Created by Irwin Allen, the self-proclaimed “Master of Disaster” ( The Poseidon Adventure , The Towering Inferno ), the show was initially conceived as a serious sci-fi drama in the mold of Forbidden Planet . The premise was simple: In 1997, the Jupiter 2 spacecraft, carrying the Robinson family (a scientist, his wife, their three children, and a pilot) veers off course, leaving them hopelessly lost on a strange planet.
But the pilot episode’s seriousness didn’t last. Within a matter of weeks, a single, sneering character changed everything. That character was, of course, Dr. Zachary Smith, played with scenery-chewing glee by Jonathan Harris. Originally written as a one-dimensional villain who sabotages the ship and is left behind, Smith proved too delicious to jettison. Harris lobbied to transform the saboteur into a cowardly, narcissistic, and endlessly quotable foil. He won. lost in space series 1965
Suddenly, Lost in Space wasn’t about the perils of deep space. It was about a petulant, purple-velvet-clad schemer whining, “Oh, the pain… the pain!” while the Robinsons’ beloved robot (voiced by Bob May, performed by a stuntman) warbled, “Danger, Will Robinson!” The show abandoned its astrophysics for pure pantomime. At its core, the series still presented a surprisingly progressive vision for 1965. Professor John Robinson (Guy Williams, the swashbuckling hero of Zorro ) was the firm but fair patriarch. His wife, Maureen (June Lockhart), was no mere space housewife; she was a biochemist and doctor, often the one actually solving the scientific problems. Created by Irwin Allen, the self-proclaimed “Master of