Updated: December 05, 2022

"This is the Jupiter-2 with it's top taken off for restoration. As you can see all the landing gear had been stripped out. The landing gear was operated by a complex set of pulleys and wires that were operated off stage above the ship like a string puppet. The ship was internally illuminated with a battery pack and lights. Also missing is the lower engine core which was taken off for restoration. The hull in this shot has been repaired with any extra holes filled in. Later phases of restoration saw the repainting of the ship in the original colors and texture, new landing legs created from original bluesprints and the casting of all the parts for additional replacements if the need ever arose."

Take a 4 minutes glimpse into the "actual" restoration process of the original Fox Hero 4 Foot Jupiter-2 miniature as it is being put back together again after being taken apart following Lost in Space for Irwin Allens's "City Beneath The Sea" television movie back in 1970. This is video footage and narration by Peter Greenwood himself, who aquired the famous miniature from Fox and directed it's restoration inb the early 1990's, to it's present day condition. This is a insightful look at perhaps Lost in Space's most famous props!

Update:

I met Peter when I was Associate Producer of "Alvin and the Chipmunks" TV series in LA in the mid to late 80's. Peter called to see if I was hiring voice actors. While we were talking I found out we shared a passion for Irwin Allen stuff! Peter was then working for an Austrailian magazine as well as his talent for finding props and such. He also introduced me to Gary Conway from "Land of the Giants". He even got me some original Lost in Space costume designs from Paul Z. with actual cloth swatches! I still have them and are a part of my collection.

Peter called me to see if I would bring my video camera to tape the Jupite-2 model and document it. So, I went with Peter that day to the special effects house out in Sun Valley CA. I can't remember the name of the place but they were also doing costume props for one of the Ninja Turtle sequels at the time. It was there I video taped the footage while Peter narrated. I have a picture on my website of the model, Check my website at:

http://www.geocities.com/outatime81/Props02.html

http://www.geocities.com/outatime81/Props2A.html

You can see Peter in the first picture! I tool it in his apt all those years ago. I sent several people copies of the footage many years ago after they saw the picture of the model on my website so I'm not suprised it's out there. I'm happy to have people who love this stuff get to see it. It was such a joy to see the model in person after so many years. I lost touch with Peter after I left LA and moved back to Maine in 1992. So, that's the story behind the footage. I still have the original 8mm tape if you ever need a clean copy transferred to DVD. I'm sure you've seen it and there would have been more video if I had fully charged my darn battery! I was so upset that it started blinking empty after only a few minutes. Oh well... I'm happy to have gotten what I did.

Regards,

Tom Watkins