In extremely Poor taste due to its framework of Christmas. John Williams is a fine actor, so it's Not his fault but rather the fault of the script. That is, it's too tasteless to put Christmas in such an evil light. To make it even more trashy, the man's Wife was such a benign and kindly lady that she did Not deserve such a cruel fate at all. So it was poetic-justice that her Christmas Gift to him would prove to be the husband's Undoing.

The very first time I saw this episode in the 1960s I felt, at first, puzzled at how a visually-grotesque space-alien could walk among humans withOut causing any panic. Then when I saw the episode again twenty years later,I realized the explanation and how clever the alien was, that is, the Real alien had POSED as a performer playing the role of an alien! So of course that goes along with the fact that the amusement park's space-ride was also a Real spaceship.
But other than that cleverness, the storyline disappoints somewhat, as far as the individual characterizations of the abducted passengers. Especially with the cantankerous Mr. Beasley, how can his cynicism get a second chance by travelling to an asteroid? The ONLY character who has both a valid motivation and justification to travel to that asteroid is Dave Crowell in that he has both the scientific expertise as well as a disgust at the way the establishment treats that expertise. And I suppose the stewardess Mara Matthews is validly motivated too, as the story seems to hint that her relationship with Crowell will hopefully make up for her previous love-affair which had ended painfully.
So the basic theme of "Second Chance" is regrettably flawed. But it's still one of my favorite episodes because of the dignified treatment that Mr. Oakland gives to the role of the alien Empyrian, and also due to the well-executed special effects for the Space-ship. The Space-ship's take-off and flight has Nothing fancy but its plainness surprisingly serves to make it look majestic. The same for the space-ship's Inside as its somewhat claustrophobic setting accentuates the tension among the abducted passengers.

Even though I classfied this episode as average, it's one of my favorite episodes, maybe at number twelve. I mean, it still has some decent special effects and the fact that at least the first-half of the story takes place in outer-space holds my attention, because it's outer space which appeals to me. So maybe in that sense,I'm somewhat biased in my reaction.

Also enjoyed the presence of actor Russell Johnson as an astronaut. That actor always seemed the studious type, and that attitude of mine was influenced by his Professorial role in Giligan's Island. Too bad that Mr. Johnson is too old now, otherwise he would have been perfect for the role of Reed Richards in the recent movie FANTASTIC FOUR.

I agree with most fans that the alien flowers are NOT menacing enough,if at all. So what holds my attention are the scenes in outer space. I even enjoy the e.v.a.(extra-vehicular)scene where an astronaut floats Outside the space-ship to do repairs. That scene has been criticized as being much too long and much too slow-moving, but that's why a vcr has a fast-forward button.

Any time you do a story about Toys, it's bound to annoy the older viewers. But we can take a different attitude about it by saying that this particular episode is a Family-type episode. After all, if Disney can do it, then why not Lost In Space too?
Oddly,it's Doctor Smith's predicament which makes me think twice. As the alien Mr. Om says, he is making Smith into a Toy to be used by an alien-Giant. That rings a bell for me because it reminds me of The Twilight Zone episode entitled "Stopover In A Quiet Town" in which a married couple finds itself wandering in a deserted town. At the finale, a Giant-hand comes down from the sky and picks them up. It is seen that the whole town is just a diorama used by a Giant-alien child. The two humans had been taken from Earth in order to be used as Toys for the Giant-child.
What I'm saying is that you could make a connection between that Twilight Zone episode and Lost In Space's Toymaker in that Smith is being made into a Toy to be used by a Giant alien-child. So it could be the Same race of aliens from the Twilight Zone.

Incongruous in that this episode had No place on The Outer Limits. That is, it's Not in keeping with the general theme of the series as a whole. With the episode's plotline of espionage, it would have been much more appropriate for a series such The Man from U.n.c.l.e., a spy series which in fact used that idea for one of its episodes.