LOST IN SPACE: Unaired Pilot Episode / Irwin Allen Productions - 1965

Here's an interesting item to check out... The original pilot episode, which never aired on TV, did not feature either the Robot or Dr. Smith, and were added later by 20th Century Fox, Dr. Smith as an antagonist. And, much of this original footage was reused in the first four televised episodes! In this story, the Robinsons, Earth's first family of outer space, head out to colonize Alpha Centauri in their flying saucer, Gemini 12, but crash land on an uncharted planet where they deal with its challenges and dangers.

This was quite an elaborate production with lots of workers and action in the command center before the Robinson family and Dr. West head off into the old deep, dark void.

Like in THIS ISLAND EARTH, the Robinsons are sealed in large glass (or, plastic) tubes to manage their trip through space, computers are in charge of running the ship, instead of the Robot.

In deep space, meteors pummel the ship, causing the electrical system to short circuit as the crew are still in hibernation. Luckily, the computer finally deploys the fire extinguishers, saving the day for the gang!

Still on automatic guidance, the Gemini 12 crash lands on a planet. The crew members all survive but the ship will not function now...

John and Don go exploring the hills and discover some giant footprints! It isn't long before the cyclops monster that left the prints shows up and starts causing a few tons of problems!

Will has just fixed the radio telescope and asks mom to check it out. She looks around and sees the giant monster near the location where John and Don are working on a weather device.

The men are stuck in in a cave and the thing wants them bad. Will runs to help his dad and Don, and they all escape before being stomped by the mighty beast!!

The gang take the Chariot, their all-terrain, amphibious tracked vehicle, out and encounter the monster yet again. This time though, Don uses his laser blaster to put and end to the creature!

They drive past the dead monster and catch a glimpse of its big ugly puss!

Later, the crew hides in a cave during an electrical storm. Once inside they discover an ancient underground maze of corridors. Everyone gets separated and Will is looking for Penny.

Will finds Penny but they get locked in a room that has dead alien bodies inside!..

In their last adventure, they take the Chariot into an ocean, looking for a more tropical area on the planet... Locations were filmed at the amazing Trona Pinnacles, in Ridgecrest, California.

Anyway, they get caught in a whirlpool and Don is almost lost before they escape the vortex and finally make their way to solid ground again.

The gang find a tropical area and stop to have a ceremony to thank the lord for their safe arrival... Only thing is, there are two STAR TREK type aliens watching them, a set up for the next episode. So, tune in on Wednesday for another cool post, here, at The Dungeon!!