User Reviews

Spaceship Spindrift is trapped in quicksand with a giant criminal holding onto the ship.

Let me start by saying that I have viewed this episode a few times over the decades and am always pleased with the fact that the hour shows off spaceship Spindrift more so than any other episode of the series, after the pilot.

This really does feel like a 1970s disaster movie, maybe a pre-Airport 1977...you remember when the passenger plane crashed to the bottom of the sea with the passengers still alive at the bottom.

Then came the rescue attempt.

Manhunt is a fine hour.

This is a perfect Irwin Allen episode, because it involves the cast being thrown back and forth in the space craft as a goofy giant (who seems mute until the very end) carries them through the forest under his jacket. Just picture the Jupiter II from Lost in Space being battered by meteors and you know the drill: fall to the left, fall to the right...lights flash, smoke billows...

Before I get to the main problem of this episode, let me mention a couple of other things that bother me about the series. 1) How come the outside lights on the ship sometimes flash red, and other times blue? Does it have to do with whether they're running the heat or the A/C? 2) This episode ALMOST (but not quite) deals with a recurring problem: when aliens run or walk, they cover 10x as much ground as the Earthlings. Yet the crew always seems to be able to keep up with any walking or running giant. What a crock!

Anyway, what moral compass was the crew using on this plot? We see a criminal being chased by two cops. One of the crew even speculates that he might be a murderer. He grabs the ship and some of the crew and stuffs them under his arm, endangering their lives as he runs from the police. Then he almost kills them when he lands in quicksand. The captain risks the ship to try pulling this criminal from his doom, which you may say is praiseworthy. But why do they later help the criminal to find a gun which he then uses to subdue the cops? The crew acts like they've just done a good deed. What sort of warped message is this sending? Is it a Stockholm Syndrome thing? Do we consider the criminal "good" because he was being chased by other giants ("bad")? Very strange.

And finally, what use is that stupid dog when someone almost always has to carry it around? Don't its legs work? At least in this episode it does a little scent-tracking. It's an even dumber pet than Debbie the Bloop on Lost In Space!