episode #55 - Trip Through the Robot

episode #55 / Air Date: 3/22/67 (episode #26 of 2nd season)
written by Barney Slater; Directed by Don Richardson
__ __
This is one of the more memorable ones - the one with the Robot getting really big; I remember this from when I was a kid. Smith causes an electrical overload (but John & Don are nearly as much to blame if they knew that merely pressing a wrong button would cause all this carnage - why are they still entrusting Smith with such a potentially damaging task?). Since power must now be rationed, the Robot gets no recharge; it soon goes off alone to die, after leaving a sappy farewell to its 'family' . Near "The Valley of Shadows," the Robot keels over; Will & Smith find it, but in a greatly enlarged state.

It turns out that some ionized gasses have caused the Robot's bizarre growth. This is all ridiculous and the story is limited to this simple plot - that Will & Smith decide to go inside the Robot to make repairs - but sometimes the simple way is better. It's all nice and straightforward here; there are also genuinely amusing scenes of Smith being chased by one of the Robot's internal cleaning devices - it shoots laser beams (one of these is later destroyed by John, who followed them in; I wonder if this caused problems later - like the Robot's behavior in a later episode). Also, the set designers must have worked overtime to present the interior structure of the Robot - on a TV budget. BoG's Score: 6 out of 10
Epilogue Tag: the group is on the floor of the Jupiter 2, preparing for another bombardment from an unknown foe; the barrage begins... freeze frame!