Don West (Netflix)

"But how did, how did you..."
"'Cause I'm a badass, princess."
"You're a badass princess."
- Judy Robinson and Don West^[1]

Don West is a side character on the Netflix series Lost in Space.

Personality & Character[]

Don is very fond of chickens, and his motto of leaving no man behind seems to cover livestock as well. He very much cares about money, but at times, he has shown a softer side for the Robinsons and of course, his chicken Debbie. He was with John when the Jupiter 4 exploded. Like John, he survived, and in "Danger, Will Robinson," he was rescued by a harpoon.

He is not a colonist, but rather a well-paid roughneck, part of a sub-class of highly skilled, but blue collar contractors. He also smuggles in luxury goods on the side. A roguish exterior hides a heart of gold, and if not for the crash, he would have returned home and set up himself and his family for life. He is cynical about the colonization of space, but the crash forces him to work together with others to survive, finding a family he never thought he'd have with the Robinsons.

He does not like to be noticed and avoids standing out because he thinks it'll only cause him more work and trouble. His stated core principles include "never raise your hand," "always sit in the back" and "never, ever be too good at anything."^[2]

Spending time with the Robinsons has brought out the best in Don West. He begins taking a position of responsibility and is willing to risk his own neck to help others. He ultimately proves an invaluable asset to the 24th Colonist Group and so valued by the Robinsons that they consider him a member of their family.

Skills & abilities[]

Don is a mechanic and understands the mechanics of the Jupiter spacecraft. He is also a talented smuggler and pilot. Over time, he develops strong leadership skills as well the ability to make the kinds of judgments that allow others to trust him in a leadership position.

He claims to have scored an "A+" on his cognitive recovery time, which is normally measured in seconds, though Maureen Robinson couldn't find a result for him.^[3]

History[]

Don West Grabs Debbie the Chicken — Don grabbing Debbie the chicken from the crash site

He, Tam Roughneck and "Dr. Smith" survived the wreck of the Jupiter 18 spacecraft, but Roughneck was badly injured and passed away. Outside the spacecraft, he grabbed a chicken named Debbie that he credited with saving his life. He refused to give Roughneck a burial, leaving it to "Dr. Smith" and the two set out on a journey to look for other survivors. They discovered Angela Goddard, who was in a catatonic state. They took shelter from a storm in a cave. "Dr. Smith" ended up taking the only remaining flare and escaping the situation by hitching a ride with the Robinson family. Don and Angela ended up taking refuge with the Watanabe family.^[4]

He leads a mission to the Jupiter 18 spacecraft to get fuel in exchange for compensation. This puts him at odds with Judy Robinson, who doesn't like his mercenary attitude. He is nearly trapped and killed aboard the vessel when it crashes. He discovers proof of the secret of "Dr. Smith"'s true identity, but is unable to salvage it, save a single photo, which he shows to Judy.^[1]

He feels like he keeps doing the right thing, but doesn't get anything for it. Despite this, he acquiesces to Judy's request to accompany her father on the dangerous launch of the Jupiter 4, but says that he wants a medal, or even his own holiday, "Don West Appreciation Day."^[3]

He admits to John he has few friends and family back on Earth. He denied being an orphan when questioned by John, and acknowledged his parents were still alive and that he was abandoned.^[5]

He ends up together with the Robinsons on the Jupiter 2 when it is separated from the rest of the 24th Mission and ends up on water planet. Along with the rest of her family, he receives a copy of Penny Robinson's memoir, Lost in Space. He joins the Robinsons as they turn the Jupiter 2 into a sort of sailboat to venture across the planet.^[6]

Happy Go Lucky Don West — "You guys?! I'm back!"

When he arrives on the amber planet and rejoins the maintenance crew of the group, he is not given a warm welcome. He holds out his hands and says "surprise!" then says that he knows they all missed him, only to be punched by one of the workers, Andre. Another worker, Ava, then helps him up, commenting that there was a pool going to see who would punch him first and that she was too slow. He then says that he thought they were a brotherhood, or sisterhood. She calls him a deserter, which he says is a harsh term. He tells her that he was there in the Resolute, helping when things went crazy and was held hostage against his will. He tells her that he's her top mechanic and made her life easier and she tells him to make her life easier then and there by fixing a malfunctioning Chariot.^[7]

When Penny Robinson, Dr. Smith, Vijay Dhar and a teacher named Mr. Jackson are trapped in an area of the Resolute that the vessel's crew is planning to explode away to get rid of a rust virus, he comes up with a plan to save them. In order to convince the vessel's captain, Kamal, to go along with the plan, however, he is forced to reveal that he is a smuggler.^[8]

He later aids the Robinsons both as they conduct a mutiny aboard the vessel ("Resolute") and later when Judy Robinson comes up with a plan to save the 97 children of the Resolute when a fleet of alien robots comes to attack the vessel.^[9]

Don West's ongoing efforts to aid the others do not go unnoticed. One year later, he is the head of an entire engineering among those left behind after the children were all sent away to Alpha Centauri along with Ava. The two of them are in charge of shift rotations. His chicken, Debbie, has been cooped up in a cage alongside the livestock chickens, but he makes the time to pay her regular visits.^[10]

Don goes on a dangerous mission with John in the hopes of finding the remains of SAR in order to power an alien engine to get back to Alpha Centauri, only for them to discover that SAR may still be alive. In the end, however, they end up making contact with Scarecrow.^[11]

Don talks with Scarecrow about once having fixed a toaster, claiming that he's trying to establish a bond with him like Will did with the Robot. The team comes up with a plan to fight off a group of alien Robots to get an engine, but Don isn't impressed with Scarecrow's plan to take on two Robots while the rest of them take on ten. "You bring in a new guy, everything changes," he quips. Later, when John expresses that Scarecrow isn't helping them just to be a good Samaritan, Don agrees that there's something Scarecrow wants from them in exchange, that it's how the world works. John and Don then put into effect a plan to try to distract the Robots while Maureen and Scarecrow claim the engine, only to discover that the Robots have been one step ahead of them the entire time.^[12]

With the Robots having captured Scarecrow, the Alpha Centauri colonists find themselves in imminent danger. Knowing that the Robots are coming, they begin the process of completely scrubbing all hard drives and everything aboard the vessel in order to keep the Robots from learning the location of Alpha Centauri. During this process, Don starts raging, complaining to Ava and asking what the point of everything was for a future that was never going to happen. She tells him that hope was the point. To everyone's surprise, however, the kids arrive with a risky plan to rescue everyone from the Robots and reach Alpha Centauri. A renewed Don directs everyone to follow the orders of Judy Robinson, instructing them that they've assigned transports for everyone who doesn't have their own Jupiter. He and Debbie join the Robinsons in the Jupiter 2, only for SAR to try to follow them through the rift. They end up diverting to an alien planet, hurtling into the atmosphere fast.^[13]

Upon crashing on the planet, Don is separated from the others. He finds himself chasing through the alien wilderness after Debbie, trying to stop her from eating an unusual worm. He is then approached by SAR. He closes his eyes, bracing himself for the end, but to his surprise SAR simply shoots a red beam at him, scanning him, then walks away.^[14] Don is later reunited with the others and tells them what happen. His story is similar to something that they just discovered: that when the astronaut Grant Kelly was in stasis, one of the Robots scanned him as well. From this, they piece together that the Robots first learned the location of Earth simply by scanning Grant and that by scanning Don, they have learned the location of Alpha Centauri, as he is the only member of their group who has ever actually been to Alpha Centauri previously. When John says that they need to get to Alpha Centauri to warn the others, Don asks what good a warning is if there's nothing they can do to stop the Robots. Later, Don argues against taking off, feeling that they should do something to stop SAR from taking off instead, but he is overruled as there simply isn't enough time.

Will is attacked by SAR, impaled through the heart when he tries to reason with him.^[15] When the Jupiter 2 team arrives on Alpha Centauri, Will is rushed into surgery, but Don isn't allowed in, not legally being a family member. Later, when the Robot is suspected of attacking and killing Alistair Hastings, Victor Dhar and John lead a mission to deal with him. Fearing that Victor and John will attack the Robot, Judy and Penny decide on a risky plan to intercept the Robot first and seek Don's help to do it. He tells them that he's an officer now and won't engage in that sort of illicit behavior, but Penny wheedles him by saying that if he doesn't help, they'll just go do it on their own.

The group proceeds to the Alpha Centauri's dam, Don using his knowledge of the area to find a faster route, explaining that using the right terrain they can actually reach the dam on foot faster than Victor and John are able to reach it by Chariot. They then enter via a secret entrance that Don has been using as a wine cellar. Upon entry, they discover the shocking truth: several of the Robots are already there and are working to sabotage the dam's turbines in order to prevent the colony from powering a defense shield that would block the rest of the Robots from getting in. Furthermore, they framed Will's Robot in an attempt to deflect suspicion. Don starts stripping down, preparing to swim to try to reach the governor that powers the turbines, the plan being to sacrifice one turbine in order to save the others. Judy, however, says that she's doing it instead, that she's the only one qualified. Penny points out that she nearly died swimming in this manner once before and Don says that it's okay to do it for family. "Don, what do you think you are?" Judy asks him.

Judy heads off to swim to try to sabotage the generator, but ends up being attacked by the Robots. She is rescued by John, but Don stops John from going after the Robot, explaining that the Robot was framed. The group then watches as Robot engages the other Robots and though he is successful in fighting them off, it comes at the cost of all of the turbines being sabotaged.^[16]

The group returns to the control center, where Don gives his expert advice that they simply don't have the time to get the turbines back up and running before the Robots make it through Alpha Centauri's atmosphere and attack. He then agrees Maureen's plan to use the colony's Jupiter spacecrafts to generate spin in order to power the defense shield. As the plan goes into action, Don oversees the grounding of the Jupiters and getting them all plugged in to power the shield, chastising a fellow engineer for attempting to "plug the in into the out," which would cause the Jupiters to become electrified. Later, however, he suggests this exact idea when the group needs to hide an alien engine from the Robots, electrifying the surface of one of the Jupiters and hiding inside it. While the Robinsons hide inside, he works to do just this, then, having done all he can, finds cover. Later, however, he joins the others in playing an alien signal to suppress SAR, who is finally defeated when he again attempts to attack Will by stabbing him in the right, only to end up having Robot's programming transferred into him. As the conflict comes to an end, Don throws back his head and exhales in relief, watching Maureen hug John and saying that he could use a hug too.

With the conflict between the Robots and humanity resolved, Don works together with Maureen to build a new spaceship to replace the Resolute, the Solidarity, assisted by some of the Robots. He joins the Robinsons for dinner, but runs a bit late, stating that Debbie got into a fight with a goat. As everyone chats companionably, Debbie's frequent clucking punctuates the conversation.^[17]

Appearances[]

2018 TV series	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Season 1	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Season 2	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Season 3	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔

Notes & trivia[]

Before the Jupiter is cleared for takeoff Don gives Judy "Debbie," his chicken.
Tam Roughneck was his friend who died in Jupiter 18's crash. He and June Harris survive.
While Don was originally meant to be in his early twenties, he says in Contact that he was side-tracked for most of his twenties, making it sound like he is older.
While in other shows and movies Judy and Don end up together the directors and Writers went a different direction. So you want see Don in a relationship.