episode #34 - Space Circus

episode #34 / Air Date: 10/12/66 (episode #5 of 2nd season)
written by Bob and Wanda Duncan; Directed by Harry Harris

Another rather pointless escapade - an intergalactic carnival has come to town, er, to the planet. Despite the title, this isn't some circus, just a sideshow carnival, featuring about 4 acts (a Yeti-like creature, a strong man, a cosmic juggler - whatever that is - and a lady (Melinda Lee) with mind tricks). The man in the top hat (James Westerfield) invites the Robinsons to the show, in exchange for a free dinner. Smith, again, is figuring out a way to sneak away with them in order to get to Earth.

The hook of the episode is that Will reveals himself to have mind powers of his own: the lady in the carnival accomplishes her feats through trickery, but Will, called up to help her, performs the feats with true gifts of the super mind (a leftover from his days as a super genius? - A Change of Space); this is mostly out of left field. I don't think Will's powers were ever followed up on.

Anyway, Smith and the carnival barker try to trick Will into leaving with them. They're on their way to Andromeda or something. This was pretty talky and slow. In all, this furthered the impression that outer space was mundane indeed, with intergalactic versions of those sideshow acts that used to perform for the heads of state in Europe. BoG's Score: 4.5 out of 10

Epilogue Tag: Smith is tinkering with a wine-making contraption with Will and the Robot when a monster appears, carrying some kind of electronic box-thing... freeze frame!

Lost in Space Trivia: the monster mentioned above, a one-eyed shaggy horror, which appears at the end and at the beginning of the next episode is a reuse of the monster suit from The Magic Mirror (first season)