LOST IN SPACE-THE DEADLY GAMES OF GAMMA SIX

WRITER-BARNEY SLATER

DIR-NATHAN JURAN--which explains the wonderful action sequences

NARRATION: Last week, as you recall, we left Will, Dr. Smith, and the Robot busily repairing the weather station, unaware that a fierce band of giant alien warriors were even now landing on their forgotten planet."

TEASER-fully recapped with extra opening shot of Will getting out of the Chariot--up close to the glass car...

Will takes another tool kit out of the Chariot and hops down. NOTE: There is a large antenna device on the Chariot's back roof--some kind of light above the set also or something coming from the Chariot (?). Will starts to move up a high incline which is overlooking the back of the Chariot. Will goes up to Dr. Smith and the Robot. He hands cutters to Smith at the weather station on the plateau. Smith cuts the wire and throws the tool. Robot warns he did not fix the wires of the sensitizer. Smith tells him it is perfect and they pick up the tools. Will says, "Oh, hi dad." "Hello son," John comes up, "Welp, how's it going, Smith?" Smith is ready to relay it to the Jupiter II and pushes it, having the honor of doing this by John. It blows up a bit--Smith leans on the Robot (this shot was used by Ted Turner's TBS station in the mid to late 1980s as a still to promote the show). Robot warns, "Attention! Attention! Alien approaching!" A very large man, a veritable giant Smith says, walks to the area from another way. He is wearing a two piece outfit with his stomach bare, sleeveless top tunic and folds his arms. John looks, "He doesn't seem hostile. Let's find out what he's doing here." Smith wonders, "We've had experience with these strange space creatures before you know." NOTE: Since Barney Slater had a hand in the teleplay of THE SKY IS FALLING, THE CHALLENGE, and FOLLOW THE LEADER where similarly dressed aliens appear, he also wrote THE DEADLY GAMES OF GAMMA SIX, perhaps Smith is referring to the Taurons, the Ruler, Quano, Kanto, or all of the above! Will says he probably doesn't understand us. John moves to offer his hand--that's the universal gesture of peace and friendship. Smith says, "Oh, it's an excellent idea." The giant man pulls John down and they fight low to the ground. The fight escalates upward. Smith gasps and pulls Will to the front of him. John ends up throwing the man down the hill. Will yells, "Dad lookout!" Another giant man, similarly dressed, comes running to him and picks John up bodily over his head, ready to toss him! Robot warms his electric but Will warns him not to--he might hit dad, "No, you might hit dad!" Robot says, "Affirmative!" Another man, smaller, calls to the giant in a strange language. The larger puts John down. The man, Myko, tells them Gromak meant no harm. John says, "Sure, anyone can see he was just having a little fun. I'm John Robinson from the planet Earth." Myko saw the fight and could have stopped it anytime but didn't. Smith tells Myko, who wanted to see who would win, "Professor Robinson flattened that gentleman like the proverbial pancake." Myko defends Gromak as having fun. Gromak says, "Fun!" Myko says, "It is said throughout the galaxy that Earth men are weak and without courage." John responds, "That just goes to show you, you can't believe everything you hear." When Will asks if Mr. Myko is from this planet, he tells them, he will only be here a short time--it is not his planet. Smith tells him that their stay will be more permanent. John tells Myko, "Our spaceship was damaged in an accident." Smith asks Myko is he is going to Earth or near it. Myko asks John's weight--190 Earth pounds. Myko yells, "Behind you Professor!" When John turns, Myko punches John's jaw. Gromak stops John from retaliating against Myko. NOTE: When Myko did this, the next scene we see had his neck ornament and brace (also worn by the Ruler in THE CHALLENGE) is crooked; the shot of Myko after that--it is straightened out. John tells Myko to explain. Myko is a fight promoter, here to hold a series of bouts as he does every year--the Gamma games. Held on this planet and witnessed by hundreds of millions. Myko tells John he has chosen him to become one of his fighters, "You may become champion of the entire galaxy!"

ACT ONE

The first alien comes back up the hill. John tells Myko he must be joking, "I'm no fighter. Thanks for the compliment but no thanks." Myko begins his con of Dr. Smith and Smith is taken in. Smith says, "I have never been fond of sports--they're so healthy." Will and John leave (BRIGHT IDEA--LEAVE SMITH ALONE WITH THE ALIENS AGAIN SO HE CAN MESS UP EVERYTHING!!). Smith called after them, telling Will to take care of his father. They leave in the Chariot--Smith sending the roly poly rowdy Robot with them. Of John, Smith tells Myko, "He and I enjoy a very close relationship--he always follows my advice on important matters." Myko tells Smith to consider the riches he will get half of if he is John's promoter as well as passage back to Earth. Myko pulls a knife on the hurt fighter who, due to the injury, cannot fight now. Smith stops him, telling him he wouldn't be so callous and brutal; that the man will heal in time. Myko tells Smith the two fighters are not very intelligent. Smith tells him, "Mister Myko, you're basically a very kind person." Camp--Will gives a blow by blow description of the fight. Penny and Judy are near the ramp on the rocks. John and Maureen are at a table. Maureen is washing blood off John. Don says John covered himself in glory but Maureen says, "He covered himself in blood too--his own. Really, Don, I'm surprised at you." John defends Don, "Don's not condoning the fight, darling. It's just when its forced on you like that--you can't run away." Judy says, "Well, when your opponent is bigger and stronger than you are...it's only sensible to back away." Will says, "I think that's kind of cowardly." Judy makes a face at him. John says, "Well, look, why don't we just drop the subject." He is mad already but then Smith's arrival doesn't help. He stirs things up some more. Don says, "Look who's talking--Smith, the man of action." Smith calls his innuendos inane.

Smith says, "When an opportunity is offered I seldom fail to seize upon it." Don looks around and points, "Yeah and usually at our expense, too!"

John finishes, "Look, I know where this conversation's going--Smith, I'm not going to fight in Myko's games and that is final." Maureen says, "Good and I second the motion." John tells Will that he can give a good show of himself but primarily he is a scientist. Don tells Smith that John wouldn't have a chance against professional athletes. Smith says, "Personally I think he would win and so would Will." Smith goes on, telling John he is afraid. John yells at Smith to go on and fight in Myko's games himself. John leaves. Smith continues. Maureen gets up and confronts him, "Dr. Smith, you try my patients!!!" She walks off. Smith plots, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

Myko comes out of his tent at night and goes to tubes. A leader with a gray-white beard in Oriental type robe appears. He is also wearing a large black hat. He tells Myko he and his people have long wondered about Earth humans, having heard many tales--its people strange and unpredictable. Getting an Earth man involved is necessary to the future plans of the military leaders of their world. Myko tells him that there are other Earth men here. "One of them must be in the games," the leader says before vanishing. NOTE: we hear a slower version of the into commercial music that is first heard in ISLAND IN THE SKY where John first goes out of the hatch and at the porthole, floats past Judy and Maureen.

ACT TWO

Day--John is handling a device with Will. Smith arrives and offers to help. John suspects an ulterior motive--his offer to help is like a cat offering to be friends with a canary. Smith "helps" but steers the conversation to athletics. Will tells Smith dad was a three letter man in college and had an offer to play professional football. John says, "That was a long time ago." He asks Smith to help with the block and tackle chains on the device. Smith brings up Myko's offer. John won't even discuss it. Smith says, "You are sacrificing the future of this entire party for your own selfish reasons." John says, "You know there's a limit to my patience and you're rapidly reaching it." Smith goes on, telling him Will can look at his father with pride instead of shame--Smith says he cannot be silent. John is about to demonstrate some of the athletic prowess on Smith as Smith says, "Accept Mister Myko's offer--save our intrepid little band from this life of hardship." John says, "Alright time's up!" Smith runs, "You're making a mistake!" He runs away.

John looks at Will and asks what is on his mind. Will avoids telling but then says he thinks Dr. Smith's right! John finishes Will's story, "And we'll all go home and live happily ever after?" John realizes Will is disappointed in him, "You're disappointed in me, son, aren't you? Of course, you are--every son wants to feel his father is the greatest, that he can succeed in everything." Will believes John can. John tells him, "Some things I do well and others not so well--my battles are fought in a lab, you understand." Will really doesn't but just stares, "I guess so." John says, "Let's get back to work." Will just stares and John stares at him. This is one OF THE MOST IMPORTANT scenes in ANY LOST IN SPACE: a main hero admitting he has faults. This is a rare thing in television then and now! It also makes John very human and rises LOST IN SPACE above just a kid's show, a science fiction show, or its silly reputation. There are more scenes of this nature to be found in the rest of this episode, despite the silly sequences later with Geo and Smith's training.

Night--from behind a rock, Smith and Will watch Myko's men training. Will says, "Cheer up Dr. Smith--we'll get back to Earth some day, somehow." They see Gromak crush a rock. Will says, "Gromak's not dangerous--Mr. Myko said so." Smith adds, "But does Gromak know that?" Myko gives orders, "Grendam shalaa" and Gromak lifts 40 times his weight! Myko says, "Shala Brandone." With a glove, Gromak smashes a very big rock. Will says, "Gol--lee!" Myko shows Will and Smith the Wheel of Life contraption which is from the planet Lotharn or Lothar. There are six weapons, five of which contain harmless puffs of smoke; the sixth contains a deadly laser beam. Myko demonstrates it and it drills a hole into a rock. Will calls it Russian Roulette. Smith gasps, "Diabolical machine," and shudders. Will wishes dad could see it. Smith says, "He prefers more intellectual pursuits." Myko gives Will a training device--a dart gun which has a rope attached to the dart--you must get within three feet of the target to have it have an effect--if not, the dart falls harmlessly to the ground. Will notes it gives the animal time to get awfully close. Will thanks Myko. Smith tells Will to go look around the camp; then Smith tells Myko the truth: he couldn't get Prof. Robinson to fight. As they talk, Smith sees a midget fighter, Geo, fighting and get knocked out. Myko wants Smith to be a fighter and cons him, telling him he can chose any opponent. Smith is about to refuse when he sees Geo knocked out. He chooses to fight Geo, then he and Will leave. Myko tells Geo he gave a convincing performance. Geo continues to spar with alien fighter, vanishes to an invisible state, and appears somewhere else--knocking the giant out. Geo goes to sit on Myko's lap, "At least it will be a humane victory--Dr. Smith will never know what hit him." Geo and Myko laugh.

ACT THREE

Day--Smith practices on a punching bag outside the ship. Will brings him water; Penny a towel. Don and John ask Smith what is going on. Smith says, "I shall fight in the games of Gamma 6." Smith works out with the Robot as his coach. Will shows John the dart gun and demonstrates on the punching bag. John calls it a primitive way of proving your courage. Will says, "You wouldn't understand, sir, you're too intelligent. It's not natural for you to rely on brawn instead of brains."

John tells him, "Son, a man with a high IQ will fight as quickly as anyone else provided the situation demands it. I want to get off this planet just as badly as he (Dr. Smith) does. And another thing, sometimes it takes more courage to refuse a fight than to accept one."

John asks him to come and have breakfast but Will wants to go help Smith get into shape. John looks at the punching bag after Will goes and at the dart. Smith is in sweats and baseball cap. He calls the Robot a mechanical monolith as Robot gives him a massage on a table. Penny is wearing pigtails. Smith calls the Robot an ineff ineptitude or something. Penny has to give Smith his iron tablets and runs up the ramp past Myko. Smith calls the Robot a clumsy clod and Myko rolls his eyes. Penny yells GANGWAY! as she flies past John and Don as well as Maureen and Judy who are folding a towel (?) on the ramp. Judy and Maureen go inside. John and Don ask Myko about the games. Don comments, "I'm afraid Dr. Smith would only add humorous interest." Don asks about the purpose of the games. Myko gets upset, "The games are a series of sports events held of spectators and entertainment." John asks, "And nothing else?" Myko leaves and looks back. Don says, "He sure got hot under the collar for nothing. I wonder why." He says, "Mr. Myko was nice enough to pay us a visit--maybe we should return the courtesy." John agrees, "Tonight." They go into the spaceship.

Night--Myko summons his leader, seemingly praying with his hands (?) as Don and John just arrive. The pair hide behind a rock. The leader says the military leaders of their planet will be watching. "If the Earthling does well, we will reward him handsomely. If he loses, his planet will suffer the consequences--we will invade his world and subdue it." John tells Don, "C'mon." The next morning, the two try to explain to Dr. Smith about this. Maureen is sewing a blue robe onto him that says TIGER SMITH. Don tells him if he loses he'd be placing the Earth in great jeopardy, "You know Smith, must because you're being matched against some little alien--doesn't mean you're gonna win--I mean this could be some kind of a trick or something." Smith will heed the Major's "dire doubts" and Don gives up and leaves. NOTE: This is interesting as in the first season it is Smith who almost always warned the Robinsons about how awful the aliens were--when most of the time-the aliens weren't---now it is reversed. Smith talks about his returning home a galactic hero with their spaceship repaired. While John applauds his desire to help them, he won't permit this. Smith says, "You have no authority over me." John orders the Robot to see Dr. Smith stays here, "I don't care how you do it." Robot says, "There is only one way to handle a Tiger." Smith is in a red cage soon enough--a large red cage (are we to believe this was from the Jupiter II's gear?).

Smith complains, then cons Robot, "What were you before we met--a hulking mass of mechanical ignorance, a nothing, a nobody, who programmed you, who spoon fed you the facts of life and made you what you are today--the sleek sophisticated charming companion that are today." He goes on to ask Robot who is it that oils him, keeps him running smoothly, and working properly. Robot admits, "You do." Smith cries he has been the Robot's confidant, protector, and friend. Robot comes over to the cage and Smith and he shake--declaring they are friends. It is all a trick: Smith pulls the power pack off the Robot, says, "You traitorous tin plated fugitive from a junkyard!", gets the keys off the Robot's wire frame on his body, and gets out. "Adieu. Ninny!" Will find the Robot and activates him, finding the power pack in the open cage. He tells the Robot it is not important that he failed, "We can't let him face all those aliens alone." Smith has changed and is ready to fight. He puts a glove on to smash a rock, "Gromak indeed!" He tries to smash it but hurts his hand. The first event on solarized cameras will be Smith vs. Geo. The two enter the ring and the games are started!

ACT FOUR

Myko announces Geo of Centaur (or Zentuar) vs. Professor Zachary Smith (yes, Myko calls Dr. Smith---Professor Smith). We hear music which is probably stock and which will be heard again in A VISIT TO HADES. Will and Robot arrive; Will pleads with Smith to stop--it is too dangerous to Earth and to Smith. Robot says of Geo, "Warning! Appearances can be deceiving!" Smith calls him a jabbering Judas and gets caught in his robe as the gong sounds (we hear goofy western fight music from WELCOME STRANGER) as Geo tries to hit Smith from behind while the goofy doctor tries to get free. Smith, accidentally, back hands Geo with his glove and knocks him down. They fight some more and Geo vanishes, appears behind Smith, and kicks him. We hear a variation of the BLAST OFF INTO SPACE music as Geo appears again and knocks Smith down. Robot throws the flag in; Geo wins. Will tells Myko, "You tricked him. It wasn't a fair fight."

Will helps Smith out; John arrives, telling Smith, "Thanks to you, there may not be an Earth to get back to." Will tells him, "You were right, dad, Mister Myko wasn't to be trusted." John says, "There's no satisfaction in proving a point if as result, the Earth's going to be invaded." John tells Will he's learned from experience and that's the best way. John challenges Myko who seems to ignore him until John says that although the aliens believe Earth people can be beaten easily---they are wrong--and he wants to show them that. John goes into the ring, "You can't judge the actions of Earth people by Dr. Smith." He wants to fight now, telling Myko, who continues to refuse, he is afraid. Myko caves in and lets him fight Geo but tells John, "Nothing will be changed." John snaps, "Yeah, we'll see about that." Will tells John, "Careful dad, he can disappear." John takes off his belt and whips Geo into an area, grabs him from behind, and lifts him up until Geo gives up. The Earth will still be invaded. John says, "Then how about Gromak for size!" He attacks the giant man and is knocked flat on his back. John runs at Gromak but Myko ends it with a knife to John's chest, stopping him. He says, "Gromak drona armum." Myko tells John to accept that the Earth people are going to suffer the consequences of his refusal to fight earlier. Myko goes out of the ring. John puts his belt back on and sees the Wheel of Life, "It's our only chance of saving Earth," he tells an anxious Will. Will says, "Dad, you can't." John says, "Son, whatever happens, know that this had to be done." Myko is goaded into going against John in the Wheel of Life, both sitting at chairs as the wheel spins. It goes down to two. NOTE: Myko is quite smug as the harmless puffs of white smoke pass over his face and it is quite funny--I recall a friend imitating this expression and it was quite funny. They get down to the last two. It is Myko's turn--the next is John's--if Myko shoots a dud, the laser is next. NOTE: as John goads Myko to push it, repeating this several times for him to push it, I once thought Myko was afraid to kill but I now realize Myko was fearful that the next one would kill him. He could care less about killing John. Myko gets up and ends the game.

John gets up and pushes the button--the deadly laser beam, "You'd have been a winner, Myko. It would seem Earth men have more courage than you gave them credit for. We're a peaceful people by nature and just because we don't like to fight, doesn't mean we won't!" Myko stares without looking John in the eyes, telling him that his military leaders realize what he said is true and cancel the invasion. John says, "That's what I came to hear." Myko hangs his head. He goes back to his tent.

John starts to chew out Smith who congratulates him, "If all the dumb, stupid things you've ever done...this is the grand tour de force..." Smith turns around with a black eye which makes John laugh. John puts his arm around Smith, "C'mon tiger, maybe Maureen can find a beef stake for that eye." Smith snaps at the Robot, "Coach indeed! It's all your fault!" They leave.

CLIFFHANGER: Night--the Jupiter II door opens and there is no electronic sound, just the grinding of the door pushing open. A meteor storm has just ended. Will wants to look for meteorites, "All sorts of exciting things may have dropped." Penny finds an alien bottle but Smith tells her that anything of value that fell into the atmosphere burns up. NOTE: stock music from earlier episodes--the rest of the next episode, THIEF OF OUTER SPACE has a new and totally wonderful score. John tells them, "Tomorrow we're checking for damage...and that means all of us," he points at Smith. Morning--Smith says, "Life was much more exciting in the past." He tells William that his father invents one useless job after another---but the mineral drill looks okay to Will. Will puts the tools down, some near an outcrop of rock which lay on other rocks, creating a tiny area of space between. Smith sleeps against another rock. A hand with rings on it takes the tools from in between the rocks. NOTE: We see a blue plant. The tool bag is gone, Will finds out. Will asks Smith about it, then looks around. A hand pulls on the lunch basket which Smith has his arm around. Will yells and wakes up Smith, who screams. An Arabian Thief in colorful Arabian robes and turban, confronts them, "Dogs! Infidels! Prepare to die!" He waves his sword right at them!

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK, SAME TIME, SAME CHANNEL

REVIEW: This episode, despite lots of silliness from Smith via the boxing routine and the silly Geo character, maintains some standard. WELL, IT DOES. The Will-John-father-son scenes are well done and some of the best of the entire series. The action with John fighting the wrestlers and later with the Wheel of Life was tense, despite the macho-ness of it all. Also it is nice to have different points of view from the Robinsons for once. This rarely happened--it was usually Smith on one side, the Robinsons on the other. Judy didn't agree with Will; Don didn't agree with him either or with Maureen for that matter. John noted when a fight is forced on you, you have to defend yourself, defending Don against Maureen. Will agrees with Dr. Smith's plan this time. This kind of interplay and different outlook on things usually appeared more often in LAND OF THE GIANTS. Both shows are finer for this. Myko makes an interesting menace, sly, and sneaky and not unwilling to kill, it would seem. Savage. The alien leader added some mystery to the proceedings. Yes, some of this is silly but salvageable. Unfortunately the silliness builds with the next episode...