Lost in Space: Season 1, Episodes 10-12

10: The Sky is Falling
"It's positively raining aliens!"
An alien family transmats down onto the planet and set up what looks like a bar area and some kind of research tool, but they don't bother saying hello because they seem to have no recognisable language.
This episode revolves around the Robinsons addressing their preconceived ideas and prejudices about alien life, and more particularly alien life they cannot communicate with, and on their planet as well!
The moral issue of facing up to "otherness" is addressed well and quite subtley here, and it is interesting to see how John and Don's plan to steer clear of the aliens and assume they're peace loving turns around when pressure is brought to bear from the women in the camp, who just want their son/ brother back.
Jonathan Harris gives a pretty solid performance, especially in the scene where he is reasoning with the Robinsons around the dinner table. His first reaction is to destroy at will, survival of the fittest, while the Robinsons prefer to let sleeping aliens lie. Having said that, if a big chocolate cake dematerialised from my kitchen table, I'd be baying for blood too!
I have a major niggle with this episode, and one which ruins any of the good I have written about it here. The resolution makes no sense - John refers to Will sneezing and infecting the alien boy, but he would have no idea about that; they refer to some kind of antibiotic which cured the boy, but no such thing happened; and they mention the aliens by name (as Taurons) out of the blue - well, if the aliens cannot communicate, how can they have known their race?
And then the aliens suddenly decamp and disappear and everything's rosy again. Well no, it isn't. It's as if a whole scene of exposition was cut out and the viewer is left reeling and puzzled by what the hell is going on. A poor resolution to an episode which raised some interesting moral questions about identity and trust, transferring the themes from 20th century post-McCarthy America to outer space. Clever, but flawed.
Also lost in space: Don Matheson (1929- ) would appear in a second LiS episode in 1968, as well as other fantasy shows such as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Land of the Giants and various US TV soaps; Francoise Ruggieri has a small acting CV, and went on to appear in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Mission: Impossible, before her most recent acting role in 1975; Eddie Rosson's acting career never really got beyond this, although he did appear uncredited as Luke's nephew in Cool Hand Luke (1967).

11: Wish Upon a Star
Another nice character piece for Dr Smith, who is quite rightly banished from the camp after endangering somebody else's life for the umpteenth time because of his own lack of consideration. I say quite rightly because the number of terrible things this man has done to the Robinsons, and got away with (largely due to John's annoying tendency to brush things under the carpet) means Smith deserves everything he gets.
Dramatically, Smith's separation from the others enables Jonathan Harris to show a side of the character rarely seen, which is his inability to cope on his own, his lack of independence - almost like a child. When Will comes to help him find a more suitable camp, the chemistry between them is charming, and you can see why Will might have a soft spot for the dastardly doctor. And it's lovely to see Smith acknowledge his affection for Will (indeed, anyone!) for a change.
The dynamics within the group are interesting - both Penny and Will, as well as their mother, seem to regard Smith in a kinder light than John, and certainly Don. This mix of tensions and loyalties should pay dividends in future episodes.
The plot itself, about a wish-granting machine, and how having everything and anything at your fingertips breeds greed and selfishness, is a pleasant enough one, but there's lashings of typical American schmaltz, especially from John.
Highlight of the episode? That bloody scary alien! The moaning, the outstretched arms, the repugnant face... that alien really disturbed me, and as ever with LiS (thus far) is a well realised alien creature. I even liked the flying manta ray that attacks Dr Smith. He looked sweet!

12: The Raft
This a wonderful return to form, with plenty of character development which is really enjoyable to watch. The continuing disintegration of the relationship between Don and Smith is a real feature here, with Smith at one point goading poor Major West and thus exploiting Don's short fuse. It's both laughable and slightly disturbing to see Smith being so actively nasty to Don, who really does not deserve the abuse he gets and is very often the lone voice of reason in the camp, based on experience.
The story sees Will and Smith take off in the raft, only to land back on the same planet (very Twilight Zone!) and get trapped in an overgrown valley and forced into tending the vegetation by a Bush Man, LiS's first poorly realised alien. Harris is very funny in this episode, and it has to be said that Billy Mumy could well be the cutest kid in American TV history! I simply love the exchange between these two when Will asks Smith to be his replacement father. Smith is obviously quite touched by this proposition and this is yet another example of Harris acting rather than camping things up - he does both well, but his acting abilities sometimes get overshadowed by his campery.
There's also a lovely scene between John and Maureen when they sit beneath the stars and talk about how night skies are more beautiful when you have chosen which sky it is yourself. A bit twee, but lovely all the same.
This is one of my favourite episodes so far, purely for its characterisation and some great Don West totty time (lots of bum shots and he gets down to his t-shirt, which I always enjoy because you get tempting peeks at that hairy rug of his!).