Lost in Space - Flight Into the Future

***/****

When I was reevaluating Lost in Space as an adult in my 30s, I rented DVDs from Netflix, writing user reviews on the IMDb during the process. I won't lie: the second season was tough. As a kid, it was indeed easier to enjoy LiS so perhaps a mature critique is ultimately inconsequential. This third season episode, Flight Into the Future, is a mess of stock footage reliance, battles against fear and illusion, old monsters and props brought right back out of storage for further use yet admittedly even this early afternoon at 40 years old I understood why I dug this so much as a youth.

In "Flight into the Future", one of my personal favorites from the third season, the story isn't of any particular consequence, as much as, all the stuff they hurl at us. It just keeps getting weirder. You have this emerald-colored planet (right out of Oz) pulling the Space Pod (Smith hits the wrong button while demanding Robot to massage his (always) aching back as he and Will are doing a routine check, releasing the pod into space) towards it. The pod lands on the planet. It seems the planet (or something on the planet) doesn't take too kindly to the Jupiter 2 trying to do the same thing, following after the Space Pod to retrieve it. Despite the best efforts of whatever it is causing the disruptions in Jupiter's entering the planet's atmosphere to land, John comes up with a calculation that allows the ship to avoid the interference. While the Jupiter 2 is not far from the Space Pod once on the planet, it seems as if something is "influencing" Will, Robot, and Smith & John and Don, subverting their finding each other. Furthermore, as John and Don try to find their missing accompaniment (and vice versa), all experience hallucinations that complicate a reunion.

Here is where I enjoy the episode. Will and Smith fall asleep (or are influenced into sleep), awakening to Robot covered in rust and squeaking as if it had been rendered useless for months, maybe years. After Smith (begrudgingly) gives Robot an oil massage, they encounter the Jupiter 2 covered in moss and in a major state of disrepair and aged considerably as if abandoned for quite some time. Two archaeological astronauts (one later claiming to be an ashamed great 3x grandson!) suddenly appear, telling them of how old they really are (an erected statue of Robot is dedicated to him and it has a date that gives them some indication of the length of time that sleep might have lasted), and then must return to their headquarters. Judy is in a cave, dressed like some sort of alien superhero, with a type of camera (I couldn't make this up), and tells Will she is many times removed his great niece. A rampaging army, the lizard dressed as a dinosaur, the giant Cyclops, a leopard, "dry rain", an "exploding fruit", rocks that fall from high by themselves (or implode) towards potential victims, and even the Space Pod covered in moss and looking as the Jupiter 2 did (this time to John and Don) are all part of some sinister mental influence that is trying to scare them off the planet. The rock creatures, flaming fire, and even the machine with the elongated eye makes appearances. Seeing the astronauts was kind of neat (the suits from Forbidden Planet, and you can see them used in The Twilight Zone, also), but the "futuristic" Judy concoction was just bizarre. The episode ends as typical with the show, a clumsily orchestrated flop (Robot is attacked by these powerful beams that render him basically useless, yet he re-emerges to save the day, using his electrical bolts to destroy a "spiked" monster and the elongated-eye machine causing "fear manipulation") that has Will facing a machine selfishly devoted to keeping lifeforms off the planet, using its power to provoke fear and manipulates through mental influence in order to do so. The episode feels like it was patched together storyline-wise with random ideas and sequences to fill up the required 50 minutes, but at least it isn't boring. Trotting out familiar monsters and sci-fi props (and footage seen over and over) is par for the course with this show.

In April of 2013, I still got it as to why the episode, despite Packer's continued indulgences and the production necessity to keep tight the budget. During that revisit I was not quite impressed and my user comments were often tinged with aggravation and venom, perhaps a bit annoyed by how poorly handled the second season (and end of first season, quite frankly) was when the first opened so strongly. The third suffered it's share of second season trashfire plotting and characterizations but also had bright spots. I think Flight Into the Future had the personality, plot development, and storytelling of both the first and second season actually. It was sometimes cool, other times [much] less so. The astronaut archeologists appearing was a nifty visual considering their suits and devices but Judy's descendent was rather jarring, as if right out of a Buck Rogers serial. The real Judy takes a rather heavy bump, perhaps in the place of the emulated ancestor as her mom and sister see to her, in an unusual scene. But seeing the Jupiter and Pod under disrepair, overgrowth, and age stands out. I won't forget the use of "preening popinjay" anytime soon and the erected statue that made Robot gush was just rather gnarly. Robot needing Smith to be his much needed masseur and Smith's distaste made me laugh. So it is entertaining.