Another Great, Scarce, Out of Print, Original Japanese Laserdisc Box Set!

LOST IN SPACE

TV Series
Volume 3

CLV Bilingual
Digital Sound
Japanese Import Laserdisc

Original Japanese Issue!
Excellent Condition
Catalog # PILF-2105

Lost in Space Volume 3

Irwin Allen's Lost in Space classic TV series on  8 LD's from Pioneer covering the first 16 episodes of the second season.  Color, CLV, NTSC. LDs were made for the Japanese market but will play just the same on any US LD player. The first two seasons have been aired in Japan and were dubbed at that time, so the LDs are bilingual, English on the right, and Japanese on the left audio channel (select which your hear with your LD player and a single language comes out of both sides),  Each box comes with a full color booklet, blueprints and lots of great material. Was not released in the US in LD format, will not be issued in DVD anytime soon.

There is an entire filmography for Allen presented in the wonderful booklet that accompanies the Japanese import release on the FoxVideo label, Lost in Space Box Vol. 3 (PILF-2105, �41,200), and although it is in Japanese, the titles and dates are in English. The box itself is also wonderful and fans will find it difficult to resist.

The science-fiction TV series, which was based upon the novel, Swiss Family Robinson , and the comic book, Space Family Robinson , with more than a passing similarity to Forbidden Planet tossed in for good measure. The box contains eight platters.

The booklet is also terrific, even though the text is mostly in Japanese. It includes schematics for the show's vehicles, filmographies for the cast and production personnel, and a segment on the Japanese magazine tie-ins from the Sixties. Each episode runs 52 minutes.

Lost in Space Box Vol.3 (PILF2105, �41200), is another eight platter collection, featuring the first sixteen episodes from the show's second season, all of which are in color. For the most part the picture looks great, with accurate fleshtones and bright, rich hues. There is a bit of wear on a couple of the episodes, but the source material is well-preserved overall. The programs are in English on one digital channel and Japanese on the other, with Japanese subtitles popping up once in a while to cover dialog passages that were not dubbed. Each 50 minute episode appears on a separate side with full opening and closing credits. In addition to the sixteen episodes, the last side contains a brief clip of the original Japanese credit sequence, which differed significantly from the American credits.

A booklet also comes with the disc and while it is in Japanese, a section on Lost in Space toys and a section on the robot contain a number of interesting illustrations. The second season began with the heroes' ship lifting off from the planet they had been stuck on for most of the first season, but after tooling around in space for a couple episodes they crash land on another planet, where they stay for the portion of the second season represented by the box set. There are other, more subtle differences in the show on these episodes. Initially, the robot was closely aligned with Jonathan Harris' character, but in these he is more likely to antagonize Harris' character. Secondly, Harris himself is built up even further, and almost every episode seems to revolve around his schemes and transgressions.

The episodes themselves are a mixed bag. A few hold to the internal logic of the show and are reasonably enjoyable. Others do not compute, so to speak, and must be tolerated for the sake of the performances and the marvelously tacky production design. Although they take off in the end, most of Blastoff into Space , which guest stars Strother Martin, is about a prospector, replete with donkey, whose activities distract Harris' character from preparing the ship for exodus. Vitina Marcus is a floating green siren in Wild Adventure , distracting Harris' character and stealing the ship's fuel in the space bound episode. Marcus also reappears later on in the amusing The Girl from the Green Dimension , romancing Harris' character and stealing a little more fuel. Except for Harris, the male members of the cast are absent for most of The Golden Man , a successful episode in which a 'good looking' alien and a weird looking alien battle one another in mortal combat and vie for the sympathy of the heroes.

The nearly forgotten Wally Cox gives an enjoyable performance in several roles on Forbidden World , in which the heroes encounter a hermit who appears to pose a threat. The heroes encounter robotic aliens who enslave humans to help put together parts in The Ghost Planet . The main alien looks like a fully heated bag of Jiffy Pop that has sprouted tentacles. A small traveling circus stops by in Space Circus . The ringmaster discovers that Billy Mumy's character has a psychic link with one of his troupe and plots to carry him off. A recap episode, The Prisoners of Space is actually one of the better efforts, where several of the heroes are brought before a tribunal of aliens, who eventually determine, of course, that it is Harris' character who has caused all the trouble. In another entertaining episode, The Android Machine , the heroes come across a remote shopping device and Harris' character uses it freely, not realizing that he must pay for his orders. Harris finds himself roped into a rigged boxing match in The Deadly Games of Gamma 6 .

Malachi Throne and Ted Cassidy are featured in The Thief from Outer Space , an Arabian Nights -inspired episode with a humorous conclusion. In the promising but disappointing Curse of Cousin Smith , a relation of Harris' character, with whom he has a blood feud, appears on the planet and the two have it out. He's still there at the end, though, and nowhere to be seen in the next episode. The robot is abducted and taken apart by some cool looking aliens in Wreck of the Robot . They want to use the knowledge they gain from his innards to conquer Earth, but are thwarted by the heroes. A scientist trying to create the ultimate android 'steals' personality traits from each of the heroes, but finds the purified emotions are not sufficient for creating a well rounded being. Harris has a field day in West of Mars , portraying both his normal character and a deadly look-alike gunslinger, who is being chased across the galaxy by an intrepid marshal. At one point Harris and Mumy escape a posse on large, automated stuffed animals. In one of the strongest episodes, A Visit to Hades , Harris' character mistakes a prisoner in another dimension for the Devil and attempts to atone for his sins while the prisoner tries to devise an escape.

This is an ORIGINAL Japanese issue, high quality laserdisc box set which has been long out of print and is NOT available on DVD. Retail was 41,200 Yen (Approx. $400. at today's conversion rates.)

$325.00