Conference noted::sf

    The fuel was called deutronium (no, not deuterium --- that's
    something else).
    
    It's probable that no topic has been started on LOST IN SPACE
    because no one thought of it or wanted to discuss it.
    
    Watch it about asking the moderator, though. Larry won't hesitate
    to tell you what he thinks of LIS. :-)
    
    --- jerry

    Thanks Jerry, I should have checked furthur as there is a topic
    in UCOUNT::TV file NOTE> 169 dedicated to LIS.  Again Tanks,
                                                                Kevin

    "Lost In Space" was like a dangerous drug for me, for a couple of
    years.  I liked it at first, but soon the plots became so silly
    and the science content so marginal, that I greeted it with contempt.
    However, I am a sucker for special effects, and until "Star Trek"
    came on, special effects were few and far between in that time.
    
    "Star Trek" now looks clumsy and naive, both in most of its plots
    and in its special effects, but it looked AMAZINGLY polished contrasted
    to "Loused Up in Space."
    
    By the way, "Lost in Space" was loosely based on a rather good comic
    book series put out (I think) by Golden Key in the 60s.  Here, there
    were only a mother and father and two teen-age kids, a brother and
    sister, but they were the Robinsons and the title of the book was
    "Space Family Robinson."  They were the crew of a prototype starship.
    Its hyperdrive worked all right, but too vigorously: "...3, 2, 1,
    jump! ... Now where are we?"  By the time they learned to steer
    the thing, they were, yea verily, lost in space.
    
    As they wandered about, they encountered plenty of aliens, but these
    creatures were (1) never mistakable for Californians sent up from
    central casting and (2) never English-speaking.  Other scientific
    niceties were also observed.  In short, the comic book, though
    definitely children's fare, was a lot more sophisticated than the
    TV show.
    
    Earl Wajenberg

    	In Note 296.24, a fellow SF Noter was kind enough to make available
    numerous files which give brief synopsies of every episode of some
    of the most popular SF television series, of which LOST IN SPACE
    is included.  Just COPY over the files to your account from his
    pointer in that Note.
    
    	Incidentally, Jerry, I just *love* LOST IN SPACE.  I think it
    puts 2001 and STAR TREK to shame with its intellectual and
    scientifically accurate plots alone!
    
    	Yeah, that's the ticket...
    
    	:^)
               

    re. -
    "OH THE PAIN...THE PAIN OF IT ALL!"

    There's an interesting topic!  What's your favorite Doctor Smith
    quote?  One of my favorites is an insult he slings at the Robot.
    
    "Be still, you mechanical monstrosity!"
    
    "Never fear.  SMITH is here!"
    
    or simply
    
    "Indeed!"
    
    Enjoy.
    
    Wook

	"Oh the Pain!"

	"Shoo, shoo!"

	"How Dare you!"
	
	"I'll be rich beyond my wildest dreams!"

	"Why me?"

							mike

    	I recently read how the rest of the LOS cast highly resented
    how Smith (and even the Robot) got most of the best lines; but then
    again, most of the rest of the cast was very boring.
    
    	Larry
    

    re:.8
    
    It wasn't so much that he was getting the best lines, but that
    the scripts were usually centered around Smith and the Robot
    (and Will).
    
    In fact, as I've understood it, Guy Williams, who was nominally
    the "star" of the show, was upset enough that after the show was
    cancelled, he quit the business altogether and retired to a ranch
    somewhere (in South America, I believe) to raise horses.
    
    --- jerry

  Since I can't find anything on 'Forbidden Planet', I'll put my question
here:

	We have a debate going on here as to whether or not the robot in
Forbidden Planet is the same robot in Lost In Space.

   I say that they are NOT the same. However, the FP robot did make a 'guest'
appearance on LIS as the robotoid.

  Am I right?  Or was the robot the same......nah...can't be.. :^)

	Jim

    I think you are wrong the two robots look very similar. I can't say
    they are the exact same robot but they are to close for the LIS robot  
    not to be a copy.
                              Jeff Peters 

The Lost in Space Robot is NOT the same thing as the one from Forbidden Planet
(Robie).  Examples:  LIS robot had clamp type appendages while Robie had 
'fingers'.  While some 'features' were duplicated, they really do look quite
different.  Also, Robie DID make an appearance on LIS.  The TRIVIA conference
has a note on this stuff.

-Joe

The FP robot is also the robot that played the character "Robbie" based on the
Asimov story, I believe.  This is the taller (the height of Guy Williams) robot
that also played the "evil" robot that appeared in a few LIS episodes...The LIS
robot (named just "Robot") was shorter, white, and articulated (very much like
the Michelin Man).

    They are most definitely different. Though some people see some
    similarity in design, I don't see any at all, other than (a) a
    clear plastic bubble for a head showing the inner mechanisms (and
    even then, the bubbles are vastly different in shape), and (b)
    the light that blinks on and off as the robot speaks. While Irwin
    Allen may well have been trying to imitate Robbie, the resemblence
    is totally superficial.
    
    (Another basic difference that no one has mentioned yet is that
    Robbie walked, while the LIS Robot mostly rolled along on tank
    treads (he occasionally walked, but not as a rule).)
    
    re:.13
    
    The evil robot "played" by Robbie only appeared in one LIS episode.
    There were other episodes with other evil robots, though.
    
    --- jerry

  Re: past few

  Thanks for the replies.  My boss now owes me a beer :^)



        Jim

    Darn; and me with my SF ref. books back in storage.  However,
    I seem to recall the FP robot showing up in another film.
    "TIMOR (sp.) THE GREAT" popped into my head while reading the robot
    query.  Unfortunately, it would take some digging to check this.
                                                             
    						Don

    re:.16
    
    He was the "star" of another Nayfack and Hume (producer and writer
    of FP, respectively) film called THE INVISIBLE BOY.
    
    By the way, the title you're probably thinking about it TOBOR THE
    GREAT, which does feature a robot, but a different one. It was also
    made before FORBIDDEN PLANET.
    
    --- jerry

    Great!  I recalled a photo of "him" in (obviously) TIB but
    couldn't place it.  Some day I'll look up TOBOR...
    
    						Don 

I recall seeing the FP robot on a Columbo episode (detective series) and also
recall a movie (probably TIB) where the robot built a kite that was large
enough for the boy to ride on.  The robot stayed on the ground, controlling
the kite.  Was this The Invisible Boy?

-Joe

ah yes... One last place I saw the FP robot, but not the real one...

A Diet Pepsi commercial where Michael J. Fox is in his apartment when a
neighbor asks for some soda.  He rushes out the window to get to a soda
machine.  While he is out, some versions of the commercial show the woman
neighbor looking over things MJF has on shelves etc in the hall way.  One
of these is what appears to be a 6 inch high model of Robie.  BTW: does
anyone know where I can get a model of Robie?

_Joe

    	See Topic 669.
    

    Robbie has appeared in any number of places since FP. Among the
    ones previously mentioned, he was on an episode of WONDER WOMAN,
    and in the movie GREMLINS (he's in the scenes at the Inventors
    Convention, along with the George Pal Time Machine).
    
    --- jerry

    Nuts!! I can't recall his name now!!!!  :-(
    
    The actor that played Zoro and the father on Lost In Space died
    of cancer last night, he was 65 years old.  I can't beleive that
    I've lost his name...
    
    If the moderators could call up his name from their collective memories
    and modify the title of this note, thanx.
    
    jim
    

    Guy Williams...also was almost a substitute for Pernell Roberts
    on Bonanza...
    

    Pardon me for concentrating on his non-SF role here.
    
               <<< BOMBE::DISK_NOTES$LIBRARY:[000000]TV.NOTE;1 >>>
                              -< TV or not TV... >-
================================================================================
Note 417.58   **ALERT** First Episodes of Classic Series **ALERT**      58 of 58
RUBY::BOYAJIAN "Starfleet Security"                  18 lines   9-MAY-1989 01:13
                              -< Hasta la vista >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    A big piece of my childhood.
    
    ZORRO was my favorite tv show *ever*. I was four years old when
    it started, and it captured my imagination like nothing has since.
    Zorro was my hero. (No surprise to anyone who has seen me in my
    hat. :-))
    
    I hadn't seen the show in 20 years when I first subscribed to the
    Disney Channel about 5 years ago. I remember the trepidation I felt,
    hoping beyond hope that, like so many things from childhood, it
    just wouldn't be as good as I remembered. Much to my delight, it
    held up wonderfully, even at its corniest.
    
    Douglas Fairbanks came 37 years before him. Tyrone Power came 17
    years before him. But to me, Guy Williams was, and always will be,
    the *real* Zorro.
    
    --- jerry

From: jsloan@handies.ucar.edu (John Sloan,8292,X1243,ML44E)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: Lost in Space trivia, Acronyms
Date: 30 Sep 89 04:17:59 GMT

    How about the LOST IN SPACE Robot's REAL NAME?  Seen in writing in
 at least two episodes, and spoken aloud by the Robot in another:
 
    GUNTER:  General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Robot
 
    It was just "Robot" for short.
 
    Other acronym faves:
 
    SPECTRE:  SPecial Executive for Crime, Terrorism, Revenge and
              Extortion (from the Bond films)
 
    THRUSH:  Technical Hierarchy for the Removable of Undesirables and
             the Subjugation of Humanity (from the Man from UNCLE)
 
    UNCLE:  United Network Command for Law and Enforcement (some books
            leave out the "and"; now that the CIA and the KGB are
            really talking about doing some joint missions, maybe
            UNCLE will become a reality.  Time to get those Waverly
            rings and triangle badges out of the safe....)

    SHADO:  Supreme Headquarters, Alien Defense Organization
 
John Sloan            NCAR/SCD             NSFnet: jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu
P.O. Box 27588        P.O. Box 3000        NCAR Mesa Lab, Room 42A
Lakewood CO 80227     Boulder CO 80307     +1 303 497 1243
Logical Disclaimer: belong(opinions,jsloan). belong(opinions,_):-!,fail.
 

From: rtravsky@OUTLAW.UWYO.EDU (Richard W Travsky)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers
Subject: Lost In Space Fun Facts
Date: 16 Jan 90 17:31:19 GMT
Sender: nobody@rutgers.rutgers.edu
 
    For Christmas I reeived a copy of "Uncle John's Second Bathroom
Reader",  a book full of short little odds and ends meant for
contemplation at the porcelain oasis.  Anyway,  there's one section
on Lost in Space.  It's amusing enough to pass on here: 
 
* Lost in Space was based on the comic book called Space Family Robinson
  (I remember the comic,  but I thought it was also called Lost in Space)
  (published by Gold Key Comics,  I vaguely recall).  Disney owned the rights
  to the title so Irwin llen had to change the name.  [The comic series 
  was far better than the TV spawn, IMHO.]
 
* It was supposed to be a serious show (!),  but the CBS executives who watched
  the pilot "were absolutely hysterical, laughing".  Allen was furious.
 
* Guess who financed the show.  Go on, guess.  Give up?  (I did.)  It was
  Groucho Marx.  Apparently he and Allen were good friends.  (To anyone who has
  watched the show, it might be suspected that Groucho had a hand in script-
  ing the show as well.)
 
* Dr. Smith was supposed to be killed after 6 weeks, and his contract stated
  that he couldn't be billed higher that seventh in the credits.  Fan mail
  saved him.
 
* Guy Williams, who played Professor John Robinson, had top billing (what a
  joke that turned out to be) and was frustrated at all the "good" lines going
  elsewhere.
 
* The Robot was created by Bob Kinoshita,  Forbidden Planet's Robby's co-
  designer.
 
* The man inside the Robot was in blackface and saw out through the Robot's
  plastic collar.  He pressed a key to flash the lights in synchronization
  with the Robot's lines.
 
* The pod had a registration number on it -  277-2211 IA  - that was 20th Cen-
  tury Fox's phone number.  "IA" was Irwin Allen's initials.
 
* The cast learned about the show's cancellation by reading it in the papers.
 
Richard Travsky            Bitnet:   RTRAVSKY @ UWYO
Computer Services          Internet: RTRAVSKY @ CORRAL.UWYO.EDU
University of Wyoming

Article: 1736
From: clarinews@clarinet.com
Newsgroups: clari.news.movies
Subject: Funeral services set for producer Irwin Allen
Date: 3 Nov 91 17:46:00 GMT
 
	SANTA MONICA, Calif. (UPI) -- Funeral services were scheduled
Wednesday for movie producer Irwin Allen, whose penchant for big-screen 
spectacles created a new film genre with such blockbuster disaster films 
as ``The Poseidon Adventure'' and ``The Towering Inferno.'' 

	Allen died Saturday of a heart attack at the age of 75.

	He was brought to Santa Monica Hospital Medical Center at 6:53
a.m. after suffering a heart attack at his Malibu home, hospital
spokeswoman Grace Cheng said.  The producer died at 7:17 a.m., she said. 

	``He was one of a kind and he contributed a great deal to the
industry with his talents and creativity,'' said his wife, Sheila,
``and he will be greatly missed by those who loved him.'' 

	Allen won an Academy Award in 1953 for writing and producing
``The Sea Around Us,'' a film based on the non-fiction book by
environmentalist Rachel Carson. 

	Among the most prolific producer-directors of his era, Allen
also was the creator of the the highly popular 1960s fantasy-adventure
television series ``Lost in Space'', ``Land of the Giants'', and 
``The Time Tunnel''. 

	But he was best-known for his epic disaster movies.  As a film
producer, he raided the daily headlines for stories, filming 1970s
hits about high-rise fires, sunken cruise ships, and other natural and
man-made disasters. 

	Allen produced the high-budget blockbusters ``The Poseidon
Adventure'' in 1972 and ``The Towering Inferno'' in 1974.  He was also
behind the 1978 adventure ``The Swarm,'' a tale of an invasion of
killer bees. 

	His credits also included the film and telvision series
``Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.'' 

	Born June 12, 1916, Allen worked as a magazine editor, radio
show director and owned an advertising agency before turning to film
production in the early 1950s. 

	He initially specialized in quasi-documentaries and nature
films, producing, writing and directing ``The Animal World'' in 1956
and ``The Story of Mankind'' in 1957. 

	By the 1960s, Allen had turned his attention to television and
science-fiction adventure, creating ``Lost in Space.''  The unlikely
sitcom about a family sent to the far ends of the Universe accompanied
by a friendly robot and a malevolent but bumbling scientist-villan,
Doctor Smith, became one of the most popular TV series of all time. 

	However, Allen was best known for creating in the 1970s a new
genre in film with the big-budget action-packed disaster movies loaded
with innovative special effects and star-studded casts. 

	His first disaster adventure was ``The Poseidon Adventure'' in
1972, which he produced.  He followed up with ``The Towering Inferno''
in 1974, which he produced and directed the action sequences.  Both
films, which were nominated for Academy Awards for their special
effects, were among the top grossing films in the 1970s. 

	He directed and produced ``The Swarm'' in 1974, directed the
sequel ``Beyond the Poseidon Adventure'' in 1979, and produced ``The
Day the World Ended'' (a.k.a., "When Time Ran Out"), also in 1979. 

	Allen also was known in Hollywood for being a soft-spoken
perfectionist who was loyal to his actors.  He once told an
interviewer:  ``I suffer along with them.  We have many story
conferences.  As a writer-director-producer, I have triple agonies.
I'm bucking to be known as the most sympathetic producer in town.'' 

	Funeral services were scheduled for Wednesday.

    Last week's TV Guide (the one with a ST:TNG Ferengi on the cover) had a
    blurb about a new movie based on LIS coming out!  Really!  There was
    even a photo (too small to tell if it was an old LIS photo, or a photo
    of the "new" Robinson family?!
    
    Jim

    That was an old publicity shot from the series. I believe the  last
    season, from the looks of it. 
    
    I was discussing this with my girlfriend the other day, who said she
    never watched it, and wondered why I did when it was so silly. It made
    me think. I suppose it was the technology. I was in elementary
    school/jr. high, and hadn't found Trek yet. It was the neatest show I
    could find on the air. The Jupiter II is still a really cool looking
    ship, I think. I watched it day after day (these were reruns in the
    70's) to find out more about the SHIP. I recognized the stories were
    bad and could have been much better, but what I really wanted them to
    do was show more of the ship, how it worked, things like that. (I
    always wondered how they got all that cabin space, two stories, AND
    engines, AND fuel, AND a space pod into the thing! It must have been
    like a TARDIS). 
    
    Alas, they never did, but my favorite shows all took place while they
    were in space, not the same gloomy looking little planet where silly
    things happened. 
    
    If a movie DOES happen, that's what I'd like to see. I hope they don't
    change the design. I'd probably go see it, just for nostalgia.
    
    - Russ

    What ever happened to that big-screen movie that was mentioned in TV
    Guide a year or 2 ago?
    					Jim