Irwin Allen's Lost in Space: The Authorized Biography of a Classic Sci-Fi Series, Volume 2

by Marc Cushman, Mark Alfred (Editor), Angela Cartwright (Foreword)

Lost in Space was the first primetime weekly television 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 exciting new book series, you are 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 creator/producer Irwin Allen and his staff; production schedules; budgets; fan letters; more than 500 rare behind-the-scene images in each volume; and the TV ratings for every episode. Now, in Volume 2, the story continues with Lost in Space's second season and a switch to color. But it has a tough new rival in space - NBC-TV's Star Trek. On Wednesday nights opposite Space, the red-hot Batman provides formidable competition in the ratings game. At the same time, CBS continues to pressure Allen to make the series more cheaply and change it from science fiction, action/adventure to camp/fantasy. Remarkably, the most dangerous monsters of Lost in Space lurked behind the scenes ... and wore business suits. "Just as the Blu-ray edition of Lost in Space is the very finest reproduction of the series, Marc Cushman's three volumes are the very finest explanation of the creation of the classic series, Lost in Space." - Mark Goddard. "Complete, thorough and comprehensive ... Marc dug deep into the show files and covered every aspect of the production." - Angela Cartwright. "Thanks to Marc Cushman's tenacity and literary skill, you can now discover more than you ever could before about Lost in Space. 'Never fear, Cushman's here!' This guy has seriously walked the walk and now he's talking the talk." - Bill Mumy.

Genres: Nonfiction

514 pages, Paperback

Published July 16, 2017

Reviews

[Beverly Diehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extensive and thorough doesn't quite cover this wonderful book. Season 2 of LIS includes the advent of color filming to the show, bright oranges and greens and reds. It also brought a gradual shift from a family-oriented series, to primarily the Jonathan Harris show, with the Robot (Bob May) and Billy Mumy as sidekicks.

Without villainizing Harris, this volume explains why and how the shift came about, and its effects on the rest of the underutilized cast. As I did with the previous volume, I read a chapter, then watched each episode it detailed, while pedaling away on my exercise bike. 29 episodes x 50 minutes per episode means a lot of bike time!

I enjoyed both the book and the show, though I was reminded of the things that disappointed me, as a child, and even more as an adult. Not enough screen time or storylines for the women!! *cough* *sexism*

Very much looking forward to Volume 3, both the book, and the series, to see what matches up with my memories. If you were too young, or yet unborn when the Jupiter went Lost in Space, it's well worth reading and catching up on, as this series had a major effect on future television series and movies.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exhaustively in depth overview of the making of 'Lost in Space' Season Two.

An intriguing read.

[Mhorg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Same as volume one

Even as a kid, I found this show silly. I did love the technology and the robot (as was common with any Allen show). Like the show, these books could be better. Filled with a lot of, at times, unnecessary minutae, the big flaw are the terrible synopsis of each episode.