A "cosmonium" prospector (Strother Martin, pretty much portraying Strother Martin), whose blasting is tearing the planet's core apart as he looks for the most precious metal of the galaxy, gets the attention of always-greedy Dr. Zachary Smith. Cosmonium, as it turns out, is the "quintessence of the living force", or perhaps in laymen terms "little bits of sun". According to Robot and Professor John Robinson, who understands what the hell its jargon is saying, if the Robinson party doesn't get enough deutronium to get the Jupiter 2 off the planet they will "disintegrate into cosmic dust". Of course, those who know their Lost in Space understand that Dr. Smith will be up to no good and stubbornly ignorant to the warning signs of a planet coming apart at the seams (just harmless blasting on Martin's Mr. Nerim's part, or so he believes), stealing a thruster control part needed by John and Don while making repairs to the Jupiter 2 (this part is needed by Nerim in order to get his space ship off the planet). Smith is foolish enough to play Nerim in a quick game of "space cards"(galaxies are higher than asteroids, asteroids higher than satellites, etc.) betting the thruster control part for some of the cosmonium, losing, no surprise.
You know, funnily enough, this episode might be considered to entail a "green message" about what can happen to a planet if man extracts "too much" from it, as evident of Nerim's mishandling of the world while blasting inappropriately, causing irreparable damage. Carrying the stigma that would plague practically the entire second season, the opening episode, "Blast Off Into Space" features a laughable monster (get this: a statue with a vague human figure cut from stone by Smith expressing his "inner self" "awakens" when cosmonium is accidentally broken upon it, wanting more of the substance that gave it life!) and mind numbingly stupid behavior from Dr. Smith (he doesn't take serious the warnings of John Robinson that the planet was doomed to implode thanks to Nerim's ill-advised blasting techniques and the theft of the thruster control further establishes his mind boggling decisions to gain possible wealth (like Nerim would ever share anything with him, right?) by placing the Robinson party in peril). What does make "Blast Off Into Space" a unique episode is it finally gets our family off this freakin' planet—I guess those drawn up plans spurned by the knowledge of the evil warrior spirit of Canto (the spirit that slowly started possessing John after he fell into its cavernous catacomb in the first season finale, "Follow the Leader") worked, the blueprints establishing the means for drilling deutronium. The episode immediately hurls our family into a perilous situation once the family does get off (which, thanks to Smith's thievery, doesn't go as smoothly as possible) the planet, heading for a giant asteroid, with the "tune in next week" logo flashing across the screen. The idea that this family would face "dangers in space" is short-lived as the Robinsons once again crash-land on a planet with further silly plots and cornball characters in store for our family. Martin's "old miner" is a caricature much the way Albert Salmi's pirate was, but the character actor is always fun to watch so his shtick I personally found tolerable, particularly the way he calls Smith "Zach boy" while enabling the fiendish schemer's fortune hunting ways by showing him the underground drill site (to get there, and it's a doozy, you must blow and hop, with this gravitational thrust carrying you back and forth to the site). The drilling equipment, I guess, was left behind thanks to Smith's new statue monster, his card game with Nerim, and laziness (Will comes along but is unsuccessful in getting him to get the drilling pieces in the Chariot as countdown to lift off looms), so if the Jupiter 2 follows the same fate as before they're screwed. Irwin Allen gets to blow stuff up in this one.
You know, funnily enough, this episode might be considered to entail a "green message" about what can happen to a planet if man extracts "too much" from it, as evident of Nerim's mishandling of the world while blasting inappropriately, causing irreparable damage. Carrying the stigma that would plague practically the entire second season, the opening episode, "Blast Off Into Space" features a laughable monster (get this: a statue with a vague human figure cut from stone by Smith expressing his "inner self" "awakens" when cosmonium is accidentally broken upon it, wanting more of the substance that gave it life!) and mind numbingly stupid behavior from Dr. Smith (he doesn't take serious the warnings of John Robinson that the planet was doomed to implode thanks to Nerim's ill-advised blasting techniques and the theft of the thruster control further establishes his mind boggling decisions to gain possible wealth (like Nerim would ever share anything with him, right?) by placing the Robinson party in peril). What does make "Blast Off Into Space" a unique episode is it finally gets our family off this freakin' planet—I guess those drawn up plans spurned by the knowledge of the evil warrior spirit of Canto (the spirit that slowly started possessing John after he fell into its cavernous catacomb in the first season finale, "Follow the Leader") worked, the blueprints establishing the means for drilling deutronium. The episode immediately hurls our family into a perilous situation once the family does get off (which, thanks to Smith's thievery, doesn't go as smoothly as possible) the planet, heading for a giant asteroid, with the "tune in next week" logo flashing across the screen. The idea that this family would face "dangers in space" is short-lived as the Robinsons once again crash-land on a planet with further silly plots and cornball characters in store for our family. Martin's "old miner" is a caricature much the way Albert Salmi's pirate was, but the character actor is always fun to watch so his shtick I personally found tolerable, particularly the way he calls Smith "Zach boy" while enabling the fiendish schemer's fortune hunting ways by showing him the underground drill site (to get there, and it's a doozy, you must blow and hop, with this gravitational thrust carrying you back and forth to the site). The drilling equipment, I guess, was left behind thanks to Smith's new statue monster, his card game with Nerim, and laziness (Will comes along but is unsuccessful in getting him to get the drilling pieces in the Chariot as countdown to lift off looms), so if the Jupiter 2 follows the same fate as before they're screwed. Irwin Allen gets to blow stuff up in this one.