Irwin Allen and his staff were marvelous at coming up with intriguing concepts whether it be a super submarine exploring the oceans and becoming involved in international disasters, a suborbital commercial flight that winds up on a planet populated by giants, or in this case a family headed out to colonize a new planetary system knocked off course and finding adventures in uncharted space.
Sadly, like many movie posters of the 50's and 60's, the "idea" often does not come to fruition. Allen liked lots of action, sometimes in place of a cogent storyline, and too many times he seemed to lose sight of what his initial premise could - or should - be. What began as a promising "Swiss Family Robinson In Space" finding alien life and civilizations while trying to find their way to either Alpha Centauri or back to Earth, quickly evolved into the "Dr Smith, Will and The Robot Show". While the latter held some appeal for younger children, a serious adventure in space was missed. Aside from the first half-dozen episodes of the first season (made up mostly of film shot for the pilot), the series became more camp comedy - influenced, according to many involved with the show, by the popular uber-camp "Batman" on ABC.
There is a great deal to like about the series: one of the best spaceship designs ever, the score, a likable cast (even though Guy, June, Mark and Marta mostly became "background" in Seasons Two and Three), and some memorable moments like the invisible creature lurking in the misty swamp, the cyclops, Dr Smith's heart wrenching remorse after turning Penny into platinum, the creatures escaping from The Keeper's ship, and exploring the underground abandoned city.
But for every good episode or moment there are twice as many carrot men, space vikings, paper mache dragons, space hippies, too-convenient planet quakes, Buck Rogers rip-offs, characters popping in and out for no good reason, circuses, and so on. A shame given the promise of the original premise.
All that said, I still find the original series preferable to the Netflix reboot. Primarily because it feels like the new version is too far removed in spirit and style from the original (I know, picky, picky, picky). And don't get me started on the motion picture based on this series......
Sadly, like many movie posters of the 50's and 60's, the "idea" often does not come to fruition. Allen liked lots of action, sometimes in place of a cogent storyline, and too many times he seemed to lose sight of what his initial premise could - or should - be. What began as a promising "Swiss Family Robinson In Space" finding alien life and civilizations while trying to find their way to either Alpha Centauri or back to Earth, quickly evolved into the "Dr Smith, Will and The Robot Show". While the latter held some appeal for younger children, a serious adventure in space was missed. Aside from the first half-dozen episodes of the first season (made up mostly of film shot for the pilot), the series became more camp comedy - influenced, according to many involved with the show, by the popular uber-camp "Batman" on ABC.
There is a great deal to like about the series: one of the best spaceship designs ever, the score, a likable cast (even though Guy, June, Mark and Marta mostly became "background" in Seasons Two and Three), and some memorable moments like the invisible creature lurking in the misty swamp, the cyclops, Dr Smith's heart wrenching remorse after turning Penny into platinum, the creatures escaping from The Keeper's ship, and exploring the underground abandoned city.
But for every good episode or moment there are twice as many carrot men, space vikings, paper mache dragons, space hippies, too-convenient planet quakes, Buck Rogers rip-offs, characters popping in and out for no good reason, circuses, and so on. A shame given the promise of the original premise.
All that said, I still find the original series preferable to the Netflix reboot. Primarily because it feels like the new version is too far removed in spirit and style from the original (I know, picky, picky, picky). And don't get me started on the motion picture based on this series......