General Information
Director: Don Richardson
Writer: Carey Wilber
Cast: Guy Williams, June Lockhart, Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen, Billy Mumy, Angela Cartwright, Jonathan Harris, and Hans Conried
Composer: Cyril Mockridge
Air Date: 1/11/1967
Production #: 9517
Overview
While chasing a dragon, space knight Sagramonte (Hans Conried) calls upon Will for assistance. Penny, in contrast, forms an immediate friendship with the dragon, who reveals herself to be a charming, feminine creature.
Arguably the worst episode of Lost in Space, “The Questing Beast” deserves criticism for its campy, juvenile humor. Carey Wilber’s narrative should, however, be applauded for containing a heartfelt exchange between Will and Dr. Smith.
Pros
Child audiences may enjoy Sagramonte for his goofy antics.
Cons
By emphasizing slapstick violence and low-budget costumes from start to finish, “The Questing Beast” struggles to examine its underlying conflict (i.e., Will’s 
difficulty in reconciling youthful endeavors with his developing perspective on life) through a lens of maturity—much in contrast to season one’s “The Magic Mirror,” which explores Penny’s transition from childhood to adolescence through a poignant and relatively serious framework. (Dr. Smith’s encouraging conversation with Will does, in all fairness, partially redeem this episode from the stale comedic devices that plague nearly every scene.)
Analysis
Following Will’s disillusionment with Sagramonte, Dr. Smith makes a laudable effort to restore his young friend’s faith in humanity—a subtle indication that
for all his vile and selfish behavior, Dr. Smith genuinely cares about Will on a personal level.
Concluding Comments
“The Questing Beast” is a dreadful, albeit briefly touching, episode of Lost in Space. Therefore, viewers would be wise to search elsewhere for a compelling science fiction/fantasy piece.
Overall Quality: 2/10
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This is my number twenty-three ranked episode for the classic down home, cozy and fun, colored mid season..my second favorite season of the series, despite its much maligned and unwarranted status.. :-]
Here is a notoriously infamous and despised episode among some fans. This is definitely one in which you must look beyond the surface value to like/love it and appreciate it. There is actually a very, very warm and pleasant tale in there.
As with many of these, I have grown to love and appreciate this one more and more through the years. Hans Conried was fabulous in his role. The guest incidental music scores from Cyril Mockridge are also fine and dandy, although admittedly goofy.
You just cannot take ones such as this too seriously..
My sister and I actually enjoyed it! It is a clear tribute to T.H.White, and echoes young Wart’s meetings with King Pellinore. Silly, yes, but also rather kind-hearted and wise. We didn’t mind the silliness, and it was nice to see Dr. Smith doing something positive for once. Also, yay Penny!
I think it’s one of the BEST! Dr Smith and Hans Conried and June Foray as Gundemarare are wonderful!!! Fun and sweet episode. If you like Lost In Space you’ll like this one.
This is a puzzler.
This is one of the very few episodes of Lost in Space that gets a PG rating.
Now, that’s the same rating that you get for Jane Fonda’s soft core porn “Barbarella”
Why this is PG, I really truly don’t understand, unless people are just making the ratings at random.
I’m re-watching Lost in Space for the first time since my childhood. The first few episodes were not like I remembered the series and I thought it was better than i remembered. Season 2 has been disappointing. Its a bad show to binge watch because of its lack of continuity and repeating same basic plot in almost every episode. The fact that they haven’t thrown Smith out the airlock stretches suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. The also keep accusing Will of flights of fancy even though he’s always turned out to be telling the truth. That said this episode actually was different. Yes the camp was taken to new highs or lows depending on view point but the dynamic between Will and Smith was the first time they actually developed a character in a long time. Smith had been willing to sacrifice Will to get to earth, to get riches, to save himself, to avoid being found out but he just could not watch Will’s innocence be destroyed. It makes this one of favorites of 2nd season so far.