Welcome to Season Three!
Note that this is our very own inscribed photo, not a cheap screengrab from somewhere!
Season Three seemed to be off on the right foot. The first few episodes show an effort to get back to more serious stories, in distinction to the silliness which characterized much of Season Two. We are introduced to the Pod, a quite realistic landing craft which was actually modeled on some early NASA designs for the lunar lander (remember, the first Moon landing was still in the future when Lost In Space ended!), and the actual Lunar Module bears a recognizable family resemblance to the Pod. Still, a clear trend towards a “formula” established itself early on: Dr. Smith does something predictably foolish and disastrous, Will tells the Robot, “We have to go help him!”, the Robot reminds him they aren’t supposed to leave the ship, and away they go. About as predictable as Timmy falling down an old well and Lassie bringing rescue.
Also, and most noteworthy stylistically, is that the crew are no longer stranded on a single planet for most of the season, but have managed to become spaceworthy again. Landings, takeoffs, and misadventures while underway provide more opportunity for meeting strange new creatures and visiting interesting new planets — including Earth, and meeting actual humans from Earth. (Visit To A Hostile Planet, The Haunted Lighthouse, The Time Merchant.) Season Three also brought another costume change. Most opinion we see (ours included) is somewhat disparaging of the new crew uniform, and we have said elsewhere that if you were to line them all up, they’d look like a set of Matrushka Easter Eggs. On the flip side, we do see them in their spacesuits a lot more, and actually looking like space travelers!
Penny also gets a new hairdo, occasionally anyway, with a more adult-looking short style, see photo above. There is much speculation that this was in fact a wig, and that her real hair was tucked neatly up underneath. Looking at the photo above, it does seem as if there is a suspicious bulge on the top of her head, and the difference between her (indisputably) real hair and a possible wig seems fairly evident. However, the simple fact that her hair changes from the short style above to her traditional shoulder-length is also explained by the shooting schedule: episodes were frequently aired out of the order in which they were filmed, so it is certainly plausible that she did have long hair for a part of the season and short hair for the rest of it.
Yes, Season Three certainly seemed to have the Jupiter 2 and her merry crew heading back in the right direction.
Then . . . then . . . then came The Great Vegetable Rebellion . . .
i always loved lost in space star trek space 1999 the old battlestar gallactica and all sci fi movies about space
I don’t like Penny’s hairdo at all. I miss her braids with the ribbons . she looked so cute. But she has grown-up, so a more grown-up hairdo, is appropriate, I guess.
I think you’re correct. Her face has matured in her later years so I believe the short Bob hairdo allows her fuller, “closer to adult” beauty to shine through more.
Penny looks very pretty in Princess of Space.
Penny Robinson was my first TV crush. Even to this day, I still think of Angela Cartwright fondly, I think I always will.
Angela herself has been quoted as saying that the hair was a wig and that her real hair was tucked into it. In some photo’s you can tell that the wig is a slightly different color than her other hair. She wanted the long hair and Irwin Allen wanted the shorter wig style.
Always was a Lost In Space Fan. And to be honest Penny was my first Childhood crush.
A lot of us, I think!
I’m watching Lost in Space right now in August 2019 and I never realized how beautiful she was as a teen. Some Space Pirate wants to make her a Princess in this episode. She’s absolutely gorgeous. Adorable.
I WILL NEVER FORGET YOU YOU WERE ALWAYS MY FAVORITE GIRL ON ALL TV SHOWS AND YOU’RE ONLY A COUPLE YRS OLDER THAN ME. I WISH I COULD SEE YOU NOW..