Reviews

Of course a lot of this episode is silly; but that is what I though made it so enjoyable when I saw it the first time it aired. I wonder how many of the critics of it have seen it through the eyes of a child at the time? Irwin Allen change many parts of it, as was revealed in books about the worlds Allen created in such TV shows as "The Time Tunnel" "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea," "Land of the Giants," and of course, "Lost in Space." The series began with a much darker theme, clearly the character Smith was to be seen as just an all out villain, and it was planned he would be killed off. However after the episode, "The Oasis," if not sooner, it was clear that Smith had morphed into a comic villain who was a coward to the core, and capable of just about anything, as well as bumbling anything he attempted to do seriously.

Now what has this to do with this episode? Precisely this: Allen changed several scripts because he viewed it as a "Children's Program"... he used those very words, as both Williams and Goddard became frustrated with how silly some of the plots were becoming. It was, by this episode, a well established "comic/sci-fi" for CHILDREN. This didn't mean adults couldn't enjoy the campy fun of the show, but to expect this to be on the level of Drama found in Star Trek, would be unrealistic on the part of the person watching. A LOT of shows in this era were campy: Batman (really?) Gilligan's Island, The Munsters, The Addams Family, Xena Warrior Princess. If you liked campy shows, you enjoyed them for their entertainment value and that's the way I saw all of the Lost in Space episodes. (with the exception of the first 5, by 6, 7, and 8, it was morphing and by 9 (The Oasis,) there was no doubt!

Now everybody today gets in a tither over Chavo. I liked him. Oh, he presented the usual dangers that always were steered clear of on LIS, And as far as his "representing" Mexican Americans -- Did Ralph Kramden represent Bus Drivers? Did Ed Norton represent anyone who worked in sewers? And on this show, did the disreputable Dr. Smith represent all doctors? I don't get the generalization of characters, especially in comedies, or tours de FARCE. Alberto Monte, clearly a Hispanic American played the role with no reservations. This was made over half a century ago and back then people didn't get as "offended" as they do by everything today. Incidentally, My grandfather was Cuban, I have nothing bad to say about this with regard to stereotypes. It was an entertaining, yes in many ways ridiculous, episode... but as seen through a child's eyes in that era, one I thoroughly enjoyed. And yes, I can still enjoy the reruns of it today--and I have them on DVD so I don't have to worry about syndication censors.

Finally, the duet sung by Marta and Billy around the campfire was thoroughly enjoyable. Mumy was a talent since he was about 3 or 4 years old, and by now he was playing guitar very well. Anyone assuming that nobody would try to make the most of their trials while trying to find a way back home by singing around a campfire assumes far too much. Sometimes such desperation is alleviated by letting it all hang loose and singing a happy tune like "Sloop John B." which is a happy way of expressing "I wanna go home". No big deal at all. I LIKED it!

I had a very dysfunctional early childhood, bouncing from place to place after my birth, to an orphanage for a few years and finally to an adoption at around age eight. The ONLY show I remember that I faithfully watched once I got into my permanent home, was the Mickey Mouse Club. Yes, I too, had those funny looking Mickey-Mouse ears--in fact, I had an entire Mickey Mouse Club uniform which I remember donning proudly for the first Mardi-Gras in my new home. Even had my name across the chest, I loved it!

There are many from this younger and more cynical generation who will view the MMC with a jaded perception; but for those of us lucky enough to have come up through the 1950's and on into the 1960's-- that was what we plopped down in front of the television set each day to watch. Monday, if memory serves me right, was Fun With Music Day, Tuesday was "Guest-Star Day", Wednesday was "Anything Can Happen Day" Thursday was "Circus Day", and Friday was the best of all, in my opinion, "Talent Roundup Day". The show had a lot of song and dance stuff, but the singers and dancers--were kids: like the rest of us, or at least so we would dream.

The show always began with that incredible Mickey Mouse Club March, which just about every kid in America had memorized. "Whose the leader of the club that's made for you and me? M-I-C-K-E-Y, M-O-U-S-E." Then came the Mickey Mouse short to introduce the show... his donning a straw hat and playing an upright Piano one day, his spinning a lasso and lariat on another... donning a cowboy hat and six shooters still another... just to introduce the show. The there was the introduction song and dance routine... I can remember almost all of them verbatim, so attached to this show I was. After would follow a hodge-podge of so many things: newsreels, (yes more than a few featuring the grand opening of Disneyland)--but many others--I seem to remember a couple of kids getting to tour the great nuclear submarine, the Nautilus, then whatever was the serial of the time (Spin and Marty, The Hardy Boys, Corky and White Shadow, The Boys of the Western Sea, The Adventures of Clint and Mac, Annette, and there were others, which evade my waning memory, sigh!) But they were all marvelous, and all featured... kids. They were fun, wholesome,they focused on fair-play, decency, and just about everything that most societal norms of today would consider old- fashioned and unrealistic which is, in itself, a sad testimony to a decline of society, in my humble opinion.

You had Jiminy Cricket on many shorts from Encyclopedia (where so many of us learned how to spell e-n-c-y-c-l-o-p-e-d-i-a,) to "I'm no Fool"... which always taught great lessons in life. There would also be shorts in which we'd get insights into how things worked at Disney, from watching Roy draw so many cartoon characters on that large drawing tablet he used, to an episode in the day in the life of one of the mouseketeers. So many great memories.

Who could forget the eager anticipation for the cartoon, or the little jingle with the mousketeers that preceded it: "Now we twist our Mouskedial to the right and the left with a great big smile. This is the way we get to see, a mousecartoon for you and me: Meeska, Mooska, Mouseketeer, Mousecartoon time now is here"... the run up to the door that would creak open, a drawer would push out and the mouseketeer of the day would run up, pull out an index card and read: "Today's cartoon is..."

And then there was Jimmie Dodd. Much maligned by many for his corny ways--he was the life's blood of the show. He wrote the vast majority of ALL of the music for the show, including the wonderful Mickey-Mouse March. He was the father figure so many would later need. And from almost every kid who was an original on the show, he was, in real life, exactly what you saw on the TV show: a man of deep spiritual conviction, who tried his best to set a great example for kids, having a family and several children of his own. He was taken from us at far too young an age; but his impressions on me, and my own children, will last forever through us, and our progeny. I have NEVER forgotten the wise advice he gave when he sang about proverbs and told us the one: "I shall pass this way but once; any good that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being; let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." and closed off with, "and now, I'll be going my way..." You were great Jimmie!

I grew up with this show, my kids grew up watching reruns on VHS, and I only wish Disney would release the entire series--uncut full length on DVD. Now it's time to say good-bye, to all our company: M-i-c, (see you real soon) K-e-y (Why? Because we like you!) M-o-u-s-e.

Fade to credits!