User Reviews

A few chinks in the story, but over-all a must-see. To me, it's one of the best that "Lost In Space" provided.

The Robinsons encounter an alien family who has apparently come there to do what the Robinsons initially set out to do: Start a colony.

This episode features superb acting, once again especially by Jonathan Harris as Dr. Smith.

Smith annoys everyone by arguing that the aliens are enemies that must be destroyed. In destroying them, he reasons, future colonists might decide that it's too dangerous and not land there. He even takes it upon himself to visit the aliens and promptly leaps to the wrong conclusions. Dr. Smith's prejudice comes roaring through. Wonderful acting! Will befriends the alien family's boy. While out together, the alien boy gets dangerously sick because he catches Will's cold, and he has no bodily defenses against the cold. Will finds shelter and stays to look after the alien friend of his.

Both families start searching for their boys, convinced that the other family has captured their son.

In a dramatic ending, Will is eventually able to get the ailing boy to John. When John produces the ailing boy to his parents, the parents try to destroy John and the others because they think the Robinsons had their boy all along and had harmed him.

The only odd part of the episode is where John and Don return to the Jupiter 2 at night after their first fruitless search for Will. The scenes then alternate between daylight and dark and it appears as though John and Don spent a whole day around the Jupiter Two, wondering whether or not to go to the aliens instead of searching for Will. In fact, it appears as though nobody has searched for Will. This could just have been bad editing.

Apparently, the girls are not to search for Will themselves. Only John, Don, and Dr. Smith can do that for some reason.

One thing I really liked about this episode is the fact that the aliens communicate through telepathy, not American English. The alien man, portrayed by Don Matheson (who later starred on "Land Of The Giants"), his wife, and their boy look at and "feel" like aliens.

Despite the slight clunkiness in the search for Will, this is a superb episode. If only some of the other episodes had been this good.

When the episode opens, Dr. Smith is gold-bricking, again, when a crab-like creature approaches him. In typical Smith fashion he panics and becomes paranoid at an impending invasion.

There is an invasion but not as Smith fatalistically expects. Just like the Robinson, another family of travelers - The Taurons - are looking for a planet to explore and inhabit. The father, mother and young son look like humans but they communicate telepathically and never speak a word in the entire episode.

As Will is out alone exploring, he comes across the Tauron boy who is off on his own as well. Will tries to communicate with him but they find a common interest as the Tauron boy throws a ball that acts like a boomerang; he can play catch by himself. While playing, Will sneezes and almost immediately the alien boy falls ill. Will tries to help and carries him to a small cave, he stays with him not wanting to leave him alone.

Back at their respective camps both families are worried about their boys. Smith incites paranoia about the visitors claiming that they have captured Will. John agrees to go to the alien camp. John tries to inquire about Will but fails, the Taurons are suspicious as well and pull a weapon on John. Aggressions mount and weapons are shot. Will shows up with the boy and John carries him back to his family. After bringing him back, the parents are ready to shoot again but their boy communicates the truth of what happened. The Taurons leave the planet by the end of the show.

This episode shows what LIS could have been but wasn't. It would explore concepts that were abandoned here and then done so well with "Star Trek" a year later on NBC. It shows where they were going but failed to do later on in season 1 and in the following 2 seasons.

The "Matter Transfer Unit" used by the Taurons is similar in concept to the Transporter on "Star Trek." This episode aired almost a year prior to Trek's first episode on NBC. It would be a key element in the episode, "Return from Outer Space." Don Matheson (Tauron Father) would appear in subsequent LIS episodes and would go on to star in Irwin Allen's "Land of the Giants."

At the end of the episode, Prof. Robinson tells Will that the "Taurons" have no resistance to human diseases. Robinson was never able to speak a single word to these aliens. How did he learn what they call themselves? That kind of lapse in logic was one of the things which made the series interesting. Another interesting thing is how everyone else starts to believe that Dr Smith might have actually been correct about something. Maybe so. When Will became missing, the hesitation in searching for him made no sense. They should have been less interested in proving Dr Smith wrong, and more focused on finding Will. Ultimately, however, even Major West admits that Smith was partially right. A great episode with some implied social commentary. The whole thing was really about how people always tend to fear those whom they see as "different" from themselves.

This episode deals with the Taurons, seemingly mute human like visitors, who communicate telepathically with each other and fear the speaking earthlings as much as the Robinsons (with the exception of the wise Will) fewr tyem. The Taurons consist of a father and mother, protecting their son who befriends Will. When both boys disappear, each of the families thinks that the other family has them, unaware that a common earth cold has struck the Tauron boy down. How will peace be maintained on the planet of assumption.

This is a perfect episode that has so many great ideas and morals attached. Dr. Robinson himself declares that why is it that boys can find friendship and a common interest in anything while adults will find war over anything. Smith, of course, creates trouble, thinking that the mother is about to shoot and makes a hasty decision that nearly costs everybody around their lives. It's only through the wisdom of young will and the sudden sense of Dr. Robinson that everything is resolved peacefully, but it is obvious that these two different factions of universal life will never be able to live together in harmony.

The Sky Is Falling in another excellent episode.

We have aliens that look somewhat human but are clearly not and do not speak English (or any verbal language). They are a family, with a father, mother and small boy.

Dr. Smith is a paranoid trouble-maker and wants to destroy the aliens, while Will becomes friends with the alien boy. There is plenty of suspense- when Will and the alien boy are missing and also during the confrontation.

There are also lessons to be learned about trust and finding common ground.

There is also a nice little bit of comedy right at the end, which is also an example of the softening of the Dr. Smith character.