R Lost In Space

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Some nights I can stand outside
and stare at the Milky Way,
study the uncountable stars, marvel
at the magnificence, and know that
(no matter how far away) it’s all a
part of my home, all just a distant
room I haven’t yet fully explored.

R/lostinspace: Lost in Space 1960s TV Series, 1998 film, and a Netflix original series. After Lost in Space, the now 80-year-old continued to appear in several TV series like Barnaby Jones, Mob Squad, and General Hospital, while also teaching at-risk kids for 20 years. He made a cameo in the 1998 movie and his most recent credit was a guest appearance in Supernatural in 2010. The American futuristic Science fiction show ‘Lost in Space’ is all set to renew for a third and final season on Netflix. This re-imaging of the 1965 series of the same name which is based on an 1812 novel ‘The Swiss Family Robinson’, has proven to be a super hit show on the digital platform and has produced two extremely successful seasons already. Jonathan Harris (as Dr. Zachary Smith) and Billy Mumy (as Will Robinson) in an epsiode of ‘Lost in Space,’ October 15, 1965. Photo by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images) Lost In Space Robinson Classic.

R Lost In Space Season

But tonight the Milky Way is just
a million billion stars, a million billion
miles away, not brilliant, not even
bright, certainly not home, hardly
worth even a second’s thought.

Tonight is the darkest of nights;
there is no Milky Way. Tonight
I am a million billion miles away.

—————[ ]—————
Poets And Storytellers United
Writers’ Pantry #38

Ominous Times
———[ ]———

RDP Sunday
~ EXIT~
————[ ]————

(Redirected from Robot B-9)
Robot
Lost in Space character
Created byRobert Kinoshita
Portrayed byBob May
Voiced byDick Tufeld
In-universe information
AliasSeries 1A-1998 Class YM-3 Model B-9 General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robotic Bion, 1A1998YM3B-9 G.U.N.T.E.R., Class M-3 Robot, Blinky the Class YM Robot
SpeciesRobot
R/lost

Series 1A-1998 Class YM-3 Model B-9 General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robotic Bion,[1] also known as simply 1A1998YM3B-9 G.U.N.T.E.R. , Class M-3 Robot or Class YM Robot, is a fictional character in the television series Lost in Space. His full designation was only occasionally mentioned on the show.[2][3]

History[edit]

Although a machine endowed with superhuman strength and futuristic weaponry, he often displayed human characteristics, such as laughter, sadness, and mockery, as well as singing and playing the guitar. With his major role often being to protect the youngest member of the crew, the Robot's catchphrases were 'It does not compute' and 'Danger, Will Robinson!',[4] accompanied by flailing his arms.

The Robot was performed by Bob May[5] in a prop costume built by Bob Stewart.[3] The voice was primarily dubbed by Dick Tufeld,[6] who was also the series' narrator, and Jorge Arvizu for the Spanish dubbing. The Robot was designed by Robert Kinoshita, who also designed Forbidden Planet's Robby the Robot.[7] Both robots appear together in Lost in Space episode #20, 'War of the Robots,' and in episode #60, 'Condemned of Space.' The Robot did not appear in the unaired pilot episode, but was added to the series once it had been greenlit.

Initially, the bellows-covered legs were articulated, and were moved separately by the actor inside. However, the metal edges inside the suit cut actor Bob May's legs, so changes were made. The legs were bolted together, and the robot was pulled along by a wire instead of walking as it had done before. A new lower section was constructed with the legs cut off at the knee. This was filmed either in close-up or behind something to obscure the actor's feet protruding out the bottom; this version of the suit was informally referred to by the cast and crew as 'the Bermuda shorts.'[8][9]

Features and abilities[edit]

Robot consisted, from top down, of

  1. A glass bubble sensor unit with moving antennae;
  2. A fluted, translucent ring collar (actually an arrangement of shaped ribs, through which performer Bob May could see);
  3. A cylindrical, rotating trunk section with extending bellows arms that terminated in red mechanical claws. The trunk section had controls, indicators, a small sliding translucent door through which data tapes, similar to punched tape, could be accessed ('The Hungry Sea'), a removable power pack and a signature chest light that illuminated in synchrony with the Robot's speech (May had a key inside the suit that he would tap in time with his speech to illuminate the light, resulting in some scenes where one of the claws can be seen moving in time with the light);
  4. Bellows legs that were understood to move with some agility but which, due to real-world practical limitations, were rarely seen on camera to move separately; and
  5. Trapezoidal continuous track units at the bottom of each leg. These normally paired as a single locomotive device, but they also could function as individual feet. The leg and tractor sections apparently could be readily detached, allowing the Robot to be positioned in the rear of the Chariot ATV, although the actual disconnect operation was depicted only once.

According to the series

  1. The Robot possessed powerful computers that allowed him to make complex calculations and to deduce many facts;
  2. He had a variety of sensors that detected numerous phenomena and dangers;
  3. He was programmed with extensive knowledge on many subjects, including how to operate the Jupiter 2 spaceship;
  4. His construction allowed him to function in extreme environments and in the vacuum of space;
  5. He was extremely strong, giving him utility both in performing difficult labor and in fighting when necessary. Moreover, his claws could fire laser beams and, most frequently, a powerful 'electro-force' that was similar to arcing electricity.

In one first season episode, Dr. Smith was seen to remove the robot's programming tapes, which resemble a small reel of magnetic tape, from a hatch below the robot's chest panel.

After Lost in Space[edit]

Two versions of the robot were used during Lost in Space filming – a 'hero robot' costume worn by Bob May, and a static, 'stunt robot' prop that was used for distant or hazardous shots. Both versions fell into disrepair after the series, but these have since been discovered and restored. The 'hero' is privately owned by TV and film producer Kevin Burns, who commissioned a replica in the early 1990s for touring and conventions. The 'stunt robot' is in storage at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, Washington.

Like Robby the Robot, the B-9 Robot prop costume was re-used on at least one other show. On the Saturday morning children's show Mystery Island, it was modified to make the primary character 'P.O.P.S.' There it had different domes, different color scheme, and an added rectangular skirt of gold-colored tubes, covering the rubber bellows legs and base.

Full-size replicas of the robot are available commercially. Other versions have been built by hobbyists around the world,[10][11] who have built at least 15 detailed full-size replicas of the Robot.

In the 1998 film, the Robot is originally a sleeker design equipped with weapons, but its original form is destroyed during a fight on an alien ship. Will is able to download most of its consciousness before the robot's original body is destroyed, filling in the gaps with extracts of his own neural patterns, and eventually manages to build a new body for it that bears a resemblance to its appearance in the original series.

In the 2018 Netflix series, the Robot is an alien AI within a skeletal-looking body which bears only a few resemblances with earlier versions, such as his famous line and loyalty to Will, with its combat form resembling the tank from the 1998 movie. The Robot was the cause of the colony ship Resolute's destruction in the beginning of the series when it came to reclaim the engine and another of its kind dubbed Scarecrow, which were powering the Resolute. Its attack trapped the Robinsons and other colonists on a doomed planet, but after befriending Will Robinson and growing the equivalent to a soul, it soon sacrificed itself to protect the Robinson's from SAR, the second Robot the Robinsons encounter.

The Resolute and the Robot soon teleported to the Robot's home system, where it and Will are eventually reunited after SAR's destruction. After integrating a new alien engine into the Resolute, the Robot turned on Will after saving the dying Scarecrow from being tortured, but after failing to try and hijack the ship to return to its home planet to repair Scarecrow, it helps the kids hijack a Jupiter so they can return to the planet after Hastings, a high ranking member of the crew, tried to kill them. The Robot stays behind to fight off Hastings and the guards so that Will and Ben Adler, a human they befriended, can return Scarecrow to their kind. With Ben's sacrifice, Scarecrow is reunited with his kind.

Later, the race Robot and Scarecrow belong to attack the Resolute for revenge and to get their technology. While the Robots ultimately succeed in destroying the Resolute, Scarecrow turns on its fellows to protect the colonist children while they, the Robinson kids, and the Robot escape in a Jupiter integrated with the engine, leaving the parents and adults to fend for themselves in the Robots home system as only 97 people can survive in a single Jupiter.

References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robot B-9.

R Lost In Space Cast

  1. ^'90 Autographed Original Lost In Space Scripts'. The Irwin Allen News Network.
  2. ^Hamilton, John (September 1, 2006). Science Fiction in the Media. Edina, Minnesota: ABDO Publishing. p. 13. ISBN9781596799943. OCLC69021016. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
  3. ^ abMumy, Bill; Dutkiewicz, Michal; Zahler, Thomas F.; Allen, Irwin (2005). Lost in Space: Voyage to the Bottom of the Soul. Olathe, Kansas: Bubblehead Publishing. ISBN9780976543602. OCLC153921250. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
  4. ^David Romano (March 2016). '5. It Does Not Compute'. Make: FPGAs. Maker Media. ISBN9781457187841. Some of us remember hearing the phrase 'That does not compute' used by the robot from the hit 1960s television series Lost in Space. When it comes to contemplating what a computer really is, I think many of us can honestly say 'It does not compute' or even 'Danger, Will Robinson!'
  5. ^staff (June 21, 2007). 'June Lockhart To Star At Museum Robofest'. Palm Beach Daily News. Palm Beach, Florida. Retrieved August 17, 2012.(subscription required)
  6. ^Mansour, David (June 1, 2005). From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century. Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 403. ISBN9780740751189. OCLC57316726.
  7. ^Raucci, Richard (1999). Personal Robotics: Real Robots to Construct, Program, and Explore the World. Natick, Massachusetts: A K Peters, Ltd.ISBN9781568810898. OCLC491860916. Retrieved August 17, 2012. ... Forbidden Planet (1956), designed by Robert Kinoshita, who would later create the familiar Robot (B-9) for the Lost in Space television series (1965).
  8. ^Newman, Richard (2010). 'HighTechScience.org Lost in Space Robot'. Richard Newman. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
  9. ^ICONS (1998). 'B-9 Robot Bob May Interview. An Interview with Robot Actor Bob May'. B9 Robot Builders Club. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
  10. ^'B9 Robot Builders Club'. 2005. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
  11. ^Geranios, Nicholas K. (May 23, 2002). 'Robot Hut takes visitors for a trip back in time'. The Seattle Times. Seattle, Washington: Frank A. Blethen. Retrieved August 17, 2012.

R Lost In Space Episodes

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