Updated: May 25, 2024

Lost in Space - "Junkyard in Space" ( Season Three March 6, 1968 )

The Jupiter-2 lands on a junkyard planet and its departure is thwarted by a robot junkman eager for spare parts.

Irwin Allen may have been The Master Of Disaster in the 1970s but when it came to ending his 1960s TV shows he was The Master of Grim. The last episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea began with the Seaview being blown out of the water, the last episode of Land Of The Giants was set in the Graveyard Of Fools and Lost In Space ended in the Junkyard Of Space. But this was not the intended end of LIS. Another season almost happened. And to correct another poster, The Robot was indeed going to be used if they got a 4th year!

We had a problem before Junkyard aired. The episode before Junkyardâ€"the talking carrot showâ€"has often been called the worst thing that Irwin Allen ever produced. So viewers were going into Junkyard mildly concerned that LIS had gone so far over the deep end that even the Seaview could not find it. Thankfully, Junkyard begins with a refreshingly new Joe Mullendore score that plays over footage of the space pod in flight. Then things start looking odd as we see the junkyard. No talking carrots in this hour...we are saved!

Many fans like the way the Jupiter-2 is hijacked in this story. The craft was also hijacked in the same seasons "Target Earth," but now we have a full-on silver skinned alien at the controls of the Jupiter-2 and this makes for some thrilling adventures in space, helped by the Mullendore score. Granted, a lot of the stuff on the alien planet leaves a bit to be desired but most of the space action is rather pleasing. One can think of several better episodes to end the season with, but you could do a lot worse than Junkyard.

First run LIS episodes left the airwaves in early 1968 and many viewers simply jumped over to ABC's Land Of The Giants in September 1968. Giants may not of been as good, but I personally call Giants the unofficial 4th and 5th seasons of LIS.

Marcel Hillaire returns after previously playing Phanzig in "Condemned in Space". Bob May liked that the Robot could not destroy himself because of the love he felt for Will.

Guy Williams returns for the final episode of the series after being banished for two shows by Irwin Allen for laughing during "The Great Vegetable Rebellion." The power core is seen again in this episode, very different than in its first appearance in "The Space Creature". It appears to be a redress of the room with the rear porthole on the upper deck.

The Robinsons never learned their lesson not to entrust Smith with any sort of responsibility because he will always foul it up.

When the Robinsons are going to send Smith to investigate the cosmic cloud, they give him a helmet and gloves, but not the red garment, so it would not be a complete space suit.

When the space pod launches, pinkish red smoke can be seen through the pod door window. This is presumed to be from some sort of rocket motor, but this smoke is never seen when the pod is in flight

Why do they take so long to believe it's the Robot's voice coming over the intercom from the space pod? And why do they take so long to answer him? They actually filmed a new landing scene just for this episode instead of reusing previous footage for the 4th or 5th time. I'm amazed!

Smith ( fearfully ): "Perhaps I should stay aboard to tend to the children. After all they do need some protection, you know." Will: "Don, can I go out with you? I've just got to find the Robot." Once again, Smith proves to be more cowardly than the children.

It's amazing how they seem to find cobwebs on so many planets they've visited throughout the galaxy. Who knew spiders were so ubiquitous??

Why is the Robot draped in a white sash??

Judy asks "How can you dock the space pod in the Jupiter-2 while its still in orbit." In fact, orbit would be a perfect time to dock the pod.

Is the junk man a living being or a machine ( android )? He is silver like the androids in several of the series episodes and obviously requires many mechanical parts. Even his memory is mechanical and not organic.

This is another LIS episode in which the fate of someone in the episode is never explained. In this episode we are never told what happened to the Junkman. Did the Robinsons leave him behind, or did they take him with him, as Will implied when persuading the Junkman to care for others?

The episode appears to parallel the Season One Episode "The Space Trader". In both episodes, the First Family's food supplies are destroyed, and Dr. Smith trades the Robot for food with a mysterious merchant.

Unusually, given this was meant to be a season finale episode ( and ended up as the series finale ), Judy, Penny and Maureen don't appear until well into the episode, despite the apparent danger to the ship in the teaser.