Thursday, January 27, 2011

Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!

You know a television show has run seriously off the rails when your wife turns to you and says, in all sincerity, "This would have made more sense with a llama."

Flu-ridden and snowbound yesterday afternoon, Katie-Bar-The-Door and I watched a rerun of Lost in Space on the Family Net cable channel, specifically the infamous "Carrotman" episode, a.k.a. "The Great Vegetable Rebellion." For those of you old enough to remember Lost in Space, the Carrotman needs no introduction. For the rest of you, well, let's just say '60s camp never got any campier.

For those of you with an unquenchable thirst for useless trivia, the part of the Carrotman's sidekick, Willoughby, was originally to be played by a talking llama—yes, the kind with four legs, painted purple, no less. (It does not compute!) But the trained llama kept biting Jonathan Harris (Dr. Smith) who finally refused to continue production. Which is a pity, because it really would have made more sense with a llama. But the llama was fired, a human was hired, and the series was cancelled two weeks later.

Oh, the pain, the pain.

You can watch "The Great Vegetable Rebellion" here at the Monkey, courtesy of Hulu.com.

9 comments:

mister muleboy said...

Alas, I missed the Carrotman episode.

Locked in myself, but not with flu (if only it had been flu), I watched Jonathan Harris on an episode of Bonanza.

He was a theatrical orator who preferred jail to busticating his principles.

The town sprung him, and after giving them what they wanted, he added a recitation of the Declaration of Independents.

Classic. . . .

Mythical Monkey said...

I missed that episode of Bonanza. Now I'll have to go looking for it.

Did you know Jane Greer was once on an episode of Bonanza? Apparently just before she was to play her death scene, Michael "Little Joe" Landon whispered something to her so obscene, she couldn't stop laughing which really made shooting difficult.

Sounds like they had a real good time.

Re: Lost in Space, Family Net is replaying the Carrotman episode at 5 p.m. today. Dr. Smith is turned into a poetry-spouting stalk of celery. Really, it just doesn't get any better than that ...

mister muleboy said...

Apparently just before she was to play her death scene, Michael "Little Joe" Landon whispered something to her so obscene, she couldn't stop laughing which really made shooting difficult.

I can remember a performance of "The Miracle Worker."

During my most dramatic scene, describing the poor deaf, dumb, and blind girl, I glanced down to see that the crew had carved Helen Keller jokes into the large wooden desk I leaned on. Leaned on dramatically, I might add. . . .

Maggie said...

I absolutely hated that show. Pitttuie.

Anonymous said...

Did you know that Helen Keller had a dollhouse in the backyard? Neither did she

How did Helen Keller burn her ear off? Answering the iron!

How did she burn the other one off? They called back!

What is Helen Keller’s favorite color? Velcro

How come Helen Keller can’t have kids? Because she’s dead!

How did Helen Keller drive herself crazy? Trying to read a stucco wall

Why can’t Helen Keller drive a car? She’s a woman.

Mythical Monkey said...

I absolutely hated that show. Pitttuie.

I can't argue with you -- objectively Lost in Space was a terrible show and this particular episode is the cream of the crop. But it did give us several catch phrases, including "Danger, Will Robinson!" "Oh the pain, the pain" and "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

Not bad, considering ...

Uncle Tom said...

no one can really 'hate' Lost in Space - they just refuse to acknowledge the depths of their love for it. Denial is an ugly thingy.

By the way - I think "Being invaded by the Carrotman" has a nicer ring than "jumped the shark" - either that or its a nice euphemism for something entirely different altogether. Either way the beauty of it is that it has a carrot which has plenty of vitamins and nutrients. I think Lost in Space was actually way ahead of its time in promoting peace, understanding and tolerance - especially of whacked out mutated vegetables - if nothing else, Irwin Allen deserves a mention in the list of other notable healers and peacemakers.

Actually, what was the subject again?

Mythical Monkey said...

Admittedly, it's no Gilligan's Island, but I defy you to show me a better series that featured both a robot and a talking carrot.

Maggie said...

No, I'm pretty sure I hate it.

Hey, my wv: pubdope. Now, that's funny.