Product Description

Season 1 of the 1965 sci-fi favorite.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11007 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-01-13
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 8
• Running time: 1421 minutes

Amazon.com
Lost in Space began life in 1965 as a science-fiction take on The Swiss Family Robinson. Produced by Irwin Allen, then in the midst of his run of spectacular-but-childish TV sci-fi (before he became the master of big-screen disaster movies), the show featured a family of all-American space colonists cast away on a mysterious planet. Gradually the whole thing devolved into a silly (but sometimes fun) exercise in childish camp. This boxed set includes all 29 black and white episodes from the first season (with a burst of color at the end of the last show--a foretaste of the garish look of the remaining two seasons) along with "No Place to Hide," the expensive pilot show that sold the series but prompted Allen to revamp the whole premise in comic mode when network execs responded best to its unintended humor.

"No Place to Hide" has action scenes that cropped up in the first six regular episodes but is missing several of the show's trademark aspects, most notably that infectious theme from Johnny Williams (later, John Williams of Star Wars fame) and the scheming presence of Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris) and his alternately menacing and comical robot ("It does not compute"). As the series progresses (or degenerates, depending on your taste), Harris's Smith changes from pantomime villain, a saboteur who is trying to kill the family, into pantomime idiot whose foolishness, cowardice, and avarice are an endless source of plots. It mostly makes do with the regular cast plus an array of shaggy-suited, snarling aliens, but you do get sterling ham from visiting astronauts such as Warren Oates ("Welcome Stranger"), Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet ("War of the Robots"), and a very young Kurt Russell ("The Challenge"). Stories about surviving on an alien world give way to lifts from fairy tale, myth, and old movies as Smith gets hold of a wishing cap, becomes a giant, is chosen as a sacrificial king, turns the children over to an alien zoo, squeaks in fright as a werewolf approaches, or is cursed with a platinum Midas touch. --Kim Newman

Customer Reviews

Lost In Space - Season One.
Lost In Space to me was the ultimate science fantasy, and even though Season One was filmed in black and white, it was the adventures I enjoyed! Each episode ended in a cliffhanger, making sure I'd return the following week, with this DVD set I don't have to wait!
Enjoy the adventures of the Robinson Family (John, Maureen, Judy, Penny, and Will), Major Don West, the Robot, and ultimate troublemaker and stowaway Dr. Zachery Smith.
See how they become "Lost In Space"! For those persons like me, relive the adventures. For anyone not familiar with the show, please remember this, it was made at a time when there were very strict regulations about how TV shows were made, and special effects were not as advanced as they are today.
My favourite characters are Penny and Will Robinson, and the Robot of course.

The clock comes full circle
Growing up in the early/mid-60s while watching the astronauts climbing to that special event of reaching the moon, "Lost in Space" was an added dimension taking us to places that stretched the imagination. I was glued to that TV series and fell in love in "Penny" played by Angela Cartwright. She was my sweetheart. Many years later I took my seven year son to see the film. Later, he had revealed to his mom that he fell in love with "Penny" played by Lacey Chabert!
The series still has me captivated. As we learn of the recent "earth like" planet discoveries, maybe some of them are just like that envisioned in the series.

About the episode "War of the Robots"
Right from the start I knew this was a well written episode. As the episode opens, Will,Robot and Dr. Smith are all fishing for space bass down at the pond. It's a funny bit, Robot won't let Smith"off the hook" when Smith starts in with the fish stories. But , in showing him participating in fishing like one of the boys, it also establishes the Robot as a valid member of the Robinson family,rather than an appliance. This helps heighten the tension later when the Evil robot threatens to replace Robot as the family's mechanical man. When the Evil robot made Robot look pathetic and outdated in order to gain the Robinson's exclusive trust, I actually felt bad for the big metal guy. So the family continues to put more trust in the Evil robo,unheedful of Robot's warnings. Only Will believes him, and as the Robinsons find out too late, Robot was right. Evil robot means to enslave them and turn them over to his evil overlords for "experimentation" This is a great episode, representative of the best of the series writing,acting and directing. And in giving the Robot emotions,which it recognizes as not"part of my original programming" the show touches on themes expounded on more fully in films like "Blade Runner". Well worth the cost.