User Reviews

Other than the earliest episodes when Dr. Smith would remain behind (Don froze him) and the Robinson party went off to rescue John Robinson, I believe, 'The Lost Civilization' is the only episode to not have Dr. Smith appear extensively.

In fact, it would be well over 46 and a half minutes into the program before we finally see Dr. Smith.

In the previous episode, 'All That Glitters', Don, Professor Robinson and Will (and the Robot) had ventured off to find a fresh water source.

All That Glitters deals with Dr. Smith and the women and an escaped convict.

Lost Civilization is the other side of the group.

All in all, it watches like a Flash Gordon episode. Royal Dano even looks like Ming the Merciless.

We have a young princess that Will must awaken with a kiss.

Then we are told the underground civilization is buried under rock, along with the princess, who elected to remain behind and go back to sleep to wait for another kiss.

An odd conclusion. She has no guarantee that will ever take place.

Equally odd for John Robinson to drive away, thinking this is all for the best? With the little princess girl buried down there? Well, even still, it stands as one of the few, if not the only, Smith-less episodes, but unfortunately it also watches like the menfolk going camping, which most of these women-less episodes do.

The menfolk take the chariot to search for a water source. Of course, there's a fishing hole within walking distance from the J2 and we know that there's an inland sea. But they go hunting for water anyway. It's unclear how they plan to get this water back to the J2 since they don't have any containers. And they make it clear that if they don't find water, they're all gonna die. But they still go hunting for water anyway.

Now this particular planet has an odd orbit that means that the temperatures go up above the 120s. The intrepid castaways never go hunting for water when the temperatures are moderate. They always wait until just before the season of fiery death. Then they get into their all-Pyrex car and go water hunting.

Stock chariot footage from the meteor shower episode ensues, this time cut with stock footage of lava to denote a volcano. After this episode of volcanism, the robot announces that they're driving over an underground water source. So they promptly drive the chariot right up a hill because when you're drilling for water, you want maximum elevation.

The water turns out to be brackish, so they get back into the Pyrex car. When it gets really hot (because Dr. S has stolen the AC parts) they drive into a cave. Will requests and receives permission to wander aimlessly through an unexplored cave system per standard Robinson parenting. There is a planet-quake, exactly like the last time that they drove into a cave. The quake is bad enough to toss Will and the robot down a mysterious pit which looks like a circular well full of debris from the top and a cave system from the bottom. Dr. R and Maj. W fail to notice the planet quake.

After a few twists and turns, Will and the robot find themselves on Gilligan's Island, only underground and furnished and populated by old Flash Gordon sets and costumes. Dr. R and Maj. W follow them down the hole. During another quake, a boulder rolls toward them, so Dr. R throws Maj. W in the path of the rock while hiding himself under a ledge. Note to Maj. W: back off a little on the Judy thing.

Prodded by the robot, Will kisses a sleeping child. When she awakens, she turns out to be a princess with Ferengi teeth who learned her lines phonetically. They all go to the underground kingdom where Will is supposed to marry the princess so that her major domo Ming the Merciless can unleash a thousand generations of mini-dress clad warriors to conquer the universe, starting with earth. The warriors wield full height weapons, because nothing's easier to shoot than a cross between a floor lamp and a coat rack.

At this point, the show turns into a Benny Hill episode with all the characters chasing each other from the throne room to the torture chamber to the instrument room several times, but sadly without Yakety Sax accompaniment. Eventually, Ming fries, the princess goes back to sleep and the castaways somehow get a two-ton robot out of a vertical pit.

Look, I'm not gonna beat around the bush, the love and adulation I had for this show as a child is just gone. "The Lost Civilization" is the third episode of the Space Family Robinson sci-fi saga I have watched since returning to the series in quite a while (since I was a youth), and my feelings for the show simply aren't what they used to be. That happens when we grow up, I suppose. I think this series will always have an appeal to kids, maybe not the savvier ones, and perhaps its camp nature will keep old fans (or fans of camp television) coming back for more. That said, I remembered having fond feelings for "The Lost Civilization". If anything, it doesn't feature, thank goodness, Dr. Smith until the very end, giving us a relief from his theatrics and exaggerated dramatics. The plot, wardrobe, and sets reek of Flash Gordon, though. Okay, Professor John Robinson, Major Don West, Will, and Robot are driving the chariot across the planet in search of a water supply. Did you think Dr. Smith wouldn't cause some sort of problem in the plot since his presence is absent? Think again as the scumbag swiped a major part needed to air condition the chariot! Yep, don't count out Dr. Smith to not lead the Robinsons into some perilous situation, as he always winds up causing trouble somehow. Thankfully, the chariot withstands a lava volcanic shower and Robot points out a cave that will allow John and Don (Guy Williams and Mark Goddard) to escape the hot sun to make repairs to the air conditioning system. But Will (Bill Mumy) and Robot wander into the cave too far, fall into a deep hole, encounter an underground oasis, a watering hole, and a young child princess asleep, awaiting her prince to kiss and awaken her. A loaded plot that keeps going—the princess (Kym Karath) has a "Major Domo" (the great Royal Dano who is costumed almost identical to Meng the Merciless) with plans to release an army to conquer the universe, Earth the first planet to be destroyed once the warriors are released from cryogenic chambers. The sinister plot, as preposterous as it sounds, explains the reasoning behind Earth being the first target: because Will is an Earthling and found his way to the princess, his planet is to be eliminated just for the fact he's from there! This planet has frequent quakes that lead to a giant boulder falling on Don's leg, yet he doesn't have a broken bone, just a strain and some bruises! Oh, and the quakes actually *benefit* John when he seems doomed to be killed by Dano's soldiers. Somehow Will and Robot fall a distance in a hole with both surviving without a scratch. Oh, not to mention, John and Don seem willing to leave the princess behind even as quakes threaten to topple her! Plot contrivances galore, but I guess if you are a kid they won't matter. But, boy, are they glaring watching them as an adult! Others might have mentioned the Flash Gordon similarities, and they are correct as this episode looks and feels like a rip from one of those old serials, with our characters occupying a plot that disrupts yet another attempt by conquerors to set in motion a plan to rule the universe.

Smith is not in the bulk of this episode, which really hurts it. Why does the robot never zap these people to help the Robinsons? And why don't they even ask him to? There was also water down in that cave and they walk away like they don't care even though their lives depend on it? This was fairly boring and extremely implausible, even for Lost in Space. The one bright spot is the interaction between Smith and the Robot at the end.

The male members of the group, and the Robot, travel to an underground world.

The doomsday teaser is a total knockout but the rest of the hour lacks that punch. The Flash-Gordon-serial-filmed-in-submarine-Seaview-sets feel of this hour does not really do it for me.

Even when watched in childhood I was a little bothered by the little girl being left down below...after all we all know what happens to this planet in three episodes down the track?

After spending the whole hour with John, Don and Will...the Robot finally meets up with Dr Smith at the end and says to him "everyone has someone, I have only you". What a nice moment, the highlight of the hour in fact.

The Lost Civilization has some good parts, but wanders around and has major holes in the plot. It starts out as an excellent Si-Fi adventure and then sandwiches in a non-sensical fantasy. It is an un-even episode at best.

Prof Robinson, Major West, Will and The Robot take the Chariot in search of water in a heat wave. They end-up taking refuge in a cave to avoid a meteor storm. When Prof Robinson and Major West are working on the Chariot, Will and The Robot go exploring. So far the story line works well.

An earthquake sends Will (and the Robot) down a pit. Apparently Prof Robinson and Major West don't feel the quake (which would seem impossible). They go looking for Will and The Robot and end-up finding them in some underground world with a princess. About at the point where the princess is discovered is where the plot goes sideways into fantasy.

She is the leader of the hostile aliens. The scenes with the hostile aliens are subpar. They finally escape as everything collapses.

On the plus side, Dr. Smith does not dominate this one, since he is absent for almost most of it.