The Haunted Lighthouse

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The Haunted Lighthouse

Season	Episode	Overall
Three	7th in Season	66th in Series

Series

Lost in Space

Original Airdate

October 18, 1967

Written By

Jackson Gillis

Directed By

Sobey Martin

Episode guide
Previous Episode	Next Episode
"Space Destructors"	"Flight into the Future"

Shortly before the Jupiter 2 prepares for lift-off, Penny goes to get her scarf from a cave. Once there, she encounters an alien boy by the name of J-5 who begs her to take him with her family when they go. He says that if they leave him behind he will be eaten by a Zaybo. Penny asks what a Zaybo is, and a lion suddenly appears nearby. Frightened, Penny runs to her father for help. In reality, the Zaybo is J-5's shape-shifting pet created from his mind, but he keeps that a secret from Penny and the others. Penny finds her father and tells him about how J-5 saved her from the lion. All three then hurry back to the Jupiter 2 and the ship takes off for outer space.

Everyone likes J-5 except for Will; Penny is especially fond of J-5. Will is suspicious and scoffs at some of the stories J-5 tells. J-5 decides to teach Will a lesson by scaring him with the Zaybo, but when the Robinsons promise to take J-5 back to his own planet, he changes his mind and puts the Zaybo away.

Just as the Jupiter 2 develops some mechanical trouble they encounter a "fog" in space. The crew feels the Jupiter 2 bump into something they can't see due to the fog. When the fog clears they see a space lightship nearby, which draws the Jupiter 2 to itself. John prepares to take a spacewalk in order to survey the damage caused by the presumed collision. When he emerges from the airlock, though, he finds himself in a gangway to the other ship. As he enters the mysterious ship he hears a mechanical voice reciting the date on which the Jupiter 2 launched and how long the Robinsons have been lost in space. John is greeted by a very friendly man named Colonel Fogey. Since Fogey has not seen any other human beings in over a decade, he is thrilled to meet the Robinsons. Colonel Fogey prepares a banquet for them and everyone has a lovely time.

Fogey says he can give the Jupiter 2 enough fuel to get back home to Earth which makes everyone very happy. However, it seems they don’t have enough fuel to stop over at J-5's planet. J-5 is angry and heartbroken and runs away to plot his revenge. Penny tries her best to comfort him, and she eventually convinces him to come back down to dinner. J-5 secretly tells the Zaybo to start making mischief.

A few moments later, alarm bells start to go off. Everyone rushes to see what the matter is except for Dr. Smith, who stays behind to drink champagne. The Zaybo, disguised as a pretty lady, appears and tries to tempt Smith into going to J-5's planet. J-5 then tries to trick Smith and Penny into helping him steal the Jupiter 2.

In the control room of the lightship Colonel Fogey has started to cry, confessing to the Robinsons that he isn’t really a colonel at all; he’s just the caretaker. He doesn’t know how to work any of the computers and he is very upset about it. He also admits he doesn’t actually have the fuel he promised the Robinsons. He only said he did because he wanted to impress them and hoped they would stay longer to keep him company.

Will leaves the bridge looking for Penny and ends up encountering the Zaybo in lion form again. He is frightened, and Penny rushes to the rescue. Afterwards, Penny tells J-5 that she has figured out that he controls the Zaybo and has the power to make people imagine things. J-5 apologizes, saying he only did those things because he’s been so lonely.

In the end, J-5 decides to stay behind on the lightship with Colonel Fogey. That way they can help one another and neither of them will be lonely. The Jupiter 2 departs, getting back on its course for Earth. It seems to be a happy ending, but Penny realizes that she loves J-5 and will miss him very much.

Background information[]

At the beginning of the episode Judy calls the planet they're leaving "forsaken" and "lifeless." Yet assuming it's the same planet they've been on since "Hunter's Moon," they found life on the planet in 2 of the 3 episodes which take place on the planet.
When John puts on his pressure suit and leaves the Jupiter 2 to go over to the other spaceship, he is not wearing his gloves. Wouldn't he need them if he was going out into the vacuum of outer space?
Some have wondered where Penny get the match from, but presumably there were matches on the table for the purpose of lighting the candles.
The computer voice over that greets the Jupiter 2 upon docking informs the visitors that, among other things, the ship launched September 18th, 1997. The true date is of course October 16th (strangely, in the later episode 'The Time Merchant' it is given correctly.). It is possible that Fogey's computer's information was entered incorrectly.
The computer voice also says the Jupiter 2 has been lost in space two years, five months, and six days, so the date should be February 24, 2000 if the September date for launch is used.
The 'lighthouse' is the 'F-12 Fuel Barge' seen in the series 2 episode Wild Adventure.
J-5's pointy ears are the same as used by Mr. Spock on 'Star Trek'.
Since a rescue ship is on its way from Earth to the station, it seems odd that Dr. Smith gets back on the Jupiter 2 rather than simply wait it out for a guaranteed return. (Though Dr. Smith is probably not patient enough to wait 3 years if he thinks he can scheme to take over the Jupiter 2 or find another way back to earth before then.)
Why was this episode titled “The Haunted Lighthouse” when there were no ghosts or haunting of any kind? (Perhaps for the same reason that "The Ghost Planet" was so named in spite of having no ghosts in it? Some titles are too attention grabbing to deny simply because they shouldn't be taken literally. If one desperately wanted to find literal meaning in those titles one could presume that "The Ghost Planet" was so named because that world of robots was LIKE a world of ghosts and "The Haunted Lighthouse" is so named because Fogey {Look up the definition of that word} was HAUNTED by his loneliness.) The most likely explanation is that the Zaybo, being a figment of J-5's powerful imagination, is not too dissimilar to a spectral being or a poltergeist, whose mischievous activity it emulates.
In the episode “Kidnapped in Space” it is stated that Doctor Smith is not a real medical doctor and has no business trying to practice medicine. So why was he asked to give J-5 a medical checkup? Because he was the closest thing they had to a medical officer.
How did Doctor Smith get full technical knowledge of the Jupiter 2?
When John first arrives at the space port, the docking computer begins to repeat information it has gathered about him and his ship. The computer states “Spaceship Jupiter 2 departed Earth September 18th, 1997. Mission; exploration.” The Robinsons hear this message and nods their heads, agreeing that it is correct. The Robinsons and the computer are all wrong. Spaceship Jupiter 2 actually departed Earth on October 16th, 1997. Its mission was colonization.
In this episode, J-5 asks Penny to get Dr. Smith's glasses. Since when did Dr. Smith start wearing glasses. Penny says she can't find them, but Dr. Smith seldom wears them. If J-5 never knew or saw anything about the glasses, how did he know about them? Perhaps his mental powers include a mild form of telepathy and subconscious persuasion.