Sci Fi Sunday - A Lost in Space Retrospective

Good morning and welcome to another edition of Sci Fi Sunday. Kay and Reno are taking a break, so today I'm going to discuss what I basically began last week - my look back at Lost in Space: the TV show vs the movie. 

In 1965 CBS launched a science fiction series created and produced by a filmmaker who would come to be known for his disaster films - Irwin Allen. As I said last week, it concerned the voyages of the family Robinson, searching for a planet circling the closest star, Alpha Centauri, in order to see about colonizing it. They were to be the pioneers in this brave new world. How odd that they only sent one person who was not a family member (Dr. Smith doesn't count, he wasn't send, he was trapped onboard). Makes you think of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden - they had two sons, Cain and Abel. How did they populate the world? Also, don't think it's a coincidence that the family's name was Robinson - obvious shades of the Swiss Family Robinson.

It began in black & white, and went to color during the second season. Only running for three years, by the end of its short run, it had evolved from a sci fi adventure into a campy sci fi series, similar to Batman. Do any of you doubt that Batman was done tongue-in-cheek? Hello, have you ever watched it? From Adam West's deadpan delivery to Alfred's dusting of the Batcave to Aunt Harriet's naivete - it was all meant to be taken in fun and in no way reflects the graphic novels.

Interestingly, the character of Dr. Smith was intended to be killed off, but they saw the error of that course of action and he remained a staple of the series and of its plots for the entire run. In fact, he evolves over those three years from determined, cruel and vicious saboteur to whining, cowardly, good-hearted (if you search real hard) millstone/albatross about the Robinsons' collective neck - and the most interesting character in the series for sure. The parents were pretty well dull stuff - Professor Robinson (played by hunky Guy Williams) had little to do. He was a stern but distant father, who spent a lot of time not at the ship, doing scientific type stuff. His wife Maureen (played by veteran Lassie actress June Lockhart) was matriarchal, concerned and protective, but her role was limited. She does stand up for Dr. Smith on a regular basis, but she's been known to tell him off when the occasion warrants, and seems to be surprised when he shows his true nature yet again.

Of the two daughters, Penny is far more interesting. Judy (Marta Kristen) is just there, and for the most part  just wants to go home and get her old life back again. Penny (Angela Cartright, also of Lost in Space and Make Room for Daddy) is a companion to Will, and often accepts Dr. Smith as a mentor. I remember when they found her a pet - a bloop (looked a lot like a chimpanzee!) that she named Debbie. Penny had a tendency to daydream, and some interesting episodes came from those musings (including one featuring Michael J. Pollard, of Bonnie and Clyde fame). Major Don West (Mark Goddard) was the co-pilot of the expedition and Judy's fiance. He got to fight and steer the ship. He especially hated Dr. Smith, and would gladly have booted him off the island. Er, spaceship. In a parody of The Defiant Ones (Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier), West and Dr. Smith find themselves chained together after having escaped a chain gang on a prison planet. Interesting episode.

That leaves the core of the show - young Will (Billy Mumy, later of Barnes and Barnes who gave us the memorable song "Fish Heads"), Robot (Bob May) and Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris).  Will was at an impressionable age, and he needed his father, but John Robinson was just too busy, so in absentia Will turned to Dr. Smith for guidance/mentoring. It seems an unlikely pairing, but it worked well, and provided a great deal of Dr. Smith's humanity. Will was also very fond of the Robot, and was often responsible for his programming. He treated him like another person, rather than a mechanical object, which was something that Dr. Smith often failed to do, although he also had no compunction upon calling on the Robot in times of need. Or in forcing him into laboring for him. Dr. Smith was rather lazy, and loath to do anything that was beneath him, including manual labor. When forced to do so for the sake of the party, or simply because they forced  him into it, he was prone to complain about his aches and pains. Even now, his cries of "The pain... the pain..." resonate in our memories.

So then in 1998 New Line Cinema made Lost in Space into a film. It did not do well. Looking at the cast,  one would be surprised at that. Until one watched the film. I confess that I've seen it a few times and own it, but that's because of who's in it - Gary Oldman - and for no other real reason, despite my liking for the tv series. If only the writers of the movie had bothered to pay attention to the TV series, they'd have done better. The trouble was that they had pretensions of being a serious film, which Lost in Space should never have been. It should have followed its origin and inspiration and stayed true to its roots - camp, pure camp. Just because the movie plot went into the ludicrous and stupid doesn't make it camp by any means. 

Gary was the best thing in the film but alas, even he could not save it. There had been talk of a sequel, but that was scrapped when the film didn't make what they'd hoped it would. Or anything. But let's play a game for a minute, shall we? Let's pretend that I've been given the project of writing the sequel so Lost in Space, and that we have a green light to go ahead with it, carte blanche to do as we wish. So what will I do? Let me tell you.

Okay, the film opens on a strange planet, naturally, where the Jupiter 2 has either crash-landed or been brought down on for some reason or other. Not a space station, but an actual planet in a far off galaxy or whatever. (Yeah, I'd look up  more details if I were really writing it). First thing I'd do is send John and Maureen Robinson off to do some adult stuff/scientific stuff, never or barely to be seen throughout the rest of the film. Why? I'll tell you why. Because frankly they stunk up the screen first time around. Mimi Rogers, as Maureen, was incredibly bad (you might remember her for a not memorable role in the first Austin Powers film). William Hurt as John Robinson - I love William but his performance was spotty at best, and at its worst, was phoned in. So get rid of them early on.  Buh-bye, don't let the door hit you in the ass. Yeah, let them  have the Chariot, I don't care.

Okay, now we take Will and Doctor Smith and sent them out so that they get themselves into a situation where Dr. Smith is forced to protect Will (and maybe a little of Will protecting him), but it reinforces the bond between them, developing their almost father/son relationship. Here is the crux of the plot. These two will interact with natives of the planet. There will be danger. There will be laughs. There will be fun. Oh, and they get to take the Robot, no question about that.

Meanwhile, back at the Jupiter 2, we have Judy (Heather Graham)  and Penny (Lacey Chabert) and Major West (Friends' star Matt Leblanc). Just for fun, we take Penny, who is a pubescent teenager, after all, and have her crushing on Don (the only non-related male for miles around). Poor Don is stuck between these two women/sisters and has to maneuver through this tricky situation and come out intact and still engaged. Fun and laughs there, perhaps some tender/serious moments. Ditto with Will and the good Doctor.

I haven't decided who or what the aliens are, or what the primary crisis will be, but there you have it. The first movie focused on gadgets and science and took itself far too seriously. It lost its humanity. The series was done with fun and love, the movie with massive fail. I'm fairly confident there will not be another movie, at least not in the foreseeable future. Maybe in time, and then, alas, probably not with my Gary. Their loss.

The TV show had a lot of guest stars, another trait it shared with Batman. One of my favorites involves Michael Rennie as the Keeper, a sort of collector of specimens about the universe. That was a two part episode (as was the pilot for Star Trek, starring Jeffrey Hunter as Commander Pike). Sorry, rambling now. Werner Klemperer (Colonel Klink of Hogan's Heroes fame) is in an episode as well. I'd like to take a moment to note here that the Robot in Lost in Space is NOT the robot from Forbidden Planet. That was Robbie. They both spoke, but they look nothing alike. Forbidden Planet is a great sci fi film, I'll have to talk about that another time.

So if you're new to Lost in Space, and are interested in watching it, let me suggest that you watch the TV show, by all means, and then if you're still interested, give the movie a try. But I did warn you.

For those of you who've seen it, what did you think of either the show or the movie? What were your favorite episodes? Favorite characters? Least favorites? I'd love to hear from you!

Until next time, take care!

♥ Julie

Sci Fi Sunday - Remembering Doctor Smith

Morning and welcome to another edition of Sci Fi Sunday! Reality Check should be back next week with  another exciting episode, but today I wanted to do something different. Today I want to do a brief retrospective of my favorite character in the sci fi classic series Lost in Space - tv series and film - Dr. Zachary Smith.

Now anyone who has talked to me for longer than, say, two minutes, is aware that my favorite actor in the world is Gary Oldman. So a logical supposition would be that he is why Dr. Smith is my favorite Lost in Space character. Not so. I was 8 years old when the original TV series began to air. I think I was hooked immediately, both by the show and by Dr. Smith. I can probably attribute that to the fact that for years and years I had crushes on and interest in men who were far older than myself. At 12, I crushed on Burt Lancaster and Jonathan Frid (Barnabas Collins from Dark Shadows) and many more. So picking Dr. Smith as my favorite character was not surprising.

Here's Jonathan Harris, who played Dr. Smith (a later pic, as the show originally began in black and white. Yes, I'm that old. Don't laugh). I had never heard of him as an actor, but I did notice that his name received special status in the cast credits at the opening of the show. Ironically, my 21 year old daughter Sarah had a crush on Dr. Smith herself. And even now she likes men who are too old for me. Go figure.

But I digress.

Let me show you my movie Dr. Smith too.  Isn't he adorable?  That's Gary Oldman, of course, from the 1998 movie. I saw it at the theatre a few times, took my kids to see it too. Did I love it? Not exactly. I watched it for Gary. The film is flawed, but I'll save that rant for another time. Today is just about Dr. Smith.

Let's talk about the character for a minute. Alright, the basic premise of both the show and the movie. It takes  place in a future time (well, it was back then), when mankind needed to explore other systems in order to help deal with some of the issues on earth. The nearest star to the Earth is Alpha Centauri. NASA decides to send a family into space to see how well they weather conditions in space, see if it's feasible to colonize other planets, etc etc. The Robinson family is composed of Dr. John Robinson, his wife Maureen, his daughters Judy and Penny and his son Will. Also going with them is Major Don West, who just happens to be Judy's fiance. And a super intelligent amazing robot named .... Robot.

As the series begins, the family is preparing to go, and they are on the ship when a stealthy figure scuttles onto the ship. Dr. Smith, of course. He seeks out the robot and messes with his circuitry (cause he's a genius that way) and overrides his programming, giving him different instructions.

Sounds simple enough, until the good Doctor finds himself trapped in the ship, unable to get off, so as it's blasting off he has no recourse but to hide himself and strap himself in for what is sure to be a bumpy ride. Especially once the robot begins to follow its new programming string!

At first the Robinsons accept Dr. Smith's explanation  for being on board the ship. There isn't a lot they can do after all. What, turn around and take him back? That would jeopardize the mission. But Major West is suspicious from the get-go, and rightly so. These two will never be friends.  Mark Goddard played West in the show, Matt LeBlanc acquitted himself well in the movie.

As the series continues, the characterization of Dr.  Smith changes (more so in the TV version than the film). The brilliant doctor becomes more of a comedic element in the story, revealing  a somewhat unpleasant nature at times. He's lazy, pompous, arrogant, full of himself, rather untrustworthy, and known to sell the Robinsons out just for the chance to get back to Earth. I guess he's forgotten that he's a foreign spy and likely to be incarcerated if he ever does make it back. Oh well, that's Dr. Smith for you!

Dr. Smith develops an almost paternal relationship with Will Robinson, something the boy is sorely in need of,  cause his scientist father (Guy Williams in the series, William Hurt in the film) is always busy with something, and doesn't seem to have time to deal with his young son. The girls don't seem to suffer from this lack of attention as much as Will does, although I can see where Penny does sometimes regard Dr. Smith as a father figure too.

Dr. Smith and the Robot is another matter. Although Will shows himself capable of programming him, the  Doctor is often used as the interface between the space travelers and the cybernetic being. It's a true love/hate relationship. The robot often gets his feelings hurt by Dr. Smith's callousness, and his name-calling. Will and the Robot are close too.

Dr. Smith often screams like a little girl. He has constant aches and pains that prevent him from doing his share of the work. He utters such memorable phrases as "Oh, the pain, the pain!" and "My aching back!" He is a shirker and a slacker, a conniver and a trickster. And yet we love him.  In one episode, he and Major West end up on a chain gang together.   Another involves a very interesting space pirate, whom Will develops a fondness for (played by veteran character actor Albert Salmi).

In another episode, a green girl who's discovered floating around outside the spaceship, the Jupiter II, crushes on Dr. Smith, and can be heard uttering the immortal words - "Pretty! Handsome!  Pretty Doctor Smith!"

Well, I could go on and on, and I do promise to talk about the show vs the film at another time.  But I'll leave you for now with a picture of my favorite guy.

 Did you like the show? What about the movie? Who was your favorite character? Your worst? I'd love to hear from you!

Until next time, take care!

♥ Julie

Our Salute to those lovely men of Harry Potter

Seeing at this weekend, I'm working the 24 Hours of Potter convention, it only seems fitting that I present to you some of the sexy men that fill our hearts and elate our eyes, and make us purr! The sexy studs of Harry Potter!

I would be a liar, if I said that there wasn't one HP character and actor that didn't hold my heart, 'cause there is, and I doubt any of you will be shocked at this as I present to you Mr. Gary Oldman as Sirius Black!

This one has always been my favorite pic of Gary.

Next his cohort in the film, Sirius's best friend and lover, Remus Lupin, played by the lovely David Thewlis:

Yes, I found a nude shot of David! Woohoo! Now for a little togetherness:

Moving on, we have the luscious Jason Isaacs as that bad boy Lucius Malfoy:

His look changed over the course of the films, isn't he utterly scrumptious here? Not that he ever looked bad!

And now the billowing robes of Professor Snape, aka Alan Rickman shall fill your soul! Er, your screen:

That last photo is from  his film Dark Harbor. Unfortunately, that is the only full frontal shot, and the film does not match its potential. I was vastly disappointed in it, but enjoyed the surprise ending.

Finally, last but not least, the title character, he who started us on this voyage of discovery, Daniel Radcliffe. Not a child any more, but a man, as you can see here?

Thus you have our salute to Harry Potter. If you are anywhere near the St. Louis area, come to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Clayton for 24 Hours of Potter. It will be fun!

If you like what you saw, let us know. We couldn't get to all the men, so sorry if we missed your fave! Any comments, ideas or suggestions are most welcome!

Until next time, take care!

♥ Julie and Sui