LOST IN SPACE-THE GHOST PLANET

 

THE GHOST PLANET

WRITER-PETER PACKER-his best script!

DIR-NATHAN JURAN--who directs with quick action and flair

 

NARRATION: Last week, as you recall, we left the Jupiter II hurtling through the void of outer space. Little did our contented space pioneers realize that somewhere out in the blackness, an incredible ghost planet was even now seeking to lure them into its sinister clutches.

 

TEASER-fully recapped

The Jupiter II flies through space. Robot sings Santa Lucia while Will plays his guitar. Smith is awakened from his dream of the Isle of Capri while he leaned on the astrogater in the Control Room. He tells Will that dreams are the interpretations of our true desires. Smith tells Will he'd had enough of the Robot's sentimental nonsense and to erase everything that does not have to do with facts, figures, and dates. Will tells Dr. Smith the Robot is like one of the family but Smith tells Will, "Your family, not mine."  Robot calls Dr. Smith someone who is like his big brother, giving facts of Smith sneaking food when all personnel are on short rations, who chickens out when all hands are needed, etc. Smith tells Will to erase all references to himself in the Robot's memory banks, calling the Robot a lie dispenser. He also wants Will to get rid of the Robot's sentimental twaddle at the same time. Will can't, he tells the Robot, it would be like brainwashing his best friend, all Will wanted to do was give the Robot a little thinking room. They pick up a blip and then a voice calls them by name. The "Space Controller"  calling, a female voice, tells them to go to 8-5 compass heading and asks for an astral number. Smith tells Will the planet ahead is Earth--like everyone else who's ever been lost, they've been going around in circles and have returned to home port. Will doesn't think it can be Earth. Smith scoffs, "I suppose you think it's Alpha Centauri!"  Smith changes course (the astrogater sound effect here is the same sound once used for the Jupiter II door). Robot warns them-they are heading into a zone of high intensity radiation. Will runs to the Robot from the astrogater and Smith, "Dr. Smith, look! We're heading into a radiation belt!"  At the window is a curtain-like radiation zone of waves and blue-ish "stuff". Smith blames the Robot for not telling him, calling him a know nothing numbskull. Will yells--they've both been trying to tell him. John and Don come up in their T-shirts as the ship starts shaking furiously. The Robot starts to spark on fire. John yells at Will to take his guitar out of the way as he and Don fight the ship out of it. Smith holds Will in front of him and says of the robot, "He's burning up!"  Don and John figure on cutting the power to reduce cabin pressure (?). The Robot is on fire.

 

ACT ONE

Jupiter II flies into the radiation belt, shaking. Smith yells and moans through it all. Don asks John if they should risk reactivating the cooling system, tosses Smith off him since the shouting Doctor was thrown onto him by the shaking. Will uses a fire extinguisher. At the airlock, Smith yells to Will, "An air conditioned funeral fire, what a way to go!"  Will tells him, "It's not so bad, Dr. Smith. It's just SAINT ELMO'S FIRE and the temperature is only one million degrees K."  WHAT? Smith and Will tell Don and John about the space controller. Will says, "I heard the voice too but I'm pretty sure it wasn't coming from Earth."  John thinks the pair have a touch of space rapture. The Jupiter II comes out of the belt, its hull glowing. Smith says, "Home. HOME SWEET HOME."  Don says, "Home sweet home my foot, we pull away from it, right John?"  John says, "Right, we've had our share of unidentified planets."  They fire main thrusters but cannot pull away. Don checks their instrumentation, "We're caught in a magnetized field. It's no use. Someone down on that planet has control of our ship."  John warns Maureen then tells Smith and Will to go below and strap in. Smith wants Will to help him write his memoirs. Will says, "I can't tell whoppers as good as you can."  Smith says, "Indeed,"  and pulls the startled boy with him. Don fires the main bank but it does no good. Smith tells the Robot, "You'd better mind your manners if you intend to keep your friends."  He asks Maureen if she's ever been to the Andes, hoping to guide her through the Amazon and Chile. Maureen answers, "It's going to be a long time before we see the Amazon or do any other terrestrial sight seeing for that matter. Come on now girls."  Space Controller voice calls again, informing them the ship will be landed for them. In a well crafted effect, the Jupiter II lands on a pad, its legs coming out. Don throws a spotlight out and sees Gate 115 and rocks, "As bare as Old Mother's Cupboard."  Smith, Maureen (on elevator) and the kids (via ladder) straggle up. Smith asks them to lower the ramp for him--he wants to go out, thinking this is Earth. Robot comes up the elevator, blocking him. Smith calls him a bulbous bumpkin. John stops Smith from leaving. Smith calls the Robot a mechanical meddler when Will suggests they send the Robot out. John tells him if he wants to go out, "...feel free."  Sarcastically, Smith says, "I wouldn't dream of disobeying the Captain's orders."  Don figures that is because he fears he will stop breathing. Smith states he expects an apology from John when that doddering dunderhead returns. John says, "Dr. Smith, let me remind you that officially you're still a stowaway on this ship. I can clap you in irons and put you on a diet of hard tack and water. One more word out of you and I'll do just that."  Robot starts his report--the air is fit for human life. They look down at him from the window but do not see an alien robot come out from the gate 115-a female robot-and uses a ray on the Robot to knock him out. Don and John take the night watch as the others go down to sleep. Don drops Smith's bag to him as Smith rides down on the elevator, complaining about the accommodations and would rather spend his night in a good hotel. Don tells him to push the elevator button for room service. Alien drones come out of the Gate 115 and stand behind the robot.

 

ACT TWO

Space Control's female voice calls a good morning to the Jupiter II...and we see the Control Room mike speaker far above the main window in a rare shot. The voice tells them their Robot has mechanical defects. Will, Smith, and Maureen come up. A red carpet rolls out of the open gate as Judy and Penny join them. John's calls are not answered. Penny says, "Alpha Control was never like this."  Smith's theory: they are planning a 21 gun salute with cheering multitudes and a surprise party attended by the President. He is a real dumb bell, isn't he? John advises Smith wait but Smith wants to go. Will hands Dr. Smith a gun but he says, "A gun, whatever for?"  He seems to abhor it (which goes against THE RELUCTANT STOWAWAY and possibly THE SPACE TRADER but may be a more positive change in his twisted and twisting personality--as he went a bit loony in THE MAGIC MIRROR). As Smith descends the Jupiter leg, Maureen asks John, "John, is it possible that what he says is true? Could this really be Earth?"  John says, "Of course not."  "Well, then where are we?"  John says, "I don't know."  Will says, "Well, we'll know soon enough."  Smith calls the deactivated Robot an incompetent idiot and goes into the gates. He leans on the Female Robot, Officer O3, that shot the Robinson Robot. Three robotic drones arrive and they show Smith a banquet. Quietly and effectively, DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL creepy music plays. O3 asks Smith in a creepy voice, "You think this is Earth?"  She laughs slightly. Then she asks the frightened Smith some questions, which he answers. She tells him he can rewarded handsomely. He asks about returning to Earth. They can do that, she tells him. She wonders why he would want to go back to Earth when he can have the riches of the entire universe and supreme control over every living thing as well as untold luxury. She was just promoted from O4 to O3. Smith tells her he is the leader of the Jupiter II complement. An alarm summit calls the female robot. Judy, Don, and John watch the gate. John remarks there is no 21 gun salute and no cheering multitudes. Don says, "Even if there were, Smith would move it out of earshot so he could hog it all for himself."  Judy says, "Don!"  Don snaps, "Well, why'd he have to be so all fire sure he had all the answers."   John takes a gun (a new second season type), "I'd better go down and get him before he gets us into any more trouble."  Don says, "Let me. I mean, well, after all, I am his buddy."  Judy, as Don leaves, smiles at this, "I think he's just as worried about Dr. Smith as we are,"  she tells John. Smith is taken to a dark place where he sees mummified, webbed up stone statues...other visitors who defied the summit, the female robot tells him. He is shown a treasure behind two rocks which close. He must give up the weapons of the Jupiter if he wants it. Don comes into the gate. Inside, he calls, "Smith. Dr. Smith?"  Don tells the female voice he'd rather follow his instincts than her directions. Smith comes out and Don almost shoots him. Smith lies. Robot is fixed up when the two men go out. Smith calls Robot a proverbial neanderthal ninny. In the lab of the Jupiter, Smith tells all about the party the hosts are preparing. Judy laments she has nothing to wear. Penny says, "I think I'll go just as I am."   Maureen says, "Don't worry about it darlings, something tells me we won't be going."  Don can't confirm anything Smith has been saying but heard a female voice that sounded like a female serpent; he doubts the whole shebang. John does too, and when Smith protests, John says, "That's right, Dr. Smith, in space I doubt everything but the evidence of my own eyes, ears and instruments and as of now I believe this place to both alien and hostile to us."   John and Don go above to prepare for lift off. An alien device is pushed out by four drones--bubble faces, colorful robes, fully covered. A ray shoots and flashes occur which flash on the ship and Don and John, who cover their eyes. NOTE: New musical cue for second season in some syndication packages.

 

ACT THREE

Maureen, Judy, and Smith come up as the flashes subside. The voice tells them the Jupiter is in negative effect for liftoff. The power unit is drained. Smith tells them they think he is the leader. Below, John comments that the "reception committee"  down below is more like an honor guard at a funeral. Later, Maureen paces the Control Room, "Oh John, it's been hours, are they just going to wait for us to come to them?"  John says, "If they are, they're going to have a long wait."  The others start to go below as Will tells Judy, "It's like a siege."  Judy responds, "Except that we're not expecting reinforcements."   Smith has the Robot take a bag of guns, calling him a pompous pipsqueak. Robot tells him he is reminded of an old friend...Whispering Smith. Will sees Robot and Smith go into the gate. Will runs down the ladder. NOTE: Now how did anyone below miss him going down the outside ladder and leg of the spaceship? Will runs down the leg. In the dark tomb, Smith is startled by Will who puts a hand on his shoulder (NOTE: Like so many other antics before this, this enters into the repertoire of supposedly funny things Smith does in reaction to-ha ha). Smith explains he has come to bring an appeasement to their "friends"  so they will allow the Jupiter to leave. Will suspects something funny from Smith, like, oh, say-- A LIE! Will says, "I think I'd better see the Robot and get a rundown on all this."  Smith lies about the Robot, then when Will wants to stay with him, sends Will to the Robot anyway. Smith sees the treasure behind the opening rocks but the Female Robot is inside with it. Smith brings her to the bag which he drops...all the weapons, he tells her. When Will protests, Smith tells him it is not all their weapons. Smith goes with the female robot. Drones force Robot and Will into a another opening gate where a giant spiked brain sits on top a pedestal (WILD ADVENTURE sun music). FANTASTIC VOYAGE sound effects are heard. The brain calls Robot by a letter number--B9. Robot tells the brain, "I am designed and computerized as a mechanized electronic aide for Earth voyagers engaged in astral expeditions."  The brain is the Supreme prototype of All Cybernetic Aides--the robot tells it. Brain corrects him--it gives orders not takes them. Robot calls Will Earth creature which is how the brain addressed Will. Brain calls the Robot's servitude to Earthlings a series of crimes for which the Robot admits he is guilty. When Will orders Robot to stop this, Robot tells him, "I do not take orders, I give them!"  BLAST OFF INTO SPACE music is heard. Robot is given an O6 rank--the lowest. Earth humans are used for manual dexterity for menial tasks. Brain tells Robot to bring the impudent Earth creature to his task assignment. Robot's next mission: bring the rest of the family--the Jupiter voyagers to the assembly ready room. Robot pushes Will roughly out of the room while Will tries to make him recall their happy times. Hikes and explorations together. Will asks Robot, "You remember those times I was lost in those caves and you found me?" Robot says, "How could I forget?"    He pushes Will past the aliens turned to statues area--three are little aliens, one is a very tall one with hand out. Webs over all. Will goes to Smith, who is prisoner here as well, assembling machinery. Smith tells Will the Robot has doomed him to Devil's Island. Robot forces him to work harder by firing a blast behind him. Smith wails.

 

ACT FOUR

Two drones force Will down to work next to Dr. Smith. Smith calls the Robot a traitorous transistorized toad. Robot uses his ray to make them work faster. Smith cries, "My favorite companion through incredible ordeals."   Robot laughs, "Never fear Smith is here."  Smith makes a wide eyed face of disbelief mixed with anger. Will tells Dr. Smith, "He's sold us down the river."  Robot continues to badger them to work. Will says, "All right Robot, we heard you the first time,"  and also calls him a Benedict Arnold which Robot references from 1780. Smith promises to sell this tin plated tyrant down the river of no return if they get out of this. Robot tells them, "History does not always repeat itself."  This could be a clue to what comes next. Robot goes out. Will tells Smith the robots here don't have their sense of time: they will be here forever. Maureen and John run down the leg of the Jupiter II. Maureen says, "That boy's run off again without permission."   John says, "That won't be the first time he's done that, especially with Smith to encourage him."  John and Don go into the gate area with small auxiliary laser pistols--Don found all the others missing. Robot tells them the weapons are being checked for contamination. John tells Don they have no choice but to trust the Robot. WHAT? WHY? John gives him ten minutes to get Will and Smith, then he and Don return to Jupiter. Robot goes to relieve O3 at the area Will and Smith are working in, telling her his mission is accomplished. Just as she asks if the others are in the ready room, the brain sends out a message that the Robot is a double agent. Robot fires his electric at the O3 robot, blowing her up. He tells Will and Smith to follow him and stay behind him. He hits drones who attack them (and stupidly we hear loud clunks as he does). They make their way out through the dark entombment area, the Robot hitting more drones, who start throwing bombs at them. Robot knocks over the tall alien statue. They run out through the gate area (why wasn't the gate closed again by the brain?). We then see an interesting angle from inside the Jupiter II above the control room with Penny looking out the window--with John and Don watching, then running; the rim of the window's outside sill is seen as well as below as Robot, Smith, and Will come running out. Bombs follow as well as drones. Penny calls, "Mom! Judy! There they are!"  Maureen and Judy come running to the window sill; Maureen yells, "Oh John please hurry!"  At the same time, someone yells out something about being forced to destroy--in a very strange voice. It is not Dick Tufeld's voice. Blasts follow the threesome as they run. Robot blasts the power device that was used to hold Jupiter II here, blowing it up. A bomb hits the Robot. Will, at the leg of the Jupiter, sees this, "The Robot! He's been hit! We've got to help him!"  He and Smith run to the Robot, John and Don finally arriving, help, too. They push the Robot toward the leg. John races out, karate chops several drones who were about to throw more grenades and they help get the Robot to the leg. HOW DID HE GET UP IT? They get inside and the Jupiter II lifts off. The brain says, "Come back, come back!"  John says, "Some other time, Charlie,"  from his seat as he feels the pressure of the lift off pull him and Don back. Smith, Will, and Maureen unbuckle from their seats. They are near the Robot who Will tells Smith saved them, not Smith, who is trying to take all the credit as usual. Robot's arm hits him, Will and Robot blaming his coordination still being off. This ends the scene. NOTE: The action scene of Robot, Will, and Smith escaping was good, however, it is marred slightly by some stupid sound effects as well as a really misplaced voice of either the alien robots or the Robinson Robot--as done by Bob May. The voice is very apparently not Dick Tufeld and is the worst, especially as the Robot calls out crazed lines as they push him toward the leg of the spaceship, yelling out in a deep, very silly voice, "Heave and push,"  over and over. It ruined what could have been a first rate chase, escape, and fight scene. This may have been done to appease Bob May, who may have wanted to do the Robot's voice himself. I hope he heard how badly it sounded.

 

CLIFFHANGER: The Jupiter flies away from the alien planet. Smith and Robot, as well as Will and Penny, have already come up to the control room. Smith opens and looks out a porthole which is inside that closet like alcove, "Farewell, malevolent planet. If our paths cross again, it will be much too soon."  Penny and Will go to the porthole. Maureen and Judy ride up on the glide elevator which robot opens for them. Maureen says, "Thank you."  Robot says, "You're welcome."   John and Don fantasize in ordering dinner---steak and potatoes, asparagus with holiday sauce which Smith mocks, telling him his wild fantasy for dinner which includes caviar. This makes Don laugh slightly. John, Maureen, and Don spot a blip on the radar which Maureen and Smith mistakenly think is either a reflection or harmless space phenomena. John looks at the RPM--the object is traveling faster than they are. Robot warns them--it is a hyper-atomic missile; the kids see it out the alcove porthole. Robot tells them, "It has been launched by the automated planet in protest to our leaving."  The missile passes and the Jupiter II tilts, having the missile pass under and around it. Judy notices the missile pulling out of its dive and coming after them again. Robot warns--the missile has now compensated for any evasive action which preempts any more dodging. John tells Don to head for a planet in SECTOR 6:30. As they head toward the planet, the kids watch the missile getting closer and closer to the porthole. Maureen, John, Don, and Smith watch the planet grow in size as the ship heads right at it. Don wants to fire the breaking rockets. John tells him to wait. Smith asks, "Professor, have you gone mad? Do you want to destroy us all?"  John asks, "Would you prefer a direct hit from that missile?"  Maureen asks if they have a chance. Smith tells her no--how do you outsmart a machine?  John tells them, "Maybe we can just once."  Don tells them they are heading into the planet's atmosphere and he must fire the rockets or it'll be too late. John says, "Just a few more seconds Don."  The planet is almost on top of them as is the missile. John yells, "Pull up! Pull up!"  Don does and everyone shakes, the planet is missed as Jupiter flies over it. The missile misses the spaceship. Robot reports, "Evasive action successful. Missile now headed for impact on planet."   John warns, "Alright, everybody, hang on!"  The missile blows up on the planet and sends a raging flame mass up at the Jupiter II, engulfing it.

 

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK, SAME TIME, SAME CHANNEL

 

REVIEW: This is Peter Packer's best script for the series. In a season of high camp and awful science, it seems to stand out as a more serious entry, despite some mildly silly dialogue and the noisy chase scene at the end. It is oddly out of place in this second season of camp space admirals, unfunny satire, and high slapstick. If looked at, it would probably stand out as one of the better episodes of seasons two and three. There was no reason for the overdone voice of the Robot at the end, which, as stated above, almost ruined a fine action sequence. Nathan Juran is a very good director for action sequences and wild rides as is evident in the radiation belt, the chase at the end, and especially the most tense scene LOST IN SPACE ever filmed...the missile launch attack on the Jupiter II. This scene is my favorite, involved all the characters, had a great medley mix of previous action music, and showcased some great visual effects. The feel of this sequence seemed to indicate LOST IN SPACE's first color season, with a fantastic look and atmosphere, could go anywhere, do anything, and excite without Smith and his comical antics overemphasized. Unfortunately, with argument, this was not to be so until CONDEMNED OF SPACE in season three. THE GHOST PLANET and the missile scene was a lark, a great one, but it did not pave the way for a more serious LOST IN SPACE. For reasons of editing, when syndicated, this episode recut the ending. When Jupiter took off and John said, "Some other time, Charlie,"  then we cut directly to the scene of Smith watching the planet fade from the porthole, "Farewell..."  Then comes the missile scene and it goes on into...The missile blowing up on the new planet, then we cut to Maureen, Smith, and Will getting up out of their seat buckles as if they survived that. The end credits roll. This was done to avoid the cliffhanger as was done by the station or the studio. Strange. It must also be noted that while THE GHOST PLANET was one of the best of the second season, Smith's downright and constant lies were starting to really annoy and bore. Sometimes his lies would contradict each other and were not really pertinent to the storyline in any way, just there to be funny, which they were not. Lies usually aren't...especially lies to the extent Smith told here. I also doubt he'd be brave enough to enter the alien gate or even stupid enough to think this was Earth. However, if, as I've argued before, Smith flipped his lid...as Don joked many a time...(and he did seem to go loony in THE MAGIC MIRROR), perhaps this fits.  MAJOR NOTE: Did Smith clean out all the guns? He didn't tell the truth to either Will or the O3 robot. And the Robinson Robot didn't rescue the guns and get them back. What gives? Was the Jupiter now defenseless aside from some smaller laser guns? Was there enough in the auxiliary weapon collection to show case the laser rifles they use in later episodes?