On September 15, 1965, Irwin Allen whisked television viewers out of their living rooms on a journey to the outer reaches of space, where the Robinson family finds themselves marooned on a strange, not-entirely-hospitable planet thanks to the sabotage of their chief medical officer. For a nation dreaming of a seemingly impossible moon landing, "Lost in Space" was both wish fulfillment and cautionary tale; a part of us was enthralled by the notion of exploring the cosmos, but we were also terrified by the thought of aimlessly hurtling through a universe with no known end and no direction home.
Allen's series didn't dwell much on the more frightening aspects of the Robinsons' predicament. Unlike Gene Roddenberry's "Star Trek" (which would debut a year later), Allen employed a fairly rigid formula that found the Robinsons and the hunky Major Don West (Mark Goddard) having to outwit the generally inept scheming of Dr.
Allen's series didn't dwell much on the more frightening aspects of the Robinsons' predicament. Unlike Gene Roddenberry's "Star Trek" (which would debut a year later), Allen employed a fairly rigid formula that found the Robinsons and the hunky Major Don West (Mark Goddard) having to outwit the generally inept scheming of Dr.
- 4/22/2024
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Mark Goddard, known for his role as Major Don West, the fiery pilot of Jupiter 2 in the 1960s CBS adventure series Lost in Space, has passed away at 87. His wife, Evelyn Pezzulich, confirmed his death to The Hollywood Reporter. Goddard was already a regular on the Four Star Television series Johnny Ringo and The Detectives when his agent introduced him to the opportunity to join the new series Lost in Space, created and produced by Irwin Allen. The sci-fi series revolved around the Robinson family, including Professor John Robinson (Guy Williams), his biochemist wife, Maureen (June Lockhart), and their children Judy, Penny, and Will. Major West, along with a stowaway, Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris), and a robot, embarked on a space colonization mission that took a wayward turn after their spacecraft was sent off course by ...
- 10/13/2023
- TV Insider
Mark Goddard, who played Major Don West, the hot-tempered pilot of the Jupiter 2, on the 1960s CBS adventure series Lost in Space, has died. He was 87.
Goddard died Tuesday in Hingham, Massachusetts, his wife Evelyn Pezzulich told The Hollywood Reporter.
Goddard had worked as a regular on the Four Star Television series Johnny Ringo and The Detectives when he was approached by his agent about coming aboard the new Lost on Space, created and produced by Irwin Allen.
The sci-fi show revolved around the adventures of the Robinson family: Professor John Robinson (Guy Williams), his biochemist wife, Maureen (June Lockhart) and their children Judy, Penny and Will (Marta Kristen, Angela Cartwright and Billy Mumy).
Major West also was on board, as was a stowaway, Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris), and a robot (designed by Forbidden Planet‘s Robert Kinoshita, played by Bob May and voiced by Dick Tufeld). Their space colonization mission,...
Goddard died Tuesday in Hingham, Massachusetts, his wife Evelyn Pezzulich told The Hollywood Reporter.
Goddard had worked as a regular on the Four Star Television series Johnny Ringo and The Detectives when he was approached by his agent about coming aboard the new Lost on Space, created and produced by Irwin Allen.
The sci-fi show revolved around the adventures of the Robinson family: Professor John Robinson (Guy Williams), his biochemist wife, Maureen (June Lockhart) and their children Judy, Penny and Will (Marta Kristen, Angela Cartwright and Billy Mumy).
Major West also was on board, as was a stowaway, Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris), and a robot (designed by Forbidden Planet‘s Robert Kinoshita, played by Bob May and voiced by Dick Tufeld). Their space colonization mission,...
- 10/13/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Bill Mumy Dec 28, 2019
The actors who portray the Robinson’s youngest son share a bond that extends well beyond Lost in Space.
Editor's note: This story appears in our latest Den of Geek special edition magazine presented in parternship with Netflix. You can find more infomation on the issue here.
“Danger, Will Robinson!” by Bill Mumy
I’ve run the gamut of emotions when hearing those three words over the last 54 years. I was a prolific and experienced professional actor, having worked half of my 10 years, by the time I accepted the role of Will Robinson in Irwin Allen’s ambitious television project, Lost in Space. What kid wouldn’t have loved to be Will? He was a genius. Brave, trusting, open, bold, and respectful. He had a laser gun and he used it. He often saved the day. And… he played the guitar.
To me, Will was a superhero...
The actors who portray the Robinson’s youngest son share a bond that extends well beyond Lost in Space.
Editor's note: This story appears in our latest Den of Geek special edition magazine presented in parternship with Netflix. You can find more infomation on the issue here.
“Danger, Will Robinson!” by Bill Mumy
I’ve run the gamut of emotions when hearing those three words over the last 54 years. I was a prolific and experienced professional actor, having worked half of my 10 years, by the time I accepted the role of Will Robinson in Irwin Allen’s ambitious television project, Lost in Space. What kid wouldn’t have loved to be Will? He was a genius. Brave, trusting, open, bold, and respectful. He had a laser gun and he used it. He often saved the day. And… he played the guitar.
To me, Will was a superhero...
- 12/27/2019
- Den of Geek
By Darren Allison
Before inheriting the title "Master of Disaster", a perfectly justified honour for his reputation of creating some of the greatest disaster movies of the 1970s, Irwin Allen was also the man responsible for some of the classic TV shows to emerge in the 1960’s. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, and Land of the Giants have all survived the test of time and become immortalised among the best in terms of cultural importance. However, above all others, Lost in Space (1965-1968) is arguably the series that endured. Very loosely inspired by Johan David Wyss's classic 1812 adventure novel “Swiss Family Robinson”, the premise for the show was fairly uncomplicated and followed the adventures of the Robinson family, a crew of space colonists who encounter a number of strange and otherworldly situations after their ship is sabotaged and thrown off its original course. A great...
Before inheriting the title "Master of Disaster", a perfectly justified honour for his reputation of creating some of the greatest disaster movies of the 1970s, Irwin Allen was also the man responsible for some of the classic TV shows to emerge in the 1960’s. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, and Land of the Giants have all survived the test of time and become immortalised among the best in terms of cultural importance. However, above all others, Lost in Space (1965-1968) is arguably the series that endured. Very loosely inspired by Johan David Wyss's classic 1812 adventure novel “Swiss Family Robinson”, the premise for the show was fairly uncomplicated and followed the adventures of the Robinson family, a crew of space colonists who encounter a number of strange and otherworldly situations after their ship is sabotaged and thrown off its original course. A great...
- 12/18/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Ryan Lambie Mar 18, 2019
The 1956 classic Forbidden Planet had a huge influence on sci-fi, especially Star Trek and Star Wars...
The 1950s was a golden age for science fiction cinema. The decade saw the appearance of a succession of genre classics, including The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Thing From Another World, The War Of The Worlds, and This Island Earth.
The period's movies reflected America's fascination with the possibilities of future technology, and also a creeping sense of paranoia about the subversive potential of Communism, reflected in spectacular "Reds under the bed" films such as Invaders From Mars (1953) and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956), in which an insidious alien menace stripped mankind of its individuality.
Of all those '50s classics, one film stands among them all as a true sci-fi icon. Released by MGM in 1956, director Fred M. Wilcox's Forbidden Planet was the most expensive and ambitious...
The 1956 classic Forbidden Planet had a huge influence on sci-fi, especially Star Trek and Star Wars...
The 1950s was a golden age for science fiction cinema. The decade saw the appearance of a succession of genre classics, including The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Thing From Another World, The War Of The Worlds, and This Island Earth.
The period's movies reflected America's fascination with the possibilities of future technology, and also a creeping sense of paranoia about the subversive potential of Communism, reflected in spectacular "Reds under the bed" films such as Invaders From Mars (1953) and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956), in which an insidious alien menace stripped mankind of its individuality.
Of all those '50s classics, one film stands among them all as a true sci-fi icon. Released by MGM in 1956, director Fred M. Wilcox's Forbidden Planet was the most expensive and ambitious...
- 1/14/2016
- Den of Geek
Odd List Ryan Lambie 6 Mar 2013 - 06:48
With Robot & Frank out this week in the UK, here’s a look at a few of cinema’s other great robot butlers...
It’s telling that the word ‘robot’ - coined by Josef Capek and first appearing in print in his brother Karel’s play Rossum’s Universal Robots in 1920 - is derived from the Czech word for ‘labour’. Stories of artificial people and automata have appeared in stories for centuries, and it’s often the case that these inhuman constructs are given tasks that their human masters wouldn’t want to do themselves. From the factory-produced workers of Capek’s Rur mentioned above to the eerily blank David in Prometheus, the notion of the robotic servant is a familiar one in science fiction.
It’s a theme touched on in this year’s Robot & Frank, a moving sci-fi drama about an...
With Robot & Frank out this week in the UK, here’s a look at a few of cinema’s other great robot butlers...
It’s telling that the word ‘robot’ - coined by Josef Capek and first appearing in print in his brother Karel’s play Rossum’s Universal Robots in 1920 - is derived from the Czech word for ‘labour’. Stories of artificial people and automata have appeared in stories for centuries, and it’s often the case that these inhuman constructs are given tasks that their human masters wouldn’t want to do themselves. From the factory-produced workers of Capek’s Rur mentioned above to the eerily blank David in Prometheus, the notion of the robotic servant is a familiar one in science fiction.
It’s a theme touched on in this year’s Robot & Frank, a moving sci-fi drama about an...
- 3/4/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Randy gets cosmic.
If you want to see where everybody got the ideas for their science fiction films of the past half century, watch “Forbidden Planet.” This movie is out of this world. In fact, it was the first film to be set entirely on a planet other than Earth. It’s not unusual in Tinseltown to find folks operating on a plane of their own, but a planet of their own was simply unheard of in 1956.
The special effects – groundbreaking stuff that became an industry standard – were nominated for an Academy Award. The Oscar was won by The Ten Commandments that year. Another 1956 space flick was nominated for the short subject Oscar – “Gerald McBoing-Boing On Planet Moo” – but it didn’t win either. It was beaten out by “Mister Magoo’s Puddle Jumper.” Aah, the scales of justice can tilt harshly.
The eerie electronic score was so far ahead of its time,...
If you want to see where everybody got the ideas for their science fiction films of the past half century, watch “Forbidden Planet.” This movie is out of this world. In fact, it was the first film to be set entirely on a planet other than Earth. It’s not unusual in Tinseltown to find folks operating on a plane of their own, but a planet of their own was simply unheard of in 1956.
The special effects – groundbreaking stuff that became an industry standard – were nominated for an Academy Award. The Oscar was won by The Ten Commandments that year. Another 1956 space flick was nominated for the short subject Oscar – “Gerald McBoing-Boing On Planet Moo” – but it didn’t win either. It was beaten out by “Mister Magoo’s Puddle Jumper.” Aah, the scales of justice can tilt harshly.
The eerie electronic score was so far ahead of its time,...
- 12/1/2011
- by Danny
- Trailers from Hell
As Forbidden Planet makes its Blu-ray debut, we salute this classic of 50s sci-fi cinema…
The 50s was a golden age for big screen sci-fi. The decade saw the appearance of a succession of genre classics, including Destination Moon, The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Thing From Another World, The War Of The Worlds and This Island Earth.
The period's movies reflected America's fascination with the possibilities of future technology, and also a creeping sense of paranoia about the subversive potential of Communism, reflected in spectacular ‘Reds under the bed' films such as Invaders From Mars (1953) and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956), in which an insidious alien menace stripped mankind of its individuality.
Of all those 50s classics, one film stands among them all as a true 50s sci-fi icon. Released in 1956, director Fred M. Wilcox's Forbidden Planet was the most expensive and ambitious genre film to appear...
The 50s was a golden age for big screen sci-fi. The decade saw the appearance of a succession of genre classics, including Destination Moon, The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Thing From Another World, The War Of The Worlds and This Island Earth.
The period's movies reflected America's fascination with the possibilities of future technology, and also a creeping sense of paranoia about the subversive potential of Communism, reflected in spectacular ‘Reds under the bed' films such as Invaders From Mars (1953) and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956), in which an insidious alien menace stripped mankind of its individuality.
Of all those 50s classics, one film stands among them all as a true 50s sci-fi icon. Released in 1956, director Fred M. Wilcox's Forbidden Planet was the most expensive and ambitious genre film to appear...
- 10/4/2010
- Den of Geek
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