The Lost Saucer

The Lost Saucer is an ABC network television series produced by Sid and Marty Krofft, starring Ruth Buzzi and Jim Nabors as hapless aliens who take a boy and his babysitter with them on their flying saucer. It aired new episodes from September to December 1975, with reruns continuing until December 1976, first under its own banner, then as part of The Krofft Supershow.[1] It ran in daily syndication from 1978 to 1985 as part of the "Krofft Superstars" package with six other Krofft series.

The Lost Saucer
GenreChildren's television series
Adventure
Comedy
Comic science fiction
StarringJim Nabors
Ruth Buzzi
Jarrod Johnson
Alice Playten
and the Dorse
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes16
Production
ProducerSid and Marty Krofft
Running time25 minutes (per episode)
Production companySid & Marty Krofft Television Productions
Release
Original networkABC
Original releaseSeptember 6 (1975-09-06) –
December 20, 1975 (1975-12-20)

Premise

The Lost Saucer was about two friendly time-travelling androids from the year 2369 named Fi (Ruth Buzzi) and Fum (Jim Nabors) who land their flying saucer on present-day (1975) Earth. They good-naturedly invite a young boy named Jerry (Jarrod Johnson) and his babysitter Alice (Alice Playten) to check out the interior of their craft.[2]

As onlookers begin to gather though, the two androids become nervous about attracting attention and abruptly take off with Jerry and Alice. The flying saucer has the ability to travel through time, but the controls which allow the androids to specify an exact date were damaged, thus preventing the androids from returning Jerry and Alice to their rightful time and place.

The series follows the foursome as the two androids (who bicker and argue incessantly with each other, neither seeming competent with the ship's controls) encounter various adventures while trying to get Jerry and Alice back home or return to their own home on planet ZR-3 where they hoped to make repairs with the help of their lookalike creators Doctor Locker (Nabors) and Professor Pringle (Buzzi dressed as her purse-wielding spinster character Gladys from Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In).

The adventures are usually set on Earth (or an Earth colony) either in the distant past or in the distant future hundreds (or even thousands) of years hence. Typically, episodes were blatant social commentaries dealing with extremes such as a world where names (and faces) were replaced with numbers, where machines were outlawed due to a global energy shortage, or a city where the population had grown lazy and obese because robots do all the physical work.

Accompanying them on their adventures was a creature known as the Dorse (played by Larry Larsen) which was a half-dog, half-horse hybrid with the body of a large shaggy dog and the head of a small horse.

There were 16 original episodes produced for the 1975–76 season. The first six episodes were later rerun in the first half of The Krofft Supershow's first season.

Themes

Each episode had a specific theme, usually a social or environmental one. "Fat Is Beautiful", for example, depicted a future in which people were grotesquely obese due to over-dependence on push-button conveniences, and leanness was in fact outlawed. In "Get a Dorse", two scientists kidnap the Dorse to use as a power source because the world's fuel supplies were finally used up.

Episodes
No.TitleOriginal air date
1"894X2RY713, I Love You"September 6, 1975 (1975-09-06)
2"The Tiny Years"September 13, 1975 (1975-09-13)
3"My Fair Robot"September 20, 1975 (1975-09-20)
4"Transylvania 2300"September 27, 1975 (1975-09-27)
5"Beautiful Downtown Atlantis"October 4, 1975 (1975-10-04)
6"Where Did Everybody Go?"October 11, 1975 (1975-10-11)
7"Get a Dorse"October 18, 1975 (1975-10-18)
8"Androids Come Home"October 25, 1975 (1975-10-25)
9"Valley of the Chickaphants"November 1, 1975 (1975-11-01)
10"Return to the Valley of the Chickaphants"November 8, 1975 (1975-11-08)
11"The Laughing Years"November 15, 1975 (1975-11-15)
12"Fat Is Beautiful"November 22, 1975 (1975-11-22)
13"Planet of Lookalikes"November 29, 1975 (1975-11-29)
14"Fi Am Woman"December 6, 1975 (1975-12-06)
15"Polka Dot Years"December 13, 1975 (1975-12-13)
16"Land of the Talking Plants"December 20, 1975 (1975-12-20)

References
  1. Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications. p. 265. ISBN 978-0823083152. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  2. Woolery, George W. (1985). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series. The Scarecrow Press. pp. 309–310. ISBN 0-8108-1651-2.
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