Bill Mumy has such impressive character, he has parsed the situation, Irwin Allen's harsh stance, and come away with complete understand. He recounts Allen's words without vilifying or defaming the man, and in this age where insult is popular, that's admirable.
There was a comic book update years later where the Robinsons, Don and Dr. Smith finally made it to Alpha Centauri and started a new colony. Also, Don and Judy did wind up getting married and had a son who was a younger version of his Uncle Will.
This golden opportunity in 1978 was lost forever because of Irvin's stubbornness. He forgot that though Lost In space was his baby, it owed it's success to the actors who portrayed the characters. He should have listened to BiIl Mumy and made a sound decision on the merits of the script.
Jonathon Harris always knew that LIS had mileage left in it when it was cancelled. He was asked the question during his brilliant Australian tour show 'Never fear..'.etc. about how the series should have ended. He stated that the show easily had a good 2 years left. Shame billy mumy didn't get a chance. A feature length film with the original cast, perhaps where they DO finally get back to earth, would have tied it up properly. Bit of a loss for the fans.
Wow... such humility you have. Very impressive. I'm really enjoying catching up with you & your life of the past 30 yrs. Thank you for sharing this story... although I (personally) would've loved to see an ending that would have completed the Lost In Space series.
Too bad they didn't have the resources to make fan films back then like they have nowadays. Mumy could have used kickstarter to fund his reunion, filmed it independently and put the movie up for free on the internet However, while companies like Lucasfilm and Paramount have been pretty cool about fanfilms, it sounds like Irwin Allen would have taken a dim view of even something like that. I can totally understand being protective of your intellectual property, but Allen just comes across as a real jerk in this story; I'm impressed that Bill can actually defend that guy's position and speak about the incident without any tangible bitterness or rancor. It's unfortunate that Irwin Allen's ego prevented the fans of Lost in Space from attaining closure.
I kind of wish the ending, or a final episode (movie) would have been where they finally reached Alpha Centauri (The family's destination) - Not Earth - where they made lives for themselves, and that Dr. Smith would have been held accountable for his crimes (though that was sort of addressed in "Prisoners of Space").
What ever Bill Mumy ever wrote in that script would have been an improvement of astronomical proportion to the movie we eventually got. Lost in Space was Allen's, to be sure, but Bill, Jonathan and the robot made it was it was. He could have at least shown enough courtesy to look at the script, even if only to humor Bill, then politely shaken his hand and said thanks but no thanks and explained why. If it happened exactly as Bill's telling it, and no reason to believe it didn't, Erwin behaved like a prick towards a well respected man in the industry, who had done everything right and had approached HIM with the respect he deserved. Bill shows no malice towards Erwin and it shows what a good person and a true professional he is, it's clear Erwin could have handled it much better than he did. Perhaps one day we'll get another, a proper, re-boot and Bill can write or at least add his input and we'll get the Lost In Space movie we SHOULD have got. Good on you Bill.
It would have been nice to have closure with the proposed movie and I'm sure that Bill Mumy's script would have been certainly as good if not better than those written for the last few episodes of lost in space, e.g. the talking carrot episode. Pity. Bill seems like a very impressive person.
It is a shame, that Bill didn't get to finish the comic version, either. It was going in a fantastic direction, tying everything together. But, the comic was cancelled, before it was finished. At least, I do not believe it was ever finished (this all happened in the 90's). I have really enjoyed watching all of these clips of Bill Mumy. Thank you, TVLEGENDS, for sharing them with us.
It's interesting to hear Jonathan Harris's interview from the emmytvlegends--he talks about his relationships with the rest of the cast--he talks about how Guy Williams and himself could never be friends
Irwin Allen was seating on a mine of gold and didn't do anything with it. The 1998 movie was extremely depressing to watch and not fun at all. It killed whatever interest Hollywood had in the potential franchise. Gene Rodenberry was wiser and milked the Star Trek franchise to the fullest. Irwin Allen was just plain clueless.
Irwin Allen may have had every right, but there is a thing called handling things with a certain amount of decorum. (Which is why I despise people with big egos. I usually want to light fire to all the hot air the emit). Randy McDaniels, TLC.
That's sad Irwin Allen was so cold about the idea or creating a final rescue movie. I didn't care for the re-make Movie of LIS. Needs the remaining original characters and Jupiter 2. Not that thing they used in the movie! Hope someday someone will get it resolved and Do This!
There are fans making some very good lost in space CGI ect that want to do fan made episodes . And get this they get the same attitude from the owners of the franchise .
yes..i would have, too....i enjoyed the show alot....i just think that irwin allen could have been nicer to you in both things..he should have gave u the fourth season, and he could have gave u the yes to do the end of the show...take care, will and everyone else...
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 69 | คู่เอก "กุหลาบดำ vs นาบิล"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/PNM6U8e_HMo/mqdefault.jpg)
Bill Mumy has such impressive character, he has parsed the situation, Irwin Allen's harsh stance, and come away with complete understand. He recounts Allen's words without vilifying or defaming the man, and in this age where insult is popular, that's admirable.
I made this comment about another LIS vid here on YT: I think Irwin Allen was *his own worst enemy*....
A very candid and insightful explanation from Bill Mumy !
Thanks for sharing.
There was a comic book update years later where the Robinsons, Don and Dr. Smith finally made it to Alpha Centauri and started a new colony. Also, Don and Judy did wind up getting married and had a son who was a younger version of his Uncle Will.
This golden opportunity in 1978 was lost forever because of Irvin's stubbornness. He forgot that though Lost In space was his baby, it owed it's success to the actors who portrayed the characters. He should have listened to BiIl Mumy and made a sound decision on the merits of the script.
Jonathon Harris always knew that LIS had mileage left in it when it was cancelled. He was asked the question during his
brilliant Australian tour show 'Never fear..'.etc. about how the series should have ended. He stated that the show easily had
a good 2 years left. Shame billy mumy didn't get a chance. A feature length film with the original cast, perhaps where they DO finally get back to earth, would have tied it up properly. Bit of a loss for the fans.
a conclusion to lost in space would have been epic. especially in 1978 with star wars being so popular.
Wow... such humility you have. Very impressive. I'm really enjoying catching up with you & your life of the past 30 yrs. Thank you for sharing this story... although I (personally) would've loved to see an ending that would have completed the Lost In Space series.
A reunion movie would have been fantastic. It would of happened if Irwin Allen was such a jerk. I grew up on the show
Too bad they didn't have the resources to make fan films back then like they have nowadays. Mumy could have used kickstarter to fund his reunion, filmed it independently and put the movie up for free on the internet However, while companies like Lucasfilm and Paramount have been pretty cool about fanfilms, it sounds like Irwin Allen would have taken a dim view of even something like that. I can totally understand being protective of your intellectual property, but Allen just comes across as a real jerk in this story; I'm impressed that Bill can actually defend that guy's position and speak about the incident without any tangible bitterness or rancor. It's unfortunate that Irwin Allen's ego prevented the fans of Lost in Space from attaining closure.
I kind of wish the ending, or a final episode (movie) would have been where they finally reached Alpha Centauri (The family's destination) - Not Earth - where they made lives for themselves, and that Dr. Smith would have been held accountable for his crimes (though that was sort of addressed in "Prisoners of Space").
What ever Bill Mumy ever wrote in that script would have been an improvement of astronomical proportion to the movie we eventually got.
Lost in Space was Allen's, to be sure, but Bill, Jonathan and the robot made it was it was.
He could have at least shown enough courtesy to look at the script, even if only to humor Bill, then politely shaken his hand and said thanks but no thanks and explained why.
If it happened exactly as Bill's telling it, and no reason to believe it didn't, Erwin behaved like a prick towards a well respected man in the industry, who had done everything right and had approached HIM with the respect he deserved.
Bill shows no malice towards Erwin and it shows what a good person and a true professional he is, it's clear Erwin could have handled it much better than he did.
Perhaps one day we'll get another, a proper, re-boot and Bill can write or at least add his input and we'll get the Lost In Space movie we SHOULD have got.
Good on you Bill.
It would have been nice to have closure with the proposed movie and I'm sure that Bill Mumy's script would have been certainly as good if not better than those written for the last few episodes of lost in space, e.g. the talking carrot episode. Pity. Bill seems like a very impressive person.
It is a shame, that Bill didn't get to finish the comic version, either. It was going in a fantastic direction, tying everything together. But, the comic was cancelled, before it was finished. At least, I do not believe it was ever finished (this all happened in the 90's). I have really enjoyed watching all of these clips of Bill Mumy. Thank you, TVLEGENDS, for sharing them with us.
It's interesting to hear Jonathan Harris's interview from the emmytvlegends--he talks about his relationships with the rest of the cast--he talks about how Guy Williams and himself could never be friends
Irwin Allen was seating on a mine of gold and didn't do anything with it. The 1998 movie was extremely depressing to watch and not fun at all. It killed whatever interest Hollywood had in the potential franchise. Gene Rodenberry was wiser and milked the Star Trek franchise to the fullest. Irwin Allen was just plain clueless.
Irwin Allen may have had every right, but there is a thing called handling things with a certain amount of decorum. (Which is why I despise people with big egos. I usually want to light fire to all the hot air the emit). Randy McDaniels, TLC.
That's sad Irwin Allen was so cold about the idea or creating a final rescue movie.
I didn't care for the re-make Movie of LIS.
Needs the remaining original characters and Jupiter 2. Not that thing they used in the movie!
Hope someday someone will get it resolved and Do This!
There are fans making some very good lost in space CGI ect that want to do fan made episodes . And get this they get the same attitude from the owners of the franchise .
yes..i would have, too....i enjoyed the show alot....i just think that irwin allen could have been nicer to you in both things..he should have gave u the fourth season, and he could have gave u the yes to do the end of the show...take care, will and everyone else...
interesting interview.
OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!