WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.740 So I want you to imagine opening up the very 00:00:02.740 --> 00:00:05.400 first draft of your absolute favorite classic 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:07.559 story. Oh, that's always a fun thought experiment. 00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:10.400 Right. You're flipping through the pages. You're. 00:00:11.680 --> 00:00:14.279 completely ready to see how it all began, but 00:00:14.279 --> 00:00:16.480 you suddenly realize that something is fundamentally 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:20.160 off. Like something is missing. Exactly. The 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:22.160 most iconic characters, the ones whose faces 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:25.359 are literally clustered on the lunchboxes, the 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:28.179 posters, you know, the whole cultural zeitgeist, 00:00:28.199 --> 00:00:31.320 they are completely missing. Wow. Not just a 00:00:31.320 --> 00:00:33.799 little different, I mean entirely absent. That 00:00:33.799 --> 00:00:36.539 is wild. Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we are 00:00:36.539 --> 00:00:38.960 cracking open the vault on No Place to Hide. 00:00:39.469 --> 00:00:41.590 And you probably already know it as the legendary 00:00:41.590 --> 00:00:45.469 1965 unaired pilot for Lost in Space. Directed 00:00:45.469 --> 00:00:47.890 by series creator Irwin Allen for CBS, right? 00:00:47.929 --> 00:00:50.329 Yes, exactly. But instead of us looking at it 00:00:50.329 --> 00:00:53.369 as a piece of retro trivia, we are going to really 00:00:53.369 --> 00:00:55.409 look at what's actually inside this original 00:00:55.409 --> 00:00:58.070 prototype. And what is glaringly missing. Right. 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:00.700 and what it teaches us about the messy reality 00:01:00.700 --> 00:01:04.079 of the creative process. It really is a brilliant 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:07.280 case study because television pilots are, at 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:10.400 their core, incredibly expensive rough drafts. 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:12.519 Super expensive. Yeah, there are prototypes. 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.219 And for you listening, examining a pilot like 00:01:15.219 --> 00:01:18.319 No Place to Hide goes way beyond just, you know, 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:21.120 television trivia. For sure. This pilot proves 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:24.299 that sometimes a creator's initial vision is 00:01:24.299 --> 00:01:27.060 actually their own worst enemy. Oh, I like that. 00:01:27.480 --> 00:01:30.239 Irwin Allen clearly wanted a very specific kind 00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:33.540 of show right out of the gate. A pilot is where 00:01:33.540 --> 00:01:36.439 creators throw their pure, unfiltered ideas at 00:01:36.439 --> 00:01:39.340 the wall. Just to see what sticks. Exactly. But 00:01:39.340 --> 00:01:42.019 looking closely at what didn't stick is a fascinating 00:01:42.019 --> 00:01:44.379 study in how creative visions have to pivot and 00:01:44.379 --> 00:01:46.900 adapt before they ever survive contact with the 00:01:46.900 --> 00:01:49.219 public. Let's jump right into that original unfiltered 00:01:49.219 --> 00:01:51.459 vision then, because the premise feels wildly 00:01:51.459 --> 00:01:53.319 different right from the jump. It really does. 00:01:53.500 --> 00:01:55.379 The spacecraft isn't even the famous Jupiter 00:01:55.379 --> 00:01:57.659 II. No, it is not. It's called the Gemini 12. 00:01:58.019 --> 00:02:00.120 And the mission for this ship was supposed to 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:03.439 be a massive century -long flight to Alpha Centauri. 00:02:03.459 --> 00:02:06.760 A hundred years in space. Yeah. To survive a 00:02:06.760 --> 00:02:09.520 trip that long, the crew is placed in suspended 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:12.539 animation. But things immediately go off the 00:02:12.539 --> 00:02:16.500 rails. Shortly after liftoff, a meteor storm 00:02:16.500 --> 00:02:19.319 damages the ship, sending the Gemini 12 completely 00:02:19.319 --> 00:02:22.219 out of control. Just totally off course. Right. 00:02:22.280 --> 00:02:24.419 They get knocked drastically off their trajectory, 00:02:24.620 --> 00:02:26.840 eventually crash landing on a habitable planet, 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:30.710 and are presumed, well... lost in space. What 00:02:30.710 --> 00:02:33.150 really stands out about that setup to me is how 00:02:33.150 --> 00:02:36.069 hard it leans into genuine science fiction concepts 00:02:36.069 --> 00:02:38.680 for its era. Oh, absolutely. Keep in mind, this 00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:41.919 is 1965. Right. This is a full year before Star 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:45.280 Trek even premiered. That is crazy to think about. 00:02:45.419 --> 00:02:47.319 Throwing terms around like suspended animation 00:02:47.319 --> 00:02:50.580 or setting up a multi -generational, century 00:02:50.580 --> 00:02:53.159 -long flight to another star system. That was 00:02:53.159 --> 00:02:56.000 incredibly dense, hard sci -fi world building 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:59.740 for a primetime CBS family show. Yeah, that was 00:02:59.740 --> 00:03:02.039 not the norm at all. And that hard science approach 00:03:02.039 --> 00:03:04.520 is entirely reflected in the specific makeup 00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:06.099 of the crew they chose for the mission. Okay, 00:03:06.120 --> 00:03:08.539 the crew. roster is so fascinating. It's a six 00:03:08.539 --> 00:03:11.960 -person team. You have the Robinson family, John, 00:03:12.219 --> 00:03:15.979 Maureen, Will, Penny, and Judy, and they are 00:03:15.979 --> 00:03:18.280 joined by Dawn West. But they aren't just your 00:03:18.280 --> 00:03:20.599 average family, right? No. They didn't just win 00:03:20.599 --> 00:03:23.259 a raffle to go to space. John and Maureen Robinson 00:03:23.259 --> 00:03:26.259 both hold doctoral degrees. All three of their 00:03:26.259 --> 00:03:29.000 children are explicitly described as prodigies. 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:32.099 Every single one of them. Yes. And Don West, 00:03:32.419 --> 00:03:34.780 he isn't just the hotshot pilot tagging along. 00:03:34.900 --> 00:03:37.800 He is specifically identified as a doctor of 00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:40.360 geology. Which is just a brilliant detail. Right. 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:42.900 It completely flips the survival dynamic that 00:03:42.900 --> 00:03:45.139 we usually see in these kinds of stories. How 00:03:45.139 --> 00:03:48.879 so? Well. You aren't watching an everyman struggle 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:51.319 against the elements. You are watching a highly 00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:54.460 specialized think tank try to out -engineer a 00:03:54.460 --> 00:03:56.919 hostile planet. A think tank in space. I love 00:03:56.919 --> 00:03:58.900 that. Think about it for you listening. Imagine 00:03:58.900 --> 00:04:01.259 taking a survival road trip where every single 00:04:01.259 --> 00:04:03.699 person is a specialized genius. If you crash 00:04:03.699 --> 00:04:06.460 land on an uncharted alien world, a doctor of 00:04:06.460 --> 00:04:09.060 geology is precisely the expert you want evaluating 00:04:09.060 --> 00:04:11.280 your new surroundings. That makes total sense. 00:04:11.849 --> 00:04:14.530 It shows that the original vision was very grounded 00:04:14.530 --> 00:04:17.810 in a specific type of intellectual problem solving. 00:04:18.209 --> 00:04:21.970 It relied heavily on the immense combined intellect 00:04:21.970 --> 00:04:24.709 of this specific family unit to get them out 00:04:24.709 --> 00:04:27.350 of trouble. But I have to push back a little 00:04:27.350 --> 00:04:30.639 on their supposed genius. Or at least the genius 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:33.420 of the engineers who built their ship. Because 00:04:33.420 --> 00:04:37.019 despite all their brains, the Gemini 12 was shockingly 00:04:37.019 --> 00:04:39.399 ill -equipped. I was looking at the differences 00:04:39.399 --> 00:04:42.519 in the spacecraft itself, and it is almost comical. 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:44.680 The prototype design is definitely rough. The 00:04:44.680 --> 00:04:48.100 Gemini 12 was a single -deck, sub -light -speed, 00:04:48.259 --> 00:04:51.100 interstellar flying saucer. Eventually, it gets 00:04:51.100 --> 00:04:53.399 redesigned into the iconic Jupiter II for the 00:04:53.399 --> 00:04:56.100 weekly series, but this prototype version. It 00:04:56.100 --> 00:04:58.420 had no airlock. Which is a huge problem. Let 00:04:58.420 --> 00:05:00.439 me emphasize that for everyone. A spacecraft 00:05:00.439 --> 00:05:02.860 designed for exploring alien worlds that does 00:05:02.860 --> 00:05:04.720 not have an airlock. Were they just planning 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:06.339 on holding their breath and opening the front 00:05:06.339 --> 00:05:09.939 door? That detail alone highlights the severe 00:05:09.939 --> 00:05:13.310 prototype nature of the pilot. The designers 00:05:13.310 --> 00:05:15.230 were building a physical set for television in 00:05:15.230 --> 00:05:18.829 1965, and they clearly hadn't fully realized 00:05:18.829 --> 00:05:23.110 the practical on -screen needs of filming a weekly 00:05:23.110 --> 00:05:25.790 space adventure yet. They were just flying blind. 00:05:25.949 --> 00:05:28.829 From a production standpoint, if you don't have 00:05:28.829 --> 00:05:31.629 an airlock, how do you logically stage characters 00:05:31.629 --> 00:05:33.810 going inside and outside the ship every single 00:05:33.810 --> 00:05:36.629 week without depressurizing the whole set? Right. 00:05:36.709 --> 00:05:38.750 And it does not stop at the airlock. Okay, now. 00:05:38.889 --> 00:05:41.269 The Gemini 12 had no seats for the pilot. No 00:05:41.269 --> 00:05:44.339 pilot seats. Imagine a century -long flight to 00:05:44.339 --> 00:05:46.980 Alpha Centauri, dealing with a catastrophic meteor 00:05:46.980 --> 00:05:49.420 storm, and you were just standing at a console. 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:52.300 Holding on for dear life? Seriously. It also 00:05:52.300 --> 00:05:54.300 had very few controls at the front of the craft, 00:05:54.500 --> 00:05:56.680 absolutely no elevator to move between levels, 00:05:56.860 --> 00:05:59.000 and no landing gear. Right, they just crashed 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:00.879 down. They literally just belly -flopped the 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:03.639 saucer onto the alien planet. It is the ultimate 00:06:03.639 --> 00:06:06.779 example of a creator having a grand conceptual 00:06:06.779 --> 00:06:09.639 vision, but not quite having the physical mechanics 00:06:09.639 --> 00:06:13.720 worked out yet. or landing gear severely limits 00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:16.800 the physical storytelling you could do. But they 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:20.100 did at least conceptualize a few advanced technological 00:06:20.100 --> 00:06:22.279 tools to help the crew survive once they were 00:06:22.279 --> 00:06:24.139 actually on the ground. They definitely had some 00:06:24.139 --> 00:06:26.720 cool gadgets. They managed to carry the chariot, 00:06:26.740 --> 00:06:29.779 which was their all -terrain vehicle, and a jetpack 00:06:29.779 --> 00:06:33.300 flying device. Both very classic sci -fi tropes. 00:06:33.300 --> 00:06:35.500 And it is a good thing they had them because 00:06:35.500 --> 00:06:39.240 their timeline on the ground is intense. We are 00:06:39.240 --> 00:06:41.660 talking about a crew that gets hit by a meteor 00:06:41.660 --> 00:06:44.899 storm, goes into suspended animation, and then 00:06:44.899 --> 00:06:48.240 drifts for three full years before a controlled 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:50.759 regeneration finally wakes them up after the 00:06:50.759 --> 00:06:52.779 crash. And again, controlled regeneration. to 00:06:52.779 --> 00:06:54.839 know one of those concepts that sounds like standard 00:06:54.839 --> 00:06:57.500 everyday sci -fi to us now. Oh, totally. But 00:06:57.500 --> 00:06:59.620 back then, it was a major narrative swing. When 00:06:59.620 --> 00:07:02.100 they finally do wake up, they don't just figure 00:07:02.100 --> 00:07:04.100 things out in an afternoon. They actually spend 00:07:04.100 --> 00:07:06.800 six entire months stranded on this planet. Half 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:09.860 a year. During this time, the patriarch, Dr. 00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:12.620 John Robinson, remains stubbornly optimistic. 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:15.300 He really believes they can make the necessary 00:07:15.300 --> 00:07:17.980 repairs to the Gemini 12 and actually resume 00:07:17.980 --> 00:07:20.379 their century -long flight to Alpha Centauri. 00:07:20.589 --> 00:07:23.230 But nature, of course, has other plans. Always 00:07:23.230 --> 00:07:25.949 does. Serious weather problems start moving in. 00:07:26.329 --> 00:07:28.790 Freezing temperatures threaten the entire crew, 00:07:28.990 --> 00:07:31.269 forcing them to completely abandon their hopes 00:07:31.269 --> 00:07:34.250 for the Gemini 12 and hurry south to warmer climates. 00:07:34.269 --> 00:07:36.089 They have to leave the ship entirely. Right. 00:07:36.230 --> 00:07:38.509 And the moment they leave the ship, that hard 00:07:38.509 --> 00:07:40.589 science premise we were just talking about immediately 00:07:40.589 --> 00:07:43.850 morphs into a pulp magazine nightmare. It is 00:07:43.850 --> 00:07:46.069 a massive tonal shift. Completely. They go from 00:07:46.069 --> 00:07:48.829 calculating interstellar trajectories and dealing 00:07:48.829 --> 00:07:52.490 with cryogenic rejection. to facing down absolute 00:07:52.490 --> 00:07:55.009 fantasy tropes. It is a relentless gauntlet. 00:07:55.069 --> 00:07:57.709 On their journey south, they encounter a literal 00:07:57.709 --> 00:08:01.430 giant cyclops. A giant cyclops. Yes. Then they 00:08:01.430 --> 00:08:03.889 just happen to discover an abandoned castle hidden 00:08:03.889 --> 00:08:07.089 entirely inside a cave. As one does on an alien 00:08:07.089 --> 00:08:10.259 planet. Exactly. After that, they have to make 00:08:10.259 --> 00:08:13.339 a perilous crossing of an inland sea until they 00:08:13.339 --> 00:08:16.379 finally reach a tropical sanctuary. It's exhausting 00:08:16.379 --> 00:08:19.319 just hearing about it. And the whole time, unbeknownst 00:08:19.319 --> 00:08:22.579 to them, they are being observed by unseen aliens. 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:25.980 It reads like an entirely different genre of 00:08:25.980 --> 00:08:28.939 television. You have this grand, fantastical, 00:08:28.939 --> 00:08:32.799 almost mythological set of challenges being thrown 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:36.909 at a crew of scientific geniuses. But what makes 00:08:36.909 --> 00:08:39.149 this entire sequence of events so incredibly 00:08:39.149 --> 00:08:41.990 striking isn't what they encountered on the planet. 00:08:42.190 --> 00:08:44.470 No. When you look at the dynamic of this group 00:08:44.470 --> 00:08:47.409 facing down a cyclops and freezing weather, there 00:08:47.409 --> 00:08:50.230 is a glaring void in the narrative. Looking at 00:08:50.230 --> 00:08:52.789 this roster of incredibly competent geniuses 00:08:52.789 --> 00:08:55.169 surviving the elements together, it feels like 00:08:55.169 --> 00:08:56.870 we are missing something massive here. We really 00:08:56.870 --> 00:08:58.850 are. We have the whole family. We have the geologist 00:08:58.850 --> 00:09:02.070 pilot. But where is the actual conflict? That's 00:09:02.070 --> 00:09:04.409 the million dollar question. Oh. Because the 00:09:04.409 --> 00:09:06.549 two biggest instigators. of conflict in the entire 00:09:06.549 --> 00:09:08.929 Lost in Space universe literally do not exist 00:09:08.929 --> 00:09:10.909 in this pilot. Wait for it. There is absolutely 00:09:10.909 --> 00:09:13.710 no robot and there is no Dr. Zachary Smith. It 00:09:13.710 --> 00:09:17.169 is mind -blowing. The two most famous elements 00:09:17.169 --> 00:09:19.409 of the entire franchise. The defining elements. 00:09:19.690 --> 00:09:22.370 The things that essentially define the show in 00:09:22.370 --> 00:09:26.210 pop culture are just completely absent from the 00:09:26.210 --> 00:09:29.029 foundation. Which fundamentally changes the identity 00:09:29.029 --> 00:09:31.450 of the story. Without Dr. Smith there to serve 00:09:31.450 --> 00:09:34.710 as an irritating influence, there was no internal 00:09:34.710 --> 00:09:38.029 conflict whatsoever. None at all. The story was 00:09:38.029 --> 00:09:40.509 purely about the adventures of the Robinsons 00:09:40.509 --> 00:09:43.309 acting as a perfectly happy, perfectly functional 00:09:43.309 --> 00:09:46.070 family. They were cooperative, they were friendly, 00:09:46.210 --> 00:09:48.809 and they worked together seamlessly to survive 00:09:48.809 --> 00:09:51.389 the cyclops and the freezing weather. A perfectly 00:09:51.389 --> 00:09:54.230 cooperative family of geniuses surviving together 00:09:54.230 --> 00:09:56.850 sounds lovely for a camping trip, but it is terrible 00:09:56.850 --> 00:09:59.669 for a weekly television drama. Exactly. Irwin 00:09:59.669 --> 00:10:01.590 Allen wanted a show about ultimate competence. 00:10:02.429 --> 00:10:04.570 But an entirely harmonious family gets boring 00:10:04.570 --> 00:10:07.129 fast. Really fast. In the actual weekly series 00:10:07.129 --> 00:10:09.570 that followed, they realized they needed friction. 00:10:10.029 --> 00:10:13.190 The family became somewhat less cooperative because 00:10:13.190 --> 00:10:15.190 they constantly had to deal with the sabotage, 00:10:15.230 --> 00:10:17.769 the cowardice, and the scheming of Dr. Smith. 00:10:17.889 --> 00:10:20.429 He brought all the chaos. He really did. It added 00:10:20.429 --> 00:10:22.970 that necessary weekly drama. Yeah. And it is 00:10:22.970 --> 00:10:25.950 fascinating to track the sociological shift in 00:10:25.950 --> 00:10:28.669 how TV families are portrayed through this franchise. 00:10:28.970 --> 00:10:30.789 Oh, that's a good point. You start with this 00:10:30.789 --> 00:10:34.970 perfectly cooperative 1965 Pilot family. Then 00:10:34.970 --> 00:10:36.970 you move to this slightly more strained family. 00:10:37.370 --> 00:10:40.070 Of the weekly series. Right. And finally, that 00:10:40.070 --> 00:10:43.789 stands in complete contrast to the highly dysfunctional 00:10:43.789 --> 00:10:46.070 argumentative space family we eventually saw 00:10:46.070 --> 00:10:49.110 depicted in the 1998 spinoff motion picture. 00:10:49.289 --> 00:10:51.169 They were constantly at each other's throats 00:10:51.169 --> 00:10:53.970 in that movie. Exactly. It is a sliding scale 00:10:53.970 --> 00:10:56.370 of family dysfunction over the decades. It really 00:10:56.370 --> 00:10:59.309 is a massive pivot. You pitch a show about brilliant 00:10:59.309 --> 00:11:01.509 scientists working in perfect harmony, and the 00:11:01.509 --> 00:11:03.470 final product only survives because you were 00:11:03.470 --> 00:11:06.190 forced to abandon that vision, embrace a scheming 00:11:06.190 --> 00:11:09.009 stowaway. and add a flailing robot waving its 00:11:09.009 --> 00:11:11.370 arms around. F Hollywood for you. But here's 00:11:11.370 --> 00:11:13.629 what I find truly wild about the production side 00:11:13.629 --> 00:11:16.269 of this. They spent a massive amount of money 00:11:16.269 --> 00:11:19.049 and effort shooting No Place to Hide. A huge 00:11:19.049 --> 00:11:21.950 budget. It was a hugely expensive prototype. 00:11:22.370 --> 00:11:25.049 And even though it never aired, in Hollywood, 00:11:25.129 --> 00:11:27.409 you don't just throw away good film. No, you 00:11:27.409 --> 00:11:29.350 definitely do not. They actually recycled almost 00:11:29.350 --> 00:11:31.669 all of it. The production logistics of doing 00:11:31.669 --> 00:11:33.950 that are staggering when you really think about 00:11:33.950 --> 00:11:37.620 it. Nearly all of the footage from this unaired 00:11:37.620 --> 00:11:40.679 pilot found its way into the first five episodes 00:11:40.679 --> 00:11:43.190 of the weekly series. But wait, if they didn't 00:11:43.190 --> 00:11:45.570 have the robot or Dr. Smith in any of that pilot 00:11:45.570 --> 00:11:48.149 footage, how on earth did they blend it with 00:11:48.149 --> 00:11:50.350 the newly shot series footage where those two 00:11:50.350 --> 00:11:52.909 main characters suddenly do exist? It takes some 00:11:52.909 --> 00:11:55.070 serious editing magic. Did they just hope the 00:11:55.070 --> 00:11:57.389 audience wouldn't notice? They essentially had 00:11:57.389 --> 00:11:59.490 to creatively stitch it together. There were 00:11:59.490 --> 00:12:02.610 obvious inconsistencies caused by recycling this 00:12:02.610 --> 00:12:04.889 old footage into the new episodes. I can imagine. 00:12:05.129 --> 00:12:07.090 You can't perfectly hide the fact that your main 00:12:07.090 --> 00:12:09.830 antagonist and your iconic robot are suddenly 00:12:09.830 --> 00:12:12.149 just missing from wide shots or action sequences 00:12:12.149 --> 00:12:15.909 they just vanish for a scene exactly but they 00:12:15.909 --> 00:12:18.850 managed to edit around it they creatively carried 00:12:18.850 --> 00:12:21.769 out the integration well enough that it didn't 00:12:21.769 --> 00:12:24.690 derail the narrative they patched this prototype 00:12:24.690 --> 00:12:27.909 into the final product well enough to launch 00:12:27.909 --> 00:12:30.960 a massive television franchise That is pretty 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:33.440 brilliant when you think about it. Just absolute 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:35.700 resourcefulness. Absolutely. Oh, and they weren't 00:12:35.700 --> 00:12:38.139 just recycling footage either. There is a fun 00:12:38.139 --> 00:12:40.580 trivia nugget in the source material about the 00:12:40.580 --> 00:12:43.240 music. Oh, the theme music. The theme music for 00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:45.679 this unaired pilot wasn't even original to the 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:48.200 show. It was actually lifted straight from the 00:12:48.200 --> 00:12:51.860 1951 sci -fi classic film The Day the Earth Stood 00:12:51.860 --> 00:12:54.139 Still. It really paints a picture of a production 00:12:54.139 --> 00:12:56.299 team that is patching together a very ambitious 00:12:56.299 --> 00:12:59.600 vision using whatever tools, music, and footage 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:02.120 they had at their disposal to get it over the 00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:04.500 finish line. Whatever it takes. But what I find 00:13:04.500 --> 00:13:06.779 truly astonishing is the timeline of when the 00:13:06.779 --> 00:13:09.480 public actually got to see this original rough 00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:12.000 draft. The weight is unbelievable. It really 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:15.240 is. So No Place to Hide was produced and filmed 00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:18.519 in 1965. But you, the viewer at home, didn't 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:20.919 actually get to see it until 1993. Think about 00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:24.590 that gap. That is a 28 -year wait to see the 00:13:24.590 --> 00:13:27.070 original vision of the show. It finally saw the 00:13:27.070 --> 00:13:29.690 light of day on the Sci -Fi Channel's very first 00:13:29.690 --> 00:13:32.789 pilot Playhouse special. And they brought in 00:13:32.789 --> 00:13:35.850 series star June Lockhart to host that special. 00:13:36.299 --> 00:13:38.480 which has a wonderful layer of legacy to the 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:40.820 broadcast. That is a great touch. That special 00:13:40.820 --> 00:13:43.320 aired the pilot episodes of many classic sci 00:13:43.320 --> 00:13:46.299 -fi series, but specifically highlighted this 00:13:46.299 --> 00:13:49.919 bizarre, robotless, and Dr. Smith -less version 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:53.059 of Lost in Space. And if you missed that specific 00:13:53.059 --> 00:13:56.559 1993 television broadcast, you were out of luck 00:13:56.559 --> 00:13:59.860 until February 1995. Back to the vault it went. 00:14:00.019 --> 00:14:02.490 Yep. That is when it was finally released physically. 00:14:02.809 --> 00:14:04.889 But you couldn't just walk into a local video 00:14:04.889 --> 00:14:06.549 store and buy it off the shelf. Of course not. 00:14:06.649 --> 00:14:08.669 It was released exclusively as part of a mail 00:14:08.669 --> 00:14:11.269 order VHS box set from Columbia House. Columbia 00:14:11.269 --> 00:14:15.129 House. Wow. Titled Lost in Space, the collector's 00:14:15.129 --> 00:14:17.570 edition. Think about how much effort that takes. 00:14:17.850 --> 00:14:20.129 You had to subscribe to a mail order VHS club, 00:14:20.190 --> 00:14:21.909 wait for it to be shipped to your house just 00:14:21.909 --> 00:14:24.129 to see a single episode of television that was 00:14:24.129 --> 00:14:26.669 filmed three decades prior. It is such a stark 00:14:26.669 --> 00:14:29.090 contrast to how media works now. Oh, completely. 00:14:29.470 --> 00:14:33.029 Today. deleted scenes alternate cuts and early 00:14:33.029 --> 00:14:36.110 drafts are instantly available they are often 00:14:36.110 --> 00:14:38.490 used as immediate marketing material on streaming 00:14:38.490 --> 00:14:40.269 platforms yeah you just click a button in the 00:14:40.269 --> 00:14:44.129 extras menu but no place to hide was locked in 00:14:44.129 --> 00:14:47.309 a physical vault acting as a secret unseen foundation 00:14:47.309 --> 00:14:50.600 for decades It really serves as a perfect time 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:52.899 capsule. A time capsule of a show that never 00:14:52.899 --> 00:14:55.639 was. It gives us a window into an alternate universe 00:14:55.639 --> 00:14:58.659 where Lost in Space was a story of pure family 00:14:58.659 --> 00:15:01.679 harmony, ultimate competence, and hard science 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:04.679 problem solving. It completely lacked the internal 00:15:04.679 --> 00:15:07.919 conflict, the sabotage, the iconic robot, and 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:10.480 Dr. Zachary Smith. The very elements that ultimately 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:12.820 turn the property into a cultural phenomenon. 00:15:13.240 --> 00:15:15.850 Precisely. And for you listening right now, I 00:15:15.850 --> 00:15:17.870 think there is a huge takeaway here that applies 00:15:17.870 --> 00:15:20.450 far beyond classic television production. Oh, 00:15:20.450 --> 00:15:22.610 definitely. We all have our own pilots. Whether 00:15:22.610 --> 00:15:24.490 you are working on a business pitch, writing 00:15:24.490 --> 00:15:26.690 a novel, designing a product, or just trying 00:15:26.690 --> 00:15:28.970 to organize a new project in your personal life. 00:15:29.049 --> 00:15:31.950 Your rough draft. Right. Your first draft is 00:15:31.950 --> 00:15:34.129 rarely going to look like the final successful 00:15:34.129 --> 00:15:36.789 product. You might start out thinking you were 00:15:36.789 --> 00:15:39.389 building the Gemini 12 a ship with no airlock 00:15:39.389 --> 00:15:42.070 and a perfectly cooperative crew. But reality 00:15:42.070 --> 00:15:45.049 hits. You have to be open to the evolution of 00:15:45.049 --> 00:15:47.649 your ideas. You have to be willing to recognize 00:15:47.649 --> 00:15:50.149 when the narrative is flat and add the missing 00:15:50.149 --> 00:15:53.129 pieces along the way. Which brings us to a final 00:15:53.129 --> 00:15:55.940 important question to leave you with today. We 00:15:55.940 --> 00:15:58.360 have seen how the most famous, most culturally 00:15:58.360 --> 00:16:01.120 impactful parts of this franchise were entirely 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:04.440 missing from its original, carefully planned 00:16:04.440 --> 00:16:06.960 foundation. The missing secret sauce. Right. 00:16:07.019 --> 00:16:09.120 The creator's initial vision was actually missing 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:11.539 the secret sauce. Yeah. If that is true for a 00:16:11.539 --> 00:16:13.919 classic television show, what missing pieces 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:16.320 in your own current projects might actually be 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:18.580 the key to their future success? That's a great 00:16:18.580 --> 00:16:21.340 question. Are we too quick to judge our own prototypes 00:16:21.340 --> 00:16:23.759 as failures before the unexpected happy accidents 00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:25.799 have a chance to arrive? Something to definitely 00:16:25.799 --> 00:16:28.019 think about the next time your plans get knocked 00:16:28.019 --> 00:16:30.500 slightly off course by a metaphorical meteor 00:16:30.500 --> 00:16:32.620 storm. Thank you for joining us on this deep 00:16:32.620 --> 00:16:34.379 dive and we will catch you next time.