I think "Condemned of Space" is the very definition of the best and worst of Lost in Space. As others have pointed out, the first part is just plain great thanks to a dependency on action and heroics. The second half goes off the rails thanks to some mind-numbingly stupid Dr. Smith antics. I have already watched some of the later episodes of this season and to congratulate the third season as a returning to form is not accurate. Just watch "Castle in Space" and you will see all too well what I'm talking about. A constant of the series is Dr. Smith's blunders causing danger and struggles for the Robinson family. In this episode, he causes the Robot to be sucked out into space after the Jupiter 2 lifts off from the Season 2 planet when a comet is on a collision course. Smith wants to send off his taped memoirs of a galactic castaway into a can, but when it doesn't leave the air lock he opens the hatch! John gets in his space suit, attempts to rescue Robot, but a Supernova is getting closer, gravitationally pulling the Jupiter 2 towards it. Seeing John agonizing over having to release Robot before his line connected to the Jupiter snaps reflects just what it means to him and the Robinson family. Again, it is all about how Smith commits unbelievably foolish acts impulsively without thinking that causes such drama.
The Jupiter is magnetically pulled away from the Supernova (the Jupiter also narrowly escapes the comet heading towards the Season 2 planet in the opening suspense scene kicking things off after an exciting lift off from the planet during what looks like late afternoon as a momentary glimpse of the an auburn sun and darkened shadowy rocky cliffs with the Jupiter setting off for space, quite a stunning moment for the series) to a prison ship housing frozen prisoners who should have been pardoned 200 years ago, the clock that is supposed to release them "stuck". Robby the Robot returns, this time as a mechanic "jailer" who uses a freeze gun to stop anyone who might attempt to flee from their pedestal (a pedestal with a "freezeometer" is where each criminal stands, like wax dummies). What is peculiar is how the prisoners seemed to have been frozen with the weapons they used to wind up on the prison ship! Smith releases one of the prisoners, Phanzig (Marcel Hillaire), to play "cat's cradle" (!) and sets off another series of events that leads to his standing in the strangler's pedestal and eventually a prison revolt when Phanzig starts releasing all the inmates! The Jupiter needs propulsion parts with John and West on the prison ship to try and find spare parts available. Will believes after Robot tells him of the prison ship's special jailer robot that West and John should be warned. So, as expected, Robot, Will, and Dr. Smith go down into the prison ship to find them, resulting in what I explained above. This episode even includes poor West (who is just victimized all the time, particularly during this season), being subjected to treatment as a prisoner when he is mistaken for the escapee, Phanzig, frozen by Robby, taken to the cybernetic tribunal chamber where they question and sentence. This episode has a lot going on, very busy, and is quite uneven, to put it mildly. I can't sit here and say it isn't entertaining.
The Jupiter is magnetically pulled away from the Supernova (the Jupiter also narrowly escapes the comet heading towards the Season 2 planet in the opening suspense scene kicking things off after an exciting lift off from the planet during what looks like late afternoon as a momentary glimpse of the an auburn sun and darkened shadowy rocky cliffs with the Jupiter setting off for space, quite a stunning moment for the series) to a prison ship housing frozen prisoners who should have been pardoned 200 years ago, the clock that is supposed to release them "stuck". Robby the Robot returns, this time as a mechanic "jailer" who uses a freeze gun to stop anyone who might attempt to flee from their pedestal (a pedestal with a "freezeometer" is where each criminal stands, like wax dummies). What is peculiar is how the prisoners seemed to have been frozen with the weapons they used to wind up on the prison ship! Smith releases one of the prisoners, Phanzig (Marcel Hillaire), to play "cat's cradle" (!) and sets off another series of events that leads to his standing in the strangler's pedestal and eventually a prison revolt when Phanzig starts releasing all the inmates! The Jupiter needs propulsion parts with John and West on the prison ship to try and find spare parts available. Will believes after Robot tells him of the prison ship's special jailer robot that West and John should be warned. So, as expected, Robot, Will, and Dr. Smith go down into the prison ship to find them, resulting in what I explained above. This episode even includes poor West (who is just victimized all the time, particularly during this season), being subjected to treatment as a prisoner when he is mistaken for the escapee, Phanzig, frozen by Robby, taken to the cybernetic tribunal chamber where they question and sentence. This episode has a lot going on, very busy, and is quite uneven, to put it mildly. I can't sit here and say it isn't entertaining.
