LOST IN SPACE-BLAST OFF INTO SPACE

 

 

LOST IN SPACE SEASON TWO

 

BLAST OFF INTO SPACE

WRITER-PETER PACKER

DIR-NATHAN JURAN--which is why the action scenes are very good

MUSIC-LEITH STEVENS-(a standout score!)

 

NARRATION: Last week, as you recall, our space family's lost planet was rocked by a series of savage earthquakes. Little did they dream that in less than twenty desperate hours, a cataclysmic explosion would rip apart their planet's core and disintegrate their entire world into galactic dust.

 

TEASER

Maureen is watering flowers on one of the tables. Inside the ship, through the door we can see John working on the astrogator, which is finally back in place. Penny brings two buckets of water for her. Maureen mentions a pasture which sets Penny thinking, "You know it would be good to see a pasture again. Walking through the grass, looking for four leaf clovers..."  a quake hits and they shake away from the table. John comes running out and gets them both inside the spaceship, leaving the buckets of water to jostle or spill. Inside they shake around some more. It stops and John calls Don at the drill site. Penny's hair is very long and down over her shoulders. Penny is wearing her new outfit (red-orange in color are her shirt, pants, and boots, yellow stripes along shirt). John feels the quakes are happening at a depth that can crack the core of this planet. Don tells him they just got that last batch of deutronium---all they need. John asks if they felt the earthquake. Don asks, "Earthquake, what earthquake?"  John tells him to pack up and get back--it might hit there next. Judy goes up a ridge to call Smith and Will at Don's orders. "Dad just called--he said there might be an earthquake, right here in this very area!" Syndication versions of BLAST OFF INTO SPACE used to begin at this spot. Robot's head sensors are turning---and very fast. Smith is holding Will and Robot at attention in some kind of silly ceremony for the unveiling of a statue--the Spirit of Space--he made which Will comments doesn't even look like him. Smith tells them it is the artistic inner self. The statue is holding a golden globe. Will asks, "Now can we leave?"  Smith complains about the sanctity of this moment. Will says, "Didn't you hear what Judy said...we might be right in the middle of a..."  There's a blast and Will yells, "Hit the dirt!"  Smith tries to keep the statue from falling. Judy falls backward off the ridge. Pieces of wood and debris hit Don off the drill into the Chariot. Judy and Don gather themselves up and start out to go over the ridge to find Smith and Will. There is a blast near Smith and Will and a miner comes up from a smoking crater, amid a wind sound. He walks at them.

 

NOTE: New opening credit cartoon. Same theme song. In color. Cartoon has John, Maureen waving, Don laying down, Judy on her back, Will tied up with the line, and Penny on the end of the tie line, all linked together. Then a flying saucer arrives, opens, and has Smith fire a laser--all wear helmets.

 

 

NOTE: This differs from the first season cartoon slightly. The biggest difference is where Will bobs his head up from a bubble in a flying saucer and then Penny pushes his head down and comes up, then we see Smith pushing the craft, not on the line at all.

  

 

ACT ONE

The miner calls them Earth folk. He is Mr. Nerim and tells them they mistook his blasting for an earthquake. He examines the Robot (whose head sensors stop rotating). Nerim comes from the Southern Fish cattie corner form Omaha (?). Will has heard of this place (?). FURTHER NOTES: The Constellation of the Southern Fish is also called Pisces Austrini with a star in it called Formalhaut (with a large life zone but which will, if it is inhabited, will evolve quickly due to a massive sun with a diameter of 1.56 times our own Sun). Nerim blasts for cosmonium. Smith gets Will and he an invitation to see his mining quarters. Will tells Smith the blasting didn't look so harmless to him. The long drop down the hole to the underground operation has been partly degravitized. Holding hands, they follow Nerim down; Will liking it, "Wow!"  To Smith's dismay, Nerim shovels diamonds which falls from the ceiling, away. He gives a shovel to Smith who turns it over to Will. Nerim calls Smith, Zac boy."  When the cosmonium is gathered, Will tells him, "Gee, it looks like you've got little bits of sun there."  When Smith scoffs at this, Nerim tells Zac-boy that the boy is smarter than he is. It is the quintessence of the living force that thaws the ice and melts the snow. He has to do some more blasting which asks him if it isn't "kinda dangerous."  Nerim tells him no. To get out they have to blow out of their lungs and kicks off. They travel back up. Don is checking the Robot out. He tells them they have to get back to the ship. Smith calls the Robot back from going the wrong way, "No, no, this way, you blithering bumpkin!"  At the Jupiter II, John reads the earthquake seismograph, "That second quake you got up at the drillsite, gave us a reading twice as intense as the one we got here. I don't think this planet can stand much more."   Maureen asks, "Well, John, what will happen to it?"  Almost in answer, another blast rocks the ground, shaking the ship and throwing all of them around. Smith holds onto Will near the astrogater. Will gasps, "Is what Mr. Nerim calls a little shaking?"  The controls spark. John yells, "Hit the circuit breakers!"  Don tries to. The quake rocks Penny and Judy to the window and then back toward the elevator again. Maureen, Don, and John hold onto the Robot. It subsides and Robot gives a report to John. The quakes are cracking the core of the planet. Smith tells them about Nerim but not about cosmonium. He believes Nerim's advice that the planet is not cracking up. John is convinced this miner doesn't know what he is doing, "...and he's made it impossible for us to remain here any longer."  The planet will disintegrate into cosmic dust or perhaps, John says, Dr. Smith would prefer gamma rays. Maureen asks if they can stop Nerim from doing more blasting but John tells her even if they could--Nerim's begun a destructive process that can't be stopped. Smith says, "Come, come, Professor, let's not throw everyone into a tizzy."  Don tries to explain it to Smith. John figures they have 12 maybe 15 hour before the planet goes. Smith asks, "And your destination is where?"  Don snaps, "Where's always been, Smith, Alpha Centauri."  Smith says, "Indeed."  He might have helped in their panic pressure if their destination were Earth. He asks Judy and Will to stand aside and goes down the elevator to take a nap. Maureen says, "Why, he doesn't understand a thing you've been telling him."  John says, "Now, we'll deal with him later."  He explains about a weight problem for lift off so they have to start throwing out everything they don't need. The women and Will go below on the elevator. John and Don go out and start to move a light system. Don asks if they are going to be able to make it. John thinks it will be touch and go. Another quake hits. Don pulls John away as a boulder falls down and crushes the light.

 

ACT TWO

Judy and Maureen take junk (Maureen has ropes and nets; Judy a strange winter hat and a pocket book) out and put it on a junk pile. Judy comments, "You never realize how much stuff you accumulate until you have to get rid of it."  Maureen asks for her help in folding up a table--they will need it. Penny and Will toss junk (tennis rackets, beach balls, baseball bat) onto the junkpile. Penny calls her's special junk. Debbie comes out with a tennis racket. Will tells Penny maybe if she left the Bloop behind she could take some of it. Penny picks Debbie up, "Will, how could you?"  Will says, "I was only kidding!"  A blast and shakes rock them all down. Debbie falls onto the junk pile; a table falls on Judy; and Will and Penny rush over to help get it off her. As they do, the quake continues, knocking the table back down on Penny and Judy. Finally it subsides, John and Don come running out to help them all up. John tells them it was the after effect of the other quakes--he studied the ore samples from the drill site--the inner shell of the planet is cracking--they are going to have to lift off sooner than they planned. Smith comes out with his clothes on and a night cap, complaining. John tells him they happen to have a deadline for liftoff. Don tells Smith, "Can't you get it through that thick skull of yours that this planet is cracking up and that we're getting off it before it does."  Don sends Smith to the drill site to pick up the left over drill equipment back. Smith goes, singing in the Chariot about cosmonium. Nerim is with his donkey Rover whom he thinks gnawed on his thruster control---he now needs another one--what with this planet falling apart. Chariot pulls up. Nerim says, "Oh, him again."  He is working under his rocket when Smith queries him about the planet's destruction. Nerim calls that fool nonsense---"you could lay a burning sun right on it and the planet would remain untouched."   Smith tells him about the others, "They're leaving for Alpha Centauri, of course, they'll never make it, in fact, I seriously doubt if their ship can even leave the ground."  Smith wants to be Nerim's partner and tells him his great, great grandfather was a 49er while his Uncle Thaddeus found the Com Stock load all by himself. Nerim, calling Smith, "Zackie,"  tells him he's been a loner most of his life. He would, however. gamble with his pension--the cosmonium to get a thruster control. Smith says, "The sky's always darkest just before dawn, ever cloud has a silver lining, and it's an ill wind that does nobody any good."  He leaves. Penny puts more junk on the pile at the space camp. Judy brings out tennis rackets and Maureen brings out fishing poles. They have three hours left to escape. Smith comes back and acts cheerful to Maureen, who tells him there is nothing shining about 3AM in the morning. Smith tells her, "This planet, like the Jupiter itself is here to stay."  Another quake hits and Maureen and Smith hold onto the Chariot; Judy and Penny fall on the other side. Maureen asks if Dr. Smith still thinks this planet is here to stay. He smiles, "Indubitably, Madam."  When he walks away, she puffs, "Madam."  Smith goes into the Control Room, "I'm afraid all the king's horses and all the king's will never put the Jupiter together again."  Don snaps, "Wanna bet!"  Smith lies--he tells them he lost his way in the dark. Don tells him he's been up there 100 times; Smith counters--never in the dark. John feels they need the drill site equipment for when and if they reach Alpha Centauri. Will volunteers to show Smith the way; John warning Smith he wants them both back within the two hours. Smith leaves backwards--he has the thruster control off of the central astrogater. In the Chariot, Smith lies again--telling Will his eyes have grown accustomed to the darkness. Smith drives to Nerim's and lies yet again--he tells Will he found the thruster control on the junkpile. Smith and the miner play cards for the cosmonium and the thruster. Nerim tells Will about his pension cosmonium and Will looks at Smith accusingly, "And you'd take it!"  The card game galaxies (a ten Smith has), planets, satellites, and asteroids (a two Nerim has). As they play the cave shakes and dust falls. Nerim calms Will, telling him it was just a little resettling. Nerim wins with the supernova in his hand. He grabs his cosmonium flask case and the thruster, tells Smith it look like his friends were right about the planet "bustin'" up, and leaves, his feet flying off away from Smith and Will. Smith frets but Will tells him they have to leave. Will finds two flasks of cosmonium Nerim left. Smith is in no hurry to give them back. Will urges Smith to leave and Smith does also when the quakes start again, blowing dust down on them. They kick off and fly up the shaft, dust following them and smoke hitting. They emerge out of the crater and fall onto the Chariot. Will grabs the rails on the front. Smoke subsides as the quake does. The pair see Nerim's space rocket blast off (footage of Hapgood's ship from WELCOME STRANGER but in color). Will says, "Let's get back to the drillsite."  Will helps when Smith sees his statue under a pair of cracked poles. Will tells Smith it can't last anyway. Smith says, "It will endure forever."  They pick up one pole lying on it but drop the pile which smashes one of the cosmonium flasks Smith put down on the statue. They try to lift it up again. Will tells Smith they don't have time to scoop up the cosmonium. They have to leave. Smith waves, "Adeiu."  He and Will leave in the Chariot. The statue smokes purple, white, and black smoke. After it clears, the statue moves the pole off itself, moaning and grunting---alive!

 

ACT THREE

Smith wonders why the Chariot has to be parked so far from the drillsite. Will tells him dad told him to conserve fuel. Smith wants to talk to John about their destination. Will tells him dad won't listen to him--he's made too many mistakes lately. Only lately? Smith says, "Must a man be haunted by a few trivial errors in his past?"  He screams loudly as the statue comes over a hill at them. Will moves the tool chest to it per Smith's orders. It kicks it. Will yells, "Let's get back to the Chariot!"  They run, Smith turns to look at it, holding Will in front of him, screams, and then runs again. John in his original early first season outfit puts on the parajet jump belt pack. Maureen tells him he has to find them even if it means...and he knows even if it means delaying their lift off. John lifts off over the weather station area and calls Will. Will and Smith run to the Chariot. Will closes the door but Smith panics and doesn't turn on the ignition. They run to the middle of the Chariot. The creature breaks the glass near them. Will yells at Smith, "Dr. Smith, he doesn't want my pocket knife--he wants your cosmonium--that's what--that's what must have brought him to life."   Smith throws it to him and it drinks it. But it puts its hands out for more. John lands and shoots it in the back, then again as it turns toward him. It moves off. Smith thanks the Professor and helps him take the parajet pack off. John tells them, "Let's go."  In the Control Room, Don and John fall against the viewport as another quake hits. John checks the reading, "I wasn't entirely sure until now. I don't need any proof after this."  He goes below. Smith comes out of his cabin, takes his motion sickness pill, and says, "Never fear, Smith is here."  Smith tries to get John to change his mind about going to Alpha Centauri--a place they cannot even be sure is habitable, suggesting they set course for somewhere they really know exists. John tells him to sit down. Robot tells John he is in magnetic lock. Smith says, "That's a thrilling bit of news, you bumbling bird brain."  John explains that they will orbit the planet, until, well, there is no planet. John goes to Penny who asks if Debbie will be all right. Debbie is in her own little cubicle (Will built it? Remember ATTACK OF THE MONSTER PLANTS) with seat belt. Will tells John not to worry about Dr. Smith--he'll watch him. Smith says, "What a comfort you are in my hour of need."  Debbie covers her mouth in a laugh but bloops (yes, John Peel, bloops--the series had...oh forget it). John rubs Will's hair and goes to Judy, "Judy...you look simply beautiful."  Judy calls him closer to her space couch and she kisses him. When he asks what that is for, she tells, "Because I'm so proud of you and because you've taken such good care of us and because I love you."  John moves on and sees Maureen, "Oh yes, there's something I forgot to tell you---you've been the most uncomplaining, patient partner a man could wish for while we've been here. Thank you, darling."   Maureen touches his hand, "There's been a very good reason for it--you."  He touches her neck and goes. Maureen straps in. A countdown is given. Spaceship Jupiter II lifts off, legs come up out of the crater and move into the spaceship. Below it are blasts and explosions, each following one, larger than the ones before. The fire and blasts are at the viewport. Smith, on the lower deck, says, "Disintegrate, indeed. Bah!"  Explosions rock the Jupiter as the planet starts to blow apart. John and Don give it a three second burst on five. The ship starts to roll; Don tells John, "We can't pull free of the planet's gravity!"  There is fire, falling rocks, and blasts, several of which seem to engulf the saucer shaped craft!

 

ACT FOUR

Don gets a heat feedback reading. He tries a five second burst but they lose control of the ship as a cloud of fire envelops it. Everyone shakes in their seats. Unstrapping his seat belt, Don falls out of his and goes to the astrogater. Maureen asks John via the mike what is happening. John tells her, "We have a short on our thruster control. Hang tight, we'll fix it!"  Will tells Maureen about the old thruster control on the junkpile. Smith comes clean, "It's all up for us now because of me."  He tells where he really found it. Maureen tells him to get right up there and tell them. She also makes Will go with him. "Yes, Mame,"  Will says. A blast bursts up from the ground to the ship. Smith and Will go to the elevator as the deck tilts and rolls under them. Smith tells Will to tell Don and John his giving the thruster away was just a vagrant impulse. Will says, "You'll have to explain that yourself, I don't know what a vagrant impulse means."  Will makes Smith tell Don, the three huddled at the astrogater. Don goes to hit Smith but another blast knocks him back. John turns from the viewport, "Hold on! The planet's blowing!"  A fantastic blasts shatters rock and stone. John yells, "We're losing pressure!"  Don gets a cap and caps a large black hole in the wall of the ship (?). Number five thruster works. John calls, "Maureen, you can relax now. I think we're finally on our way."  Maureen answers, "Good."   Short time later in the control room: John and Don talk to Smith. Maureen, Judy and Penny come up on the elevator. The girls go to the viewport. John tells Maureen, "Well darling, Dr. Smith's explanations are like a box of magic tricks."  Penny calls Mom and Dad over to the window to view a beautiful overflare shining at them. Maureen smiles, "It's like a rainbow after a storm."  John says, "After the storms we've been through, I think we're entitled to it."  Smith thinks he sees a familiar star out there. Will tells him its a red dwarf star. Don takes pleasure in telling Smith that whatever it is, they are moving away from it at 50 % of light velocity. Smith feels his motion sickness coming back and says, "The pain, the pain."  Indeed, a pain to sit through this. The Jupiter II flies past smoke (left over from the planet?).

 

CLIFFHANGER: Jupiter flies, once more in outer space. When Will thinks they are traveling at a million miles out in space, John says, closer to two million. Will looks, "Wow. We must be traveling at close the speed of light."  Don and John will look for a familiar star and get a fix on it to find out how to get to Alpha Centauri. Penny tells them that Smith is right--she can't tell one from the other. Will tells them Don and John know about astronomy."  Smith says, "That is devoutly to be wished."  He wants to star gaze also. When Don quips about that being another map, Smith tells him to remember they laughed as Copernicus. Maureen needs Will's help and takes him away from John and Don, needing help more badly. Will says, "Holy cow!" An alarm rings out. At the window is a huge red fire ball and the spaceship is heading directly at it. John yells, "We can't get around it! We've had it!"  Smith hugs the Robot to hide, "Ah, oh, we're going to crash!"   New cliffhanger music is played.

 

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK SAME TIME SAME CHANNEL

 

REVIEW: What does one make of an episode like this one? The scenes with the family are fine and interesting, departing this planet is a welcome plot turn, and the effects at the end is exciting as the Jupiter II struggles to leave the exploding planet. The quake scenes are well done--naturally Nathan Juran is directing. But the big flaw: Mr. Nerim. As an alien guest star, the character is bland and boring. We are a far cry from THE KEEPER, THE SPACE TRADER, and most of the first season aliens. He doesn't even seem like an alien, just a old miner that seems like he came from Earth. No explanations. Strother Martin is a good actor and does what he can to make Nerim somewhat likeable...only the character isn't written likeable...nor menacing...nor anything. He also only shares scenes with Smith, Will and the Robot, something the series would indulge in more often this season...too often. Almost all the scenes with Smith and Nerim talking are boring--but it really is dull when Smith and Nerim don't share the screen with either Will or Will and the Robot together. NOTE: The Jupiter's outside (on the bottom of the ship) fusion core lights are not always activated.

 

Smith and aliens. Smith and goofy alien. This would also be a trend the show would indulge in this season, giving us the worst episode of all time: THE SPACE VIKING. Also giving us the really tedious THE GIRL FROM THE GREEN DIMENSION, THE QUESTING BEAST, THE TOYMAKER, MUTINY IN SPACE, TREASURE OF THE LOST PLANET,  A VISIT TO HADES, and ROCKET TO EARTH. Now these episodes are the worst of LOST IN SPACE's second season. THIEF OF OUTER SPACE, WEST OF MARS (both THIEF and MARS should be considered some of the worst also but since they get some of the characters off the planet, it ranks up a notch). While it can be said that there are some very good scenes in most of these (Will's battle with growing up and Smith's serious talk with him is the highlight of THE QUESTING BEAST and character wise, perhaps, of the whole series), THE SPACE VIKINGS has almost nothing good in it. MUTINY IN SPACE is also pretty boring and dull as well as silly. I would be hard pressed to find anything in THE SPACE VIKINGS and MUTINY IN SPACE to like. The other "bad ones"  listed above do have some value with some scenes but are mostly to be avoided at all costs.

 

By the same token a fairly decent second season episode like THE DREAM MONSTER could have some really silly things going on in it, despite a lot of action and interplay--and a bigger role for some under used members of the family (all the others but Will). Other gems this season: WRECK OF THE ROBOT, THE GOLDEN MAN, THE DEADLY GAMES OF GAMMA 6, CAVE OF THE WIZARDS, TRIP THROUGH THE ROBOT, THE PHANTOM FAMILY, THE COLONISTS, REVOLT OF THE ANDROIDS, and THE GALAXY GIFT. That is not to say that these episodes do not have some Smith foolishness in them. These have somewhat more serious alien storylines that kept the hour from becoming a slapstick. They were not without problems.

 

Those that fell in between: THE ASTRAL TRAVELER, SPACE CIRCUS, THE MECHANICAL MEN, FORBIDDEN WORLD (great first half, sucky second), THE ANDROID MACHINE, and THE CURSE OF COUSIN SMITH. Some of these start out wonderfully (such as THE ASTRAL TRAVELER with its ambience and spooky atmosphere, FORBIDDEN WORLD with its mood of being on a strange new planet, and THE MECHANICAL MEN with a mysterious saboteur loose--and almost all thinking it is Dr. Smith) but end up, in the second half, being a routine silly romp. A few others start out badly (such as SPACE CIRCUS) and have some truly horrendous Smith-Robot, Smith-aliens, Smith-Will scenes but by the second half something changes and the action and pace picks up, the characters are motivated and involved and it is fun and exciting again. Much of what I wrote about this season can be applied to the third season as well. Season three had some unarguable classics though. The same cannot be truly said of season two.