Irwin Allen's Hacks

[Davey Jones' Locker 1,324]

Having recently started the Batman thread, I thought I would go through the "stars" of the Irwin Allen shows of the 1960s and see who is still with us:

 

FILMS

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (film version):

Joan Fontaine 1917-

Michael Ansara (also played Kane in the Buck Rogers television show) 1922-

Barbara Eden 1934-

Frankie Avalon 1939-

 

Poseidon Adventure (think we have this film documented elsewhere but here goes anyway):

Gene Hackman 1930-

Stella Stevens 1938-

Carol Lynley 1942-

Pamela Sue Martin 1953-

 

Towering Inferno:

Robert Wagner 1930-

Robert Vaughn 1932-

Richard Chamberlan 1934-

Faye Dunaway 1941-

O. J. Simpson 1947-

Susan Blakely 1948-

 

Five Weeks in a Balloon:

Barbara Eden 1934-

Fabian 1943-

 

TELEVISION

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (series):

Richard Bull (the Doctor) 1924-

David Hedison (Lee Crane) 1927-

Terry Becker (Francis Sharkey) 1930-

Allan Hunt (Riley) 1945-

 

Lost in Space:

June Lockhart (Maureen Robinson) 1925-

Mark Goddard (Don West) 1936-

Marta Kristen (Judy Robinson) 1945-

Angela Cartwright (Penny Robinson) 1952-

Bill Mumy (Will Robinson) 1954-

 

The Time Tunnel:

Robert Colbert (Doug Phillips) 1931-

Lee Meriwether (Ann MacGregor) 1935-

James Darren (Tony Newman) 1936-

 

Land of the Giants:

Don Matheson (Mark Wilson) 1928-

Stefan Arngrim (Barry Lockridge) 1935-

Don Marshall (Dan Erickson) 1936-

Gary Conway (Steve Burton) 1936-

Deanna Lund (Valerie Scott) 1937-

Heather Young (Betty Hamilton) 1945-

 

Swiss Family Robinson:

Martin Milner (Karl Robinson) 1935-

Willie Aames (Fred Robinson) 1960-

Helen Hunt - yes, that Helen Hunt. (Helga Wagner) 1963-

 

By the way, am I the only person in the western world never to have seen an episode of Lost in Space? I remember I loathed Land of the Giants and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea when they were endlessly repeated throughout the early 1980s - even as a little kid, I could tell they were trash. I have to confess I did have a soft spot for the Time Tunnel, though.

 

From what I have heard, Lost in Space was so juvenile it made bloody Star Trek look good which helped contribute to the latter gaining its cult following. That alone is a crime against humanity.

[Buscemi 0]

More Allen fare.

 

The Swarm:

Michael Caine 1933-

Katherine Ross 1940-

Richard Chamberlain 1934-

Olivia de Havilland 1916-

Lee Grant 1928-

Patty Duke 1946-

Bradford Dillman 1930-

 

Beyond The Poseidon Adventure:

Michael Caine 1933-

Sally Field 1946-

Shirley Jones 1934-

Mark Harmon 1951-

 

When Time Ran Out:

Jacqueline Bisset 1944-

Barbara Carrera 1945-

Valentina Cortese 1923-

Veronica Hamel 1943-

Alex Karras 1935-

[BadEgg 38]

Go Tony and Doug from the Time Tunnel!!!!!

[time 7,940]

Having recently started the Batman thread, I thought I would go through the "stars" of the Irwin Allen shows of the 1960s and see who is still with us:

 

[edit]

 

TELEVISION

[edit]

Land of the Giants:

Don Matheson (Mark Wilson) 1928-

Stefan Arngrim (Barry Lockridge) 1935-

Don Marshall (Dan Erickson) 1936-

Gary Conway (Steve Burton) 1936-

Deanna Lund (Valerie Scott) 1937-

Heather Young (Betty Hamilton) 1945-

 

[edit]

 

By the way, am I the only person in the western world never to have seen an episode of Lost in Space? I remember I loathed Land of the Giants and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea when they were endlessly repeated throughout the early 1980s - even as a little kid, I could tell they were trash. I have to confess I did have a soft spot for the Time Tunnel, though.

 

From what I have heard, Lost in Space was so juvenile it made bloody Star Trek look good which helped contribute to the latter gaining its cult following. That alone is a crime against humanity.

Don Matheson has died, aged 84.

[Pistol Knight 48]

Always remember Del Monroe who played "Kawalski" in Voyage to the bottom of the sea. He was the poor chap who always turned into some mutant every other episode only to recover at the end through Richard Baseharts character Admiral Nelson's ability to stick to the script.

 

Giving the impression that the submarine "Seaview" was rocking side to side after some explosion every episode, by all the crew/cast co-ordinating their moving to one side of the vessel to another, whilst the cameras tipped sideways was always a classic to watch too!

[Pistol Knight 48]

As for Lost in Space....as Doctor Zachary Smith would say.....Oh! the pain the pain!....It reminded me of Blue Peter. How to make a television set from an egg box and coat hangers. So high tec for its era, yet to look at it now makes you shudder!

[YoungWillz 18,967]

Having recently started the Batman thread, I thought I would go through the "stars" of the Irwin Allen shows of the 1960s and see who is still with us:

 

FILMS

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (film version):

Joan Fontaine 1917-

Michael Ansara (also played Kane in the Buck Rogers television show) 1922-

Barbara Eden 1934-

Frankie Avalon 1939-

 

Poseidon Adventure (think we have this film documented elsewhere but here goes anyway):

Gene Hackman 1930-

Stella Stevens 1938-

Carol Lynley 1942-

Pamela Sue Martin 1953-

 

Towering Inferno:

Robert Wagner 1930-

Robert Vaughn 1932-

Richard Chamberlan 1934-

Faye Dunaway 1941-

O. J. Simpson 1947-

Susan Blakely 1948-

 

Five Weeks in a Balloon:

Barbara Eden 1934-

Fabian 1943-

 

TELEVISION

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (series):

Richard Bull (the Doctor) 1924-

David Hedison (Lee Crane) 1927-

Terry Becker (Francis Sharkey) 1930-

Allan Hunt (Riley) 1945-

 

Lost in Space:

June Lockhart (Maureen Robinson) 1925-

Mark Goddard (Don West) 1936-

Marta Kristen (Judy Robinson) 1945-

Angela Cartwright (Penny Robinson) 1952-

Bill Mumy (Will Robinson) 1954-

 

The Time Tunnel:

Robert Colbert (Doug Phillips) 1931-

Lee Meriwether (Ann MacGregor) 1935-

James Darren (Tony Newman) 1936-

 

Land of the Giants:

Don Matheson (Mark Wilson) 1928-

Stefan Arngrim (Barry Lockridge) 1935-

Don Marshall (Dan Erickson) 1936-

Gary Conway (Steve Burton) 1936-

Deanna Lund (Valerie Scott) 1937-

Heather Young (Betty Hamilton) 1945-

 

Swiss Family Robinson:

Martin Milner (Karl Robinson) 1935-

Willie Aames (Fred Robinson) 1960-

Helen Hunt - yes, that Helen Hunt. (Helga Wagner) 1963-

 

By the way, am I the only person in the western world never to have seen an episode of Lost in Space? I remember I loathed Land of the Giants and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea when they were endlessly repeated throughout the early 1980s - even as a little kid, I could tell they were trash. I have to confess I did have a soft spot for the Time Tunnel, though.

 

From what I have heard, Lost in Space was so juvenile it made bloody Star Trek look good which helped contribute to the latter gaining its cult following. That alone is a crime against humanity.

 

Martin Milner from Swiss Family Robinson above has died at 83. http://www.tmz.com/2015/09/07/martin-milner-adam-12-dead-dies/

 

Better known for Adam 12 and Route 66 apparently.

[Sir Creep 7,011]

Swiss family Robinson??? You pantywaist.

 

I'm posting because you blew the best line that should ever have been posted here:

 

One Adam-12, officer down

SC

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/martin-milner-dead-adam-12-route-66-1201587461/

[YoungWillz 18,967]

Oi, I was only following the post above - tbh, I've never heard of Adam 12 lol.

 

And good to see you survived your theatre trip Sir C.

[Deathray 2,933]

Swiss family Robinson??? You pantywaist.

 

I'm posting because you blew the best line that should ever have been posted here:

 

One Adam-12, officer down

SC

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/martin-milner-dead-adam-12-route-66-1201587461/

Shame to see you survived your theatre trip.

[Shroud 19]

Never thought David Hedison was quite that bad an actor, really - he is among the very few leading men still with us from 1950's US sci-fi films.

 

On Lost in Space, it's quite possibly the worst science fiction series ever made, unfortunately. Some have suggested Gerry & Sylvia Anderson's Space:1999 as being the overall-worst. It's a close race between the two, unfortunately. An atomic blast strong enough to rip the Moon out of Earth orbit would no doubt shatter it to fragmanets in the process, to name only one inanity of the latter. All the same, it spawned numerous merchandise in the States, ti-ein novels, model kits of the spacecraft, and so forth. Then again, so did Lost in Space.

[Sir Creep 7,011]

Lost in Space had Angela Cartwright, a fine piece of ass. And therefore the discussion which was worse comes to a screeching halt.

SC

[Davey Jones' Locker 1,324]

Never thought David Hedison was quite that bad an actor, really - he is among the very few leading men still with us from 1950's US sci-fi films.

 

On Lost in Space, it's quite possibly the worst science fiction series ever made, unfortunately. Some have suggested Gerry & Sylvia Anderson's Space:1999 as being the overall-worst. It's a close race between the two, unfortunately. An atomic blast strong enough to rip the Moon out of Earth orbit would no doubt shatter it to fragmanets in the process, to name only one inanity of the latter. All the same, it spawned numerous merchandise in the States, ti-ein novels, model kits of the spacecraft, and so forth. Then again, so did Lost in Space.

I think the entire point of Space: 1999 just went right over your head...

[Davey Jones' Locker 1,324]

By the way, our French members may want to correct me on this, but I understand that Space: 1999, retitled as Cosmos: 1999 is one of the very few SF shows to gain mass popularity in France, something Dr Who, Blake's 7 and even Star Trek never achieved, as they have only ever had the tiniest of tiny cult followings. The only other English language TV SF import to make it big over there was apparently the X Files. I have no idea why those particular shows were so popular.

[Shroud 19]

No, the problem with Space: 1999 was the effort to mix science and mysticism which failed badly - that, and the miscast Martin Landau as the Moonbase Commander. Ratings fell-off so badly many of us in the States didn't see the 2nd season episodes until some years later when sf programs became popular repeat fodder after the original Star Wars was such a huge hit. Sylvia Anderson commented that the late Robert Culp was almost chosen as the Commander instead, but they felt he "oversold"himself. Culp was indeed VERY self-confident, but could generally back up what he said he could so, however. Many also pointed out that a blast strong enough to tear the Moon out of orbit would have shattered it instead, but the scripts were full of weak efforts to explain how they traveled through such distances so quickly. Lots of merchandise was sold for a time in "the colonies" here, and were quite popular at the time, including a number of paperback novels many by the late E.C. Tubb. I recall Barbara Bain was slammed for being an "ice queen" on this series, an argument one could argue both ways, I suppose.

 

actor Richard Bull died in 2014 from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea if nobody else has caught his passing. I have seen very few of the VTTBOS episodes; it's said the first part of the first season was a reasonably well-done adventure-type series until the creatures and such began turning up aboard the Seaview each week.

 

In any case, hobby kits from most of the Allen sci-fi series proved very popular, and have been reissued from time to time until the present. The comic Lost in Space added "Space Family Robinson" while the infamous Lost in Space was first airing, and retained this title for the remainder of its run in the late 1970's. Much less-success comics based on Voyage..and Time Tunnel appeared from Dell/Gold Key Comics in the 1960's for brief runs.

[Shroud 19]

Another Voyage... actor who has passed is Terry Becker (19221 - 2014). He did appear on some better series, though, like Perry Mason, Sea Hunt and The Twilight Zone.

 

The late "Dean of sci-fi writers, Murray Leinster (1896 - 1975) wrote some novels tied to Land of the Giants and The TimeTunnel, which were better than the series they were based, not suprisingly, perhaps. Leinster was called the Dean for the length of his career which lasted from the late 'teens of the 20th century to 1969 or 1970.

[Sir Creep 7,011]

Another Voyage... actor who has passed is Terry Becker (19221 - 2014). He did appear on some better series, though, like Perry Mason, Sea Hunt and The Twilight Zone.

 

The late "Dean of sci-fi writers, Murray Leinster (1896 - 1975) wrote some novels tied to Land of the Giants and The TimeTunnel, which were better than the series they were based, not suprisingly, perhaps. Leinster was called the Dean for the length of his career which lasted from the late 'teens of the 20th century to 1969 or 1970.

In grade school (1-6) I had a Land of the Giants lunchbox!

SC

[YoungWillz 18,967]

My lunchbox is a bit of a giant now! Fnar, fnar!

[Cat O'Falk 3,287]

My lunchbox is a bit of a giant now! Fnar, fnar!

Easy, Linford.

[Shroud 19]

Ah, yes, the lunch boxes.... some other 1960's series which had them issued were Batman and its better companion series The Green Hornet. Plus

Star Trek awhile later in the 1970's once it really took off in repeat syndication, the conventions, etc. Anybody here ever see the old Starlog magazine? This 'zine did push Trek a lot, but Space '99 also as well as the Anderson's UFO (which I do recall with fondess circa 1973, especially Gabrielle Drake). It had some problems, too, like a base on the near the moon which would have been easily visible to even modest telescopes. I often forgot that Ed Bishop (now deceased, sadly) was American as just about everything he appeared in was a UK TV series or film for some odd reason. Anyway, I think the UK version of Starlog was called Starblast?? Never saw a copy, but followed Starlog loyally well into the 1980's when it became gradually more of a general celebrity magazine for the remainder of its run, plus kept increasing in price a LOt as time passed.

[Bibliogryphon 8,624]

Ah, yes, the lunch boxes.... some other 1960's series which had them issued were Batman and its better companion series The Green Hornet. Plus

Star Trek awhile later in the 1970's once it really took off in repeat syndication, the conventions, etc. Anybody here ever see the old Starlog magazine? This 'zine did push Trek a lot, but Space '99 also as well as the Anderson's UFO (which I do recall with fondess circa 1973, especially Gabrielle Drake). It had some problems, too, like a base on the near the moon which would have been easily visible to even modest telescopes. I often forgot that Ed Bishop (now deceased, sadly) was American as just about everything he appeared in was a UK TV series or film for some odd reason. Anyway, I think the UK version of Starlog was called Starblast?? Never saw a copy, but followed Starlog loyally well into the 1980's when it became gradually more of a general celebrity magazine for the remainder of its run, plus kept increasing in price a LOt as time passed.

 

I think the title you are thinking of is Starburst

 

Not to be confused with Opal Fruits

[Davey Jones' Locker 1,324]

 

Never thought David Hedison was quite that bad an actor, really - he is among the very few leading men still with us from 1950's US sci-fi films.

 

On Lost in Space, it's quite possibly the worst science fiction series ever made, unfortunately. Some have suggested Gerry & Sylvia Anderson's Space:1999 as being the overall-worst. It's a close race between the two, unfortunately. An atomic blast strong enough to rip the Moon out of Earth orbit would no doubt shatter it to fragmanets in the process, to name only one inanity of the latter. All the same, it spawned numerous merchandise in the States, ti-ein novels, model kits of the spacecraft, and so forth. Then again, so did Lost in Space.

I think the entire point of Space: 1999 just went right over your head...

 

Just to elaborate a little for the benefit of our new member, Mr Shroud:

 

 

 

"Penfold states "There's no science in this episode [i would argue "in this series"]. No-one could possibly survive the experience this purports them to. Like Genesis, this is an allegory."

 

 

Penfold thought this was a "terrific episode for Victor Bergman." He stressed that although George Bellak left the show before filming started, he had established the characters, and in particular the character of Victor Bergman. Penfold explained: "There's a line later in the episode where Barry says 'I'm a scientist, not a philosopher'. But of course in this episode, and throughout series one, he is both. That's very much what we wanted to achieve. We wanted to deal with issues to do with the condition of man, to do with man's position in the universe. Metaphysical questions. A lot of that is dealt with through the character of Victor Bergman."

 

[snip]

 

On the voice in the Black Sun: "I never had any intention that what we were talking about was actually God. This episode plays a little bit with themes I used again in Space Brain and War Games. The microbiologist might spend time looking at the micro-organism. The idea that there might be alien microbiologists putting the human species under some kind of microscope was the driving notion behind the female voice."

 

[snip]

On the return of the Eagle: "There's no possible scientific explanation for the safe passage of the lifeboat to the other side of the universe, without going through the black hole. The whole thing was nothing more than allegorical."

 

 

Source: http://catacombs.space1999.net/main/pguide/doc/up03bscom.html

[Shroud 19]

I should probably just ignore this, but anyway... Any series which purports to be science fiction(which obviously includes Irwin Allen's junk as well) should make itself clear if it's going to be "hard" science, that is make some effort at realism, or as noted, be an allegory. Star Trek which seems to be so hated here, i have noticed, did allegory quite well, and for the 1960's, was relatively scientific in its presentation, although it's unlikely actual anti-matter engines could be that efficient.

 

My source for the moon being blasted apart was Isaac Asimov, as I recall. Asimov later commented that most of the items in Trek would probably be developed eventually in reality with the possible exception of the transports, at least for living people or creatures. "Cloaking devices' are in a fairly-advanced stage of development by several nations, as are crude version of deflector shields, and other items from the various Star trek series.

 

I did eventually see the entire series on disc; the business with the black hole seemed an attempt to add some sort of explanation for the Moon's travels, although in order to survive passage through one of these things, it's believed to require certain types of them, i.e., ones which are rotating for one requirement, i believe, and a controlled journey through it. Hey, don't get me wrong - I enjoyed some of the episodesall the same. I do wish somebody besides Landau had played the Commander as it would have helped some there.

 

For whatever it's worth, i have noticed that UK critics in sci-fi circles have been more harsh on Space.. than many in the States have.

 

Oh. I do recall Sylvia Anderson commenting that Barry Morse apparently felt himself "above" the material which they didn't realize at the time, although his performances were always good regardless, I agree on that much. Ironically, he later appeared in probably Richard Matheson's weakest effort, that 1980 TV mini-series of Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, which was cheaply produced even for that period.

[Shroud 19]

Yes, Jolly Green.., Starburst was the title I was thinking of, thanks.

 

While on magazines, the 1970's Hammer House of Horror did have some US distribution, and I found it a really well-done 'zine with great covers most by late Brian Lewis, I believe.

[Shroud 19]

On the subject of Irwin Allen, he attempted to revive The Time Tunnel in 1976 with the pilot-film Time Travelers which featured Richard Basehart in a major role. This was better than the usual Allen fare due to being based on a story by Rod Serling who regrettably had died the previous year. As unlikely as an Allen-Serling series seems, it may well have been a worthwhile project had Serling lived and continued to be the main writer for a potential series.