3

In the first season episode of Lost in Space (1965) "Return from Outer Space", Will is teleported to Earth, ending up in a town in Vermont. It has a feel very like Bedford Falls in "It's a Wonderful Life" - very 1930s when Will didn't travel through time (should be 1997, 32 years into the future from the show's 1965 production date). We know he didn't travel through time because the citizens know of the Jupiter 2's launch and disappearance.

For example, we see telephones such as the "candlestick"

enter image description here

and the wall phone

enter image description here

which were completely outdated by 1965, and should be nothing more than museum pieces by 1997, yet were perfectly normal to their users. Isn't this an anachronism? Was it intended to depict the town as in some way "backward", despite being up-to-date on current events? Was it just a production economy by borrowing sets/props from some other production which really was set in an earlier time?

Improve this question
0

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

The plot required him to be unable to contact Alpha Control, and this was more explicable if he was transported to a backward "hick" town out in the middle of nowhere.

Clearly the scriptwriters wanted Will to return to small-town America rather than the Big City, and perhaps laid on the quaintness a bit thicker than they really needed to

Improve this answer
4
  • 1
    It does seem rather a flimsy approach to support the needs of the plot.
    – Anthony X
    Oct 20, 2018 at 14:40
  • 1
    Maybe so, but clearly the scriptwriters wanted Will to return to small-town America rather than the Big City, and perhaps laid on the quaintness a bit thicker than they really needed to. Anyway, short of interviewing them (or any that are still living) it's the best I can come up with.
    – Mike Stone
    Oct 20, 2018 at 15:37
  • @MikeStone If you put that in the answer as well, it will be much more credible. What better way to depict "rural" than to make it "old-fashioned"!
    – Mr Lister
    Oct 21, 2018 at 14:48
  • As I recall (I was about Will's age when the show first ran), long distance calls without an operator were not possible until the last 1960s or early 1970s. Anywhere in the USA would have required an operator to call and that operator would have lived locally. (In the 1940s and maybe the 1950s, LD calls required an initial call to the operator to set up the call and then they would call you back when it was ready.)
    – releseabe
    Nov 10, 2020 at 3:47

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.