****Sneak Peek****
From the Lost in Space show files (Irwin Allen Papers Collection):
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From the Script:
(Shooting Final teleplay, November 2, 1965 draft)
(Shooting Final teleplay, November 2, 1965 draft)
– Don (calls after Smith): “And handle it carefully! That fuel can explode on contact with air!” Smith (not listening): “Never fear, Smith is here.”
– Robinson: “I’m waiting for an answer, son.” Will (reluctantly): “Well, Don asked Dr. Smith to get a new fuel pack. I guess it developed a leak.” Don: “Because he was careless.” Smith: “It was an accident due to a malfunctioning mechanism.” Robinson (deceptively mild): “I’m sure it was. I suggest we forget the incident.” Smith (with triumphant vindication): “You’re a most understanding man, Dr. Robinson.” Robinson: “And now let’s discuss the accident at the hydroponic garden.” Smith (startled): “Garden!?” Robinson: “Wasn’t that responsibility delegated to you this week?” Smith (fidgets nervously): “As a matter of fact, it was. But I’ve been so busy…” Robinson (finishing the thought): “… you haven’t had the time to give the garden the attention it deserves.” Smith (knows he’s in hot water): “That’s very true. I was just about to go over there when you arrived. If you’ll excuse me…” Robinson (his voice is hard): “You can save yourself the trip, Dr. Smith. We don’t have a garden anymore.” Will: “What happened to it?” Robinson (stone cold): “It died of neglect.”
– Penny: “It’s like Aladdin’s lamp. Only instead of rubbing it, you just think of what you want.” Will (in disgust): “We’re trying to find a scientific explanation and you’re giving us fairy tales. It’s a thought translator, that’s what it is.” Penny (fighting back): “The trouble with you, William Robinson, is you’ve got no imagination. I don’t care what you say, it’s still a wishing machine!” Smith (no attempt to hide his boredom): “Theories and conjecture – nonsense and jabberwocky. We have the gift horse, let us not examine its mouth too closely.”
– Robinson: “Now, let’s see – where should we start? (pretends to think hard) The Chariot should be as good a place as any. (beat) I suppose you’ve finished putting in the new repressor unit, Don?” Judy (off Don’s discomfort): “It’s my fault. I asked Don to take me for a walk.” Robinson: “But you were supposed to be working in the hydroponic garden. (off the dead silence) And, Will, you were supposed to be helping, Don. Isn’t that so, son? (off the group’s embarrassment) Does anyone care to make a comment? (again, silence) Then I will, and it can be said in three words – the cerebral machine!”
– Will: “I don’t understand, Dad. Why did the alien give us things and then decide to take them away?” Robinson: “Because Dr. Smith asked for too much, Will. He could have had just about anything he wanted, but like most people it wasn’t enough for him. He had to have more. When he tried to create a servant, the alien realized this.”
– Robinson: “I’m waiting for an answer, son.” Will (reluctantly): “Well, Don asked Dr. Smith to get a new fuel pack. I guess it developed a leak.” Don: “Because he was careless.” Smith: “It was an accident due to a malfunctioning mechanism.” Robinson (deceptively mild): “I’m sure it was. I suggest we forget the incident.” Smith (with triumphant vindication): “You’re a most understanding man, Dr. Robinson.” Robinson: “And now let’s discuss the accident at the hydroponic garden.” Smith (startled): “Garden!?” Robinson: “Wasn’t that responsibility delegated to you this week?” Smith (fidgets nervously): “As a matter of fact, it was. But I’ve been so busy…” Robinson (finishing the thought): “… you haven’t had the time to give the garden the attention it deserves.” Smith (knows he’s in hot water): “That’s very true. I was just about to go over there when you arrived. If you’ll excuse me…” Robinson (his voice is hard): “You can save yourself the trip, Dr. Smith. We don’t have a garden anymore.” Will: “What happened to it?” Robinson (stone cold): “It died of neglect.”
– Penny: “It’s like Aladdin’s lamp. Only instead of rubbing it, you just think of what you want.” Will (in disgust): “We’re trying to find a scientific explanation and you’re giving us fairy tales. It’s a thought translator, that’s what it is.” Penny (fighting back): “The trouble with you, William Robinson, is you’ve got no imagination. I don’t care what you say, it’s still a wishing machine!” Smith (no attempt to hide his boredom): “Theories and conjecture – nonsense and jabberwocky. We have the gift horse, let us not examine its mouth too closely.”
– Robinson: “Now, let’s see – where should we start? (pretends to think hard) The Chariot should be as good a place as any. (beat) I suppose you’ve finished putting in the new repressor unit, Don?” Judy (off Don’s discomfort): “It’s my fault. I asked Don to take me for a walk.” Robinson: “But you were supposed to be working in the hydroponic garden. (off the dead silence) And, Will, you were supposed to be helping, Don. Isn’t that so, son? (off the group’s embarrassment) Does anyone care to make a comment? (again, silence) Then I will, and it can be said in three words – the cerebral machine!”
– Will: “I don’t understand, Dad. Why did the alien give us things and then decide to take them away?” Robinson: “Because Dr. Smith asked for too much, Will. He could have had just about anything he wanted, but like most people it wasn’t enough for him. He had to have more. When he tried to create a servant, the alien realized this.”
Assessment:
“Wish Upon a Star” has it all – Smith being evicted and having to survive creatures of the night; the discovery of a haunted relic of an alien spaceship; the wonderment of a wish machine; a monster whose featureless plasticized face, elongated dagger-sharp fingers, eerie mummy-walk, and mournful moan cause sufficient chills; and a moral. As with “The Sky Is Falling,” this one actually has a theme.
“Wish Upon a Star” was a 1965 television equivalent to an Aesop’s Fable. The big payoff is when Smith asks for the one thing he should not have wished for – a slave. There are many smaller messages woven throughout the hour. John, the king Solomon in this story, is a symbol of wisdom. He says he is a pragmatic man and does not believe that you can get something from nothing – or, at least, something of true and lasting value. His lecture to Penny about lying and cheating is effective, as is her reaction to disappointing her father and coming to terms with how low she had sunk in his eyes. Will grows up a bit in this episode – and is rewarded in the end with one last apple. Smith does not grow. He is just happy to have survived. “It didn’t harm me!” he rejoices after returning the wish machine to the alien. In a future episode, Maureen will lament: “Poor Dr. Smith. He just doesn’t understand what moral integrity is.” And this is the moment in Lost in Space when Will, the lonely boy who has been in search of a friend, learns that he has someone who is the equivalent to a ten-year-old already in his company – Dr. Smith. The bonding between these two characters happens here.
As a counterpoint to all the positive themes, there is the shadowy, cinematic, black-and-white photography. The series may have never looked darker … and better.
When Lost in Space used its position as a prime time network TV series with roughly 20 million people tuning in each week, and bothered to make a statement, it was a true treasure.
“Wish Upon a Star” was a 1965 television equivalent to an Aesop’s Fable. The big payoff is when Smith asks for the one thing he should not have wished for – a slave. There are many smaller messages woven throughout the hour. John, the king Solomon in this story, is a symbol of wisdom. He says he is a pragmatic man and does not believe that you can get something from nothing – or, at least, something of true and lasting value. His lecture to Penny about lying and cheating is effective, as is her reaction to disappointing her father and coming to terms with how low she had sunk in his eyes. Will grows up a bit in this episode – and is rewarded in the end with one last apple. Smith does not grow. He is just happy to have survived. “It didn’t harm me!” he rejoices after returning the wish machine to the alien. In a future episode, Maureen will lament: “Poor Dr. Smith. He just doesn’t understand what moral integrity is.” And this is the moment in Lost in Space when Will, the lonely boy who has been in search of a friend, learns that he has someone who is the equivalent to a ten-year-old already in his company – Dr. Smith. The bonding between these two characters happens here.
As a counterpoint to all the positive themes, there is the shadowy, cinematic, black-and-white photography. The series may have never looked darker … and better.
When Lost in Space used its position as a prime time network TV series with roughly 20 million people tuning in each week, and bothered to make a statement, it was a true treasure.
Script:
Story Assignment 8458 (Production #8512)
Barney Slater’s story treatment, plus 1st and 2nd draft teleplays: September/October 1965.
Reformatted Mimeo Department Shooting Final teleplay: October 22, 1965.
Page revisions by Tony Wilson (on blue paper): October26.
Additional page revisions by Wilson (on pink paper): October 27.
Further revisions by Wilson (on green paper): October 29.
Further revisions by Wilson (on yellow paper): November 2.
Story Assignment 8458 (Production #8512)
Barney Slater’s story treatment, plus 1st and 2nd draft teleplays: September/October 1965.
Reformatted Mimeo Department Shooting Final teleplay: October 22, 1965.
Page revisions by Tony Wilson (on blue paper): October26.
Additional page revisions by Wilson (on pink paper): October 27.
Further revisions by Wilson (on green paper): October 29.
Further revisions by Wilson (on yellow paper): November 2.
“Wish Upon a Star” was Barney Slater’s first assignment for Lost in Space. Story development began while Buck Houghton was still producing. By the time Slater delivered his second and final draft of the script, Houghton was gone.
Tony Wilson and Irwin Allen were so pleased with Slater’s work that they immediately asked him to take over the writing of “The Sky Is Falling,” replacing Herman Groves. That episode was filmed and aired first, but it only came to fruition as a result of Slater’s excellent work here.
On October 20, after reading Barney Slater’s second draft teleplay, Irwin Allen wrote to Tony Wilson:
Tony Wilson and Irwin Allen were so pleased with Slater’s work that they immediately asked him to take over the writing of “The Sky Is Falling,” replacing Herman Groves. That episode was filmed and aired first, but it only came to fruition as a result of Slater’s excellent work here.
On October 20, after reading Barney Slater’s second draft teleplay, Irwin Allen wrote to Tony Wilson:
Page 35: Robinson should not ask Will if he has any ideas about the machine. This makes Robinson and Don look stupid. Will can, however, volunteer his ideas.
Page 35 thru Page 48, all of Act II, is mostly talk. It is good dialogue but could bog down unless the pace is kept up. Could some action or excitement be inserted? Page 56: Everyone seems to take their first sight of the Rubberoid for granted. Shouldn’t all present comment on this unusual creature’s presence. Page 61: Why not have Robinson, Don and Smith continue on to the site of the old space ship. Robinson and Don have never seen it and it would be logical for them to go there, led by the reluctant Smith, to return the box. Page 62: The Fourth Act should end as soon as the Rubberoid receives the box from Smith and the electrical current crackles between the two antennae. Make it a nervous fourth act curtain! |
All of these changes came about as a result of Allen’s notes and Wilson’s script polishing. Wilson’s script was the first version sent to CBS.
On October 25, 1965, regarding the October 22nd Shooting Final teleplay, Sam Taylor, Jr. of CBS Program Practices, wrote:
On October 25, 1965, regarding the October 22nd Shooting Final teleplay, Sam Taylor, Jr. of CBS Program Practices, wrote:
Per our discussion with Mr. Wilson, we understand the closing portion of the TAG sequence (where it appears WILL might be run over by the Chariot) will not be used, and that new script pages covering the end of the TAG sequence will be submitted.
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For the Teaser, which also set up and then resolved the cliffhanger from the previous episode, Will was removed from danger per the network’s request, and the rolling Chariot was taken out and replaced with Don risking his life to toss away the leaking fuel pack.
Pre-Production:
“Wish Upon a Star” was assigned the production number 8512, yet it was shot before “The Raft,” which carried the production number of 8511. “Wish Upon a Star” was merely ready to begin filming sooner, while “The Raft” was held up with rewrites and preproduction.
Director Sutton Roley returned for his second of four Lost in Space assignments, interspersed between three for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Regarding “Wish Upon a Star,” he said, “That was the best script I ever had for Lost in Space. It had some heart to it and had something to say about family values.” (SR-SL95)
This was quite high praise coming from Roley since one of the other episodes he would direct was “The Anti-Matter Man,” considered by many fans, as well as the cast members, as being the best episode of the third season.
Dawson Palmer played the “Rubberoid,” which was how the script identified the monster. This was his second job with Lost in Space, but the first time he was able to stand up straight. His previous role on the series was playing the “Bubble Creature” seen in “The Derelict.” That costume was a tight fit for Palmer, who was a former basketball player, and was 6 foot 7 and ¾ inches tall. You can see how tall the 29-year-old Palmer looked in “The Space Croppers,” when he played a human-like creature named Keel. Before that, however, Palmer would wear more monster suits for Lost in Space, playing the Bush Creature in “The Raft” and the Bog Monster in “Ghost in Space.”
Director Sutton Roley returned for his second of four Lost in Space assignments, interspersed between three for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Regarding “Wish Upon a Star,” he said, “That was the best script I ever had for Lost in Space. It had some heart to it and had something to say about family values.” (SR-SL95)
This was quite high praise coming from Roley since one of the other episodes he would direct was “The Anti-Matter Man,” considered by many fans, as well as the cast members, as being the best episode of the third season.
Dawson Palmer played the “Rubberoid,” which was how the script identified the monster. This was his second job with Lost in Space, but the first time he was able to stand up straight. His previous role on the series was playing the “Bubble Creature” seen in “The Derelict.” That costume was a tight fit for Palmer, who was a former basketball player, and was 6 foot 7 and ¾ inches tall. You can see how tall the 29-year-old Palmer looked in “The Space Croppers,” when he played a human-like creature named Keel. Before that, however, Palmer would wear more monster suits for Lost in Space, playing the Bush Creature in “The Raft” and the Bog Monster in “Ghost in Space.”
Production Diary:
Filmed October 27 – November 4, 1965 (7 days).
Filmed October 27 – November 4, 1965 (7 days).
Day 6: Wednesday, November 3. Only Williams, Goddard, Mumy and Harris were required, as they continued to work on Stage 6, with “Ext. & Int. Ghost Ship” (both “clean” and with “cobwebs”), and then a company move to Stage 5 for sequences in the lower deck of the Jupiter 2. The last shot was completed at 6:30 p.m., but the crew was kept until 8:30, preparing the set for the next day’s work.
“Wish Upon a Star” was supposed to finish but was now a full day behind. The crew, working late, would miss Lost in Space this night, as “Invaders from the Fifth Dimension,” the eighth episode to air on CBS, had its first broadcast. It was the only episode aired up to this point that would later be given a repeat telecast by the network.
“Wish Upon a Star” was supposed to finish but was now a full day behind. The crew, working late, would miss Lost in Space this night, as “Invaders from the Fifth Dimension,” the eighth episode to air on CBS, had its first broadcast. It was the only episode aired up to this point that would later be given a repeat telecast by the network.
Day 7: Thursday, November 4. Director Sobey Martin was scheduled to begin work on “The Raft,” but told the night before that he was being pushed back a full day. Sutton Roley, meanwhile, went into a seventh day of filming with the sequences needed on Stage 6 and the “ghost ship,” then returning to Stage 5 for pickup shots on the upper deck of the Jupiter 2. He worked until 7:30 p.m., when the episode was finally wrapped.
20th Century-Fox Head of Television William Self approved a budget of $130,980 for this episode. The final cost, however, climbed to $149,655. |
Post-Production:
Jack Gleason and Edit Team 3 handled the cutting, following their work on “The Hungry Sea” and “Invaders from the Fifth Dimension.”
The score was made up of tracked music, and again demonstrates the talent of supervising music editor Leonard A. Engel and music editor Joseph Rudy. Note how pieces of music from other episodes are perfectly matched with newer footage here. To name only three: John Williams’ “floating music” from the sequences in “The Reluctant Stowaway” when the children and Dr. Smith experienced weightlessness, now used as Dr. Smith glides around the area where he plans to wish into existence a replica of the Jupiter 2; Herman Stein’s cowboy brawl music, which accompanied the fight between Jimmy Hapgood and Don West in “Welcome Stranger,” used here when Will and Penny wrestle for possession of the wish machine; and Stein’s hauntingly lovely melody first heard in “There Were Giants in the Earth,” was now utilized during the scenes when John has heart-to-heart talks with his family.
The score was made up of tracked music, and again demonstrates the talent of supervising music editor Leonard A. Engel and music editor Joseph Rudy. Note how pieces of music from other episodes are perfectly matched with newer footage here. To name only three: John Williams’ “floating music” from the sequences in “The Reluctant Stowaway” when the children and Dr. Smith experienced weightlessness, now used as Dr. Smith glides around the area where he plans to wish into existence a replica of the Jupiter 2; Herman Stein’s cowboy brawl music, which accompanied the fight between Jimmy Hapgood and Don West in “Welcome Stranger,” used here when Will and Penny wrestle for possession of the wish machine; and Stein’s hauntingly lovely melody first heard in “There Were Giants in the Earth,” was now utilized during the scenes when John has heart-to-heart talks with his family.
Release / Reaction:
(CBS premiere broadcast: Wednesday, November 24, 1965)
(Network repeat airing: Wednesday, September 7, 1966)
(CBS premiere broadcast: Wednesday, November 24, 1965)
(Network repeat airing: Wednesday, September 7, 1966)
When “Wish Upon a Star” first aired on CBS, it was the night before Thanksgiving. Most Americans had the next day off. On the radio, the Supremes had the most popular song with “I Hear a Symphony.” In the stores, the soundtrack album from The Sound of Music, with Angela Cartwright among those singing, was the best-selling LP in the nation. In the movie houses, King Rat, starring George Segal, was still top film. On the New York Times Best Sellers List, Ian Fleming’s The Man with the Golden Gun was in the Top Ten. On the cover of TV Guide, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. of The F.B.I. Inside was a two-page article on Marta Kristen entitled “Norwegian Cinderella.” She was described as “a slim, wide-eyed, flaxen-haired girl who looks like a combination of Mia Farrow and Tuesday Weld."
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Kristen talked about how she had been born Birgit Annalisa Rusanen in Norway during the final days of World War II, the daughter of a German soldier whom she would never meet, then placed in a Norwegian orphanage before being adopted by a Detroit couple and brought to America at the age of four. She told how she was taught to speak English and then had “the good luck to be an adaptable extrovert.” A career in show business followed with all roads leading to Lost in Space.
“Wish Upon a Star” offered newspapers a picture that was too good to ignore – Dr. Smith wearing the wish machine – something that looked like a space age dunce cap. As a result, Lost in Space got free promotion in countless newspapers across the United States and Canada. The photo caption read: “WISHFUL THINKING – Wishes come true when Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris) wears a thinking cap from a cerebral machine he finds in a ghost spaceship, on Lost in Space Wednesday…”
Also during the week, a syndicated article on Jonathan Harris called “Though Harris Is a Hit, He Admits He’s TV Stage-Struck” made the rounds to newspapers, including the November 20 edition of The Times Record, in Troy, New York. Hollywood correspondent Harold Stern wrote:
Also during the week, a syndicated article on Jonathan Harris called “Though Harris Is a Hit, He Admits He’s TV Stage-Struck” made the rounds to newspapers, including the November 20 edition of The Times Record, in Troy, New York. Hollywood correspondent Harold Stern wrote:
There’s only one thing wrong with Jonathan Harris’s performance as the evil Dr. Zachary Smith on the CBS-TV Lost in Space series. He’s so charming, you refuse to accept him as a villain. In real life, he isn’t even close to the wonderful characterization of Mr. Philips he contributed in the late, lamented Bill Dana Show. His energy and effectiveness are almost beyond belief. He is a quicksilver conversationalist and one just doesn’t interrupt.
“I’m stage struck,” he said as we began to make out each other’s faces in the stygian gloom enveloping the “festive” Hollywood tavern where we met. “I love the word ‘actor.’ I still get nervous. Isn’t that wonderful? It’s standing in the wings waiting to go on, opening night with a death wish and then going on and giving the best performance of your life. I still get that feeling, even in TV. And you go out and do it, and you feel it isn’t right or it isn’t working, you blow it deliberately and force them to shoot it over.” “Being an unemployed actor is disaster! Going to work every day is kicks. You learn something vital from each show. That’s kicks for an old dog like me. And you can watch other actors and learn things not to do.” “I never had any formal training. I learned by watching…. I’ve done so many of the shows where you read the script and you say, ‘Oh, they’re kidding!’ But, they’re not. And if you do the show, you must do your best. And for all that money, come on, you know you’ll do your usual first-class job. It’s your responsibility to your audience and to those important to you. Always do your best. I learned that in the theater. It’s a question of pride in what you do. If you don’t have it, you can’t act. Never apologize for what you do or for the script. Just do it.” “On the set I’m referred to as ‘Himself.’ It really swings when I’m there. Our producer Irwin Allen is called ‘The Emperor’ – the great ‘Emperor Irwin, the First.’ His energy is frightening, all the more so now that he knows he has a huge hit because of me. He’s so inspired, he gets 28 hours of work into every day.” |
“TV Key-notes,” appearing in the Galveston Daily News, said:
This fantasy series comes up with inventive gimmicks to whet the appetites of youngsters. In this one, there’s a new creature called Rubberoid, and a magic machine that can grant wishes. The only time the machine creates trouble is when greedy, villainous Dr. Smith asks for too many wishes.
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A.C. Nielsen’s 30-City Ratings survey for November 24, 1965 awarded the time period victory to Lost in Space:
Network / Program: Rating Audience Share:
7:30 – 8 p.m.: ABC: Ozzie and Harriet 12.5 23.1% CBS: Lost in Space 21.0 38.7% NBC: The Virginian 14.3 26.4% 8 – 8:30 p.m.: ABC: The Patty Duke Show 13.3 23.2% CBS: Lost in Space 21.8 38.0% NBC: The Virginian 16.1 28.0% |
Nielsen’s National Index for the week ending November 21, as presented in the December 7, 1965 issue of Daily Variety, ranked the Top 40 primetime programs (out of more than 80) as follows:
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Sometimes wishes do come true. Among the top third of all prime time programs, Lost in Space was assured a mid-season pickup.
Just one of 30 reasons why you should own a copy of Irwin Allen's Lost in Space: The Authorized Biography of a Classic Sci-Fi Series, Volume One by Marc Cushman -- read a sample chapter for just one of the First Season episodes. Then watch the episode again. And then imagine doing that 29 more times (including pilot film).
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