Did You Know?

The first season was shot in black and white.

The Robinsons find themselves stranded on the planet Preplanis.

The robot was never verbally named on-screen. Irwin Allen reputedly liked Rodney as its monicker, whilst an intriguing hint can be seen in "The Time Merchant", where the Robot's shipping crate is stamped "General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental ROBOT" (capitals highlighted in red) suggesting that the machine's name was Gunter. It referred to itself with the above title (adding "Control" before Robot) during the second season.

Irwin Allen pitched his idea for the series to CBS programmer James Aubrey, who immediately snapped up the idea. A couple of weeks later Gene Roddenberry pitched his idea for Star Trek to Aubrey, who turned him down as he felt that "Lost in Space" was the more commercial of the two.

June Lockhart had the biggest parking space on the 20th Century-Fox lot because she would often drive her favorite vehicle to work - a 1913 fire truck.

The robot cost $75,000 to produce and weighed in excess of 200 pounds. Two of them were made for the series.

The pilot episode was budgeted at $400,000 and was largely filmed in the Mojave Desert.

Debbie the Bloop (a dressed up chimp) makes her debut in 1x3 "Island in the Sky".

The entire cast has a radical costume change in episode #1.19 "Ghost in Space".

The props used in this show, (such as the computers and guns) also were used in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants and Batman.

There were actually two pilots filmed for the show. The original didn't have Dr. Smith, but the network executives wanted an antagonist so they added his character for the second pilot.

The series takes place in the future of 1997 (specifically the Jupiter II, en route for Alpha Centauri, blasted off on October 16th 1997); the film based on the series, Lost in Space, began production in 1997.

The space pod didn't show up until the show's third (and final) season.

This is the only show produced by Irwin Allen to appear on a network other than ABC.

The character 'Robot' was ranked #14 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends" (1 August 2004 issue).

Irwin Allen was very keen to enlist the help of NASA. The space agency was equally interested in using the TV series to promote what they do. However, after several conversations with Allen, NASA realized that the producer had no interest whatsoever in scientific accuracy and so they distanced themselves from the project.

CBS Chairman William Paley, who prided himself on the fact that CBS produced quality, thoughtful programming, hated the show and couldn't understand why it was so popular. He instructed his executives to cancel it the minute its ratings dipped.

Due to their uncontrollable laughter during filming of the infamous "Vegetable Rebellion" episode, Guy Williams and June Lockhart were written out of the next two episodes.

As the series progressed, kissing scenes between John and Maureen Robinson were toned down - not out of any censorious demands but to avoid boring, embarrassing or alienating the more juvenile audience members.

In Season one, some episodes used incidental music utilizing a "Theremin", an electronic instrument incorporating two heterodyne oscillators. This music was used to create an atmosphere of suspense and impending terror. The Theremin music used in these episodes was from The Day the Earth Stood Still composed by Bernard Herrmann.

The Robot identifies itself in Episode 54 (#2.25) as "I am a Robot of the Class M3, programed to provide information and support to all Jupiter personnel" in reply to a query from the Noble Niolani. This has taken by many to a model number, not the least of whom was the Japanese toy company Masudaya, which called its 1968 LIS robot toys "Robot YM-3" (Y being a prefix for prototype aircraft using by the USAF), but it's more likely a sly dig at Star Trek, which rated Earth-like planets as Class M. The LIS Environment Control Robot was designed to help replicate and maintain an environment as similar to that of Earth as possible, so it too would be optimized for Class M3 environmental control.