episode #67 - Flight Into the Future

episode #67 / Air Date: 10/25/67 (episode # 8 of 3rd season)
written by Peter Packer; Directed by Sobey Martin

Smith does it again - he presses the wrong button and the escape pod detaches from the Jupiter 2 with Smith, Will and the Robot aboard; they land on an unknown planet. The others in the Jupiter 2 follow and land half-a-mile away... or do they? The escape pod seems to be in the middle of a tropical jungle while the Jupiter 2 is in the middle of a rocky desert - or is it? Will & Smith suddenly get the impulse to take a nap; when they awaken, things like the Robot look ancient or dilapidated; it seems like 270 years have passed! Yep, it's the old Rip van Winkle tale on another planet...

The two out-of-time castaways come across a statue of the Robot (the actual Robot is quite proud of this), what's left of the Jupiter 2, two astronauts (one of whom is a descendant of Smith's) and a lady who Will thinks is Judy but is another descendant. Of course, all is not what it seems. Meanwhile, John & Don try to make it to where Will & Smith are dickering. (btw, Smith gets slapped by a glove here, an amusing and rare occurrence - Smith almost always managed to avoid getting physically assaulted).
This has a slightly surreal quality and all the stuff that the explorers encounter ranges from interesting to intriguing. You're not sure where this is going (have they encountered an actual time warp?), but some of it doesn't make sense since they're still on this same planet in the next episode and none of the revelations have any bearing on them next time. That's the problem when they don't switch to a new planet in every episode. BoG's Score: 6 out of 10