Welcome Stranger
| Welcome Stranger | |
| |
| Prod No: | 8506 |
|---|---|
| Season: | 1 |
| Air Date: | 10/20/1965 |
| Writers: | Peter Packer |
| Director: | Alvin Ganzer |
| Principal Cast: | John Robinson (Guy Williams)
Maureen Robinson (June Lockhart) Penny Robinson (Angela Cartwright) Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris) Robot B-9 (Bob May Dick Tufeld (voice)) |
| Supporting Cast: | |
| Preceded By: | The Hungry Sea |
| Followed By: | My Friend, Mr. Nobody |
Welcome Stranger is an episode of Lost In Space.
Synopsis
The Robinsons find astronaut Jimmy Hapgood, also lost from Earth, on the planet. They help him repair his ship, which is in better condition, so that he can return to Earth. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson ask him to take Will and Penny with him, but Dr. Smith plots to have himself taken instead. However, Hapgood enjoys life in space, and no one returns to Earth.
Plot
During a storm, Will is using the radio to try to contact any passing ships. John warns him that it's dangerous to do so during a storm of this sort because the signals can act as a homing beacon, bringing down lightning or some other danger. Dr. Smith checks the scanner and sure enough, something is now headed in their direction. To John, it appears to be a missile or rocket.
The next morning, the object is still on its way. While the crew is watching the scaner, the object lands. John, Don, Will, Dr. Smith and the Robot go to investigate. When they arrive, they find a human male. He introduces himself as Jimmy Hapgood. He's also from Earth. He has arrived in a ship from the early 80s which he call "Travelling Man". He was on a mission to Saturn when he went off course and he's been traveling ever since.
The Robinsons welcome him and invite him back to their camp. He agrees, but he explains that he needs to secure his ship first. Will stays behind to show him the way back to camp. Hapgood proceeds to spray his ship to decontaminate it. He explains to Will that spore he has inadvertantly carried from other planets might react with other spores on this planet, with dire consequences. Will volunteers to finish decontaminating the ship. After a while, Jimmy starts toward the camp. Will hurries behind him, failing to finish the decontamination process. As Will departs, a strange fungus starts to grow on the ship.
Back at the camp, John and Maureen have a conversation and they agree that the children should go with Jimmy back to Earth. Smith, overhears them and plots to get himself onboard instead. When Hapgood arrives, he and the family get acquainted. John informs him that he thinks that he and Don can help him repair his ship and offers him the Astrogator, saying that they could probably get by without it. Jimmy is excited, but realizes that the astrogator would never fit in his tiny ship. Overhearing them, Dr. Smith offers that there is a similar, but smaller unit in the Robot. Smith operates on the Robot and removes the directional unit.
That night, John and Maureen have a talk with Will and Penny to inform them of their decision to ask Hapgood to take them to Earth. Though they don't like the idea, the children consent. Later, John asks Jimmy to take Will and Penny with him. He refuses.
The next day, Jimmy talks again with John. He's afraid that there are now hard feeling between them. John assures him that there aren't. Hapgood is still welcome to the directional unit. Jimmy gets injured by a heavy piece of equipment the men are working on. Smith examines him and says he will be fine the next day.
The next morning, Jimmy, Will and Penny head back to Traveling Man. When they arrive, they see all sorts of huge plant/fungus things growing from the ship. Jimmy grabs the disinfectant and starts spraying. Penny accidently stumbles into one of the plants and Jimmy rescues her. Now realizing what a dangerous place space is for children, Jimmy decides to take Penny and Will with him.
Later, back at the ship, Smith plants the idea in the minds of the youngest Robinsons that their parents don’t really want them to go and that could hide long enough to miss the flight. The children do so and Hapgood lifts off without them. Jimmy is now back in space, where he is happiest. He decides to not go back to Earth after all.
Notes
At the end of the episode, we see Jimmy's ship depart. It rockets away from the planet's surface. Don't despair, however, we'll see this shot again several times. From here on, whenever we see a ship lift off, it will look a lot like Jimmy's ship, even though it won't be configured like it at all when it's on the ground.
We're going to count the number of times we see this shot. We'll call it our "Hapgood Count". So, this episode has a Hapgood count of 1.
Also, for a mostly desolate planet, this place gets a lot of traffic! We'll see how many visitors we get! So far, Jimmy is the first (1).