# Slightly OT: Jupiter 2 Fuel Cell jettison



## jbond (Aug 29, 2002)

My 3-year old has been home sick all week and he's demanded to watch "that robot," which means episodes of Lost in Space. I was watching "Ghost Planet" and was amazed by a shot I have no prior recollection of but which is pretty spectacular for the time. Somehow en route to an unknown planet Dr. Smith hits a button that jettisons all the Jupiter 2's "fuel cells." We get a shot somewhat looking down on the Jupiter 2 relatively small in the frame, and a dozen or so roughly dumbbell-shaped objects go flying out from under the ship and spin off into space. In fact each INDIVIDUAL fuel cell is spinning and the zero G effect is very convincing. 
This is the sort of thing that is now done routinely in CG but it's quite daring for the period--in fact given the number of objects involved and their movement, this is an order of magnitude more complex than anything done on Star Trek at the time. I assume L.B. Abbott or someone filmed a bunch of spinning metal objects against black or something but looking at the effect, it's not glaringly obvious how it was done.


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## RSN (Jul 29, 2008)

jbond said:


> My 3-year old has been home sick all week and he's demanded to watch "that robot," which means episodes of Lost in Space. I was watching "Ghost Planet" and was amazed by a shot I have no prior recollection of but which is pretty spectacular for the time. Somehow en route to an unknown planet Dr. Smith hits a button that jettisons all the Jupiter 2's "fuel cells." We get a shot somewhat looking down on the Jupiter 2 relatively small in the frame, and a dozen or so roughly dumbbell-shaped objects go flying out from under the ship and spin off into space. In fact each INDIVIDUAL fuel cell is spinning and the zero G effect is very convincing.
> This is the sort of thing that is now done routinely in CG but it's quite daring for the period--in fact given the number of objects involved and their movement, this is an order of magnitude more complex than anything done on Star Trek at the time. I assume L.B. Abbott or someone filmed a bunch of spinning metal objects against black or something but looking at the effect, it's not glaringly obvious how it was done.


That was ALL shot live, with a star background. The camers was tilted to the side with the front of the Jupiter 2 facing "up" and the minature canisters were "dumped" falling down at a high rate of speed. When played back at normal speed, the illusion of zero gravity is achieved.


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## NTRPRZ (Feb 23, 1999)

I've always considered that one of LIS best SFX shots, and honestly, wondered what it took to pry the cash to have it made out of Irwin's greedy hands.

Of course, what the heck are fuel cells to the Jupiter II?


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## Solium (Apr 24, 2005)

Anybody have a video of that online? Sounds cool.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Sometimes ya just can't beat good ol' practical model shots.


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## jbond (Aug 29, 2002)

It makes sense that it was shot live since from looking at the behind-the-scenes effects footage it looks like every shot of the Jupiter 2 was accomplished in camera with no compositing, even shots of the ship crossing in front of planets and boiling suns.


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## RSN (Jul 29, 2008)

jbond said:


> It makes sense that it was shot live since from looking at the behind-the-scenes effects footage it looks like every shot of the Jupiter 2 was accomplished in camera with no compositing, even shots of the ship crossing in front of planets and boiling suns.


There were some composite shots in "The Reluctant Stowaway" and "Island in the Sky" in the first season. The only other composite shot in the series was the "timewarp" in "A Visit to a Hostile Planet" and the same footage reused in "The Promised Planet" in season 3.


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## jbond (Aug 29, 2002)

Shoulda said "almost every shot."  The one I always remember is the rear shot of the J2 spinning in front of some kind of magenta space "whirlpool"--what's surprising is how many shots WERE done in camera.


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## Seaview (Feb 18, 2004)

Mr. Bond, that "magenta space whirlpool" is the same one RSN was referring to as the "timewarp" and re-used in "The Promised Planet".


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## Y3a (Jan 18, 2001)

What is most amazing (when you try to duplicate the shots) is that since they were high speed shots, with frame rates in the 96 to 116 for most space shots with the 4 foot model and 180 frames a second for the pyrotechnic shots, and I think the close up pod dropping sequence is 116 FPS. Now, think how fast you have to move the 4 foot model across the scene and still hit the mark so when the mushroom of fire comes up it hits the model in the center of the frame! For those able... 'extract' the SPFX shots from the Lost in Space Forever DVD and figure they play them back at 25-29 FPS depending on continent. Use Quicktime or some video player that allows you to speed up those same SPFX shots to the speed they took them in. I was astonished when I was researching the light bulb positions and spinning "V" in the bubble of the Jupiter 2 and saw haw fast they actually had to work.


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