User Reviews

Vincent Beck guest stars as "Megazor," a member of an alien race that prides itself on its hunting prowess and picks its future leaders from among those that can bag as many "conquests" during a hunt against "inferior beings." Megazor sets his sights on his latest victim: John Robinson (Guy Williams) who he feels is a worthy opponent. Thus, the "hunt" is on.

Of course, Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris), Will (Billy Mumy), and the Robot (voiced by Dick Trufeld, performed by Bob May) are along for the ride with Smith first selected as the "prey" but his cowardly ineptitude proves that he isn't worth Megazor's bother.

The episode, like so many, makes use of stock footage of the crash sequence from the pilot. Also, outside scenes make the installment standout at it takes the cast away from the standard sets that were so frequently re-arranged and re-used.

It also effectively recycles John Williams' stock music.

Cool episode of Lost in Space has John Robinson and Robot landing in the Space Pod onto a new planet checking to see if its atmosphere can sustain human life. They must pass through an "intergalactic barb wire", a contamination shield surrounding the planet as to keep others off the planet, or as Robot proposes to keep lifeforms from leaving the planet.

When John kills a man in a alien bear costume (yes, it was corny), he's confronted by a disgruntled alien hunter from a planet called Zon, named Megazor (Vincent Black, his face colored blue, with a huge dome and longish sideburns, including claw hands) who blames him for destroying his prey planned for a great hunt. So John is to substitute for the Gallatin creature, first caged and tested against an invisible creature with poisonous claws (when John orders Robot to burn out certain circuits to produce smoke, we see the creature, basically a man under a sheet, I kid you not), victorious. Megazor is accompanied by a giant machine that produces points that can be rewarded for a certain kill; the value of the prey could lead to Megazor ruling his homeworld. That's what the hunt is all about, ruling his world, needing suitable worthy opponents to hunt so he will be rewarded in kind. After Dr. Smith, in an act of desperation (he doesn't want West to land the Jupiter 2 on what could be a hostile planet), screws with the guidance system, West will have to take the ship onto the planet with much resistance, the landing quite bumpy, the damage substantial (this is a neat day scene were we see the Jupiter saucer against the backdrop of blue sky and sun heading towards rocky cliffs, coming to rest out of our view). Searching for John and Robot, Will and Dr. Smith encounter Megazor and are made prisoners as well. A successful escape using a smoking weapon, John, Robot, and Will flee the location of the cell (holding them, including Smith, the Robot chained on the outside), but Smith remains to grab hold to a special Zon suit (a table of weapons were presented by Megazor to John, one he will be able to select for use during the hunt as a defense against the predator) being captured and used as bait to lure John back. So John will have to evade and use his cunning, running throughout a select portion of the planet with Megazor on his tail (Megazor has a special weapon that shoots dagger blades, John has the protective suit that comes in handy until walking under an acidic water fall that renders it useless). Outside footage and a plot right out of "The Most Dangerous Game" add value to "Hunter's Moon", with a lot of the silliness (and Dr. Smith) relegated to the opening half of the episode. Smith contributes, as usual, to the woes of the Robinson party, but this is more tailor-made to Guy Williams' athleticism and his character's heroism.

Seeing Will having to tag along with Megazor, unable to help his dad, while the alien hunter tries to kill John, most of the hunt taking place outdoors (some sets are used, such as when John goes back to the Space Pod to retrieve a weapon, not knowing Megazor had set up an explosive device around the little ship)refreshingly giving us one chance to see a few of the characters off the typical Lost in Space alien planet sets, is really fascinating. Will tries to help his father, but it is no use and attempts to reason with Megazor often (not always) falls on deaf ears. Something does penetrate the emotionless Megazor who considers human feelings as defects, "flaws in programing" start to show and this might just prove that Will is getting through to him. Some of the familiar aliens from the Lost in Space canon actually are named by Megazor, so we are finally able to at least label them (although most are used in a number of different ways throughout the series). Considered by many series devotees as one of the best episodes of Lost in Space. Will tries to convince Megazor that hunting creatures for sport is wrong, learning that the Zon aliens are synthetically designed not born from reproduction.

Truthfully, this is nothing more than yet another retelling of The Most Dangerous Game, best seen in the Gilligan's Island episode with Rory Calhoun.

Yet something stands out to me when I watch this episode. For starters, I would suspect it is the way the blue makeup and hair design works on Vincent Beck's face.

Beck is best known to me for his Gilligan's Island appearance as a Russian cosmonaut, undeniably recognizing his voice here.

The episode has a bit of a trip-up with Will having to run after his father and then the alien hunter takes Will along as a cheerleader, apparently.

Definite appeal for the younger audience, I suppose, but incredibly annoying.

Another thing that is intriguing is the removal of Smith. He is left locked in a cage the entire time.

If nothing else, Beck and Guy Williams seem to exchange some reasonable dialogue in this episode and perhaps that is what makes it work.

Will contends with the whole 'how us humans feel' rigmarole, so nothing new there.

The Robert referee likewise isn't very outstanding and could have just as easily been a bracelet on Beck's wrist.

Whatever the reason, the episode has substance and if you want to avoid hokey episodes, this is one to check out.

While (sigh) as per usual imbued with stock shots - this time of (reversed) color footage of the Jupiter 2's uncontrolled 1st landing (S1 E3 "Island In The Sky," 1965) as well as ironically her less-headlong entry, the opposite of their sad necessary departure from 1947 Earth (S3 E2 "Visit To A Hostile Planet" only 2 weeks before) - made the ship's 3rd (!) crash landing sequence particularly interesting. Occasioned by Dr. Smith's hamhanded screwup at the controls, the panicked rush below deck & Major West & Smith's struggle to get the Jupiter 2 under control while she thrashed through the (used) shimmery *force field" was a thrilling ride to ruin. And, to leave devoted fans biting & snarling in protest, the inclusion of someplace real (& beautiful) as the "hunting ground" was both refreshing & aggravating as to why that couldn't have been done before (or, as it turned out, since). The blue-skinned implacable Megazor & his kind (note that the distinction between the potential leader & the minions is he has more facial/head hair!) are definitely the sort who needed to be sent back whence came they, "never to return." These aspects are what elevate this outing above others, though the empty Space Pod landing - must've counted on the less sharp tv screen resolution of the time to cover that blunder - puts a wrinkle in the space fabric. Oh well it could've been worse - paging West Of Mars! - so don't be too hard on these proceedings; I'm going to revisit that crash now for fun!