No Place to Hide (Lost in Space)

No Place to Hide is the title of the 1965 pilot episode produced for CBS to promote the television series Lost in Space. The episode was directed by Irwin Allen.^[1] It was not broadcast for the first time until 1997, which is also the year of the fictional mission's liftoff. The theme music for this pilot was taken from the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Use of footage

The pilot features a single-deck, sub-lightspeed, interstellar, flying saucer spacecraft. Having no airlock, no seats for the pilot, very few controls at the front of the craft, no elevator, no landing gear, and a crew of just six. The ship did carry the familiar Chariot all-terrain vehicle, and the Jet Pack flying device.^[2] Nearly all of the footage from the pilot found its way into the first five episodes of the weekly series. Although there are obvious inconsistencies, the incorporation was nevertheless creatively carried out.^[3]

Differences from later series

The craft was originally called the Gemini 12, and postulated to undertake a century-long flight to Alpha Centauri (with the crew in suspended animation). The passengers were stellar in scholastic accomplishment: the children were prodigies, Don West was a doctor of geology, and both John and Maureen Robinson's titles were also "Doctor". The pilot contained no irritating Dr Smith, nor the robot,^[4] nor scary monsters,^[5] but is about the "happy family" adventures of the Robinsons.^[6] The co-operative, friendly family in the pilot were about as different as it is possible to be from the dysfunctional space family depicted in the 1998 spin-off motion picture.

Plot

The spacecraft was damaged by a meteor storm shortly after liftoff; the resulting damage sent it out of control, and it was presumed lost in space. The disabled craft crashed on a habitable planet, and after the crash controlled regeneration awoke the six crewmembers from 3 years in suspended animation. After 6 months on the planet, John Robinson was hopeful of making repairs and resuming the flight, but they then began to encounter climatic problems of a serious nature, requiring them to abandon the spacecraft and hurry south to avoid a severe freeze-up. After encountering a giant cyclops, discovering an abandoned castle in a cave, and proceeding with the perilous crossing of an inland sea... they reached a tropical sanctuary, where aliens observed them.

Release

The pilot was released as part of the VHS box set Lost in Space The Collector's edition in February 1995.^[7]

References