User Reviews

Character actor Albert Salmi made one of two appearances on Lost in Space as "space pirate" Captain Tucker, bonding with young Will Robinson (Bill Mumy), while taking him as a hostage (well, he was gonna take Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris) as hostage but the rat bastard talked him into taking Will instead just to protect his own cowardly hide) so that the Robinson family would supply him parts to fix his hyperdrive ship. Meanwhile, Tucker has in his possession a "forecaster", a device that looks like a space rifle, but essentially forecasts the future of certain people the operator of said device thinks about. This forecaster came from Cygnet Four and an angry alien creature is after it, landing on the planet looking for the forecaster, perhaps placing the Robinson party in grave danger. Definitely aimed solely at kids, Salmi talks, is costumed, and acts just like a pirate from an Errol Flynn movie, and his chemistry with Mumy really is the glue that keeps this episode together. Will really thinks the world of Tucker, and they take a "pirate's oath" (it is a means for Tucker to sleep without worrying about Will sneaking off) which the boy accepts with great regard. Tucker's just a rascal, really, and feeds Will a load of hogwash about his pirating ways and a treasure, but their friendship is truly the strength of this particular episode. The bittersweet conclusion has Tucker deciding to burst Will's balloon and tell him the truth because he cares enough about the boy to no longer lie to him, the exaggerations of pirating revealed. The monster is basically a giant rug right out of a bad sci-fi movie like "The Creeping Terror" or something. The alien monster and the forecaster pretty much take a back seat to the bond that develops between Tucker and Will, the emotional core of the episode. Of course, anytime a ship that could return Smith to Earth, you know the scoundrel will be coming up with some conniving plan to steal it if he can, the forecaster "calling him out". Accompanied by a "tin parrot", Salmi fulfills his stereotypical pirate duties, even letting out "Arghs" after practically every sentence, but he brings a humanity to the role, a credit to the actor that he has the talent to rise above such an obvious caricature. Tucker, in a conversation with the Robinsons, admits that he is over 140 years old, an American who was picked up by aliens, kept in cryogenic stasis until needed for further study.

This episode features the hammy Albert Salmi emulating Charles Laughton and Robert Newton as Captain Kidd, only more over-the-top (if that is possible) as he lands on the planet where the Robinson's are shipwrecked and requires a hostage, convinced by Dr. Smith to take Will over him. In a sense, Salmi is lucky that Smith did that because he'd most likely be hostage-less within an hour, having quickly dispatched him out of annoyance. In Will's case, he enjoys for what it is having a pirate playmate, as well as a metallic parrot that makes wisecracks. The family is forced to help Salmi fix his spaceship in return for Will, and it is surprising that they don't offer to trade Smith for Will. Salmi seems to be eating up all of the scenery around him, and the results are more annoying than memorable. The comical Volkswagen bug cover chasing Salmi around is perhaps the dumbest looking monster in the series outside of Smith's vegetable man. I don't look forward to his return in a future episode. I'd settle for Hans Conreid's Wrong Way Feldman from "Gilligan's Island".

A space pirate drops in on Planet X and he forms a friendship with young Will Robinson.

I like the general look of The Sky Pirate, the alien ship, the blob monster at the end and things are less silly than they would become in year two. But a lack of action damages the hour and the story/acting is just not compelling enough to hold the viewer the way it should. I guess the location of this episode is the main problem area, after 17 episodes that were mostly very good it is a little hard to watch this low-key, too low-key, hour.

But things would improve in coming weeks with The Magic Mirror, The Space Croppers and Follow The Leader. And episode 30 - Blast Off Into Space - is one of my top three LIS episodes of all time. I have reviewed other LIS episodes on this site such as The Ghost Planet, The Space Circus, The Golden Man, The Colonists, The Galaxy Gift, Condemned Of Space, Kidnapped In Space, The Space Creature, The Time Merchant, etc.

This is without a doubt one of the worst episodes of Lost in Space. Albert Salmi is incredibly cheesy as the space pirate, and why in the world did Salmi's countenance cause Smith to faint, when Smith has faced much scarier things and stayed conscious? Like just the episode before when a horrifying flying moth creature dive bombed him. This is truly bad. Will should have let the robot zap this guy. I wish this terrible episode would be lost in space.