Lost in Space: The Complete First Season

A blast from the past! This 1965-1968 series from Irwin Allen, the master of disaster (The Poseidon Adventure) and fantasy (Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea) transplants Johann David Wyss' classic adventure tale The Swiss Family Robinson into outer space. Lost in Space gave pop culture two enduring icons: the hose-armed B9 robot ("danger, danger, Will Robinson") and the nefarious Dr. Smith (the late Jonathan Harris in his career-defining role), a saboteur stowaway responsible for throwing the intrepid, space-exploring Robinsons off course. The rest of the crew includes Guy "Zorro" Williams as Professor John Robinson, June Lockhart of Lassie fame as his wife Maureen, Bill Mumy (perhaps most eerily remembered as the mind-reading monster on the classic Twilight Zone episode, "It's Still a Good Life") as brainiac son Will, Marta Kristen as space-babe Judy, and Angela Cartwright as youngest daughter Penny. Every other week brought a cliffhanger that found the Robinsons in some form of peril, often under attack by some alien out of a Roger Corman movie (watching these episodes again after all these years begs the question: how on Earth did we take this stuff seriously?). The notable guest star quotient is low: Warren Oates appears in the episode "Welcome Stranger," and Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet meets his match in B9 in "War of the Robots." The 29 b&w episodes compiled here look out-of-this-world, but one can't help but be disappointed that none of the cast members were found to provide audio commentary. Disc eight includes the original, unaired pilot episode, "No Place to Hide." No B9. No Dr. Smith. No wonder it was lost. Recommended. (D. Liebenson)