But If You Have To Explain The Story...

No crossover is a natural, and no crossover is impossible. As a friend of mind pointed out, though, all crossovers are inherently silly. Some work better than others, or can be made to work better. I'm almost convinced I could do a straight, non-satiric crossover on just about anything--but as the saying goes, just because you can do something, doesn't necessarily mean that you should.

But if certain crossovers are more natural than others, then you have to work a little less at making it all jibe. That same friend lives in mortal hate of an xover (not mine) wherein a certain Japanese schoolgirl superhero meets up with a certain cynical girl from an MTV Cartoon. I say, it could be done, as long as the absurdity of the anime' import was treated like any other absurdity seen by Miss Morgendorfer. After all, she sees almost everything as absurd.

One less-than-wholly-absurd crossover idea was, I hope, Voyager meeting Lost In Space. Both have the same essential premise. One is the third successor to the original Star Trek, and one was once its most direct competition. Both have characters that we end up imitating or mocking. Both fell into plot traps that fans decried. Both had initial plots that were almost seemingly forgotten by show's end. The list goes on.

I originally used the Robinsons in a Multi-AU Crossover journey series called 'The Infinite Paths', in which a group of characters that even I have to classify as Mary Sues (although that is merely the simplest definition of them, not the fullest) are chased through the realities by Anthony Fremont, the monstrous 'cornfield' kid from The Twilight Zone. There, we first meet Will and Penny, and learn of their disturbing relationship. All is eventually made right, but not before all the young heroes learn that power, smarts, and spunk don't always cut it.

I did several short sequels, and two mid-sized ones. One was a bit more explicit, and at the end of that, Will attempted to end things on a better note by telling the story of his family's encounter with a ship called Voyager, just as I ended this one with the bare bones of yet another improbable Xover. I won't be doing that one for awhile, yet. My fic schedule is just way too full. To my happy surprise, people wanted to see the Voy/LIS story. I began it a little under two years ago, and now I hope you're pleased with the finished product.

Now, normally, the thought of having to defend my fanfic's use of characters to the actors that created them on-screen never even passes through my mind. I write K/U in Star Trek: TOS, despite the public enmity between Nichols and Shatner. They are characters, as distinct from the actors as they are bound to them. Add to that, the possibility of an actor actually reading much fic about their character, pro or fan, seems beyond slim and none. The character is their job, their version of nine to five, and they probably read anything but fic related to it. So again, I almost never think upon it, except to hope that they wouldn't completely hate it.

Yet in the case of my use of LIS's characters, I honestly have had these worries, at least more often than with any other characters. Bill Mumy likely thinks of Angela Cartwright in a very sisterly, or cousin-ly way. Jonathan Harris went to a lot of trouble crafting the lovable bumbler we can all quote by heart. June Lockhart and the late Guy Williams made the first parents of space very, very real--and well liked.

The odds are I would probably never meet most of these people, except for a quick autograph, and again, I shudder to think of how many fans must have tried to show their fic to them. But stranger things have happened, and I have had these concerns often enough that I wanted to craft a response to any possible objections they might have, should they read one of these stories.

Firstly, my LIS stories have part of their basis in an LIS comic book series written by Bill Mumy in the early 90's, under the Innovation label. In them, Smith never became a clown, he merely held himself back til the opportunity arose. The Robot was just a robot, a tool. Don and Judy had started in together, and when the Innovation label went under, she was indeed pregnant. Out of necessity, Will and Penny had stopped their arguing, and were having feelings of loneliness, but never once looked at each other as a solution. The Jupiter 2 was derived from captured alien tech, but the aliens were not at all humanoid, and their people wanted revenge for their dissection. To the best of my recollection, all three Robinson children were John and Maureen's natural offspring.

So how did my story get where it was? One, I didn't want to merely photocopy Bill Mumy's storyline. It obviously inspired me, and that's fine. But I wanted to tell a story that kept as much of what we saw on-screen as possible, from very deadly to very silly. So Smith, who showed signs of redemption in the comic book series, was both agent and clown in this one. Robot was the wise-cracking guardian and best pal. As to Will and Penny...

When I wrote the original story, I tried like hell to avoid wR/pR, fearful that it would come off like an SNL sketch at 12:40AM. My first idea was to dig through an LIS episode guide, and bring back alien characters who had been romantically interested in them at various times. To my shock, I couldn't find any that I could use.

My next thought was to still have them living together, but arguing like when they were little. The trip would have them meeting other people, and wishing each other well as they finally grew up. But then it hit me: If they had continued arguing like they had through a long, confined, difficult journey, well, they probably would have killed one another. Peace would not be a choice for them, any more than would be food, water or air.

My next idea creeped me out worse than the final one did. They would be found, functioning as a married couple in every sense except the physical. Don't ask me why it gave me the shakes--it just did.

Next was having them be together exactly once, and living with the guilt of it. But if isolation, loneliness and hormones overwhelmed them once, then I couldn't see it never happening again. A kiss, like in this story, is one thing. But the *act* is wholly another. So they were found trying to restrict their activities--but as was found out, it was too late. While traveling with 'The Infinite Paths' version of Saavik, Penny realized she was pregnant by Will. At this point, I freely admit I copped out. The story had become too grim, and too hopeless. So that's when I invented the 'alien adoption' storyline, which led to a lot of what you see here. I liked these characters too much not to give them an out. So here's my words to the cast:

Guy Williams - I saw you as the type who would do whatever he had to. That meant sometimes doing what you didn't want to.

June Lockhart - Mom. The real glue of the family, balancing more concerns than I care to contemplate, and sometimes being tripped up by them.

Jonathan Harris - You, sir, are incapable of making an appearance without making me smile, as well. But the story called for a real villain.

Marta Kristen - If I shoved you into the background, its only because you, by way of sheer presence, always found your way back in front.

Mark Goddard - Except for a little backstory, I kept you as you were. I think that kinda says it all.

Angela Cartwright - I have no designs on you. You made Penny real onscreen, and if this writer had been able to work around it, your character would have been a lot happier. I hope that you are not offended.

Bill Mumy - One of SF's vets, always taking us and your work as seriously as you have never taken yourself. For the work of yours I lifted, I thank you. For hopefully not wondering how fic-dom has declined after reading my stories that feature W/P, I especially thank you.

To the Voyager cast, I know that you've had a lot worse written, so I won't do a like apology. I set this in late Season 3 to separate the show from its later incarnation, at the moment just before everything changed.

Thanks to all my readers, present and future.

Rob Morris