Ahh - Lost In Space. A great TV series, full of special effects, and which, according to William Shatner's book <insert book title here - I forgot what it’s called> was given to ABC on a plate by Gene Roddenberry who, whilst failing to convince them of the benefits of Star Trek, told them how to make a space-based programme cheaply by reusing sets, props from other productions (a trick used by the BBC for Dr Who as well).

The star of the show was the Robot - pulled by string from off set, it was argumentative, sarcastic and scathing, especially of Dr Smith. A great example of design, with many 1950’s ornamentation that simply failed to go away. As Lost In Space became more camp pantomime that Science Fiction, the robot became more and more a source of fun, and a way to cause Dr Smith more anguish.

The Robot has surfaced in other programmes since Lost In Space.

The toy has a number of phrases stored in its internal memory banks, the best being “Danger, Danger!”.