Irwin Allen's Lost in Space: The Authorized Biography of a Classic Sci-Fi Series, Volume 3

by Marc Cushman

Lost in Space was the first primetime weekly series to take viewers into outer space – something the networks believed impossible on a TV budget and schedule – until Irwin Alien proved it could be done. In this three-book set, Irwin Allen's Lost in Space, you are whisked back to the production offices, writers’ conferences, and sound stages for the making of this iconic series. Included are hundreds of memos between Allen and his staff; production schedules; budgets; fan letters; more than 1,000 rare behind-the-scenes images; and the TV ratings for every episode. Now, in this final volume: the production of the third broadcast season on CBS, Allen’s difficult discussion to end the series, and the cast reunions spanning the years, including the TV productions The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen and Lost in Space Forever. Also covered: the attempts to bring the cast together for a feature film in the 1980s and a TV movie and pilot film in 2002. Most recently, Lost in Space gets a makeover for the 1998 feature film from New Line Cinema, a TV pilot for NBC, and the new series in production for Netflix.

Genres: Nonfiction

542 pages, Paperback

First published January 30, 2017

Reviews

[Wesley Britton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whew, I made it! I finally finished all three volumes of Marc Cushman’s exhaustive history of Irwin Allen’s Lost in Space TV series. I now realize much of what I have to say about volume three is much the same as what I said about volumes one and two.

This time around, the preliminary material is much shorter than before with little to talk about other than the unhappiness of stars Guy Williams and June Lockhart about their diminished roles in season two of LIS. We get two forwards by former cast members, Mark Goddard (Don West) and Marta Kristen (Judy Robinson). We’re told season three was designed to be less comic and feature more action and, allegedly, more of the cast beyond Jonathan Harris, Bill Mumy and the robot than before. Well, not so much, as it turned out.

Then, as usual, Cushman pushes TMI to its utter extreme. For example, he still lists all the script rewrites including noting what color paper they were written on— blue, red, green, yellow. We see how each broadcast’s ratings fared against its competition, which was still The Virginian on NBC and ABC’s replacement for the Batman, Patty Duke pairing, the short-lived Custer. Then in January 1967, Custer was replaced by the first color season of The Avengers.

Cushman still provides many of the strange memos from the network brass, such as the inexplicable request Angela Cartwright’s long hair be hidden in a short hair wig. He still adds his commentary on each episode, including praising “Space Beauty” for its parodying of beauty pageants and his defense of “The great Vegetable Rebellion,” apparently considered by many to be the series’ lowest point. It could have been even lower had plans to add a purple lama as a permanent cast member been fulfilled.

Without question, it takes a strong reader to plow through the blow-by-blow accounts of all the episode analyses and synopses. It’s really the after-LIS section where we get a really good discussion of what happened after CBS didn’t so much cancel the show as much as let it die. The network wanted a lower budget for a fourth season; Allen wasn’t willing to accept any cuts. He had other irons in the fire.

So, after the obligatory mini-biographies of what happened to the major participants after LIS went off the air, we get a very revealing narrative about Allen’s attempts to bring the franchise to the big screen and see how LIS was kept alive in cast reunions, at cons, in syndication and on cable, on video and DVD, and in comic books. And ultimately, of course, the disappointing New Line 1998 big screen incarnation produced after Allen’s death.

Added content includes an odd recap of the relationship between actor Jonathan Harris and his secretive, reclusive wife Gertrude and an overview of the aborted WB TV remake that would have been targeted to adolescents and focused on a romance between a new Judy Robinson and Major Don West. Finally, Cushman offers a few notes on the 2017 Netflix reboot.

As I said in my reviews of Volumes 1 and 2 of these Authorized Biographies, you gotta be a diehard, serious fan of Lost in Space to want these no-stones-unturned tomes. As these are mainly research books, no library with a decent media section should miss them. TV sci fi fans might also like to have access to these books, especially for the color photo fests each volume includes.

This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Fri. Aug. 11 at:
http://dpli.ir/lbTXfP

[Tom Lisanti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I became a fan of Lost in Space as a kid during the early seventies when it was broadcast continuously in syndication in the NYC metropolitan area. I would half-heartedly watch the first two seasons always anxiously waiting for season 3. It had a new title opening with photos of the cast and a jazzier theme song. Trying to be mod, the characters were wearing day-glo colored uniforms with Penny and Judy sporting cool hairstyles and inter galatic mini-dresses. A lot of fans loathe this season for some of its outrageous fantastical episodes such "Day at the Zoo," "The Promised Planet," "Space Beauty," and "The Great Vegetable Rebellion." For me these were my favorites. So I have anxiously waiting for Marc Cushman's 3rd volume and boy was it worth the wait. This has to be one of the most thoroughly researched book I ever read. Having access to Irwin Allen's papers, each episode chapter is so detailed with facts, comments from cast and crew, and reviews that is makes for fascinating reading for fans. Even each episodes Nielsen rating is include as well as the show's competition on ABC and NBC. The last chapter focus on what the cast did after the show and all the stops and starts to launch a new Lost in Space TV series that finally culminated with Netflix in 2017. If you are a Lost in Space fan I highly recommend this book!

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cushman's thorough overview of the third season of 'Lost in Space' is fascinating in its analysis of the episodes as well as the aftermath of the series' termination and the many attempts to revive the format.

[Beverly Diehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book wraps up the series nicely, with all the exhaustive detail about the third and final season of Lost in Space, plus an intricate look on WHY it was not renewed, why there wasn't a movie made until the 2000's (and a hint of why that tanked), and leaves us on the threshold of the new Netflix Lost in Space series.

Disclaimer: I'm personally acquainted with the author.

I was struck by how the series shifted once again, in the third season, to focus at least a LITTLE more on cast members outside the Will Robinson, Robot, and Dr. Smith triad that dominated the second season. Some of the episodes seemed to be a clear miss, but the author finds highlights and praiseworthy qualities in every episode, and the cast members and Irwin Allen, the creator, are all shown in a positive and approachable manner. If Lost in Space was a big part of your childhood, as it was mine, this entire series is a must-have.

[Mhorg · Rating 2 out of 5]

The completion of a labor of love

The final tome for the show. As with the other volumes, definitely for the lost fan. As with the other books, the one thing that could make it better would be better captioning of the photos. And it needed way better episode synopsis.