Lost in Space The Magic Mirror (1965–1968) Online

The writers of "Lost in Space" were beginning to drift from the sci-fi adventure to fantasy, mixed with a dash of morality.

Loosely based on "Alice Through the Looking Glass," the twenty-first installment of "Lost in Space", finds Penny falling through a mirror that is a portal to another dimension where the only inhabitant are a strange teen (Michael J. Pollard) and a rarely-seen "hairy monster," as Pollard's character puts it. Naturally, the only other member of the Robinson clan that knows the truth about the mirror is Dr. Smith, who ends up in the same dimension. However, he accidentally helps himself and Penny to escape, with the boy behind due to his inability to leave.

Like the previously aired "My Friend, Mr. Nobody," Angela Cartwright gets to take center stage, though almost another year would pass before she was the featured star.

Penny steps into another dimension and finds a strange teenage boy.

The boy in question - actor Michael J Pollard - was actually in his mid-20s when he did this role. He also did much the same kind of role in an episode of classic Star Trek.

Almost a sister episode to Mr Friend, Mr Nobody as Penny is the star.

For years I was turned off this hour as it seemed to be more fantasy than sci-fi but repeat viewings have done wonders for The Magic Mirror and I now highly regard the hour.

The early scene with Judy telling Penny she needs to stop being such a boy is an episode highlight.

Bittersweet episode of Lost in Space has the always watchable Michael J Pollard, especially adept at portraying weirdos, guest starring as a mischievous boy who lives in a dimension on the other side of an alien mirror found by Penny (Angela Cartwright, this episode a vehicle mainly for her) and "Bloop" (her alien monkey pet) during a cosmic radiation storm. Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris) notices that the mirror has this goat head made of platinum (as well as, platinum lining the mirror), with designs on chiseling the precious metal for possible financial benefits later. Bloop "enters" the mirror which serves as a portal to the boy's dimension, is given a bell, and goes back to Penny, who wants her pet to show her where it found the toy. This leads to Penny accidentally stumbling into the dimension where the lonely boy wants to play games and have fun. Penny, however, is afraid of this eerie, dream-like place, full of statues (seemingly right off the set of a Universal Studios Mummy picture) and "items discarded by others no longer interested in them" (essentially, these are all props probably found around the studio, like a chandelier among other things used to dress sets). Also present is a monster with one eye and husks, for which the boy wants Penny to play hide and seek with, but all she wants to do is get home to her family. Pollard is so youthful and playful here, he really plays his part like a child stuck in the body of a young man, eternally trapped in the body of a teenager, never to grow old but longing for companionship. The ending, regarding reflections, leaves a melancholy taste as Pollard doesn't have the same option as Penny and Dr. Smith (ugh, yes, Dr. Smith falls into the mirror, plunging into the dimension the same as Pollard and Penny, believing everything he sees is a dream, a sort of cosmic psychosis he is experiencing!) do regarding the ability to leave the dimension. I think this episode does a nice job of addressing the change in a female at that particularly difficult transition from tomboy to woman, using Penny as a character to explore this universal theme. Penny has a scene with Judy (Marta Kristen, who has a character that never quite was allowed the same chances as Angela Cartwright to have "star vehicles" with plots centered around her) regarding "prettying herself up" which sets in motion the "trip to another dimension" where she would have the chance to run and play to her heart's content without all the "goop" that comes with blossoming into a beautiful woman. Dr. Smith is supposed to be setting up "weather arrestors" to prevent dangers of further "cosmic radiation storms", obviously doing whatever he can to keep from having to do such work--his "bout with cosmic fever" an excuse to get out of it.

Not my favourite LIS episode by some margin. For one, up until this episode, the stupidity displayed by Dr Smith has been offset by the humour of his cunning and fright in almost equal measure. Here he is just stupid. Two, the lack of continuity in the main cast should not be just taken for granted. In this main episode Will and the Robot did not appear or even earn a mention. It was the same situation with Penny in the previous episode. LIS script editors were badly at fault for letting this happen to what before had been a very close-knit family. I did quite like the interaction between Penny and Michael J Pollard's character. However, if the story-line was designed to emphasise how Penny's maturity eventually resolves the twin feelings of loneliness and fantasy it should have been done without Dr Smith's intervention at the end. Finally in response to difest, you are not daft. LIS' closing cliffhangers were really just tasters for the next standalone episode (except for doubles like The Keeper). As such, Kurt Russell did appear at the end but would not earn a casting credit ahead of the next episode. Hope that makes sense.

At the end of the episode, a young lad jumps off the rock that Dr Smith is aiming his ray gun at. The young lad with a spear jumps down off rock looks like Kurt Russell to me, but not credited in that episode? its not M J Pollard. Mr Pollard looked completely different to the lad I have mentioned at end of episode. I know Kurt appeared in the series, but seems like he appeared in this one out of sync with the other episodes... Or am I daft?....