Interstellar Colony Probe
Web site by: Phil Broad

Studio Miniature:
This is a selection of shots of a 48 inch diameter "Jupiter II" on the pilot episode launch stand and a few stills from the series.

Full Scale Sets:
This collection of photos includes shots of the full scale mock-up, interior sets and "set stills" taken of the pilot episode sets.

Links to other LIS Sites:
These are a few of the many excellent pages to be found on the subject of Lost in Space.

Lost in Space

After Alan B. Shepards stunning sub orbital Mercury flight and the orbital Mercury flights that would follow there was intense interest in things having to do with space exploration.  Highly popular magazines like "Life" and "National Geographic" kept the public in formed about events at NASA and there naturally followed an interest in what the future would bring.  Science Fiction, with rare exceptions, was considered the realm of children and the immature but by the the middle 60s it was becoming apparent that "science fiction" was rapidly becoming "science fact".  These developments opened the door for serious programs about space exploration and the two main entrants would become classics, "Lost in Space" and "Star Trek".  Both of these shows were preceded by "Men into Space" which was produced by the same independent team that would later make the genre classic "Outer Limits".  "Men into Space", even though it had USAF cooperation, was limited by restricted budgets and the ever present "Air Force approval" which could take a good script and turn it into a lifeless parade because some part did not fit the "Air Force" public image.  The show did not last and it wouldn't be until the big studios developed sufficient interest to commit large budgets (for their day) that a quality science fiction show would come to the "little screen".  Both "Lost in Space" and "Star Trek" would start out as very serious adventure/dramas about humans exploring distant worlds.  "Lost in Space" would depict a time closer to the audiences day and "Star Trek" would present a time hundreds of years into the future.  The two productions paralleled each other in almost every way, they both started out serious, they both went through budget cuts and they both succumbed to changing pop culture trends and ultimately became parodies of themselves.  However "Lost in Space" had something going for it as a plot device that "Star Trek" could never have, they weren't just a group of people exploring space, they were also a "nuclear family".  If someone was in trouble, it wasn't just a crewman, it was a son, a daughter, a mother or father.  This would make the potential for drama that much greater as the bonds between the characters were that much stronger.  Sadly the show would soon turn away from the adventure/drama format and become a pop culture sit-com of limited durability.  Like all pop culture fads, once the fad was over, the interest in its products evaporates.  If "Lost in Space" had remained true to its original themes it might well have been as popular today as its companion show "Star Trek".  Hind sight is truly 20/20.

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