Dr. Zachary Smith, The Space Traveler We Loved To Loathe

If you were looking for a science fiction television show that had deep meaning, spent millions of dollars on dazzling special effects and would have you pondering the meaning of life....well, I'm sure there were some out there.

But if you just wanted to have some deep space, alien-induced family fun, then 'Lost In Space' was for you!

From September of 1965 until March of 1968, we all traveled along with the Robinson Family, stopping here and there throughout the universe.  Where exactly were we (and they)?  Who knows.  Hey, after all we were lost!

And why, exactly, were we lost?  And why did we stay lost?

Well, we can thank Dr. Zachary Smith for that!

Dr. Smith was one of those 'love to hate' characters, except we didn't really hate him.  Why not?  Because Will didn't, Maureen didn't, Penny didn't...no one really hated him (well, maybe Don did from time to time).  Rather, we put up with him.  And he's one of those characters that, without him, 'Lost In Space' wouldn't have worked.

Expertly and comicly portrayed by actor Johnathon Harris, you may have thought Harris was British...he seemed to have that 'high brow' kind of demeanor and voice.  But that must have just been great acting, because Harris was born in the Bronx, New York to a poor family.  Oh, and a 'beside the point': Did you know he was also the voice of 'Manny', a preying mantis in the animated movie hit 'A Bug's Life'?  Jonathon Harris passed away in 2002 at the age of 87.

One of the great features of Dr. Smith was his constantly putting down The Robot.  In this video clip, Jonathon Harris talks about those 'put downs' and many are featured throughout the clip.

Star Wars is great.  Star Trek was wonderful.  But there was only one 'Lost In Space'.  And only one Dr. Zachary Smith.