We, as a society, need to talk about the Great Vegetable Rebellion. No, your cabbage is not plotting against you. No, the asparagus community is not rising up to destroy your home. I am referring, of course, to the (in)famous episode of Lost in Space, “The Great Vegetable Rebellion.” This episode aired on February 28, 1968 (IMDB), and went down in history of one of the strangest episodes of television ever recorded.
If you’re unfamiliar with the original Lost in Space, here’s a crash course: the show follows the Robinson family who are, predictably, lost in space. Each episode, they face a new challenge or alien threat. Some of my personal favorite episodes include “Return from Outer Space” and “The Space Pirate.” In “The Great Vegetable Rebellion,” the family (plus their dreamy pilot Don West and the eccentric Dr. Smith) land on a mysterious planet and encounter a giant murderous carrot.
It gets weirder.
This giant carrot gets very angry when Dr. Smith picks some flowers. And turns him into a giant stick of celery.
How on earth did this episode come to be? This interview with Jonathan Harris, who played Dr. Smith, gives us some clarity.
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Thank you for that bold yet upbeat defense of this "great" episode. Way back in 1967 a TV reviewer saw Batman's renewal for (one more) season as a sign that "Americans were not that Square anymore ".
I'm not sure about that now. Many people making commentary everywhere are claiming that if Plato or Chaucer haven't written a TV show they won't watch it.
Whether or not we're overpopulated with Mensa types right now is beyond me, but I'm VERY grateful for Pop Culture forms ---- Saturday Matinee serials, animated "fun" cartoons, high "camp" adventure, and colorful "creatures" from Classic Dr Who and Irwin Allen--- that likely we will never see made again .
From this legacy and from tributes such as yours I can hope that we have not yet become "a nation of 'Squares".
PS. My device here is very small and editing is a challenge. I'm hoping that this went out OK.
I am very sorry, but in my opinion THE GREAT VEGETABLE REBELLION is the absolute worst LOST IN SPACE episode ever made. The carrot man is so ridiculous, so absurd, so utterly terrible, that the episode just might be the worst TV show of all time based on that one character alone. Shameful, embarrassing and downright idiotic. End of story.