Danger, Will Robinson

“Danger, Will Robinson!” is a catchphrase from the 1960s’ American television series Lost in Space spoken by voice actor Dick Tufeld. The Robot, acting as a surrogate guardian, says this to young Will Robinson when the boy is unaware of an impending threat. In everyday use, the phrase warns someone that they are about to make a mistake or that they are overlooking something. The phrase is also used in hacker culture.

When given in person, the vocal klaxon is sometimes accompanied by oscillation of the speaker's arms, parodying the Robot's body language.

Despite the popularity of the phrase, it was only said once on the show. This was during episode 11 of season 3 "The Deadliest of the Species". The Robot gave warnings intermittently to Will and the other crew members of the Jupiter 2, in the form of the expressions "Warning!" and "Danger!"

The official studio website (which no longer exists) for the 1998 Lost in Space feature film was www.dangerwillrobinson.com.

Appearances in other media

On the Frank Zappa album You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3, Ike Willis says "Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!" as a segue between the songs "In France" and "Drowning Witch". In the 1995 film 12 Monkeys, Jeffrey Goines played by Brad Pitt yells out "Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!" in a fit while in a mental institution. In The West Wing episode "20 Hours in America, Part I", Josh Lyman uses the phrase in response to a group of pro-life teenage girls heckling him on the subject of abortion.

In the 1998 Lost in Space film, a reference to the quote shows up in the following dialog: Robot: It sounds like old morse code. Will Robinson: What does it say? Robot: Danger, Will Robinson, danger. In CSI, Sara Sidle says "Danger, Will Robinson" to Greg Sanders at least once. In the 2003 film Thirteen, the character Luke says it aloud to himself when two underage girls attempt to seduce him.

In Wizards of Waverly Place, episode 29 sesaon 2 "Wizards & Vampires vs. Zombies" Dan Benson as the character Zeke says "Danger, Will Robinson" as he does robot-moves with his arms. In Sabrina, the Teenage Witch Season 2, episode 21 ("Fear Strikes Up Conversation"), as Zelda goes into "Witch Snap", she says "Danger, Will Robinson". In Farscape, Season 1, Episode 19 ("Nerve (Part 1)"), after being tortured in the Aurora chair Crichton recites "Danger, danger Will Robinson. Beware the chair". In The Troop episode "Double Felix", the troop's security robot says "Danger, Will Robinson!" while malfunctioning and right before exploding. In the sixteenth episode of NCIS's 8th season, McGee says the line when finding himself attracted to a woman involved in a case.

There are many occasions in Whose Line is it Anyway? where in the game of Props, two flexible things are used as the robots arms, and they say "Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!".

External links

• Further quotes from Lost in Space