LOST IN SPACE-the two unaired pilots NO PLACE TO HIDE

 

NOTE: Since both unaired pilots are inferior to THE RELUCTANT STOWAWAY, THE DERELICT, ISLAND IN THE SKY, THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH, and THE HUNGRY SEA, I have decided to put both unaired pilots after these five episodes--since these used stock footage from both pilots---as for readers to be able to compare the unaired pilots to the much better versions seen in the episodes. Both pilots are important, however, because they give us some background not given in the aired episodes. There is less development of characters and situations, however in these unaired pilots.  

 

UNAIRED PILOT NUMBER ONE

The Jupiter II was originally called the Gemini 12 and could travel at 18412 miles per hour. The TV man commentator is the narrator, not Dick Tufeld. The countdown is started in this story at 6 minutes and 40 seconds. The credits start right away with DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL music. The Robinsons will stay in their suspended animation slumber for 98 years. Alpha Control mentions the Bermuda Tracking Station and an electronic brain on the spaceship Gemini 12. Dr John Robinson is seen on the screen over Alpha Control's main control area. He is a Professor of Astro Physics the University of Stellar Dynamics. With him for the first time that anyone other than an adult male passed the International Space Administration's grueling physical and emotional screening for intergalactic flight is his wife, Dr. Maureen Robinson, the distinguished biochemist of the New Mexico College of Space Medicine. We hear FANTASTIC VOYAGE movie sound effects quite loudly in this scene as the Robinsons are introduced and go right into their freezing tubes. I prefer the scenes in THE RELUCTANT STOWAWAY through THE HUNGRY SEA as it gives the Robinsons more dimension and character interplay and development. Their daughter, age 19 has rather heroically postponed a career in the musical comedy field for the next two centuries at the very least. Their son Will, who graduated from the Camdo Canyon School of Science at age 9---the highest average in the school's history. Penny, age 11, IQ 147, hobby: zoology. There is also a behind the freezing tube shot in this one and the unaired pilot two. Their assistant Dr. Donald West from the center for radio astronomy. Last year his theory about other planets and fitness for human habitation rocked the scientific community. The scenes are longer. They will be in limbo for a "lifetime"---98 years. The President makes his speech after they have been frozen, making what he says to them a bit...belated. Here, his speech is uninterrupted as it is for a few seconds in THE RELUCTANT STOWAWAY when Don turns on the screen in the Jupiter II. The liftoff of the spaceship is seen from the scanner at Alpha Control. We also see more window shots---the astrogater bubble rising and lowering, the galaxies at the window, the spaceship flying over clouds of Earth. Then a swirling mass at the window. There is a long shot and a very different exterior scene as the meteors rain down on the Jupiter II, 25 thousand miles per her at a diameter of 1000. Bernard Herrman music fills the unaired pilots, different takes of each musical cue but similar. This pilot has longer sequences. There is a close up of a Hot Wire Liquid Gas Channel device. It is mentioned the spaceship can regenerate its own controls. A voice from Alpha Control also mentions there is a heat fire behind all the controls in the spaceship. The ship ends up over a planet. We see the planet at the window---it has no cloud cover. It would have this more realistic cloud cover in the cliffhanger to THE DERELICT and in ISLAND IN THE SKY. "Alpha Control's final analysis on the Gemini 12's flight indicates unhappily that the spaceship has either been destroyed or must be presumed LOST IN SPACE. (Unaired Pilot Two now has the credits zoomed into our face with a loud rocket like take off whistle on the musical cue). There seem to be a few extra shots on the Ship

Crash sequence.

 

JOHN'S DIARY: December 3rd in the year 2001: None of us knows for sure how long we traveled in suspended animation. Our atomic clock indicates three and one half years but we're not positive. We do know for a fact that it is now six months since our landing on this unknown planet. Thank Heaven that we survived that terrible crash which completely disabled the spaceship. We are hopeful of its eventual repair and our ability to use it again. Meanwhile all goes reasonably well. We've established a base camp, domesticated some of the local animals and cultivated a small farm.

 

Rocks are more craggy and abundant as Will chases an ostrich in extreme long shot. We see over the spaceship to larger rocks than used in the first season, the ship's canvass overhang, and the women. Will keeps calling the ostrich to come back here. It was supposed to have taken one of his electronic devices. Penny is under the table with Debbie the Bloop, a monkey like creature which makes squeaky noises, not bloops. Penny calls Will and the ostrich, "Children,"  and hugs Debbie, "Wait till father comes home."  Maureen says, "They were due back a half hour ago."  Judy asks, "You don't think anything happened?"  Maureen says, "Oh no of course not."  Penny plays with Debbie some more. John and Don are on the cliff side while werid music plays--music used in THE TIME TUNNEL-VISITORS FROM BEYOND THE STARS and some VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA third and fourth season episodes. It is obviously Bernard Herrman music. They check the instruments. As they do, music from BENEATH THE 12 MILE REEF is heard--this music is also heard later when Penny talks to the Bloop and the Spiked Turtle in this, the unaired pilot two and THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH. It seems John is aghast when he reads that the day after tomorrow it will fall far below zero--this is a different take from the one in THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH. There are many similar scenes  across this, the unaired pilot, and the first five episodes of LOST IN SPACE, some exact, some slightly different, some with dubbed in dialogue, some just trimmed short of scenes and dialogue. John tells Don, "It's moving day, Dr. West."  They go to check another gauge but find it wrecked in a giant footprint, one of many. There is no talk of the Robot here--Smith and the Robot are not in either unaired pilot. The cyclops first appears--we hear DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL music. They run. John yells, "Don!"  He does not in the THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH--although it might be that the soundtrack is too loud with music and roars--different roars in THERE WERE GIANTS--scarier ones in THERE. The roars here are heard  in a variation in THE SKY PIRATE by the glob thing. When Don and John go in the cave there is music from JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and DAY. At the ship, Will works on the radio telescope. Pictures no sound. Maureen takes out the wash, we see the fence and ostriches. Will calls her in to look through the scope. She sees the giant. Will looks, "Holy cow! It is--a giant!"  Judy and Penny come up the ramp. Maureen looks again--no "Let me look again."  Judy gets upset and Maureen tells her to calm down, "Besides, there's nothing we can do about it now."  Will grabs the laser gun, "Oh yes there is!"  He runs out amid JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH--Lindbrook's abduction in the stagecoach music. Organ music when we see the Cyclops--also from JOURNEY. Will's belt clinks against the cliff rocks. As the giant shoves a tree in, John yells, "Lookout," which he may have in THERE but which couldn't really be heard as well. Music concludes from JOURNEY (the scene when the villain dies) as Will shoots the monster. It falls and then we switch musically to DAY THE EARTH music again. Will says, "Dad! Dad! I killed the giant. I kilt him!"  This is changed simply to "I did it! I did it!"  for THERE.

 

The scene after is John rushing to kids to pack, "C'mon kids, keep moving. I want us out of here in the next five minutes."  This is changed in THERE to "C'mon kids, keep moving, we have to get out of here!" Maureen and Will's scene is the same. I've noticed a pile of wood by the spaceship door area. John's lift off seems longer and in a long shot. His flight up looks longer and the entire sequence on the flying belt is much longer. "I'll find her,"  he calls down to Maureen. In THERE he calls "Don't worry! I'll find her!" He flies up and then around a rock. We see a behind shot which is the same as the episode. We also see him pass a canyon which is longer. Close up on John as he looks at the canyon. Also a semi-side shot. Extreme long shot of John flying follows the semi side shot. Point of view shots follow--we see trackless desert ground passing beneath John. Another sideshot. The BENEATH THE 12 MILE REEF music plays throughout this and the rest of the sequence--ending when they get back to the Chariot. We see the same overhead shot of Penny on the turtle. Penny says, "Now we're all lost."  Debbie gets off her lap and moves away, "Hey come back here. We'd better stick together or none of us will  get home."  Debbie comes back and Penny calls her, "Good girl."  John hovers over the same spot, a two pronged rock jutting up behind him. He flies over hills and pointy rocks. He is higher up. Penny calls, "Daddy, Daddy," and it seems more times than in THERE. John lands. Their lift off is longer with a medium shot of all three. John asks, "How do you like it?"  Penny, "Oh, it's great."  "How's the Bloop?"  "Oh fine."  Then we see an extreme long shot of all three flying. They fly over rocks. Maureen and Will get in the Chariot. Don calls John, "Dr. Robinson,"  telling them John picked ten below zero as a deadline, "...but it will be us who's dead if we don't stick to it."  Judy throws her tantrum (and in the NO PLACE script picks up a gun at Don) but Maureen yells at her, "Oh Judy please stop it!"  Judy says, "We're not going without them!"  Maureen's line cut from THERE.

 

After Penny, Debbie, and John return, the Chariot goes along as we hear some more werid music used on THE TIME TUNNEL and which sounds like it is from DAY. The Cyclops's growls are different from THERE. When they pass the dead Cyclops--after Don shoots it down with the unusual laser rifle--Debbie squeaks and bangs a bit longer. The whole "dead cyclops"  scene seems longer.

 

Chariot drives on. John is play punching the monkey Debbie who was trying to touch John's face. We can also see the monkey wearing diapers, something which I really never took notice of in the aired episodes. Don is driving. Maureen asks, "I wonder how cold it is back at the spaceship now."  John says, "Too cold."  Don then announces, "Oh no,"  and mentions the boulders didn't do the power unit any good. Chariot sounds louder in the pilot but this could be the louder music used in THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH drowning out the Chariot sound. Will plays Greensleeves. The camp scene seems lighter but this might be the copy I saw. Penny's snoop report on Don and Judy is accompanied by the romance music from JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. Right after this scene, in THERE, we saw a Chariot riding scene which looked like a daytime scene. In this  UNAIRED PILOT NUMBER ONE (and TWO) we see the camp scene end and the lightning scene begin right away. Don calls John Doc which is also used in the other versions including THERE. Upon entering the cave, Maureen asks, "What kind of a place is this?"  Penny says, "It..it looks like a big cave."  John says, "Let's take a look."  Don lights a flare and then gets the flashlights and Debbie. For some reason, while Don gets Debbie we hear Guy Williams's voice saying, "Debbie, come on, Debbie."  As the family passes webs, John looks back, "Everybody alright back there?"   There is more DAY music--creepy music which is used throughout LOST IN SPACE. It lasts longer here. Later, when Will and Penny are lost, Will falls through a trap door and we hear his yell, "Penny help!"  THERE doesn't seem to have his saying this but that might be, again, due to the louder music. Penny's scream at the mummy is louder here and she screams more times. When Don and Judy open the door to find the pair, Penny says, "Look Don!"  This is not in THERE. When the cave starts shaking, Don just yells, "Earthquake!!!"  In THERE, he yells "It's an earthquake!"  All the screaming in the quake sequence seems louder and more confusing...and louder...all at the same time. Don does not say, "Judy, stay close to Penny,"  here, nor does he say, "Don't be frightened! It'll be open in a minute!"  These are present in the unaired pilot two and THERE as well as in the teaser to THE HUNGRY SEA. Phew! It is easier to hear the dialogue in the unaired pilot number one. Maureen yells, "Push,"  as the others try to push open the block John cut out with his laser. This escape from the tomb room has more intense music--more so than in THERE and the UNAIRED PILOT NUMBER TWO. The sense of urgency is best here musically speaking. Not to say that the music in THERE was bad. It is far superior to all the music in the unaired pilots---but in this one short scene---it is more effective the way it was in the original pushing of the stone block.

 

NOTE: All scenes of John's Diary are superimposed under the diary itself--and in both pilots these diary readings are the same except for four different words added to the last one in the unaired pilot number two. In comparing the unaired pilot one and the unaired pilot two, the diary scenes seem to last longer in some scenes but in other scenes the diary shots do not last as long. These diary superimposings and readings are removed from Chariot shots in THERE, THE HUNGRY SEA, and even in ISLAND IN THE SKY.

 

JOHN'S DIARY: December 5th in the year 2001---the attack of the fearful lightning bolts followed by equally terrible earthquake frightened all of us. We're still puzzled by the strange signs of civilization we found in the cave. Either this planet once sheltered human life or mysterious beings still lurk in the shadows, watching us this very minute. Perhaps one day we will return to the cave and learn more. Right now we feel lucky to be alive and are bending every effort to reach the Inland Sea, our last barrier to the tropics that promises warmth and peace.

 

Chariot scene here only: Will runs up to Don, "It's working, Don, it's working!"  Don says, "Let me see---hah, I told you, you could do it."  John tells Will to put his seat belt on. They approach the Inland Sea. JOURNEY music lightly accompanies this. Then the storm hits--JASON music and LAST WAGON music also hit--and the musical cues seem longer as do the scenes. We seem to see the back of the Chariot more often in the storm in this unaired pilot than in THERE and the unaired pilot number two. Judy has a closeup which seems present in all three versions. When they enter the whirlpool, John says, "I can't even get it into reverse."  Cue THE ENEMY BELOW music. Maureen screams more and louder. She calls Don. We see his hand holding onto the side of the car. Why couldn't they see him? The storm? It takes John longer to get up to the bubble to find Don and he has to hang on. He can't. Later, they leave the whirlpool but the storm persists. Don climbs up and bangs, yelling, "Help! Help!"  Judy pulls him in. The Chariot escapes with different musical cues--longer versions here. When the Chariot comes out, we hear very grand music--JOURNEY or DAY most likely.

 

JOHN'S DIARY: December 8th in the year 2001: Our great adventure in the wild sea is now happily behind us. At last we've reached the tropics. The weather is warm, the vegetation lush and the stillness of the air promises peaceful days. Yet so much has happened in our short stay on this strange planet, that we take nothing for granted. We've experienced dangers unknown by Earthbound men. We breathe easily now but only for the moment. Our every instinct tells us there are wild, wonderful adventures just ahead.

 

As they stop and give thanks, Maureen passing the Bible to John, the camera pulls out so we can see the two alien beings watching them from behind stalks or large swamp weeds. Nearby is a lake of some kind or the ocean. First--JOURNEY music to accompany the aliens. We hear DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL music during the credits. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNAIRED PILOT TWO:

There is a delay in the liquid oxygen tanks loading valve. The TV commentator is better paced and there is no foreign press yet. Musical cues are very different in this one. The fire is in back of all the magma panels--a quote as seen in THE RELUCTANT STOWAWAY but NOT in the unaired pilot two. Jupiter II goes right to the planet. "Alpha Control's final analysis indicates unhappily that the spaceship has been destroyed or must be presumed LOST IN SPACE. The credits whistle (like a take off of a spaceship) into being and are accompanied by Bernard Herrman music. Will chases the ostrich amid windy sounds; Debbie bloops bloop sounds--as she did in the entire run of LOST IN SPACE, despite what errors John Peel feels he can make about the show. All the other scenes are the same up to when John says, "I don't want to leave the family alone a second longer than necessary."  It changes to Will at the radio telescope and Maureen takes the wash out to the auto washer. She works it and then takes the clothes out. A fade goes into the scene of John yelling, "C'mon kids, keep moving. We have to get out of here," which is what we hear in THERE but not in the unaired pilot number one where he says, "C'mon kids, keep moving. I want us out of here in the next five minutes."   John's flight to find Penny is shorter than in the unaired pilot number one but is the same or as close to THERE as possible. Before he takes off, he refers to the "close call they had this morning"  with the giant--thus this scene was edited out of this unaired pilot for some reason. His call to Maureen, "Don't worry, I'll find her," is the same as in THERE but "I'll find her,"  is not in the unaired pilot. There are less flying scenes in this than in the unaired pilot-in fact he doesn't hover in this second pilot. There is no point of view shot and no Debbie wandering off Penny's lap. John does not ask Penny about how she likes the ride up nor does he ask her about how the Bloop is doing. Maureen does not tell Judy to stop her tantrum. All of this is also missing from THERE WERE GIANTS IN THE EARTH.

 

One interesting musical cue is Paul Sawtell type music from the first season of VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA as the Chariot moves through the valley just before it encounters the Cyclops. This musical cue is different from both the Unaired pilot one and THERE WERE GIANTS. We get the JOURNEY music as the Cyclops attacks and it growls like the Cyclops in THERE WERE GIANTS. There is some other type of Bernard Herrman music as the Chariot passes the dead Cyclops--very grand music and very different. This may have come from BENEATH THE 12 MILE REEF. Maureen's line of how cold it is back at the spaceship and John's answer, "Too cold!"  are here. At the camp at night, they have a fire. It seems darker but that may be the copy I saw it on. Just before we see no extra Chariot scene which is also missing from the unaired pilot number one. There is a brief shot of the Chariot moving across the desert just before the lightning bolt attack in THERE. Also missing from the "entering the cave"  sequence: no talk of the cave by Penny, no talk of Maureen and John wondering what it is, no Guy William's dub of "Debbie, c'mon Debbie," when Don is taking Debbie out, and no music for the first few minutes as they start out in their quest to see if it is safe to spend the night. The soundtrack is quiet for a few minutes, then back to DAY music. It is a different arrangement from both the unaired pilot one and from THERE. John does not ask if everybody is alright back there. The music stops as Penny goes through a cobweb, looking for Debbie. There are a few minutes of silence as Will looks for Penny. No music up to when Will falls through the trap door, "Penny help!"  We hear different music--not from DAYS now but from some other movie which can also be heard in THE TIME TUNNEL from time to time or the later VOYAGE seasons. It is also used in LOST IN SPACE-THE LOST CIVILIZATION and FOLLOW THE LEADER. There are less screams from Penny as Don and Judy find Will and Penny. Penny does not say, "Look Don."  Present in the earthquake that follows is: Don says, "Judy, stay close to Penny"  and "Don't be frightened, it'll be open in a minute."  Penny's scream as John lasers the door is the same but louder than in pilot number one. The bloop comes blooping as it did in THE HUNGRY SEA but made squeals in the unaired pilot number one. In unaired pilot number two, we hear one left over squeak from Debbie that slipped through the soundtrack. Every other time, in unaired pilot number two, Debbie bloops. At the scene that the four trapped younger Earthlings push on the stone block, it is easier than in THE HUNGRY SEA to hear what everyone is yelling, "Push harder,"  is heard. Music as they escape the cave is not as intense as unaired pilot number one but tenser than in THE HUNGRY SEA. This is not to malign THE HUNGRY SEA's score--it is fantastic.

 

Chariot goes out. We do get the Will--it's working, Don and Don telling Will told ya you could do it--scene. John tells Will to put on his seat belt. Inland Sea time: John holds Maureen's hand before they enter the sea. Just before and during this entering the sea scene, Penny asks Will about Mars and there is actually another minute--maybe two--of a quiet soundtrack. Music starts up soon though. The storm is shorter than in unaired pilot number one and there are, surprise, different musical cues--similar and from the same sources but at different running times. When John hits the scope for Judy to move up--the sound sounds different from the unaired pilot number one but the same as in THE HUNGRY SEA. John, in the whirlpool, says, "I can't even get it on left (or unlocked"  but it is difficult to hear and is present in HUNGRY. He says, "I can't even get into reverse" in unaired pilot number one. There are less behind the Chariot scenes and almost no screams from Maureen. She also gets hit with less water as do the others. The storm and whirlpool are more like they appear in THE HUNGRY SEA. The storm is also much louder than it was in the unaired pilot number one. Don does not yell, "Halp! Halp!"  in this and does not yell it in HUNGRY. He does yell help in the unaired pilot number one. As the Chariot leaves the sea THE ENEMY BELOW music ends---as it does in THE HUNGRY SEA but in the first unaired pilot (ONE) THE ENEMY BELOW music ended as they touched the land. Not so here. The credits list Lamar Lundy as the Giant and are also cued from DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. The two aliens watch as the Robinsons kneel, Don stand with the Bloop. We see the lake and the ocean. The aliens have beaked noses, mouths, bodies, and ornaments around their necks. Their bald heads look a great deal like the alien heads in INVADERS FROM THE 5TH DIMENSION but clearly, they are not the exact same aliens.

 

JOHN'S DIARY DIFFERS ONLY HERE:

JOHN'S DIARY: December 8th in the year 2001: Our great adventure in the wild sea is now happily behind us. At last we've reached the tropics. The weather is warm, the vegetation lush and the stillness of the air promises peaceful days. WE ARE HUMBLY GRATEFUL. Yet so much has happened in our short stay on this strange planet, that we take nothing for granted. We've experienced dangers unknown by Earthbound men. We breathe easily now but only for the moment. Our every instinct tells us there are wild, wonderful adventures just ahead.