LOST IN SPACE Lost— 50 Years Ago

The original Lost in Space TV series (1965 to 1968) was the brainchild of producer/director Irwin Allen, who helmed a number of sci-fi projects and disaster movies in the 1960s and ‘70s, including The Towering Inferno, one of the top box office films of 1974. This publicity photo shows cast members (left to right, back) Mark Goddard, June Lockhart, Guy Williams, Jonathan Harris, and Marta Kristen, with Billy Mumy and Angela Cartwright in front. The Robot was played by Bob May and voiced by Dick Tufeld. It’s safe to say the 2018 reboot on Netflix is light years removed on the VFX and SFX fronts.

According to IMDb, credits for series visual effects went to L.B. Abbott, Howard Lydecker and Jack Polito. The prolific Abbott won two Special Achievement Awards from the Academy and two Oscars, one in 1971 for Tora! Tora! Tora! (shared with A.D. Flowers) and in 1968 for Doctor Dolittle. Lydecker was nominated for two Oscars for special effects, one for 1942’s Flying Tigers and one for 1940’s Women in War (shared with William Bradford, Bud Thackery and Herbert Norsch).