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"Space Creature" | Episodes of Lost in Space | "A Day at the Zoo"


In order to make important repairs, the Jupiter 2 sets down on an alien planet. As they do so, they mistakenly drag a nearby space capsule down to the planet with them. This act catches the attention of Zeta Galaxy Law Enforcement Bureau because the capsule contains something very dangerous.

Will notices that the Robot is very depressed and takes him exploring in the hopes of cheering him up. As they walk, they find the crashed capsule, but Will assumes it is just old space junk and goes away. A female voice speaks to the Robot from within the capsule and asks for his help. She pleads for the Robot to dig her free, and he does.

Two representatives from Zeta Law Enforcement Bureau approach John and Don to ask about the capsule, and John tells them honestly that he has not seen it. The officers do not believe him and they threaten the Robinsons, forcing the family to flee to safety inside the spaceship. The force field protects the Jupiter 2 from being damaged, but John begins to worry when the officers wait outside the ship all night long.

During the night, the Robot sneaks out of the ship and goes to a cave. Within the cave is a female robot, the fallen capsule’s passenger. She is evil, but the Robot is drawn to her all the same. She convinces him to reassemble her and to help her regain her strength.

When morning comes, the two officers attack the Jupiter 2 again and the Robinsons fight back. When the officers leave for a while, the Robinsons notice that the Robot is not on board the ship. Will is worried and goes to look for his friend. He finds the Robot in the cave with his female companion. The female robot wants to kill Will, but the Robot will not let her. The female robot then demands that the Robot get her an energizer, so the Robot goes to the Jupiter 2 to get one. The Robot tells John that he will trade Will’s freedom for the energizer, and John reluctantly gives it to him. Will is released and the Robot bids him good-bye, intending never to see the Robinsons again.

Back at the Jupiter 2, the Robinson family is very unhappy because their force field will not work without an energizer and they are now vulnerable to attack. The officers show up along with their leader, who tells the Robinsons about the contents of the missing capsule. He says the female robot in it is evil and dangerous, and that she once slaughtered an entire world. The Leader asks the Robinsons to help him find the evil robot before she kills again.

After hearing this, Will runs back to the cave to warn the Robot that his new flame is an evil murderer. The female robot says Will is a liar, and demands that the Robot prove his love and loyalty by killing the boy. Will steals the energizer and runs away. This angers the female robot, and she leaves the cave, determined to kill all the Robinsons.

John, Don and the space enforcers find the female robot just as she is about to kill Will. She steals back the energizer and is about to shoot the boy, but the Robot protects Will. The female robot is infuriated and kills the space enforcers. She says that she will come to the Jupiter 2 that night to kill the rest, and then retreats back to her cave.

The Robot rejoins his family at the Jupiter 2 as they plan their defence. John and Don construct a disintegrator with which they can destroy the female robot. When she arrives at their campsite, she urges the Robot to rejoin her and help her on her murderous quest of universal domination. The Robot refuses and uses the disintegrator to destroy her. Finally everyone is safe.

In the final scene Will asks where the Robot is, saying he's been gone for hours. Just then the Robot appears, with the female robot in tow. The Robot explains that he reconstituted the female robot using the remains of her ionic particles, and in the process, removed all of her evil programming. As the episode closes the female robot offers a bouquet of flowers to Will.

Background Information[]

  • The Alien Leader is played by Ron Gans, who is best remembered as the voice of countless exploitation movie trailers in the 1970s. Particularly those from Roger Corman's New World Pictures.
  • The alien space station footage was originally from the 1958 science fiction movie War of the Satellites.
  • In a minor continuity error, after the Robot throws a set of switches to deactivate the force field in front of the sleeping Dr. Smith, the camera then follows the Robot over to the hatch. The next shot shows Dr. Smith stirring in his sleep with the switches re-activated.
  • Why the Robinsons need a highly complex Robot to act as a jumper cable in the Cosmic Energy Grid instead of a simple piece of conducting wire is never fully explained.
  • Zetan Galaxy Law Enforcement sends two androids to the Robinson camp.  They have the same silver faced make-up and silver costumes used other Irwin Allen television productions.  It was never made clear if these androids were the same alien species as, for example, "Kidnapped in Space.".
  • The Jupiter touchdown on the planet is anything but smooth -- it bounces twice before settling. And why didn't they put down the landing gear before landing?
  • No environmental tests were conducted before Will was allowed to venture out of the spaceship.
  • How do the Robinsons always manage to find alien planets that can support life but have no developed civilizations on them?
  • Where did the Robot get the shovel?
  • The androids walk up and the Robinsons act completely unsurprised, even though the Robot said there were no alien beings on the planet.
  • Why do androids need space suits and space helmets?
  • The alien space capsule crashed near the Jupiter 2 and yet neither John nor Don saw or heard it? Also, since the capsule is nearby, why are the androids unable to pick it up on their sensors?
  • There is a lack of continuity regarding the force field. In some episodes it's activated from outside on the force field unit itself, and in other episodes if's activated from inside the ship. (In this episode it's turned on first from inside the ship and then later turned off outside the ship.) Also, in some episodes it's said that objects can pass through the force field from the inside, but in this episode they speak of having to lower the force field in order to shoot the androids from the Jupiter 2.
  • If the androids are solar powered then they should be weakest at night, so why does John wait until daylight to shoot at them?
  • Will hears John asking where the space capsule is, so why doesn't Will tell them where it is?
  • If the laser cannon is so unwieldy, how can it be practical for battle?
  • Why did they leave the laser cannon outside unattended, and also leave the force field turned off?
  • When the Robot is threatening John and Don and demanding the energizer, why don't they just pull his power pack and then go searching for Will?
  • After the Robot has obtained the energizer and is heading back to the cave, he moves off-screen and is followed by his shadow, which suddenly disappears.
  • Where did the movable stone door on the cave come from?
  • After the female robot tries to kill Will and the androids and their alien leader disappear, it's not entirely clear that the Robot has returned completely to being on the side of the Robinsons. Furthermore after the treason he has committed it's surprising there's no lecture given to him by the Robinsons and no punishment. Moreover, how do they know they can trust him? Yet nothing is said (except a lecture from Dr. Smith) and they let him on in their plans to search for the female robot, as well as the search itself.
  • When Will, Dr. Smith, and the Robot are searching for the female robot, why don't they check the cave where she had been before, since that is the most logical place for her to be?
  • If the female Robot is bent on destroying the Robinson party why does she give them so much time to get in place at their weapons? Moreover, why does she come and stand on the disintegrator grid? And why does she give the Robot time to get his claws in place for the cosmic energy grid to destroy her?
  • If the female Robot was aware she was standing on a disintegrator, why didn’t she move?
  • If the Robot had the knowledge of how to make his girlfriend “nice” by omitting her “evil components,” why didn’t he do so when putting her together the first time around?
  • What happened to the female robot after Robot remade her?
  • The female robot is the same robot used in "The Ghost Planet," except painted blue instead of red.
  • In the latter part of the episode the alien from the Zeta Galaxy Law Enforcement Bureau tries to reason with the Robinsons to convince them to tell him where the lost capsule is. Yet at the beginning of the episode he was bent on killing the Robinsons if they didn't cooperate. Why the change of heart? And why doesn't he try to diplomatic approach from the beginning?

Gallery[]

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