Lost in Space (TV Series) The Ghost Planet (1966) User Reviews

The Ghost Planet

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 23 November 2011]

I must say that "The Ghost Planet" was surprisingly fun and the time just flew by. Maybe because the plot is a little different than usual. It concerns a planet that sends off a female voice summoning the Jupiter 2 to land, eventually forcing the ship to do so. Obviously John and Don are concerned as to what awaits them on the planet, trying to get answers from the voice about their whereabouts, unable to get a response. Dr. Smith believes this planet is Earth when EVERYTHING proves quite to the contrary. He goes to greet who he believes will be a human welcoming party, instead corresponding with creepy robotic beings, promising a treasure to him in exchange for the Robinson party's weapons—obviously, the nincompoop will comply, placing the Robinson party in danger. What happens when Robot seems to have turned traitor, forcing, at the command of the planet's "cybernetic giant brain" leader, Dr. Smith and Will Robinson into manual labor on an assembly line, concludes this episode of Lost in Space. It does seem like the Robinsons are done for considering they have lost their weapons, three of their party are missing, and the Jupiter 2 has been rendered motionless thanks to the planet robots' energy draining device, but all may not be as it seems as Robot might have a plan… If you like seeing Smith on an assembly line, a giant talking brain placing Robot on trial for taking orders from humans, and a deadly missile with a homing signal firing right for the Jupiter 2 attempting to retreat from the "ghost planet", this might be a treat. I especially liked the eerie nature of the planet, the absence of life, the malevolent presence of the sinister robots, and the female voice of the one robot (even when she laughs at Smith, there's this dark intent that comes through, even when she speaks in a seemingly hospitable fashion, you can just feel something menacing underneath). Not bad at all. I just wish more of the Lost in Space episodes of the second season could elicit the same qualities present in "The Ghost Planet". There's a nice scene, properly building suspense (what awaits anyone who steps off the ship and into the "welcoming area", 115?), where the Jupiter 2 lands and John gets Don to flash a light to determine what lies in front of them, a fog a brewing as a steal door opens, a red carpet unfolding as if to entice the Robinson party to come forward. I flat love scenes like this that create a shroud of mystery regarding possible unknown hostile forces lying in wait. It is nice to see Robot as the hero, when all hope seems lost. I guess it appears, according to this episode, that the major weapons (laser rifles) were lost because we never see John or Don gain control of them once Dr. Smith unwisely dumps them right in the lap of the robot minions of the giant brain leader.

Reasonably Good Season Two Episode

[bigfrankie-43464 · 7/10 · 9 December 2022]

The Ghost Planet is a reasonably good Season Two episode. There is good balance between all members.

Dr. Smith's passion for going back to earth allows him to be enticed by a voice that directs the Jupiter Two to land at a location that is clearly not earth.

In spite of all the evidence, Dr. Smith insists they are on earth and creates trouble, as usual. Somehow, he concludes this barren destination is earth and he trades weapons for his own personal gain.

Some of the props are cheap (as we've come to expect), but the overall story and balance is good. We get to see The Robot as the hero as he saves the Robinsons.

This is a very solid script, a rating of 5.6, and ranked at #16 on the young season..

[jimbotc2006 · 8/10 · 28 September 2012]

Well, it is the famous "Gate double one five" (GATE 115) episode. The entire script for this episode is out there at some web site somewhere. Back when I was doing the detailed episode script and commentaries, Ray D. (one of his five favorite episodes of all) and David G. took the script (with permission, of course) and uploaded it at their LISMEMORIES web site. David also added screen grabs to follow along. It actually looks and works very nicely. I was just trying to find it, but it would not pull up. The site may be under construction.

Anyway..this is episode #3 on the young Season Two, and things are played highly straight so far. There is no hint of what is to come not far down the road. Peter Packer's script for "The Ghost Planet" is all excellently written dialog. The entire episode is very solid, although this is more of a middle-of-the-road episode for the season. Nothing really stands out as fantastic, but in that same regard, absolutely nothing is cringe-worthy or near terrible. Probably the closest thing to cringe-worthy is how easily the alien cyborgs are stopped..with a simple karate chop..and they sound like hollow tin cans lol. I have always considered this episode to be your 'basic' LOST IN SPACE episode. Some people love it. I do not think anyone could 'hate' it.

This is the very first episode that we see the infamous 'yellow landing circle' that the Jupiter 2 lands in. From here on out, every time the Jupiter 2 makes a 'soft landing,' with its landing legs extended, they are landing in the (stock footage, go figure) yellow circle. However, every other time would be way over in the final Season Three.

We see Professor John Robinson and Major West in their white Ts in this one, a B&W Season One regularity, and always a cool treat.

Peter Packer has now done five of the first nine episode anniversaries on the season, and although this is a solid script, it is also the 'weakest' (if you will) sister of the trio of anniversary episodes this week. We know that B&W Season One is superior, and we also know that yesterday's anniversary episode, Season Three's "Hunter's Moon" is a real goodie..even though it has more silly moments than the more straight forward "The Ghost Planet."

Overall, "The Ghost Planet" is an official 5.6 for me, and ranked at #16 out of the thirty colored Season Two episodes..just a notch and a tad below last week's "Wild Adventure." The two episodes are extremely close rivalries.

LosT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~jim~~~~~~~~~

iN

SpacE

The Voice Artists + The Look + The Humour + The Cliff-Hanger

[StuOz · 25 May 2007]

The Jupiter 2 is in deep space when a female voice (Sue England) is heard on the ship's radio. She is from "Space Control" and for unexplained reasons she takes control of the Jupiter 2 and lands it on a ghost planet...that Dr Smith thinks is earth.

The teaser is filled with strikingly colourful special effects of the exploding out-of-control Jupiter 2 and sexy sounding Sue England on the ship's radio. What a great introduction! But well into act one it becomes rather obvious that the tone is funny-without-being-too-silly which is just fine with me. If only LIS year two remained this way, with no too-silly Space Vikings and Treasure Of The Lost Planet.

All in all, The Ghost Planet is a sight and sound wonder where all the regular cast sparkle with funny lines and the voice work from England and Fox makes you wonder where all the good voice artists are in this century?

Added note: the missile chase cliff-hanger at the end is the best cliff-hanger to appear in ANY Irwin Allen series and it makes you understand that the ghost planet was not as light hearted as we thought it was.

Mildly intriguing but nonsensical, just like the title

[jamesrupert2014 · 7/10 · 12 September 2022]

Lured by a fetching female voice on the space-radio, the ever-credulous Dr. Smith diverts the Jupiter 2 to a planet that he (but no one else) believes is Earth, only to discover a strange alien civilization with (to no surprise) ulterior motives. Like many LiS episodes, this one doesn't make a lot of sense but there are some interesting, albeit frugal, special effects shots of the Jupiter 2 in action (images that will be repurposed in future episodes (like the 'dead aliens' who appear to be props from every previous Irwin Allen production)). While a 'planet' is involved, there are no 'ghosts' (real or imagined), so the provenance of the title is a mystery. The odd, shuffling, bubble-faced technicolor aliens are entertainingly ludicrous.

🏆 ONE Of the Better Season 2 Episodes

[floridacalisurferboy · 9/10 · 13 October 2022]

👻GHOST PLANET... is one of the Better atmospheric episodes from LOST IN SPACE second season... It has all its normal season 2 share of humor, BUT it also has human-hating robots who work for a big robot brain... Even our LIS Robot becomes one of the human haters 😆 A spooky female robot makes all the demands and still seems so well mannered and charming... Dr. Smith tempted by his lust for power and wealth once again puts everyone in danger.. But this time Dr. Smith is the one who gets tricked and becomes a human slave... One highlight is when our beloved robot comes into slave room threatening electricity bolts if Smith doesn't work faster... Smith says "Oh please please my dear friend, my lifelong companion, give me some word of hope, some small ray of light in my hopeless situation"... The robot says "NEVER FEAR, SMITH IS HERE" (and begins to laugh mockingly at Smith) lol.

At last back to the ground!!!

[elo-equipamentos · 7/10 · 25 April 2019]

In the meantime they stayed travelling through space the storyline was too compressed in a minimal spaceship's place that was impossible to create something interesting, now back on the ground Dr. Smith and his fellows are back on the real business, Smith trying misleading again with Robot and Will, they landed in a unknown planet alike to Earth attracts by some force, there Smith lured by his greedy in a huge golden treasure offered to him, so he conceives a plan to get all Jupiter 2's weapons in change of gold and to be back on Earth rich and powerful, quite often he was wrong and was put on factory to slave work for good, the unbeatable Dr. Smith does again!!

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5