For kids of the ’60s, it was a thrilling weekly ride and for adults revisiting it later, it became a time capsule of an era when television dared to mix earnest family drama with outlandish spectacle.

Lost in Space started out as a pretty serious science fiction show, but over time it became sillier and more over-the-top.

Their presence took the show off-course, in another sense. From its original, simple Swiss Family Robinson premise — of a ...