If you were among the countless young fans in the ’60s who dreamed of owning the robot from the classic TV show “Lost in Space,” you might experience a twinge of envy for Mike Joyce. Not only does ...

For kids of the ’60s, it was a thrilling weekly ride and for adults revisiting it later, it became a time capsule of an era when television dared to mix earnest family drama with outlandish spectacle.

"Give me a child at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life." So the fanatical teacher of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1969) liked to say. And so the TV networks have repeatedly proved.

When it comes to the sci-fi genre, one undeniable gift that the 1960s gave to pop culture was, of course, the original Star ...