A TV movie like Stranded in Space exists for only one reason. The TV executives who commissioned Stranded in Space went to its producers with a very specific mandate: they had two hours of prime time programming to fill and they needed to fill it with something, anything! Just as long as it didn't break any FCC regulations, it would serve its purpose. Let's face it: people need to kill time - it's human nature. And for anyone watching TV on the night it was first broadcast, Stranded in Space did indeed kill time. A whole two hours!
Whatever you want to say about Stranded in Space, there's one thing you can't take away from it: it filled up two hours of airtime. The producers of Stranded in Space did their job, and they did it well. Their TV movie didn't make anyone laugh, it didn't make anyone cry, there were no moments of tension or suspense, there weren't even any moments of high camp or ironic post-modernism. It just filled up the time. And maybe, just maybe, that's enough.
Whatever you want to say about Stranded in Space, there's one thing you can't take away from it: it filled up two hours of airtime. The producers of Stranded in Space did their job, and they did it well. Their TV movie didn't make anyone laugh, it didn't make anyone cry, there were no moments of tension or suspense, there weren't even any moments of high camp or ironic post-modernism. It just filled up the time. And maybe, just maybe, that's enough.
— TV's Frank, The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide
