episode #33 - Forbidden World

episode #33 / Air Date: 10/5/66 (episode #4 of 2nd season)
written by Barney Slater; Directed by Don Richardson

The Jupiter 2 group manage to evade a missile which strikes a planet; but, the explosion damages the ship and they crashland again (a virtual repeat of events in the early episodes of the first season - especially the 3rd episode). They're situated in a dense fog; John commands that no one exit until tests are made but Smith ignores this, sending the Robot out. Something attacks the Robot; the group gets angry with Smith (again) and force him to go out and find the Robot. Smith is also approached by some monster and faints.

Finally, Will sneaks out (no discipline at all here) and finds out that Smith and the Robot have been captured by a goon (Wally Cox) who is responding to the missile attack on his planet; he pretends that he's in contact with captains and generals, but it's all a sham. His only ally is some man-sized chicken monster (a new low for the series). Smith drinks what he thinks is water but is actually a liquid explosive. He is now too dangerous to stay close to the group. The Robot gets his revenge on Smith, intending to blow him up for the safety of all concerned.

Smith really becomes pathetic & pitiful in this episode, even less the unscrupulous villain he had been before; at this point, it's all hammy comedy with him. Even more, the Robot is established as more of Smith's straight man by this episode; the Robot seems capable of trepidation and even fear here - very human-like - such as when Smith orders him to go outside into the foggy dark. The two have an effortless contentious relationship here which set the pattern for the remainder of the series.

As for the guest character, no explanation is offered on where he came from or who he actually is - just some nut pretending to be in a war. This also presents a recurring problem with the logistics of the series: the group do not leave this planet, being stuck on it for awhile, but neither does this nut go anywhere - yet, we don't see him in future episodes; or the chicken monster. There's also a spider monster which is shown briefly when Will first goes out - it looks like a smaller version of the one from The Keeper,part 2 in the first season. Finally, the Robot mentions that the fog contains cosmic dust which is a danger to humans after a period of time - but we didn't see any more fog after this episode. BoG's Score: 4 out of 10

Epilogue Tag: Smith, Will & Penny are out walking on their new planet; Smith, as usual, chooses to nap; a snowman-type monster comes up and wakes him... freeze frame!