Updated: December 16, 2023

By Larry Lee Moniz:

After the cancellation of "Lost In Space", The "Hero" Robot costume was relegated to storage. In 1977, an Australian based television production company rented the Robot from 20th Century Fox, and heavily modified the costume. The Robot had much of his details removed and replaced with new parts.

On August 10th 1977, CBS ran a Saturday morning kids show called "The Skatebirds". This show was trying very hard to be an updated version of "The Banana Splits". It featured live action and cartoon segments. One of these serial style segments was a live action show called "Mystery Island".

Our Hero the Robot ( now painted white and missing his treads, bubble and with new detailing ) was a Robot character called P.O.P.S. ( Voiced by Frank Welker ).

P.O.P.S was pursued by the evil Dr. Strange ( yeah, that was his name! ) and he wanted to use the Robot for world domination. The Doctor, in order to try and capture P.O.P.S, forced a plane down carrying the Robot, and his two friends Sue and Sandy Corwin. They were of course, now stranded on Mystery Island. Every segment dealt with our evil villain trying to get the Robot. The last episode of the "Skatebirds" featuring "Mystery Island" aired on January 28th, 1978 thus our pal the Robot, was once again back in storage.

Several years later, the Robot was rescued and eventually restored to it's former glory, and the "Mystery Island" modifications were removed. This particular piece, is the main control panel that was retro-fitted onto the original Lost in Space Robot's chest area and is a genuine prop from the "Mystery Island" modification. Here it is complete with it's original vintage 1970's circuitry! It is very rare indeed.