Lost In Space".
