50 Fun Facts About Lost in Space

Which 1812 novel inspired the original Lost in Space?

A 1962 Gold Key comic called Space Family Robinson got there first, and legal wrangling let it add 'Lost in Space' as a subtitle.

Which producer, later nicknamed the 'Master of Disaster', created the original series?

He went on to make The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, and recycled monster suits between Lost in Space and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

On which network did the original series air from 1965 to 1968?

It ran 84 episodes over three seasons; the first was in black and white apart from a few minutes of colour at the end of episode 29.

What is the name of the Robinsons' saucer-shaped spacecraft?

Its two-deck interior was the most expensive TV set of its day at $350,000, which helped get the show cancelled.

Which star system is the Robinsons' intended destination?

The planned trip was five and a half years with the crew in suspended animation; the 2018 reboot keeps the same destination.

In the unaired pilot, the ship had a different name. What was it?

The pilot, 'No Place to Hide', had no Dr. Smith or Robot and wasn't broadcast until a 1997 retrospective; its 98-year journey became five and a half years.

Under what code name does the saboteur Dr. Smith communicate with his shadowy employers?

He reprograms the Robot to wreck the ship eight hours after launch, then gets trapped aboard and his extra weight throws it off course.

What model designation does the Robinsons' Robot carry?

He has no name at all, though many people wrongly call him Robbie, confusing him with the robot from Forbidden Planet.

Which of these was NOT one of Dr. Smith's alliterative insults for the Robot?

Jonathan Harris said he lay in bed at night dreaming them up; 'Blithering Blatherskyte' and 'Cackling Cacophony' also made the list.

Which Dr. Smith line did Jonathan Harris later reprise as a praying mantis in A Bug's Life?

Manny the mantis says it near the end of the Pixar film, one of Harris's last roles.

How was permanent cast member Jonathan Harris credited in the opening titles of every episode?

Writers meant Smith to be a temporary villain; Harris rewrote his lines into a flamboyant coward and became the show's centre.

Which actor, previously TV's Zorro, played Professor John Robinson?

Embittered by the show's campy turn, he retired from acting after it ended and moved to Argentina.

June Lockhart, who played Maureen Robinson, was already famous as the mother on which other series?

She had appeared in Son of Lassie back in 1945 and later joined Petticoat Junction as well.

Which of the three Robinson children was the youngest, played by a nine-year-old in season one?

The actor later played Lennier in all five seasons of Babylon 5.

What is the name of Penny Robinson's chimpanzee-like alien pet?

Everyone calls it 'the bloop' after the sound it makes; the 2018 reboot gives Don West a lucky chicken with the same name.

Which future Star Wars composer wrote the show's theme, credited under a nickname?

He wrote a second theme for the third season, and early episodes borrowed Bernard Herrmann's score from The Day the Earth Stood Still.

What is the name of the planet the ship crash-lands on for all of season one?

The family flees it at the start of season two when earthquakes tear it apart, and promptly crashes on another world.

What was 'the Chariot' in the series?

It was a cannibalised Thiokol Snowcat with clear body panels, six bucket seats and a rack for four laser rifles.

Which rival show, launched in January 1966 in the same slot, pushed Lost in Space toward campy humour?

Mark Goddard and the actor playing John Robinson both hated the shift away from serious science fiction, according to the actor who played Will.

'The Great Vegetable Rebellion', often called TV's most insipid episode, featured a talking what?

Mark Goddard complained that seven years of Stanislavski method acting had led to him talking to it.

How did the first two seasons' episodes typically end?

Season three switched to the Robot's voice urging viewers to 'stay tuned for scenes from next week's exciting adventure'.

How much did an episode cost by the third season, up from around $131,000 in season one?

Rising costs are the likeliest reason for cancellation; Allen stormed out when CBS chief Bill Paley demanded a cut of up to 15 percent.

Which 20th Century Fox film's budget overruns are thought to have led to the cuts that doomed the series?

Cast and crew had been told the show was renewed for a fourth season before CBS quietly left it off the 1968-69 schedule.

What catchphrase, later the 1998 film's advertising slogan, did the Robot use to warn the youngest child?

The film's official website was even at the address dangerwillrobinson.com.

Which 2008 TV Land award did the series win?

Its two Emmy nominations, in 1966 and 1968, were both for visual effects and makeup, and it won neither.

Who plays Dr. Zachary Smith in the 1998 film?

He also plays a mutated future 'Spider Smith'; the film was commercially successful but critically panned.

Which Friends star plays hotshot pilot Major Don West in the 1998 movie?

He made it between Ed and Charlie's Angels while Friends was at its peak.

Which Oscar winner plays Professor John Robinson in the 1998 film?

He made it the same year as Dark City and One True Thing; Mimi Rogers plays Maureen and Heather Graham plays Judy.

Which future Mean Girls actress made her feature debut as Penny Robinson in the 1998 film?

Jack Johnson played Will and Jared Harris played the grown-up future Will.

The 1998 film's opening weekend famously ended which movie's 15-week run at number one in the US?

It opened in a record 3,306 theatres and set an April opening record that stood until The Matrix a year later.

In the 1998 film, what is the name of the camouflaging alien creature Penny adopts aboard the Proteus?

Jim Henson's Creature Shop was among the effects vendors on a film with more than 700 planned effects shots.

In the film, what does the future Dr. Smith mutate into after being scratched aboard the derelict ship?

John Robinson finishes him off by remembering that spiders eat their wounded and ripping open his egg sac.

Where was the 1998 film shot?

New Line hoped the $70 million film would launch a multimedia franchise with toys from Trendmasters and novels from Scholastic.

Which streaming service released the 2018 reboot of Lost in Space?

Legendary TV developed it with Dracula Untold writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, and it ran three seasons.

In the reboot, what is the name of the interstellar mothership the colonists must evacuate?

The Robinsons are part of its 24th colonist group and evacuate in short-range craft after an alien robot breaches the hull.

Which actress plays Maureen Robinson, the aerospace engineer and mission commander, in the reboot?

Toby Stephens plays her husband John, a former Navy SEAL and stepfather to eldest daughter Judy.

In the reboot, Parker Posey's petty criminal steals whose credentials to board the evacuation ship?

She has already taken her sister's place aboard as June Harris, a name that nods to original stars June Lockhart and Jonathan Harris.

Which original-series child star appears in the reboot as the genuine physician whose identity is stolen?

He played Will Robinson from 1965 to 1968; the reboot's Angela Goddard is named for Angela Cartwright and Mark Goddard.

In the reboot, Don West is a smuggler accompanied by what lucky animal?

Ignacio Serricchio plays the mechanic; the pet's name is another callback to the original series.

How does young Will first meet the alien Robot in the reboot?

Maxwell Jenkins plays Will, and Brian Steele performs the Robot, which looks nothing like the B-9 of old.

How many seasons did the 2018 reboot run?

The third and final season arrived on December 1, 2021, after filming in British Columbia during the pandemic.

Where was the reboot's first season primarily shot?

Production ran from February to July 2017; season two moved to Iceland and Alberta.

Which Hong Kong action director made the 2004 pilot The Robinsons: Lost in Space?

It cost about $2 million, added an older Robinson son named David, and was never picked up.

What fictional substance fuels the ship's atomic motors?

The ship also had Murphy beds, a galley, artificial gravity and, according to one season-two episode, a back door.

The third season's new 'Space Pod' was modelled on which real spacecraft?

It let the family visit planets without landing the mothership, and apparently had its own artificial gravity and auto-return.

Which actor played Major Don West, the Jupiter 2's pilot, in the original 1960s series?

According to Bill Mumy, he and Guy Williams both disliked the show's drift away from serious science fiction.

Who provided the voice of the Robot in the original series?

Bob May wore the suit, and Tufeld returned as the voice for the 1998 film, his third outing in the role.

Who designed the show's B-9 environmental control Robot?

Fans often call the Robot Robbie, mixing it up with the very different robot from Forbidden Planet.

A comic from which publisher made CBS ask Irwin Allen for a new title before the show aired?

The compromise let the comic, Space Family Robinson, add the show's name as a subtitle.

Bill Mumy and Peter David's 1990 three-part comic crossed Lost in Space with which franchise?

The Enterprise crew meets a Robinson-like expedition, though with different character names for legal reasons.