This Card Is Cool - My Life in Baseball Cards: March 2021

Thursday, March 25, 2021

I Opened More Packs of Cards: Lost In Space!

Yesterday's pack of 2021 Topps Series 1 came from the Mint card shop in Gamagori. I picked up some other packs there, including the cards you're going to see below.

The original Lost in Space TV show probably didn't know if it was serious or campy. It certainly became more silly as the series went on. My mom was a fan, so I saw reruns as a child. And as DVDs and Netflix became popular, it became much easier to watch old TV shows. So I watched all of them, and I can say I'm a fan of the original show as well.

My scanner does quirky cropping. You'll see some interesting scans as this post continues. I assure you, both cards are the same size.

We have an insert! Weird Aliens was a six-card insert found 1:17 packs. It was the more-difficult of the two main insert sets to pull, though overall the print runs for both were most likely equal.

Each pack has seven cards, so that's one full pack.

Pack two:

There are nine movie preview cards; these are numbered separately from the base set but are just as common as the base set.

At this point, you may notice that the titles on the card fronts are repeating. Rather than giving each card a unique title on the front, the set is split into several series. That series title is what appears on the front, while the back has the card's actual title.

Most of the images seem to be promo shots, rather than using images from the TV show.

And that's pack number two.

Pack three:

Yes, your eyes aren't deceiving you. There is a double already. Overall, a box is expected to provide one complete set, but doubles will also be found, thanks to the overall number of cards in a box. Also, it's entirely possible that my packs came from more than one box. Oh, and my scanner really does strange things with cards.

I have met both of these women. I've also met both of the kids. Sadly, I never met the men of Lost in Space, though.

You have to wonder if Marta Kristen really thinks the llama can read a script.

This pack finishes with two of the movie previews, including a double!

Pack four:

And the next pack starts with a movie preview. I wish the movie had been better. There was so much opportunity there for sequels - Lacey Chabert, William Hurt, Heather Graham, Mimi Rogers... and that guy from Friends, Matt LeBlanc... I guess he was a good actor. Gary Oldman was in it too, though!

I don't know how the scan gets crooked. The cards aren't crooked in the scanner.

There are only two family portrait cards in the set. Not that they're any more rare.

This pack ends with Dr. Smith... the original.

Pack five:

The next pack opens with Dr. Smith... the movie villain.

Another double. I like Angela Carthwright though. She was a good Penny.

Dr. Smith likes collecting heads. I wonder if that's because he was a psychologist.

Let's finish with another head in a box card. That's three of that one card!

Next pack... that's number 6 I think.

I get that they didn't want to spoil the movie, and it had its own card set, but the preview cards were very uninspiring.

Dr. Smith got too much screen time in the original series. It seems like most episodes were Dr. Smith and Will running off with the robot and getting into trouble. And then ~~Lassie~~ the robot went and told mom and dad that ~~Timmy~~ Will was trapped in ~~a well~~ an alien space ship.

Monkeys?

You know your character is evil if he has a zipper that goes all the way to his neck.

Pack seven:

Gotta love that scanner. But seriously, the monsters on this show could be really good.

Another double?

I ... am ... carrot ... man!

Two doubles for the price of one! Triple even!

Okay, pack eight. We've reached the end of the stack.

And two good cards to start it off. I wish I had pulled more of the Cast Profiles.

Queen Penny. Or Princess Penny. Whatever, it was a minor character getting more screen time!

Ugh. Scanner. This is a vertical card. Every time I scanned a copy of this card it seems to have gotten worse. (And yes, that means three of these cards in eight packs.)

Could this have been a Planet of the Apes ripoff?

Remember when the monster took his head off to show us he was just an innocent simple man inside? No, that wasn't in the episode? Oh well. A nice behind-the-scenes shot to finish this lot of packs.

I paid about $4 for all of these packs, which, to me, was worth the fun. I already had the base set of 81 cards, which includes the movie preview set. So for $4 I got one insert I didn't have. But that's okay! If I end up back at Mint Gamagori I might buy out whatever remaining packs they have of this set, and possibly some others.

And now I need to watch Lost in Space again.

Until next time...