Irwin Allen tv Shows

[jim48]

Okay. What did Y'all think about the Lost in Space movie?

 

[Larryman]

There is a guy who builds replicas of the Burroughs display - they are pretty expensive, about 2K a pop.

In the pilot, I believe it was known as the Jupiter 12, in its incarnation with no lower deck.

It is interesting to note that in the beginning, Don was the only one qualified to fly the Jupiter 2.
As things progressed, it seemed like everyone but Dr. Smith could. In the first season space
episodes, there was only one seat in front of the console/viewports - later there were two.

The force field added an additional element later. What is interesting about that is that in some
episodes of Batman, you can see the force field hardware up in the background in the Batcave.
It is interesting to note (under the category of make it up as you go along) that the controls
for the force field were in several different places - if you believe the action.

The small portholes did have a shutter pannel on them, they were only shown a few times.

Wayne

On the point of the 'single pilot' Gemini 12 -vs- the 'dual pilot' Jupiter 2... I prefer the single pilot concept. Eliminating the duplication of right and left side instruments on the flight console.

 

[crazyeddie]

Okay. What did Y'all think about the Lost in Space movie?

Horrible. Not even campy. The producers and directors were clearly not fans of the original show, because they obviously didn't know what they were doing.

 

[jim48]

Okay. What did Y'all think about the Lost in Space movie?

Horrible. Not even campy. The producers and directors were clearly not fans of the original show, because they obviously didn't know what they were doing.

Agreed. What was it about? I just didn't get it!

 

[Larryman]

Okay. What did Y'all think about the Lost in Space movie?

I liked Mimi Rogers as Maureen Robinson; I liked her skin-tight flight suit, but not the black color and not the morphing hardware on it; I liked that Judy Robinson was no longer aspiring to a career in the musical comedy field; and I liked the holographic medical bed. I hated everything else in the movie.

 

[drwayne]

Okay. What did Y'all think about the Lost in Space movie?

Horrible. Not even campy. The producers and directors were clearly not fans of the original show, because they obviously didn't know what they were doing.

Agreed. What was it about? I just didn't get it!

I suspect that there is a desire on the part of a lot or writers to take characters and situations from older
series and movies etc. and flesh them out, give them dimension, make them more true to life.

Clearly the original go at LIS had characters that were ... less than fully dimensional. I think one of the
big objectives for the movie was to provide a vehicle for updating/refreshing/fleshing out the family
and Dr. Smith. I think they wanted to create more forceful women characters, and make the men
wimpier (John) and dumber (Don)

Ironically, the re-do of Maureen was not neccessary. If the original Maureen had asked John to jump,
he would have done it without asking how high.

My bottom line:

I think the movie stunk. The agenda with the characters was criminal. The story was simultaneously
convoluted and shallow.

Wayne

 

[jim48]

Whew! For a long time I thought I was stupid because I didn't get the Lost in Space movie. They've been talking for years about doing a Voyage movie. If they do I hope they bring back the giant octopuss! He's probably real old now. Maybe a cameo! On the other hand I hope they don't do a Voyage movie. In the hands of a good writer The Time Tunnel would be viable big-screen project, IMO. Suppose Tony and Doug had it in their power to prevent JFK's assassination? Or the 9-11 attacks? Or Obama being elected? :lol:

 

[drwayne]

I think there is a reason why it was not a hit, and you seldom see it on the movie networks.
You are not alone.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Okay. What did Y'all think about the Lost in Space movie?

Purely awful.

 

[jim48]

Next to nothing out here about The Time Tunnel or Land of the Giants. Hmm... :?

 

[mattblack]

"Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea" was my favourite and I thought "Time Tunnel" wasn't bad. "Lost In Space" had the most potential, but ended up being played too much for laughs. Also, Irwin Allen seemed to be afraid to make "Lost In Space" have any "darkness" in any way, or even to have many genuine, science-fiction ideas. I know the show wasn't Star Trek and that it was aimed for a more generic, 'family' audience. But Irwin Allen missed a chance to make it a true classic, as opposed to the 'near-classic'. "Lost In Space" had a good cast which weren't used to its full potential and good special effects and sets that enabled fairly believable environments to be portrayed: again, these virtues were rarely ever used to full potential.

 

[yevaud]

Very true.

My favorite Lost in Space episodes are the very first three. At the time, Doctor Smith was a nasty, devious, bloody-minded spy/saboteur. That had potential, until they turned him into a simpering boob.

 

[drwayne]

Very true.

My favorite Lost in Space episodes are the very first three. At the time, Doctor Smith was a nasty, devious, bloody-minded spy/saboteur. That had potential, until they turned him into a simpering boob.

I enjoy a lot of the first season. The early episodes have some features that did not survive in addition
to the evil Smith*. There was a --- tension --- between John and Don (that I think the movie picked up
on and blew up too big) that seldom appeared later.

One could argue that the first season there were a number of stories with overt, old fashioned life
lessons in them - in a manner of some older TV.

My favorite is still probably the two-part "Keeper" episodes. I am a total mark for Michael Rennie.
That voice was magical.

Wayne

*The evil Smith would have had to change, probably in some way like he actually did, or as might have been
originally planned, get killed off.

I don't think he was ever portrayed as someone who could survive on his own. If he was, one could postulate
him living apart from the Robinson's, but competing with them in a some ambiguous friend/foe type of relationship.
This sort of mixed good guy/bad guy role is far more common in today's story telling than it was then though.

 

[yevaud]

Ooh, you'll love this, Wayne: after reading your prior post, I went to imdb to refresh my memory of the "Keeper." Gee, guess what's available there...?

The Keeper, Part 1 - http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi1241055257/
The Keeper, Part 2 - http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi1224278041/

 

[drwayne]

Good, more rotting of the brain!

(Love those commercials for Hulu)

Wayne

 

[yevaud]

Hey, no flies on me; I watch lots of old shows at Hulu and a few other choice streaming video sites. In fact, I recently finished watching the entire series UFO. Flashback city!

 

[drwayne]

It took me a while to figure out the dual role of being a show about something that is really
happening in UFO, but I liked it.

There is a connection between that show and Space 1999 in my mind.

Wayne

 

[crazyeddie]

I enjoy a lot of the first season. The early episodes have some features that did not survive in addition
to the evil Smith*. There was a --- tension --- between John and Don (that I think the movie picked up
on and blew up too big) that seldom appeared later.

One could argue that the first season there were a number of stories with overt, old fashioned life
lessons in them - in a manner of some older TV.

My favorite is still probably the two-part "Keeper" episodes. I am a total mark for Michael Rennie.
That voice was magical.

One rather remarkable episode was "My Friend, Mr. Nobody", where Penny befriends a mysterious, incorporeal being imprisoned in a cave. When Smith accidentally injures her, the grief-stricken creature releases itself with the intent to punish Smith and the Robinsons, until Penny intervenes in the nick of time. But the last moments of the episode, when this being undergoes an evolutionary transformation, was touching and magical in a way that, in retrospect, was very uncharacteristic of the plots that came later. It's too bad they abandoned these kinds of thought-provoking screenplays in favor of the campy goofball stuff that followed.

Each member of the cast should have had their characters developed in different episodes. Maureen Robinson had a doctorate in biochemistry, yet after the first few episodes she was never portrayed as being good for anything other than household drudge work. Judy was supposed to be an aspiring singer and actress, but the script writers did nothing with that, and Will Robinson was the only person ever seen to sing a song in the whole series ("Greensleeves" on the guitar in episode 4). Don could have been a really edgy character, and they could have played up his romance with Judy, but it seemed to flounder in the first season. Considering how they abandoned all this plot and acting potential, they should have just changed the name of the series to "The Dr. Smith, Will Robinson & Robot Show"... :lol:

 

[vogon13]

. . . and Will Robinson was the only person ever seen to sing a song in the whole series ("Greensleeves" on the guitar in episode 4). . . .

LOL!! Will singing Greensleeves, and that was the theme song from Lassie, June Lockharts prior show. IIRC, in that scene, June did eye Will suspiciously.

 

[drwayne]

"One rather remarkable episode was "My Friend, Mr. Nobody""

That is a classic isn't it?

Another episode that I did not neccessarily appreciate the first few times that I saw it.
It suffers quite a bit when SciFi Networ does their cuts for commercials. I have seen
it on another cable network lately that shows it uncut, and the difference is amazing.

When Don answers a question at the end about Mr. Nobody, and answers in a tone
of nake wonder and astonishment:

"I don't know. There is so much that I don't know"

It is so perfect.

Wayne

 

[mattblack]

I never got to read Billy Mummy's comic book series - but I gather that he did address who
Aeolis 14 Umbra was.

Wayne

p.s. As a kid I liked the season 2+ Seaview better, though I recognize now what the movie/season
1 version conveyed the image of size better.

p.p.s. I have drafted, a number of times, a story that takes place largely in the time of ST:TNG
in which the issue with the impact of warp drive on subspace have a solution - the hyperdrive
design of the Jupiter 2. The only problem is that the design was lost in WW3, so a mission
to find the original Jupiter 2 takes place. It is a mystery that involves finding the wreck of
the Seaview, as well as papers from Harriman Nelson and ----- Bruce Wayne.

Bill Mumy's comic series of "Lost In Space" was actually brilliant: although he occasionally made a wink and a nod to the show's campiness, the comics -- published by the late 'Innovation' brand -- made the concept and characters everything they should be! If you're curious, seek them out. Many wont be cheap anymore but you'll be happy you did.

 

[drwayne]

I read where Mummy tried to show Irwin Allen a script for an LIS movie, but Allen
supposedly wouldn't look at it because he might do the project himself.

Wayne

 

[jim48]

"One rather remarkable episode was "My Friend, Mr. Nobody""

That is a classic isn't it?

Another episode that I did not neccessarily appreciate the first few times that I saw it.
It suffers quite a bit when SciFi Networ does their cuts for commercials. I have seen
it on another cable network lately that shows it uncut, and the difference is amazing.

When Don answers a question at the end about Mr. Nobody, and answers in a tone
of nake wonder and astonishment:

"I don't know. There is so much that I don't know"

Hate to nitpick, but as a fan of "My Friend, Mr. Nobody", I wondered about that when I first had it on VHS. At first I thought Don was confessing that there are a lot of things he doesn't know, but there was a problem with Goddard's delivery. The line went "I don't know. There are a lot of things... I don't know." There was a pause after "There are a lot of things..." When Judy asked if Mr. Nobody could become pure energy, I think Don meant there were a lot of possibilities, not that there were a lot of things he didn't know. Again, I was confused at first but after watching that scene a couple of times I realized that actor Goddard didn't quite deliver the dialouge on time. "Johnny" Williams' music for that episode is supreme and I have it on CD and it's still available. That was good sci-f in the last scene, with everyone looking up at the stars and wondering about Mr. Nobody. Quite moving and again, beautiful music by John Williams. "Goodbye Mr. Nobody..."

It is so perfect.

Wayne

 

[drwayne]

The great thing about art is, I get to interpret it the way I like. Instead of an imperfect deliver
of one type of line, I look at it as a perfect deliver of another.

Which has it's cool aspects for a scientist to be sure.

Wayne

 

[cookie_thief]

Not to take this off topic but does anyone remember Billy Mumy in another TV series a few years later called "Sunshine"? I remember seeing him time to time on the show playing a guitar and singing.
Ok, I looked it up. It was based on a TV movie (1973) of the same name and it lasted one season (1975). Bill was not the star but a supporting player. It was about a musician wanabe in Canada raising his daughter, because his wife died of cancer. I remember the movie well, the TV series not so much.

Back on topic, I liked LIS from the first episode to the last. I also like the musical score from the last season.