Blog From The Bench

My local Good Guys is going out of business, so we picked up Lost in Space the complete first season for half price. My husband and I are HUGE Irwin Allen fans. We used to be one of the largest Irwin Allen memorabilia collectors (before children came along. . .funny how that changes things!)

Lost in Space is a much maligned series, but the first season is truly a great work. If you keep in mind the era in which it was made - the effects are amazing for TV (look at the Chariot and the Robot!), it's a well-rounded series for the whole family (wholesome, adventure, a bit of romance) and the early scripts are truly well-written.

The Sky is Falling is one of my favorites - a story which goes against the traditional 60's style of aliens are all bad. Here, a family of aliens are sick with worry over their missing little boy, while the Robinson's feel the same about their own son. Each family thinks the other is responsible for kidnapping the other child and it is the children in the end who bring a resolution to the hostilities.

And there's a really great bonus on this DVD set – a presentation film that was used to attract advertisers to the series. It's a wonderful promotional piece reminding advertisers that today's TV viewers are ready to accept space travel as a fact! It's a wonderful reminder of a time when computers were refrigerator-sized units with spinning reels and punch cards. A time when people only dreamed of cooking a meal in under a half hour and talking to your friends on a phone without a cord was unheard of. In 1965, the United States was sitting on the razor's edge of a technological explosion and metaphorically, that's what Lost in Space seems to be about. Man ventures into the unknown, technology that appears to be his friend, fails him and he's lost in a world he cannot understand. But if you recall, it wasn't the technology that failed the Robinson's, it was Dr. Smith's overwhelming greed and therein lies the moral.

If you get a chance, give Lost in Space: The Complete First Season a try. Just remember to watch it through 1960's colored glasses and you'll get along just fine.

Still Looking for that Bigger Boat
Cynthia