Customer Reviews

Follow the Leader

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Why is this an Epic episode & a must read review?
Well, this episode contains a scene that inspired the "Luke, I am your father" scene in the "Empire Strikes Back" movie. There is a scene towards the end, where an evil alien spirit [ the dark force ] has possessed the mind of Prof. Robinson & is leading young Will Robinson up towards a bottomless precipice to his intended doom....because.... the boy was strong in his common sense [ the GOOD side of the force was strong in young Robinson ] & his loyalty & trust could not be swayed. So since Will would not trust into him & join him, he elected to destroy him. So the alien is controlling Prof. Robinson as he is leading Will up this path, all the while wearing an Alien mask & speaking in a deep voice so Will does not know it is really his father.....as before the alien had tried to convince Will he needed their Jupiter Ship to rescue his father who was abducted by so called former friends who did not exist. I submit this episode of LIS IS the inspiration for the "good & dark" forces" concept popularized through the Star wars movies...So... This is one of....if not THE best episode ever. It has it all,...the jet pack....the land rover....the duplicitous Dr. Smith in one of his best roles ever for this series as his actually employs his Psychiatric skill to some effect....Using his position as the ship psychiatrist as leverage he manages to place himself in a brief moment of authority over the besieged mind of prof. Robinson ... to some interesting & even comedic effect as Smith thought he was about to reach in the professor's hat & pull out a small rabbit of ill reason that he could manage...only to a grab an alien tiger by the tail. And Tigers of ill temper are not Smith's cup of tea.
This is unusually hard core drama for this series, think about it.... a possessed father about to toss his son over a cliff to his doom....who also locked his wife & Don in a crypt to die....that had to have had an emotional impact on many young minds. & perhaps they got some negative feedback from concerned parents.... perhaps they were afraid that such shows would make their kids afraid of them..... who knows...but perhaps such expressed parental concern if it did occur, may well be a contributing reason why the show got campier in the 2nd & 3rd seasons. Well, in closing i cant help but feel this episode is an semi important piece of overlooked history as it is the cinematic soil that many mind moving movies have their roots deeply embedded.