Lost in Space - Hunter's Moon

***½ / ****

John Robinson and Robot land in the Space Pod onto a new planet checking to see if its atmosphere can sustain human life. They must pass through an "intergalactic barb wire", a contamination shield surrounding the planet as to keep others off the planet, or as Robot proposes to keep lifeforms from leaving the planet.

 

When John kills a man in a alien bear costume (yes, it was corny), he's confronted by a disgruntled alien hunter from a planet called Zon, named Megazor (Vincent Black, his face colored blue, with a huge dome and longish sideburns, including claw hands) who blames him for destroying his prey planned for a great hunt. So John is to substitute for the Gallatin creature, first caged and tested against an invisible creature with poisonous claws (when John orders Robot to burn out certain circuits to produce smoke, we see the creature, basically a man under a sheet, I kid you not), victorious. Megazor is accompanied by a giant machine that produces points that can be rewarded for a certain kill; the value of the prey could lead to Megazor ruling his homeworld. That's what the hunt is all about, ruling his world, needing suitable worthy opponents to hunt so he will be rewarded in kind. After Dr. Smith, in an act of desperation (he doesn't want West to land the Jupiter 2 on what could be a hostile planet), screws with the guidance system, West will have to take the ship onto the planet with much resistance, the landing quite bumpy, the damage substantial (this is a neat day scene were we see the Jupiter saucer against the backdrop of blue sky and sun heading towards rocky cliffs, coming to rest out of our view). Searching for John and Robot, Will and Dr. Smith encounter Megazor and are made prisoners as well. A successful escape using a smoking weapon, John, Robot, and Will flee the location of the cell (holding them, including Smith, the Robot chained on the outside), but Smith remains to grab hold to a special Zon suit (a table of weapons were presented by Megazor to John, one he will be able to select for use during the hunt as a defense against the predator) being captured and used as bait to lure John back. So John will have to evade and use his cunning, running throughout a select portion of the planet with Megazor on his tail (Megazor has a special weapon that shoots dagger blades, John has the protective suit that comes in handy until walking under an acidic water fall that renders it useless). 

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Outside footage and a plot right out of "The Most Dangerous Game" add value to "Hunter's Moon", with a lot of the silliness (and Dr. Smith) relegated to the opening half of the episode. Smith contributes, as usual, to the woes of the Robinson party, but this is more tailor-made to Guy Williams' athleticism and his character's heroism. 

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While as a whole the episode has its similarities to the Lost in Space formula so established in its first two seasons. The Jupiter 2 needs to land so Professor John and Major West can make repairs but the planet ahead needs inspection. So John boards the Space Pod in order to land on the planet to see if it is habitable and monitor for potential dangers. When on the planet and unable to answer Don's hails, a rescue mission is planned and Smith does what he can to try and stop it because he wants to save his own hide. But, as irony will have it, John ends up in a similar situation when Smith is in trouble and needs help but he does the right thing. So the plot developments aren’t all that extraordinarily different from other episodes really.

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I can’t help but clamor for so much more than just ten minutes of action at Fox’s Malibu Ranch in the exciting Most Dangerous Game plot featured in the third season episode, Hunter’s Moon. I think the main hunt at the end really is why Hunter’s Moon is so admired by Lost in Space fans because it is such a breath of fresh air. It really is a gem for Guy Williams’ fans, too. The third season was such a rather bipolar Lost in Space year, offering both clunkers and an occasional winner. I have seen Hunter’s Moon even mentioned at the top of Lost in Space Best Episodes lists, earning rarified air with First Season classics, so it does appear to be fan favorite.

This was not a favorite of my uncle’s who didn’t record it off of TBS or Syfy when aired back in the 90s, so it wasn’t available in VHS copies featuring them when I borrowed Lost in Space from him as a teenager. I do recall catching the episode briefly on Syfy (when Sci-Fi Channel originally) one afternoon when over my uncle’s house, right during the hunt itself and was floored by what I was seeing. This was not what I was used to when journeying through the show throughout summers as a youth, traversing my way across the campy second season, one episode after another, stomaching the Questing Beasts and West of Marses. I really was surprised my uncle didn’t like it considering it gave us a brief respite from Smith’s tomfoolery and the Robot’s lamenting the “fever in his sensory banks”. When I picked up a volume of the third season on DVD featuring Hunter’s Moon, I was quite anticipating the opportunity to see it in full. 

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 Some of the familiar aliens from the Lost in Space canon actually are named by Megazor, so we are finally able to at least label them (although most are used in a number of different ways throughout the series). Considered by many series devotees as one of the best episodes of Lost in Space. Will tries to convince Megazor that hunting creatures for sport is wrong, learning that the Zon aliens are synthetically designed not born from reproduction.

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A definite Guy Williams episode, as this caters to the type of heroics John Robinson is often known for during the series, while still featuring Smith and Will investigating the planet. That viewfinder device Smith and Will use to look for John is quite a contraption. I was always amused at how these toys come and go. The rock monster that should have crushed Smith and Will but flees when a Zon guard shows up is pure comedy. And the gallery of monsters in the cages are yet again freed from the costume department. But it is those outside scenes that definitely gives this episode its value.