From a reader:
Jonah –
I’m the rest of the Corner Geek Brigade has already beaten me to punch,
but in case they were too busy reading the latest issue of Doom Patrol
(Robotman lives!), allow me to disabuse you of the idea that Robby the
Robot was in Lost in Space.
The Robot in Lost in Space looks nothing like Robby.
Robby had the clear glass dome face with the whirling gears attached to
each side and three fingered hands (see:
http://www.thomasmodels.com/gallery/robby.jpg).
The Lost in Space robot (generally just called ‘Robot’, although
supposedly it was Robot B9) looks like he has a giant coffee percolator
for a head, retractable arms and has pincers instead of hands (see:
http://www.thomasmodels.com/gallery/lisrobot1.jpg)
Finally, the last great B-movie robot of the era was Tobor, from the
Republic Pictures kiddy flick “Tobor the Great”. No wimpy glass on this
robot – solid steel, with three opposable thumbs on each hand (see:
http://www.thomasmodels.com/gallery/tobor.jpg and
http://www.thomasmodels.com/gallery/tobor1.jpg).
The robots from Silent Running (a good-bad movie that holds up fairly
well – tying in the several running Corner themes) are cute, and
obviously the inspiration for R2D2, but don’t have that classic “big
hulking humanoid” feel.
Me: For the record, I wasn’t saying that Robby was the Robot on Lost In Space. Rather I said that he had a cameo on Lost in Space. Am I wrong about this?