User Reviews

When LOS first hit the airwaves, I was nine years old and took the series very seriously. One of the most memorable stories from season one was the two-part THE KEEPER, starring the incomparable Michael Rennie. He was an intergalactic zookeeper who decided that Don and Judy would make a nice couple - in a cage. The end of the first hour, when monsters of all sorts emerge from the Keeper's ship, had me petrified.

So now, after more than 50 years, I got around to watching a story I don't remember from the first time around: "A Day at the Zoo." Now, instead of a tall, sinister alien we have the bumptious Leonard Stone (Mr. Beauregarde from WILLY WONKA), assisted by a cave boy (looking like a surfer dude in a fur). He wants to take the entire crew of the Jupiter 2 on a galactic tour. And he starts by scaring Penny with a sort of Mardi Gras face mask.

There is little suspense here. Most of the hour is played out on a dark soundstage where bits and pieces (jail cells) are illuminated as needed, thus saving a lot of money on set design. It's amusing to see how the Stone character decorated a girl's bedroom (very 60s!). Penny finally has more to do in this story, but as with previous Penny episodes, the writer has paired her up with an alien weirdo instead of a "real boy." LOS continues to be fairly romance-free, except when it comes to ridiculous trysts involving Smith and various aliens, or the Robot with a female robot.

As in THE KEEPER, Don and Judy are put on display - this time in a sitcom-style apartment - with aliens peering at them through a frosty window (could they indeed see anything)? But instead of playing this scene for terror, Judy lightens it up by making faces at her tormentors.

Season 3 started out reasonably strong. It appeared as if the "supporting" cast had insisted on more screen time (as opposed to a long bout of Smith/Will/Robot episodes in season 2). John Robinson even had a chance to flex his Zorro muscles a few times, and the women had a few more lines. But after the "space hippie" episode, it was all downhill, including this lightweight episode. Back to the "monster of the week" mentality.

This is the third episode of season 3 in which Irwin Allen allowed a new music score to be written, but once again it's a dud. Joining Steiner and Mullendore before him, the great orchestrator Alexander Courage delivers a flimsy 60s sitcom score, not at all in character with the music of the first season.

All of the sets were mostly sections used in previous episodes.

While the first half has the usual LIS silliness, there are some good moments from several of the regulars.

Marta Kristen looked like she enjoyed the moment in the cage where she stuck her thumbs in her ears and waggled her fingers at the outside crowd. The show needed more of that.

One blink-and-you-missed-it moment near the end - Dr Smith gives an over-sized lollipop to an alien child, who appeared to have been accompanied by his (its?) mother(?) and father(?).

These three aliens looked like a combination of Ferengi skulls, with Neelix's hair and Vulcan ears. They must have consumed most of this episodes budget.

I wonder if they gave other later series some ideas?

The episode is not a big deal but it is watchable. Farnun B is the owner of a space zoo and wants to put the Robinsons in a cage to put them on display. Dr. Smith manages to trick him and takes control of the zoo for his own benefit. Entertains fairly.

A Day at the Zoo is terrible and close to a Rating of a "1".

I elevating this from a "1" to a "2" only because of the "Abbott & Costello-type" hilarious exchange when Farnum first meets Will, The Robot and Dr. Smith. I won't spoil the joke- you'll have to watch it. A similar joke, with great results, was used in a different episode (I don't recall which).

Otherwise, there's not much to like, to sum it up: Take the great Season One (two-part) episode "The Keeper" and make it as cheap, campy and idiotic as possible.

The entire episode plays like a cheaply made dream-like fantasy. The Robot/ Mort scene is among the worst in any Lost in Space episode. Terrible. And it's hard to say if Farnum or Dr. Smith (in this one) is the bigger creepy fruit loop! The ending is beyond idiotic.

Prof Robinson is not in this at all. Mrs. Robinson only appears for a few moments. Good for them!

PS: The line when Penny is in her cage and examines one of the records and states "this is back in grandmother's time", was originally written as "The Beatles? This is back in grandmother's time".

Too bad that was not left as originally written.

Farnam (Leonard Stone), a conniving interstellar zoo-keeper, kidnaps the Robinsons (except an inexplicably absent John) with the intent of making them the main attractions in his cut-rate menagerie but when he (and Will) are inadvertently transported to a primitive world, the ever-mercenary Smith takes over as showman, much to Judy's disappointment and Major West's rage. This episode is a weak re-visiting of the season 2 two-parter 'The Keeper' with Michael Rennie as a celestial zoo-keeper. Stone is amusing as this week's 'eccentric' guest but Gary Tigerman is ridiculous as cave-boy Oggo (he looks like a clean-cut '60s teenager costumed as Fred Flintstone for Halloween). The budgetary (and creative) limitations that were becoming overwhelming in the third season continue to be on display: Irwin Allen recycles footage of a lizard dressed as a dinosaur (from his unnecessary and uninspired 1960 remake of 'The Lost World') that doesn't match the prop dragon-head that threatens Will and Farnam. The zoo-keeper is supposedly able to travel through space and time to gather specimens yet his 'zoo' seems to contain nothing other than the captive humans (at least we got a glimpse of the Keeper's vast complex of cages and some of his menagerie). By now, Smith (who essentially plans to enslave Don and Judy as exhibits for his own enrichment) was one of the show's money-makers (along with Will and the Robot), so you know that no matter what he does, the story will wind up as a 'forgive and forget', but it still beggars the imagination that Don, John, or Maureen hasn't stuffed him out the airlock by now.

Mr Farnum (Leonard Stone) wants to put the Robinsons in his space zoo.

LIS generally gets a few episode reviews so I was surprised to find out I am the first to review A Day At The Zoo. Granted, the second Farnum hour, Space Beauty, is actually better than this one...thanks to a wonderful score...but this first one could be worse.

The Robot is rather funny when put in the boxing ring, Stone's acting is generally witty and the plot gets more imaginative in the later sections.

I am not suggesting that this hour even comes close to the straight sci-fi magic of season one, but compared to other silly LIS episodes...this is better than some.

Guy Williams doesn't appear in this episode, and no explanation of why his character is absent here. However, this is a pretty good episode. Despite some blatantly silly elements, the story is actually quite intricate. Dr Smith is exceptionally devious here. He seemed to be somewhat removed from Will and the Robot (his usual companions). Angela Cartwright's performance here, I must admit, was quite good. The scene where she pleads with Oggo to help everyone find Will, is well done. If you've seen Leonard Stone in other things, it's hard to believe that the same actor could have played Farnum B. Another great scene is where lovely Judy makes faces at all those ugly aliens.