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Second Season Episodes - The Phantom Family (episode 56)
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An alien scientist makes android copies of Smith, Don, and the girls, then forces Will and the Robot to teach them to act like their human counterparts.
While John and Maureen are volcano-hunting in the Chariot, the Jupiter 2 comes under attack. The shelling emanates from an alien monster, Lemnoc, who turns Dr. Smith, Don, Judy and Penny into a negative image of themselves. When Will returns to camp, the behavior of the others is so odd he calls his parents and wanders off to find the Robot, who tells the boy that those at camp are mechanical facsimiles.
Will becomes trapped in a cave where Lemnoc boasts that the androids are his supreme achievement. Will sees four frozen cylinders holding his sisters, Don and Smith. If they are thawed, their facsimiles will crumble to dust, but Will can have them back if he teaches the androids to become exactly like humans. After that time, the originals cannot be revived. With the Robot magically repaired by Lemnoc, Will sets to work to teach the Don, Judy and Penny androids all they should know.
The Smith facsimile is a problem. He is slow to grasp the lazy, malingering, devious nature of the real Smith. John and Maureen, meanwhile, get Will's taped message and start home. Lemnoc proclaims himself pleased with Will's teaching until the creatures, now under Will's control, are told to seize him. Will races to rescue those in the cylinders and finds them all free but Smith. Lemnoc has dispatched three androids to his planet, keeping the Smith copy to learn to run the space ship.
Don tells the Robinsons what has happened and they appear at Lemnoc's cave to claim the original Smith. The alien barters for an exchange with the spaceship. John tries to batter his way to the icy cylinder, but is stopped by a ray. Back at camp, John says Smith will have to be sacrificed for the welfare of the rest. Shattered, Will calls the false Smith a pile of cosmic dust. The android sees Lemnoc, who refuses to release the real Smith. The android thaws him and collapses into dust.
Ray says: A Great duplicate story from season two. Great plot and fine acting make this episode a definate winner.
