Lost In Space: The Complete Adventures (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[Flashgear]

I have the old season 1 dvd of Lost in Space...I will only buy the new blu-ray complete series when I find it at a nearly insane price point...I detest the rest of the series...even as a 10 year old I found season 2 excruciating...and never watched it past the midpoint of that season...but I'm averse to badly executed camp, Batman is another blu-ray set I will only buy when I see it at doomsday pricing...I watched Lost in Space first run in the fall of '65 and into the winter of '66...absolutely loved the early episodes, and most of season 1, but you could see the seeds of terminal camp taking hold later in the premiere season...and the disinterested and sad look in Guy Williams eyes testify to that dreadful "creative" development...

So, as I very much do want to see season 1 in HD, and understand that season 1 will likely never get a standalone release...could some of the knowledgeable HTF members here tell me which of the few or very few episodes in season 2 and 3 are well above the low bar, or at least watchable, for the rest of the run? I very much respect your opinions...and it would help me tremendously to avoid any needless pain (oh, the pain! ha, ha) when I can watch those in addition to season 1...thanks!

 

[Carabimero]

I think it's very subjective what the good season two and three episodes are. But I would be surprised if other LIS fans here disliked these picks.

Season Two: "The Deadly Games of Gamma 6," "The Girl from the Green Dimension," "Trip through the Robot."

Season Three: "Hunter's Moon," "The Anti-Matter Man," and I must add it...."The Great Vegetable Rebellion," which, BTW, was ranked #76 on TV Guide's "100 Greatest TV Episodes of All-Time" List.

 

[Mark-P]

I will only buy the new blu-ray complete series when I find it at a nearly insane price point..

You don't think the $50 sale price Amazon has it at now is nearly insane? That 75% off SRP.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Shit! $50 for the entire season? That's a steal!

 

[Mark-P]

Shit! $50 for the entire season? That's a steal!

Entire series, yes. And sold by Amazon too, not third party. It has been that price for about a week so I don't know how much longer it will last.

 

[ScottRE]

When I was a kid, I liked Star Trek better than Lost in Space and Addams Family better than The Munsters. Now I am less interested in seriousness and more interested in entertainment value, and I have shifted a bit. I definitely like the Munsters better, and I like the last season Star Trek when they started to imitate Lost in Space and Batman.

I've had a love affair with Star Trek since I was four. It was always fun to me and as I got older, I found more and more to appreciate. The third season, much as I love it, isn't nearly the same quality, but they certainly didn't imitate Batman or Lost in Space. It was just a different creative team trying to do the show with far less money and with much less nuance. It was more obvious and a little less sophisticated, but it wasn't a comedy. Actually, it was a darker and more serious season. Just that the execution of some ideas was misguided. Of the final season, only The Way to Eden, with the Space Hippies, felt similar to LIS, but even so, didn't sink to the depths of that show at its worst. And by 1968-69, camp was out. That fad had passed. Even LIS got more serious the year before in its final season. Nah, Star Trek changed because of budgets and a producer who didn't quite get it, even though his intentions were really good.

The Irwin Allen shows are still among my all time favorites. LIS was exceptional for about a 1/4 of its run, but it was mostly Children's Theater. I don't mind monsters and weird situations, but I prefer the more straight faced approach used on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Time Tunnel. Not coincidentally. all of those more straight-faced Allen shows were on ABC. CBS dictated the direction of LIS. They wanted a lighthearted show and they got it.

 

[ScottRE]

I think it's very subjective what the good season two and three episodes are. But I would be surprised if other LIS fans here disliked these picks.

Season Two: "The Deadly Games of Gamma 6," "The Girl from the Green Dimension," "Trip through the Robot."

Season Three: "Hunter's Moon," "The Anti-Matter Man," and I must add it...."The Great Vegetable Rebellion," which, BTW, was ranked #76 on TV Guide's "100 Greatest TV Episodes of All-Time" List.

I can add to that list a bit:

Season 2: The Ghost Planet, Prisoners of Space, The Wreck of the Robot and even The Toymaker were all very enjoyable to me. Thief of Outer Space was a really good spoof with a sweet relationship between Will and the thief (a great performance by Malachi Throne). I have to say, I totally despise The Girl from the Green Dimension. Will turning green, undercranked chase around a massive telescope, a funeral for a piece of broken equipment, and "handsome, pretty handsome, Doctor Smith." Plus a truly dire Alexander Courage score. One of the worst for me.

Season 3 had some very good episodes. Well, for Lost in Space and compared to the hideousness preceding it: in addition to the two you mentioned, Condemned of Space, Visit to a Hostile Planet, Flight into the Future, Space Creature, The TIme Merchant, and Target Earth all come to mind. Veggie Rebellion isn't the worst episode of the series (Mutiny in Space gets my nod), but it's still a slog. Nice to see the entire cast used, but the music is again hideous (Courage did some of his most annoying work on LIS) and the whole thing was just a circus.

 

[Randy Korstick]

I still like LOS but it has always been my least favorite of the 4 Irwin Allen shows, My favorite has always been Voyage to the bottom of the sea followed by Land of the Giants. Voyage at least remained serious for the first 2 seasons and has far more watchable episodes in season 3 and 4 than in Season 2 and 3 of LOS. But I love all old sci-fi movies so I can always watch all these shows. My biggest issue with LOS has always been it doesn't feel like Lost in Space it feels like Lost on one planet. They only changed planets once at the start of each season. Each season when they start to drag on as they were stuck in the same sets week after week. If they would have kept moving to different planets every 4-5 episodes I think the show would have been truly great but I guess the budget prevented that.

 

[Flashgear]

Thank you Alan and Scott for those episode selections...I have transcribed all your suggestions for future reference...yes, we all have entirely subjective criteria as to those episodes we enjoy and find entertaining...Mark, thank you for the notice about that $50 complete series deal...I might pull the trigger on that one, although I'm in Canada with a somewhat disadvantaged currency exchange rate that would convert that price to about $65 Canadian...also paying another $6.98 US shipping, as my Amazon Canada Prime membership won't apply to orders on the U.S. parent site...still, I'm considering it...so thank you...

I'm conflicted in my desire and aversion to the whole Irwin Allen catalogue...I only have the first 2 seasons of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea...very much like most of the first b+w season...some of it is brilliant and tense... and I like parts of the color second season...I've seen the rest of the run in TV airings and know that the few better episodes just aren't enough to really want...just my opinion...Time Tunnel, I think, had the best pilot of all the Irwin Allen shows...I think it's spectacular, too bad that the rest of the run doesn't hold up for me...but there are good and entertaining episodes, and I'm glad to have the complete series...John(ny) Williams music is great on these shows, of course, and a huge plus...Land of the Giants I have in an R2 PAL set, and that show has it's charms, though I often find it rather dull...

I love the notion, if the story is true, of Harlan Ellison fighting on set with Voyage producer Alan Armer about script rewrites...and accidentally breaking his leg when the nearby Seaview model prop fell on him in the struggle...I sometimes wish that Irwin Allen had been collateral damage...ha, ha...

Speaking only of the 8 to 10 year old boy I remember being...I loved Voyage and Time Tunnel the most, along with that first season of Lost in Space...I was mildly entertained by Giants... and especially remember my visceral revulsion at season 2 of LIS...elements of Batman appealed to me, depending on the celebrity villain of the week and the alluring charms of Julie Newmar and Lee Meriwether...as compelled by my pre-teen hormones...for that matter, Marta Kristen also...with the sweet Angela Cartwright as a more wholesome attraction, as I was very nearly the same age, and she reminded me of a girl at school...

Of course, the class of '60s American TV Science fiction remains Twilight Zone, Outer Limits and Star Trek...

 

[Tony Bensley]

Entire series, yes. And sold by Amazon too, not third party. It has been that price for about a week so I don't know how much longer it will last.

Shit! $50 for the entire season? That's a steal!

At $124 CDN on our Amazon site, I won't be getting this set anytime soon, sad to say!

https://www.amazon.ca/Lost-Space-Co...&qid=1484151418&sr=8-1&keywords=lost+in+space

Yes, I DO realize that with our sh*tty exchange rate, LiS will likely NEVER get down to the $50 level, but jeez louise, you'd think amazon.ca could do better than f**king $124 even in our currency, no?

SHEESH!

 

[BobO'Link]

I still like LOS but it has always been my least favorite of the 4 Irwin Allen shows, My favorite has always been Voyage to the bottom of the sea followed by Land of the Giants. Voyage at least remained serious for the first 2 seasons and has far more watchable episodes in season 3 and 4 than in Season 2 and 3 of LOS. But I love all old sci-fi movies so I can always watch all these shows. My biggest issue with LOS has always been it doesn't feel like Lost in Space it feels like Lost on one planet. They only changed planets once at the start of each season. Each season when they start to drag on as they were stuck in the same sets week after week. If they would have kept moving to different planets every 4-5 episodes I think the show would have been truly great but I guess the budget prevented that.

That whole planet-bound aspect really bothers me. They had a reason on S1 but once the Jupiter 2 was repaired and they left that first planet, I don't recall it being damaged *that badly* as the reason they lingered on the planet in S2, which essentially duplicated S1 but with more humor. S3 *did* see a return to space with a "Planet of the Week" type format but didn't lose enough of the humor/camp to bring it back in line. They sure seemed to get *lots* of "interstellar" visitors on those "back-water" type planets. It also somewhat bothered me that the Jupiter 2 was half buried when shown on the planet surface! How in the world do they lift off? And it *never* looked as large on the outside as it did on the inside. Then there's "Debbie" the "space monkey" who annoys me no end! But... it's still a fun program with good episodes in all three seasons.

It was only when I purchased the complete series of Land of the Giants *3 years ago this month* that I saw that series - for the first time! Like several other TV series I *highly* desired to watch, it came on Sunday evening - right after we'd left for evening Church services (my dad was Music Director for decades so we never missed any service - unless you had a fever and doctor's orders to stay home). As a result I never saw any of that one. Amazon put it on a LD for ~$55 and I jumped on it as it normally went for $120 or more. I really enjoyed the series and need to watch it again sometime soon.

As a kid my favorite was always Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea followed by The Time Tunnel with Lost in Space coming in 3rd simply because I only saw ~15 minutes each week (due to the air time and Church conflict) until Batman started and then Batman won out over LIS on Wednesday before leaving for Church. Today, I'd be hard pressed to say just which is my absolute favorite. I lean towards The Time Tunnel but really like them all pretty much equally.

So... I'll soon find out how good the BR set is as my order has entered the "shipping soon" phase. Interestingly, I checked my purchase history on Amazon and found I'd purchased the S1 DVD set there, just over 10 years ago, for $40! I'll be getting the BR *full series* set for $50! Wow!

 

[Bryan^H]

When I was a kid, I liked Star Trek better than Lost in Space and Addams Family better than The Munsters. Now I am less interested in seriousness and more interested in entertainment value, and I have shifted a bit. I definitely like the Munsters better, and I like the last season Star Trek when they started to imitate Lost in Space and Batman.

I love Star Trek season 3.

 

[BobO'Link]

I love *all* three seasons of Star Trek. It's certain episodes I have a lower affinity for and will occasionally skip if I'm doing a re-watch of the series. ...OK... who am I kidding? I don't skip those episodes at all but I *do* get on the computer and browse/piddle while they're playing.

I got curious so did a CPI inflation calculation to see how 2006 $$ compare to 2016 $$ (2017 isn't yet available). That $40 S1 purchase I made in 2006 would be $47.89 today so the BR *full series* at $50 is essentially the same price I paid for that one season. Even better!

I'll be watching it in full as soon as it comes in. Partially due to all the reports of defective discs but also because I'm currently involved in a TVonDVD watching "challenge" on another forum. Basically, watch as much TVonDVD content as you can during January. I'm a long time "couch potato" when it comes to watching movies and TV shows so it's pretty much a no-brainer.

 

[ScottRE]

Of course, the class of '60s American TV Science fiction remains Twilight Zone, Outer Limits and Star Trek...

I'd toss The Invaders on that list as well. The first season in particular was exceptional and actually pretty scary.

 

[BobO'Link]

^Absolutely! I *loved* The Invaders and was upset when it didn't return after S2. I would mention it to others over the years but *no one* I talked to had seen, or heard of it. None of my friends watched it during the original airings and thought I was somewhat nuts when I would talk about it at school. I was thrilled when the DVDs were released and did rare, for me, day of release purchases for both sets. I still have my original Aurora model of the Invaders flying saucer.

None of my friends watched The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone or Star Trek either. I got the SF bug from my dad (he watched The Outer Limits) and Saturday afternoon SF/Horror movies on local TV. I got really hooked when, at age 13, I discovered his SF novel collection.

 

[Flashgear]

Oh, yes...the Invaders! I don't know how that slipped from my mind...I remember buying both seasons in Best Buy on day of release...that's another show that would look great in blu-ray...In '60s SF TV, I don't think that there was ever a more exciting episode than "The Saucer" , filmed partly on the well tread vistas of Vasquez Rocks, and featuring Anne Francis, Charles Gray and a young Dabney Coleman..."Dark Outpost" filmed exteriors at Lone Pine and Alabama Hills (Andrew Prine, Dawn Wells)...that second season started off with a bang with "Condition Red" also...for a show that only lasted 43 episodes over 2 seasons, it's very easy to list a hell of a lot of great ones...all the hallmarks of a quality QM production on view...that has me thinking that Quinn Martin was indeed the antithesis producer to Irwin Allen? Ironic that Alan A. Armer worked with both as an associate producer...

 

[Gary Seven]

After all the talk on the quality on this set, I went to Best Buy and they price matched Amazon. That in conjunction with the 10 dollar coupon made this set more affordable at 40 dollars. Watched the first episode last night and it did look rather good. I am impressed with the extras along, with the first season, made this purchase worthwhile (the latter two seasons I am not crazy about). I watched this as a kid but it was never among my favorites, though I always like the music. Like everyone noted, the packaging is awful. I may have to buy special Blu-ray cases for this. Anyway, glad to the set and will slowly make my way through it.

 

[BobO'Link]

My new BR set of Lost in Space was just delivered. I'm about to start a marathon viewing, as much as anything to make sure I have no defective discs, but I have to make some comments about the packaging.

Simply horrid! A thin paperboard *box* that has to have either the top or bottom flap opened just to take out the individual seasons or bonus "junk" (and I *do* mean junk...). Then comes the "cases" themselves. They *look* neat but are some of the worst examples of paperboard sleeves I've ever seen (and I have a few of these horrible things in my collection). I thought I was going to tear the paper just taking out S1D1! And I then had to clean the fingerprints off the disc as it's impossible to extract without touching the play surface (I'd thought I might try gloves but they slipped off due to the tightness of the disc in the sleeve). I'm pretty sure I'll be replacing the packaging with generic cases and the artwork done by a fellow HTFer (have to look back and see who).

So... the bonus junk. Some paperboard photos with a couple of "fun facts" on the reverse. OK... the paper band holding them together was "off" and the tape holding the ends together was actually on the last card. It tore a bit of the card art off when I *carefully* removed the tape. Irritating but no big loss as I'll box then and not look at them again. A *bad* reproduction of a page of the blueprints for the Robot. OK... I've seen it... would be better viewed online. Same for the reproduction script. I've looked at it and it, too, will go back in the box to never be seen again. I'd have rather had *good* and *standard* BR keep cases instead of this waste of paper. I'm pretty sure the cost would have balanced had this been done.

Enough ranting... Those of you who have this set already know about its shortcomings. Off to watch S1D1...

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Bob,

There are pages dedicated to the awful design of the case. We have all been through this rant, though yours is justified.

I think the quality of the BD will surprise you in a positive way.

Hopefully you don't have the same defective disc problems (disc1/disc 2) that most of us did.

 

[BobO'Link]

OK... I've watched the first 5 episodes of S1. WOW! The PQ is excellent! There are only a few instances where I saw a hint of a scratch or a bit of dirt/specks on a few frames and none were lengthy or "bad" enough to be a issue. The "worst" offender is the last title card of the open. Irwin Allen's credit on a black background with lots of specks that *should,* and could easily, have been removed. Oh well... maybe the S2 open will look better. Audio is also very good.

All episodes played perfectly - but I *did* clean the disc surface before playing as I got a nasty fingerprint on it taking it out of the "case" and had a disc from a different set a few days back refuse to load, until cleaned, for just that reason.

I didn't remember that "Debbie" the "Bloop" was introduced so early in the series! I also didn't remember Dr. Smith turning into a sniveling coward quite so early in the series.

It's well worth the purchase for the significant improvement in S1 alone! I can hardly wait to get to the color episodes, in spite of not liking them quite as much.

I got the idea of putting the discs in paper sleeves before putting them back in the case but they don't fit properly. So... I now have to decide just how I'm going to store this set. I'll probably go for the standard cases w/custom art - after I've viewed all the discs. Until then I'll use either paper sleeves or old cases to keep from having to put them back in those horrible paperboard abominations.

On to disc 2...