SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON comic book 12-18

SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON

ISSUE: 11

DATE: December 1964

TITLE: OPERATION RESCUE

COVER: The Robinsons join forces with bat-winged men to battle     poison-spouting creatures from space!

NARRATION: The Earth's space station, operated by the Robinson     family, has become lost in space. Hunting for some clue to   guide it home, it suddenly picks up a startling signal...

LIFE FORMS: Bat winged men, a giant mutant like alien tiger beast with tusks is speared by the bat men; fierce insects hunt in   the forest; Akoril is the eldest son of the honorable Ilikru,    mayor of the city and his wife is Aneeka; the planet's air affects humans from earth and makes them see illusions (ho hum); a ship from Earth is here, abandoned; a netting canopy     over the bat men and women (called the CHIROPT) city keeps out     insects;    

PLANETS: The bat men and women planet; in the same system is a     colder planet; on the ice snow planet, the Robinsons find men    from Earth;

ALLIES: Akoril, Aneeka; men from Earth--Capt. Morrow and men passed      through a very large dark nebula of cosmic dust and some of it      was highly radioactive and affected the ship's log--the way to      Earth may have been obscured. 

OF INTEREST: Morrow mentions there is not much wild country left   now on the planet Earth. The Robinsons use the log to start on   their way home as does Capt. Morrow in his rocket. Why can't they all go on Space Station One? Pin Up wrap around covers    continued.

CLOSING NARRATION: The Robinsons, with hope in their hearts, speed toward their space station, anxious to start their homeward      journey...undaunted by the fact that they are more than a     million miles from that speck in the universe called EARTH.

SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON ANNUAL: This story appeared in text form in the annual from England.

SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON

ISSUE: 12

DATE: April 1965

TITLE: THE IRON DWARFS

COVER: Escaping to an underground cavern for safety, Craig and Tam      Robinson find greater peril in the trap of the IRON DWARFS!

NARRATION: Lost in space, the earth made laboratory station, manned     by the Robinson family, continues on a hopefully charted star    path...

SPACE DANGERS: a vast cloud of cosmic dust; a giant sun in      constellation 1327 grows and is about to take in SS2;

PLANET: the planet's weight compared to its size is much greater   than Earth's; rocks of heavy iron; a meteorite shower sends    Tam and Craig into a cave;

LIFE FORMS: Metallic cords;

ENEMIES: Small but very strong and stout rotund blue aliens-- language: Kunakka, guma Bakokkin; have great specific gravity

ALLIES: Lacare--alien from here named Aylorie uses invisibility to rescue Tam and Craig; a collision doomed planet brought the      Iron Dwarfs and fragments from their blasted planet to this     planet; man uses thought telepathy and a levitation belt; Captain Alacru; Osala; Lacareen aliens;     

QUOTE: June: "Craig, I'm scared! We're in the power of creatures            who will have no more mercy on us than if we were             insects!"

SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON

ISSUE: 13

DATE: July 1965

TITLE: THE PIT OF DOOM

COVER: On a fiery cloud in space, June and Craig Robinson risk     their lives to save their son from THE PIT OF DOOM!

NARRATION: After feeling their way by radar through a strange planet's thick cloud cover, the Robinsons have landed their   space station in the middle of lush but menacing life forms... LIFE FORMS: Lots! Thick jungles of flying insectoids, mammals,    beetles with horns of steel which can change shape; many evil      imitations of Tim and Tam; kangaroo like mammals; moving    vines; small islands in the sky with vines that can be dropped

ALLIES: Dalak (yes, Dalak), leader of those above, living on the   sky islands; descended from tree top dwelling peoples; Upok, Matil, Olto; eat fruit from the trees; call the beetles the Oplops; and have fire warriors. Give Robinsons fruit. Dalak's     people call the world below "the Old World."  Dalak's people      are short, use circular bows to fire fire arrows, and have   three fingers--the middle one is bigger and continually up. Live in huts.

FEATURE: "Space-Age Apparel": Tam has a soil proof metallic fiber which sheds dirt and moisture. When there's time for relaxing   (?), she slips into comfortable clothes. On special occasions Tam wears a sheer overshirt and cape with her tapered capris.     Tim wears a well equipped spacesuit which protects him      from radiation and extreme temperatures. Tim is ready to brave   the cold in thermal one piece suit. It keeps a constant      temperature and is ideal for skiing whenever the Robinsons           find a snowy planet (has a clear visor). 

WRITTEN INFO: Craig was given a log tape in OPERATION RESCUE by    Capt. Morrow. Morrow's rocket passed through a highly      radioactive section of cosmic dust and part of the tape was destroyed. The Robinsons might manage to reach a part of space   that matches the log. They have atmosphere indicators in the      space mobiles. As long as the Space Station remains intact, it   is always possible the Robinsons will one day find their way     back to Earth. If they do return, it would not mean the end of    the series, for there would be adventures on Earth before      taking off again in the space station...and they would take   off again. As citizens of our planet, they would enjoy   spending time again on Earth but as dedicated space      scientists, June and Craig feel quite at home in their space     station and out among the stars. Spacemobiles use advanced rocket fuel, the motors are small but numerous and are      equipped with devices that return the exhaust to the motor    again for refiring. The quantity of fuel used is small.  

QUOTE: Tim: "Dad, I thought I saw fruit trees! Maybe we can dicker         with the natives!"

SPACE FAMILY ANNUAL: This story appeared in the annual in comic    form.

SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON

ISSUE: 14

DATE: October 1965

TITLE: STAR-TRAPPED

COVER: The Robinsons struggle to escape a planet whose sun showers death-dealing rays!

NARRATION: Adrift in space and long out of touch with Earth, the      Robinson family in their space station have a fresh cause for      anxiety...

SPACE DANGERS: Gravitational fields of a star cluster slow down the      Space Station; the family abandon the SS1 and try to find a      suitable planet to live on for the rest of their lives. 2 days      later, they find the yellow dwarf star has a fourth planet    that is habitable; the third is too hot and farther ones are      gas giants; planet has thin air, little water, fuel almost gone, they sight a city--a space port to land on;

LIFE FORMS: Small green like people once lived on this planet; they      moved their whole planet; flying platforms appear; many of the      people took off from the planet---the new sun made them turn old; a few did not make it off;

CIRCUMSTANCES: The Robinsons begin to age rapidly; using the devices left on the unfinished ship and the city, they manage     to break free of the planet and back to the Space Station and   break it free of the pull. All de-age back to their normal age.

CLOSING NARRATION: The Great Space Station moves on into the unknown, and the family aboard are not concerned at the moment about where they are heading-they are just happy to be     together...and alive.

WRITTEN INFO: Tim and Tam go to school about ten minutes each month--a special device like a tv set flashes events by as    they are put into a hypnotic state. The approximate date of    the adventures of the Robinsons is 2000. Tim is 16, Tam is 15. SPACE FAMILY ANNUAL: This tale appeared in text form.

SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON LOST IN SPACE

ISSUE: 15

DATE: January 1966

TITLE: MENACE OF THE METAL EATERS

ART: Dan Spiegle

COVER: The Robinsons battle indestructible beasts n MENACE OF THE METAL EATERS.

NARRATION: Lost in limitless space, the Robinsons patiently try          every means to find the way back to their own solar            system.

SPACE STATION NOTES: Spectrograph in use. Meteorite warning radar,      meteorite repulsion fields.

PLANET: Altair--has only one city; cosmic radiation has affected   the water and plant life.

LIFE FORMS: Giant Metal Monsters which eat metal; Altairians--slits      for eyes, big heads, small bodies and noses;

ALLIES: Voltan and people-are helped to leave their dying planet.

ENEMIES: Endro and his rebel faction

ADDITIONAL NOTES: Craig and June have located the light from Earth's sun while Endro holds Tim and Tam. Craig knows judo.     Tim uses a Somni ray gun. A big meteor gets through and the     station has to be moved. The metal monsters who eat metal are destroyed by water vapor. Craig gives the aliens metal to    leave their planet. Craig is drawn like Guy Williams, even in   a green outfit. Tam looks a bit more like Angela Cartwright.  WRITTEN INFO: Tim is 16, Tam is 15, June is 39, Craig is 41.

SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON LOST IN SPACE

ISSUE: 16

DATE: April 1966

TITLE: PRISONERS OF SPACE

COVER: The Robinsons live a nightmare as space prisoners change    their shapes and take over the space station! (in the reprint   of this issue, issue 56 the cover says--the Robinsons live a   nightmare as space prisoners change their shapes and take over     the space stationS!)

NARRATION: The Space Station, manned by the scientists Craig and   June Robinson, and their teen-age son and daughter, has broken     loose from its Earth orbit and is now adrift in trackless space...

ALIENS: Aliens---from Kormat--with four arms, slit eyes and noses, white and blue, with four webbed toes--versus--formless giant   bipeds with seemingly orange hair and mean faces-Dreephars from a dense atmosphere--in the air of the SS1 they are weak   due to being oxygen starved. The Kormat aliens force the      Robinsons to use SS1 as a transport for their prisoner Dreephars. The Dreephars find the emergency oxygen tanks. The      Dreephars change into formless blobs, making the others think they are dead. The alien Dreephars take over the station and   kill the two guards using a change wrought on by a drink they     made. June and Tim with Clancy and Yakker hide in a spacesuit closet. Tam and Craig get away in the space mobile.

CLOTHES: Tam wears something like Emma Peel from THE AVENGERS.

PLANET FALL: Kormat. Craig and Tam go to it while June, Clancy,    Yakker, and Tim avoid the Dreephars who change back to their      natural state. Kormat launches a fast cruiser which can catch up to the SS1 before it lands on the planet of the Dreephars. Small red planet whose metal content could hide the SS1 from      the cruiser but Craig picks up June on the radio. June and Tim     hide in the space mobile, drain the air from the ship, killing the Dreephars, and also planned to blast out of the hangar,      which could have damaged the SS1. 

QUOTE: Alien Kormat: Interesting those people from planet      Earth...friendly..quite intelligent but such strange looking      beings..almost unbelievable!

Tam: Eeeeee! Dad!

SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON LOST IN SPACE

ISSUE: 17

DATE: July 1966

TITLE: RIVER OF FIRE

COVER: Giant flying creatures attack the Robinsons above the deadly      RIVER OF FIRE!

COVER ARTIST: George Wilson

NARRATION: The Earth's first space station has been pierced by a      meteorite and forced to land on a strange planet at the edge of a mighty canyon...

PLANET: Earthquakes! Lava flow at SS1! Craig and Tim wear colorful T-shirts. June wears a sleeveless shirt top; 

LIFE FORMS: Cultivated fields and farmers; green alien farmers;    Giant flying creatures that take on the color of the fields     they land on; four balls of light--fire balls--visitors from a distant sun are called Dynamins and help the Robinsons since they protected other forms of life.

ALLIES: The green men, one named Kitan have built an underground   city by cultivating a plant whose sap hardens into any mold--     floors, walls, furniture; the Dynamins who didn't tell the     Robinsons their space station wasn't destroyed by the lava flow who wanted to watch how the family treated the green     farmers but who helped the family a bit and repaired the magnetic drive on the Space Station;

ENEMIES: the bird-manta like flying monsters called the Ma-ak who try to dig through to the underground city and spread poison     fumes. The green men build a tunnel to the Space Mobiles, the    family must venture through the poisoned tunnels to their space mobiles and burn the mantas with their rockets. A manta sting gets into Tim and Tam's space mobile but the use the   helmets to breath as poison fumes come in from the stinger.      The Mantas head for a lake which June thinks is an inland sea.  NOTE: Years later in 1983 or so, GALAXY EXPRESS, an excellent       Japanese animated series used a very similar story, all but   more serious and thematic to that overall series than it is here. Also note the 1995 series HYPERNAUTS had a story about      peaceful manta like flyers who were trying to save a volcanic    planet. SPACE ACADEMY's first episode (introducing the semi-  green-brown Loki) had light forces which protected less      advanced life forms. 

WRITTEN INFO: The Robinsons were selected by computer as the family      most mentally and physically qualified to man the space   station. The Robinsons were making experiments in the outer regions of our solar system when the space station was     suddenly rocked by violent cosmic explosions. Its controls     damaged, the space station was hurled at tremendous speed deep   into space and all contact with Earth was lost (not entirely true). The garden on the sun deck supplies all the fresh fruit     and vegetables. There is a supply of other preserved food      aboard, brought with them form Earth. Rain that falls on the space station is trapped and routed into tanks where it is      purified for drinking. Fuel is no problem for the station as      it is powered by electro magnetic drive...and the equipment aboard produces rocket fuel for the space mobiles. COVER     ARTIST IS GEORGE WILSON for all issue (!?).  

QUOTE: June: "Craig, they're all heading for that big lake-or is it an inland sea?"

Craig: "Perhaps they're amphibious!"

CAPT. VENTURE: THE CAPTURE: Scotty: I'm just removing this laddie's      wee sword!

SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON LOST IN SPACE

ISSUE: 18

DATE: October 1966

TITLE: SLEEP NO MORE, SIR THOMAS

COVER: An emergency landing on a war-torn planet brings the   Robinsons their strangest experience in space!

NARRATION: Earth's first space station, by a strange mischance, has      become lost in space-and now, after bewildering adventures,        its crew faces a new disaster...

SPACE DANGERS: The recycling plant for air and food goes awry--the      electrolyte leaked out and structural stress showed a warping on the hull.  

PLANETFALL: A 4th planet with a bit more radiation than on Earth   but not too dangerous. Trees, grass, a ruined, destroyed city. LIFE FORMS: Alien bats inside an alien spaceship, alien tigers one     of whom Thomas has to sword dead. Tam uses Kol's gun on the other tiger inside the Kol spaceship. Craig figures the tigers   were mutations. Vultures. One drops something--gee, I hope it    was a rock!

ALLIES: Sir Thomas Maldrane, Lady Alice, John Bowman, who were at a tourney at Sarum Town in the 12th Century when large giant    aliens landed in a bird's egg-like spacecraft and took them      away 850 years ago. Alan Fletcher, an arrow and bow man. 

ALIEN: Kol commander of spaceship Iklatal. His sleep machine wakes him when the family entered the vault. The Robinsons     accidentally awaken the first, Thomas Maldane--June's ancestor who fought for King Richard the Lionhearted! The giant aliens     landed on this planet which had people that wiped themselves   out in a nuclear war. To remain safe, until they could have    help, the giants put themselves and their 12th Century kidnap    victims in suspended state using gas. Craig makes the alien an      offer--show them how to get back to Earth and he will allow   the giant and his people to repair the ship. Kol agrees,      seeing Craig's thoughts are honest. Kol gets sick from    Maldane's cold. His system is different from our own.   

TIME FRAME: 2002 AD.

OF INTEREST: The family show Thomas London of 2002, Castle Maldane has remained the same. This issue ends with a cliffhanger...only Kol knows the phase astronomy and he lies   recovering...he may die from the virus.

WRITTEN INFO: The Robinsons lived in Woodland Hills, a suburb of   Los Angeles, California. Craig and June worked as scientists in space technology laboratories in the area before being     selected to command Space Station #1. The Robinsons don't really need robots to help with chores, for there is very    little housework to do, as most everything is done      mechanically with built in appliances. A robot smart enough to      show the Robinsons how to find their way back to Earth would be most useful. Unfortunately, they don't have the knowledge      to build a robot that smart. The Space Station's direction cannot be controlled from the Spacemobiles. The Station can     have pre-set directions enabling it to reach a destination     without help from anyone on board. The rocket fuel is made by    machinery aboard the Space Station. It is no so much advanced type fuel that gives the Space Mobiles such speed but the new      type rocket motors which produce speed. The materials covering      SS1 and the Spacemobiles are combinations of steel, plastic, and special chemicals. Instead of becoming red-hot when propelled at fantastic speeds through space, this material   through chemical reaction becomes cool.

NOTE: Frog aliens appear in CAPT. VENTURE-TRAPPED. SLEEP NO MORE   SIR THOMAS became WHITMAN SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON, aka at the   bottom of the issue credits ON SPACE STATION ONE, issue 58    with MAGNUS ROBOT FIGHTER 4000 AD-JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE     WORLD. The cover was almost exactly the same except the logo     SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON LOST IN SPACE was down at an angle ala    SPACE: 1999 type credits. It was 60 cents as opposed to the 12    cents for issue 18! 

QUOTE: Sir Thomas: Lady Robinson, this passeth understanding--but      are we no longer on Earth?