MovieChat Forums > Lost in Space (1965) Discussion > Island in the sky.

Island in the sky.

posted 8 years ago by MuggySphere
7 replies | jump to latest

Just watched this recently and you know for the time and type of show this episode was pretty dark.

Smith at one point won't let Don land the ship orders the robot to crush a space helmet, as a warning, and the way they did that with the props they had was pretty good. His threat being that the next time he'll make sure his head is inside the helmet when the robot crushes it..

For a family show of that time period it never occurred to me that this was meant to be that dark. I just took Smith's threat as bluster.

I do wonder if he would have gone through with it if pushed.

[–] Buddy-51 8 years ago

The tone in the first season episodes (especially the earliest ones) is definitely different from what it became in seasons 2 and 3. This is especially true regarding the character of Dr. Smith who went from arch-villain to vaudeville comic.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ElRaisuli 8 years ago

As I recall, the initial episode of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" in 1964 starts off with a pretty violent scene of a helicopter chasing a car carrying Admiral Nelson and Captain Phillips, the original captain of the Seaview (not Captain Crane). The original captain is machine-gunned to death from the air while sitting right next to Admiral Nelson. Captain Crane is later introduced as his replacement.

It was a pretty damn violent way to introduce a series more or less aimed at kids which aired at 7:30 PM.

Captain Phillips last moments...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyage_to_the_Bottom_of_the_Sea_(TV_series)#/media/File:Nelson_and_Phillips.png

[–] sevenlilxenos 8 years ago

I've always assumed the "foreign powers" attempting to thwart Admiral Nelson and his new state of the art submarine were the same that hired Smith to sabotage the J2. The circa 60's Cold War and/or Space Race with Russia was very thinly veiled and hinted at in both of these IA series which prolly helped to sell both pilots to the networks.

[–] SEINFELDbeatFRIENDS 8 years ago

The show starts with Smith nearly succeeding in getting the ship blown up (until he gets trapped aboard) and you are surprised about him wanting the Robot to crush West's head. I do think West was a bit mean to Dr. Smith.

[–] salvador_madera 8 years ago

SEINFELDbeatFRIENDS » 3 hours ago (Sun May 15 2016 17:21:15)
IMDb member since December 2005
The show starts with Smith nearly succeeding in getting the ship blown up (until he gets trapped aboard) and you are surprised about him wanting the Robot to crush West's head. I do think West was a bit mean to Dr. Smith.

Your Reply:

ummm ... meaning what?

That West should have -
1.) forgiven being LIS, possibly forever, because of Smith's actions
2.) ignore Smith's attempts to murder/harm everyone?

Quite the contrary, West is mentally challenged, rather than a 'bit mean', for allowing Smith to roam freely amongst them for as long as he did.

[–] Geezer-geez 7 years ago

Don should have snapped Smith's neck right then. The show would never be the same.