Wesley Britton's Blog - Posts Tagged "voyage-to-the-bottom-of-the-sea"

Note: I’ve been touting the work of Marc Cushman for some time now. In 2007, I was happy to help plug his wonderful and long overdue history of I Spy. Anyone who knows anything about the original Star Trek knows his exhaustive three volume series, These are the Voyages, are the penultimate histories of those classic three years.

Now, Marc takes his skills in research and investigation to explore Lost in Space. Volume One digs into the creation of the series, reviews its background, and, well, I’ll let Marc speak for himself:

Irwin Allen's Lost in Space: The Authorized Biography of a Classic Sci-Fi Series, Volume One documents the early career of Irwin Allen. It is a true rags-to-riches story, as Allen ventures from a humble beginning in the Bronx to his later incarnations in Hollywood as an entertainment journalist, radio and television host, a literary agent – all before becoming a successful motion picture producer and director. After winning an Academy Award in 1954, Allen entered the fantasy genre with films such as The Lost World and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. He then rolled the dice again with a move into television, creating and producing Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and, one year later, Lost in Space.

Lost in Space was the first primetime weekly series to take viewers into outer space’s strange new alien worlds – something the networks believed impossible on a TV budget and schedule. In this book you’ll be whisked back in time to the production offices, writers’ conferences, and soundstages for the making of this iconic series. Included are hundreds of memos between Allen and his staff; production schedules; budgets; fan letters; more than 300 rare behind-the-scene images; and the TV ratings for every episode.

And that’s just what you’ll find in Volume One!

Marc Cushman is a WGA screenwriter, a TV and film director/producer, and author. As a screenwriter he has written for Star Trek: the Next Generation; Star Trek Continues; Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction and Diagnosis Murder, as well as such feature films as In the Eyes of a Killer and the award-winning Desperately Seeking Paul McCartney. Marc co-authored the book I Spy: A History and Episode Guide to the Groundbreaking Television Series. In 2014, Marc received a Special Achievement Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films for his three-book set These are the Voyages, Star Trek: TOS, which comprises one book for each original Star Trek season.


Ordering info at:

https://www.amazon.com/Irwin-Allens-L...

Irwin Allen's Lost in Space: The Authorized Biography of a Classic Sci-Fi Series, Volume 1
Marc Cushman

Irwin Allen's Lost in Space: The Authorized Biography of a Classic Sci-Fi Series, Volume 1
Marc Cushman
Publisher: Jacob Brown Media Group; 1 edition (August 1, 2016)
ISBN-10: 0692750185
ISBN-13: 978-0692750186
https://www.amazon.com/Irwin-Allens-L...


This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on July 19, 2017:
goo.gl/ywuyvA

Once again, media historian Marc Cushman pulls out his magnifying glass to explore a television classic just like he did with I Spy and his definitive three volume These Are the Voyages tomes on the original Star Trek.

Once again, Cushman doesn’t leave the smallest of stones unturned. He begins his exhaustive book by fleshing out the pre-Lost in Space career of producer/ director Irwin Allen, most notably his films released throughout the 1950s. One spotlighted film, naturally, is Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea which Allen re-imagined into his first sci fi television series. Of course, Cushman gives each of the main stars of Lost in Space the same in-depth treatment, as when he offers a detailed history of June Lockhart’s years on Lassie and an even more detailed review of Guy Williams tenure as Zorro, including the ratings numbers for the show’s run, comparing it to its competition on other networks.

Cushman demonstrates how workaholic Allen saw himself as a P.T. Barnum figure who offered escapist sci fi full of action and spectacle without the more cerebral tones of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, or Star Trek. Still, many of Lost in Space’s better episodes bordered on being morality tales or fables. When Cushman dives into his title subject, the minutia continues when he provides a day-by-day history of the show’s pre-production, filming, and post-production. He provides the contributions of each director, writer, and many of the guest stars. He shares the cost for each episode, including the overruns. He presents the often bizarre notes from network censors. It’s hard to believe that, in those days, the thought of two adults, even a married couple, showing more than casual affection on television could arouse fears in the CBS Standards and Practices office that children could be disturbed by any such displays. In fact, the Standards censors seemed preoccupied with anything and everything that might disturb a child.

Cushman provides no shortage of announcements and commentary culled from trade periodicals, especially Variety, and a wealth of reviews from national newspapers. Week by week, we see how Lost in Space fared against its competition during its first year, which was ABC’s The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and The Patty Duke Show and NBC’s The Virginian. That was until a little hit called Batman took over the Nelson family’s ABC time slot at 7:30 on Wednesdays.

But the book is far more than a compilation and synthesis of documents and figures. We also get insights into the creative process, as in showing how actor Jonathan Harris, who played evil Doctor Zachary Smith, helped altar and shape his dialogue in the show as well as adding a needed comic dimension to his character.

Clearly, only a diehard fan base will want to read this Authorized Biography from cover to cover. Other readers, such as TV sci fi fans or those curious about television history or production, would likely enjoy skimming through the sections that focus on discussions of their area of interest. All libraries should absolutely shelve this book. All readers should enjoy the bounty of photographs that, on their own, make the book worth the price of admission. And this is but volume one—the first of three.