Collision of Planets

Who is the douche that only gave this episode two stars?? This was an interesting third season episode that broke the usual storylines that Irwin Allen was known for..Creature episodes.. In the 1960's hippie subculture permeated every part of the entertainment industry. I first saw this episode as a young child..It is still great!!

A gold star to anyone who figured out that "Dan Travanty" was Daniel J Travanti of Hill Street Blues. Travanti is quite annoying as the leader of a group of space hippies. His fake long hair was ahead of its time, I'm sure. The story is OK. The hippies are dedicated to destroying the planet, while Dr Smith takes on the persona of Hercules.

A team of space hippies/bikers are sent to destroy the planet on which the Robinsons are currently stranded before it crashes into an inhabited world. Colliding worlds is always an entertaining trope (perhaps first seen on TV in the Rocky Jones, Space Ranger story-arc 'Crash of the Moons' (1954)) but little is done with the premise in this limp episode. Smith tampers with the alien demolition-crew's gear and is exposed to a gas that turns his hair green and gives him tremendous strength (which, Samson like, can be diminished by a trim) - why this could possibly happen is never explained (nor is why it doesn't happen to John Robinson when he is exposed to the same gas - I suspect that the answer is because it's only 'funny' when it's Smith who gets the booming voice and fake muscles). The episode is full of goofy musical cues, childish over-cranking effects when Smith is 'exercising', silly dialogue, and seems to have been just cobbled together from fragments left on the story room floor. The only redeeming moment is John Robinson's answer to the problem presented by space-hippies who are resistant to his ray-gun. Daniel Travanti, later famous as Captain Furillo in the popular 'Hill Street Blues' (1981) is pretty good the alien leader (considering what he's given to work with).

An absurd argument, a group of space hippies arrive on the planet just before it is destroyed, the story is so absurd that it includes a Dr. Smith with green hair and having extraordinary strength in a ridiculous version of Hercules. To skip and watch the next episode.

If the plotline was merely "The Robinsons must quickly evacuate the planet when the robot indicates that another planetoid will soon collide with them", it would have been a great 3rd season episode. With the addition of the Space Hippies and their Space Harleys, it turns into another childish, inane "why was LIS cancelled?" footnote.