I cannot possibly imagine how to rate this series.

Lost in Space, on CBS
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I haven't seen too much of this, but it is rather a classic. (It originally ran from 1965-68, which puts the start date a decade before I was born. So of course I only saw it many years later, in reruns.) Anyway, mostly it's just absolutely terrible stuff. Atrocious production values and mostly mind-bogglingly ridiculous stories, and so forth. But it's also cool and kinda funny and weird and stuff. I guess. So... there is this family, the Robinsons, who are going off in this new ship the Jupiter 2, to explore space, and they get lost. The expedition is led by astrophysicist Dr. John Robinson, along with his wife, Maureen, a biochemist. The crew also includes a military pilot named Major Don West, as well as John and Maureen's three children. The eldest is 19-year-old Judy, who I think might have been a potential love interest for Don, I don't really remember. The middle child was 13-year-old Penny, who was probably my fourth favorite character in the show. The youngest Robinson was 9-year-old Will (Billy Mumy). Will was supposed to be some kind of child prodigy, and while he was definitely very smart in some ways, he could also be pretty foolish in other ways, I think.

Anyway, the reason the crew got lost in space is because their ship was sabotaged by Dr. Zachary Smith, who is my favorite character. (Played by Jonathan Harris, who later provided the voice of Professor Jones, the second butler on Freakazoid.) He's kind of funny, kind of evil, but a sniveling coward. Brilliant, but self-centered and stuff. He seems to sort of care about Will, who is the only person on the ship that likes or trusts Dr. Smith at all (which is one of the ways Will is stupid). There's also the Robot, who has lots of arguments with Dr. Smith. They insult each other all the time, it's great. Will and the Robot are great friends to each other, while Dr. Smith and the Robot hate each other. So, those are the three best characters. And, aside from Penny, the only characters I ever managed to care about.

Not sure what else to say right now, except there was a remake in movie form in the 90s, also called Lost in Space, of course. It wasn't great, but I liked it well enough, I guess. Certainly from a production standpoint, it was far superior to the 60s TV series... But even so, the series is still fun for its camp and/or nostalgia value, and justifiably more beloved than the movie.


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