The Sci-Fi Shows Of Irwin Allen

[Memphremagog]

Promo pic of Richard Basehart and David Hedison from VOYAGE

[Mike Scott]

Reminds me of the Krell lab.

[Memphremagog]

Comic book tie-ins to the various series:

[ChristineBCW]

These were series we intro'd to the kids at their ages 4-6-8, and I don't think any of them lasted more than a few episodes. 

LOST IN SPACE's transition into Dr. Smith & Will Robinson was incredibly tiresome, I thought, and begged for the rest of the cast to participate far more.  (And certainly, someone beat Dr. Smith's whiny self for at least half of each episode.  Puh-leeze!) 

TIME TUNNEL seemed like a banal premise but was delivered in a fairly interesting way, although I tended to like QUANTUM LEAP a bit more. 

VOYAGE, we never made it thru Season 1.  "Not enough monsters, Mommy..."  Yes.  I felt the same. 

And finally LAND OF THE GIANTS was intro'd after we'd watched ATTACK OF PUPPET PEOPLE (1956, John Agar, John Hoyt), DR. CYCLOPS (1940, Albert Dekker and a set of seriously thick glasses) and THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (1957, Grant Williams). 

LAND did not fare well in comparison.  Was it the dull premise that had difficulty lasting more than 90 minutes, much less several episodes?  Or was it truly "worse"?  I don't know.  When we watch one of those films, we usually end up watching the other two within a few days, but no one asks for LAND OF GIANTS episodes.

So, I don't have high ratings for Irwin Allen BUT they seem like extravagant challenges for sets and costume design - which seems to be delivered.  But I can imagine, yes, budgets were always an albatross.  When those first-few-episode promises aren't delivered over time, it's tough for any series to proceed.

[Mike Scott]

VOYAGE, we never made it thru Season 1.  "Not enough monsters, Mommy..."  Yes.  I felt the same. 

You left too soon! "Monster of the Week" started with season 2.

I think you would have more affection for (or at least fonder memories of) the Allen shows, if you had been a kid/teen in the '60s.

[Memphremagog]

You left too soon! "Monster of the Week" started with season 2.

I think you would have more affection for (or at least fonder memories of) the Allen shows, if you had been a kid/teen in the '60s.

Absolutely!

[Sean]

I get "Voyage" on MeTV.  Getting into it.

[ChristineBCW]

I think you would have more affection for (or at least fonder memories of) the Allen shows, if you had been a kid/teen in the '60s.

This is a strong possibility because childhoods are generally filled with peers to share entertainment.

[Sean]

My fave was Lost in Space.

[Memphremagog]

The ties that bind: Allen's shows had cast members from his other shows appear as guest stars from time to time..

Bob Dowdell of VOYAGE guest starred in the LAND OF THE GIANTS, "Brainwash" episode(1969)..
Del Monroe of VOYAGE guest starred as Ott, in the TIME TUNNEL episode, "The Kidnappers"(1967)..
Paul Trinka of VOYAGE guest starred twice on LAND OF THE GIANTS, first in "Underground"(1968) and later in "Genius At Work"(1969)..
Arch Whiting of VOYAGE guest starred in LAND OF THE GIANTS in the "Terror-Go-Round"(1968) episode..

June Lockhart of LOST guest starred a year prior to it's debut, in the VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA episode, "Ghost of Moby Dick"(1964)..
Jonathan Harris of LOST, guest starred in the LAND OF THE GIANTS episode, "Pay the Piper"(1970)..
Bob May of LOST, guest starred in the TIME TUNNEL episode, "The Kidnappers"(1967)..

James Darren of TIME TUNNEL, guest starred in the VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA episode, "The Mechanical Man"(1966)..
Robert Colbert of TIME TUNNEL, guest starred in the LAND OF THE GIANTS episode, "Sabotage"(1969)..
Lee Meriwether of TIME TUNNEL, guest starred in the LAND episode, "Rescue"(1969)..
Whit Bissell of TIME, guest starred in the VOYAGE episode, "The Peacemaker"(1965) and in the LAND episode, "Secret City Of Limbo"(1970)..
John Zaremba of TIME, guest starred on VOYAGE twice, in the episodes, "Eleven Days Til Zero(1964)" and "Time Bomb"(1965) as well as LAND, in the episode, "Deadly Pawn"(1969)..

Don Matheson of LAND, guest starred in LOST in the episodes, "The Sky Is Falling"(1965) and "Revolt Of the Androids"(1967), as well as the VOYAGE episode, "Deadly Amphibians"(1967)..
Heather Young of LAND, guest starred in the TIME TUNNEL episode, "Town Of Terror"(1967)..

[Memphremagog]

A gallery of monsters:

This thing appeared both on VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA and LOST IN SPACE..





As did this guy..





The Cyclops was unique to LOST IN SPACE, however..



The Cosmic Monster first appeared on LIS, and then as the Yeti on VOYAGE..





The giant spider was a LIS semi-regular and even turned up under the sea(!) for a VOYAGE episode..



This guy got around as well, appearing in VOYAGE, LOST and TIME TUNNEL all within one season:

[Sean]

Loved the Cyclops on LIS!!

[Mike Scott]

The ties that bind: Allen's shows had cast members from his other shows appear as guest stars from time to time..

Wow! I don't remember all of the cast crossover! 

You have the monster crossovers. I wonder if there was much set/props crossover?

[Sean]

Wow! I don't remember all of the cast crossover! 

You have the monster crossovers. I wonder if there was much set/props crossover?

Must have been plenty. 

[Lunkenstein]

While going through our LOST IN SPACE dvds a few years back, I remember recognizing a famous 'head' on a creature in a cave in Season 1 episode's 'The Challenge'. It was the head of THE FLY (1958) being recycled. I was thrilled seeing it used again. That episode also featured Michael Ansara and a young Kurt Russell.