I would love to know what the date of that meeting was. Because somewhere in there, you had Billy Mumy crafting what many said was a brilliant script (which Allen refused to read), and then Guy Williams passes away in 1989. So I'm curious what stopped Allen from proceeding and if his rejection of Billy Mumy played a role in getting him or others to join back when he decided to move forward with the idea. It's just curious that through all of this good will by people to see it get made, bruised egos might have ultimately been the thing that did it in.
The lunch meeting probably took place circa 1989-90 which is around the time when I saw Harris himself tell this story at a convention. I also can tell you for a fact (given the actual Warner's exec who made the decision was a friend of the family) it was WB who pulled the plug on the project not long after this due to the poor test marketing results (the public overall saw the show as 'that stupid campy show with Dr. Smith and the Carrot Man') . They recommended to Irwin the he might instead do a TV reunion movie. Alas, Irwin passed away not long after and his wife tried to get Paramount and maybe some other studios interested until it wound up at New Line with the obviously poor result.
@@MrPeterbs Thank you for providing that insight. That certainly contextualizes events much better. I think if there was ever going to be a finale to that original storyline, it would have needed to be done in the early to mid 70's while there was still a measured interest for the show and its core story. Once Star Wars hit, that pretty much moved the bar of expectation in sci-fi and what would be deemed acceptable.
@@Playitstraight44 Hi. I realize it must be strange to have someone comment on your eight year old post but I just saw this yesterday. You Tube's algorithm is strange. As far as LIS, actually as the big opening weekend of the 1998 LIS movie shows there was still a huge interest in the show. Unfortunately, it was simply a lousy movie and word of mouth killed it. And of course that led to the John Woo pilot of the early 2000s and then the Netflix series. I could also mention the very popular LIS comic book published by Innovation in the 90s as well. The fact that Irwin Allen invited Harris to that lunch meeting seems to indicate to me that Allen was thinking of simply doing a TV reunion movie and then seeing how well it was received.
@@MrPeterbs That's true. I'll never understand why they cast William Hurt (RIP) to play John Robinson. He was the very antithesis of what that character should be.
@@Playitstraight44 Well I doubt they could make the movie be precise copy of the 1965 show? I liked how they went in a different direction with the Netflix show.
As Harris said in this video - Allen waited too late to do a sequel movie with the original cast.He probably wanted to do a movie with the crew returning to earth.He didn't end the original series right - ridiculous episodes.
He didn't end the original series, CBS did. Everyone was told they were coming back for a 4th season but the network scoffed at the budget. If they had known they would have had a series finale.
@@abe_froman8360 If you look online you can find the interviews with June Lockhart where she explained it wasn't the budget, per se. In fact CBS was willing to go two more seasons. It came down to a personal dispute between Irwin Allen and a West Coast CBS executive (Perry Lafferty) who finally got exasperated by his attitude.
The meeting was less than six months before guy Williams died he read mummy notes on possible movie of week because he was give pressure to read i t. But he wait to later to act on it he made a mistake big time
it would be great to see original air date posted on this type of video.
Never happened with the original crew but you won't be forgotten
"Irwin Allen was not known for SPENDING MONEY!!!!"
I would love to know what the date of that meeting was. Because somewhere in there, you had Billy Mumy crafting what many said was a brilliant script (which Allen refused to read), and then Guy Williams passes away in 1989. So I'm curious what stopped Allen from proceeding and if his rejection of Billy Mumy played a role in getting him or others to join back when he decided to move forward with the idea. It's just curious that through all of this good will by people to see it get made, bruised egos might have ultimately been the thing that did it in.
The lunch meeting probably took place circa 1989-90 which is around the time when I saw Harris himself tell this story at a convention. I also can tell you for a fact (given the actual Warner's exec who made the decision was a friend of the family) it was WB who pulled the plug on the project not long after this due to the poor test marketing results (the public overall saw the show as 'that stupid campy show with Dr. Smith and the Carrot Man') . They recommended to Irwin the he might instead do a TV reunion movie. Alas, Irwin passed away not long after and his wife tried to get Paramount and maybe some other studios interested until it wound up at New Line with the obviously poor result.
@@MrPeterbs Thank you for providing that insight. That certainly contextualizes events much better. I think if there was ever going to be a finale to that original storyline, it would have needed to be done in the early to mid 70's while there was still a measured interest for the show and its core story. Once Star Wars hit, that pretty much moved the bar of expectation in sci-fi and what would be deemed acceptable.
@@Playitstraight44 Hi. I realize it must be strange to have someone comment on your eight year old post but I just saw this yesterday. You Tube's algorithm is strange. As far as LIS, actually as the big opening weekend of the 1998 LIS movie shows there was still a huge interest in the show. Unfortunately, it was simply a lousy movie and word of mouth killed it. And of course that led to the John Woo pilot of the early 2000s and then the Netflix series. I could also mention the very popular LIS comic book published by Innovation in the 90s as well. The fact that Irwin Allen invited Harris to that lunch meeting seems to indicate to me that Allen was thinking of simply doing a TV reunion movie and then seeing how well it was received.
@@MrPeterbs That's true. I'll never understand why they cast William Hurt (RIP) to play John Robinson. He was the very antithesis of what that character should be.
@@Playitstraight44 Well I doubt they could make the movie be precise copy of the 1965 show? I liked how they went in a different direction with the Netflix show.
This Was Released In 1990!!!!!!!
As Harris said in this video - Allen waited too late to do a sequel movie with the original cast.He probably wanted to do a movie with the crew returning to earth.He didn't end the original series right - ridiculous episodes.
He didn't end the original series, CBS did. Everyone was told they were coming back for a 4th season but the network scoffed at the budget. If they had known they would have had a series finale.
@@abe_froman8360 If you look online you can find the interviews with June Lockhart where she explained it wasn't the budget, per se. In fact CBS was willing to go two more seasons. It came down to a personal dispute between Irwin Allen and a West Coast CBS executive (Perry Lafferty) who finally got exasperated by his attitude.
The meeting was less than six months before guy Williams died he read mummy notes on possible movie of week because he was give pressure to read i t. But he wait to later to act on it he made a mistake big time