The hit tv series Lost In Space centered around the adventures of the Robinson family, their pilot Major Don West, saboteur Dr. Zachary Smith, and the B-9 Environmental Control Robot (not to be confused with Robby the Robot). On their way through outer space to Alpha Centauri some 5 light years away on a mission of colonization, Smith is trapped aboard while committing sabotage and causes the space ship Jupiter 2 to go off course as it exits our star system. Dr. Smith constantly schemes to get back to Earth, often getting the others in trouble in the process.

Season one, the black and white season, mostly takes place on a habitable planet, Priplanus, the spaceship Jupiter 2 crashes on. There, the would be colonists encounter dangers from strange animal and plant life on the alien planet. The first five episodes are widely regarded as the best of the show. The season is mostly dramatic, with the second half becoming a bit lighter. Season two is where things got silly as the show went campy to compete with Batman. The third and final season started off serious again with the likes of “Condemned of Space”, “Visit to a Hostile Planet”, and “Hunter’s Moon”, but quickly fell back into camp again. Its most notorious episode, written by Peter Packer, has to be its penultimate episode, “The Great Vegetable Rebellion”, featuring Stanley Adams as a giant talking carrot. No one can say Lost in Space took itself too seriously.

One of the show’s strengths was its ensemble cast. All of them, including the youngest cast members, were veteran actors. Guy Williams was already famous for Disney’s Zorro. June Lockhart was known for her work on Lassie. Angela Cartwright was on a series, Make Room For Daddy, and in the major motion picture The Sound of Music.  Mark Goddard already had recurring roles in multiple series (The Detectives, Johnny Ringo, and Many Happy Returns). Marta Kristen had guest starred in dozens of shows, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents and My Three Sons, and was in the film Beach Blanket Bingo. Bill Mumy was a child prodigy, with over 40 acting credits to his name before joining the cast, including three memorable Twilight Zone episodes. Jonathan Harris was a well known character actor with two movies (Botany Bay and The Big Fisherman) and two series (The Third Man and The Bill Dana Show) under his belt.

In the unaired original series pilot episode, “No Place to Hide”, Dr. Smith and the Robot were not present. These crucial characters were added later. In Smith’s case, to add more conflict and an immediate threat to the family.

If you want to learn more from the actors themselves, check out our Interviews page.

You may have heard that the show has been rebooted as a Netflix series. Our site is mostly for the classic tv series, but we try to include information about the new sci-fi series whenever possible.