I must admit when I heard that Netflix were reviving this series from the 1960’s my first reaction was “Erm…. I’m not sure.”
Admittedly, the old Irwin Allen series (1965-68) has not held up well. When I was about 6 I thought it was great, but watching it again on DVD forty-odd years later is frankly not a comfortable experience. Though colourful in vision, the scripts were… dire, with far too much time given to the seemingly unending mugging to camera of Dr. Zachary Smith. Though the episodes started well, the emphasis was soon on what was seen to be popular – comedy and ‘monsters of the week’.
By comparison, the movie reboot in 1998 was a brave, but not wholly successful, attempt to modernise the franchise. There were parts that I liked, but lapses in plot and characterisation that made the movie less than it could have been. It was a modest success, though not enough to take it further at that time.
Or so I thought.
And then this was announced. The first trailer looked great, but the emphasis on ‘family’ raised doubts that it would try to mimic the original series too much, creating a predictable and safe series that would underachieve the series’ potential.
The good news, then. The series looks fantastic and there’s clearly been a lot of money spent on this. Some of the effects look to be of movie budget standard.
The acting is pretty good too, and not as wince-worthy as I was fearing. What partly makes it work is that the series has been brought in line with contemporary tastes. As a result, the dialogue is seemingly natural and not forced (most of the time, at least.) Though it does stray into predictable issues by the end of the series – teen romance, challenges to authority, a concentration on the Robinsons when it is clearly more of an ensemble cast – my issues were not major ones and are seriously less than many of the series I’ve tried to watch recently.
“We’re Robinsons. Live together… or die together.”
It perhaps helps that the family itself is not the wholesome model from the 1960’s, but more typical of modern times – Mum’s a rocket scientist, whose role improves significantly by the end of the season, Dad’s an often-absentee soldier whose duty has kept him away to the point that the couple have been on the cusp of divorce, for example. Consequently the relationships between the adults and the kids are not fantastic. (How did they pass their psychology tests?) Having said that, the children do fit into fairly recognisable and understandable roles. There’s Penny, the shy but nerdy redhead, Judy is the older teenage gung-ho girl of colour with the team medical skills, and Will himself, the geeky youngest member of the crew who has inferiority issues. It makes an interesting combination. Toby Stephens, as the father John Robinson, (so much better than he was in Black Sails!) and especially Molly Parker as the mother, Maureen Robinson, provide a pleasingly realistic version of the Robinson family, with only the occasional irksome moment.
“Doctor Smith has a way of making people do things… they regret.”
Of the main characters outside the family, Posey Parker as Doctor Smith is thankfully very different to the Jonathan Harris version. More intense, more serious and more complex than the original, she is creepier and more dangerous than the original, although at times perhaps a little underplayed. Don West is certainly more morally ambiguous than the original, bringing a certain Han Solo-esque quality to the ensemble.
“I can only save one child at a time…”
On the downside, looking at all ten episodes, there’s a lot of running, sliding, sinking and falling. It seems to be a repetitive plot solution that’s a little lazy. There’s also some dodgy science and lots of issues time and again created by people not doing what they’re told. There’s one major plot issue I had with Episode 3 (see dodgy science, mentioned earlier) as well as ongoing issues throughout over fuel, which seem to matter one moment and then not in others, and one episode (Episode 8) where the issues of weight are a major problem, but then conveniently discarded by the addition of a cast member – but, honestly, so far there’s fewer major problems than I thought there would be. It’s a shame that science couldn’t be more rigorously applied, but despite these there’s considerably fewer plot issues than in the last few seasons of Doctor Who, for example, and less to make me feel they’ve jumped the shark.
Also unlike Doctor Who’s last few seasons, there are some genuinely creepy moments that ramp up the tension in the new series. Anyone with claustrophobia is going to wince at some aspects of the early episodes, if they can ignore the dodgy science that goes with it. The moment when the robot, now some form of alien bio-mechanical form, first says “Danger, Will Robinson!” brought chills. The robot is a major success of this series for me, and its mysterious ambiguous background should be explored in future series. As could be the chicken.
The original series was ultimately limited by being always about the Robinsons and Doctor Smith and how they deal with the strange universe out there. Here they have got around this problem by creating a bigger picture from Episode 4 onwards. In this wider vision, and unlike the original series (if I remember right), the Jupiter 2 is one of many spaceships that have been unceremoniously dumped on this unknown planet after being ejected from orbiting spaceship Resolute, and much of these later episodes deal with the Robinsons and these other survivors trying to contact the Resolute. It is a slow start, as with many of these streamed series tend to be, but not seriously so – better than Iron Fist and Luke Cage, in my opinion. The big resolution at the end of the series is at times a little more convenient than it could have been, and owes an awful lot to another very famous genre movie, but it wasn’t quite a “let’s dump all logic for the sake of drama” moment (even when it seems to throw an awful lot in there.)
“I’m not the villain of this story…. I’m the hero.”
Overall, the initial potential at the beginning of the series isn’t quite reached at the end when the lapses of logic (mentioned earlier) and the overwrought emotions on show almost make my worst fears appear true. There are times when the series is a little too safe, a little too predictable. But it is not the worst new series guilty of this, by far.
Thinking bigger, overall this series does make me wonder whether the series actually needed to be “Lost in Space”. But I can see perhaps why it’s been used, in these cautious days of brand recognition and cultural relevance. The orchestral version of the old John Williams theme tune at the closing credits almost makes it worth it alone.
In summary: it’s not perfect (yet) but as new series go, Lost in Space is pretty good, and by no means the disaster it could have been. It’s clearly been done with a lot of love and the best of intentions, for a family audience. It doesn’t rely on the old series too slavishly and has enough potential to be a success. If I was a teenager, especially a young teenager, I think I would love this series.
Now let’s hope the next series (for there should be one) improves on the promising set-up here…
Lost in Space (2018) Season 1
Netflix, 10 episodes, approximately 9 hours total.
Rated 12.
Review by Mark Yon
“Science, shmience, it’s just a TV show” seems to be used as an excuse for a lot of SF lately. But people keep watching it, so why should TV execs care, exactly? I don’t know why I sweat it in my own books… give ’em what they want, I guess.
It’s something often commented on in the SFFWorld Forums, Steven.
I guess that it does matter in a book, or that it is more noticeable in a book, perhaps, whereas it matters less to watchers. The usual view is that most viewers are not scientists, and frankly don’t care. How often have you heard the sound of spaceships in space? It’s pretty much expected these days, even though, scientifically, it’s wrong. There is that old saying, “Never let science get in the way of a good story”… but what may be important is that you, as the writer, know when something is right.
i thought it was a fantastic story. much better than the original series where Dr. smith was more a coward than a villian. dr smith being a female upset me at first, but she played it so well that i soon got behind the character and her portrayal of an opportunist misunderstood felon was flawless…and a little bit scarily sociopath , the best bad people in a show are the ones you want to see get their just dues , and vilify and swear at through the whole thing, so she gets that award hands down. the oldest sibling needs more character work she’s the most boring person in the whole family somehow….we need to make her more daring and brave like episode 1 before she got a huge does of mortality. penny is absolutely hilarious and misbehaves perfectly. the fact that mom is the boss of the whole family is a nice role reversal and even the dad seems to bow to her greater knowledge and skills without rancor. and finally the robot is fantastic but needs more backstory so we understand more about its capabilities and origin. and now the best for last… will is absolutely adorable and a fantastic actor for his age. the whole character interaction impressed me greatly, there were awkward moments and as above the science doesn’t play out as well as it should, but the story makes up for that, as well as the family sticking together through everything no matter what. will does a lot of growing up during the episodes, which culminates really well in the last two episodes. really looking forward to season 2, i feel this is the best show i’ve seen since “stranger things”
This show seems to be designed by committee to appeal to what they assume the typical (liberal) audience would want: diverse cast, mother who is superior to her husband, multi-racial family, under-confident son with the issues etc. And before someone accuses me of racism (because that’s the first impulse today in the culture wars), I couldn’t care less how the cast is composed. The re imagined BSG had a diverse cast and it was fantastic because the producers invested as much in content as they did with the cast. With the the re imagined LIS, it is almost as if the producers were checking off all the boxes to make sure that it appeals to everyone. However, they forgot this is a science fiction show and science matters a bit, and that deep characterization is also a good thing. Both the dialogue and some of the acting is rather shallow because the producers don’t allow them to breath. The most compelling character is in fact the robot – the only character I really cared about. The original LIS was an abomination of bad taste. This new version just seems meh.
Lost In Space – interesting reboot.
Instead of all this effort to send one family to Alpha Centauri (as per the original series and movie), they instead build a massive ship, the Resolve, with multiple Jupiter ships docked with it – basically RVs with orbital capability. And this isn’t even the first colonist flight, it’s the 24th.
It’s certainly grittier – you catch that in the first cutway when you see their ship is about to impact flaming debris from the Resolve. Mom and Dad have issues. Sibling issues. Dad-children issues! And then throw into the mix an alien robot, Don West and an impostor calling themselves “Doctor Smith”.
It’s a very promising start. Biowaste converters that make rocket fuel. Well, that’s one way to avoid dumping sewage. It also explains some of the lifeforms on this planet.
I’m already looking forward to the second season!
-Ex
I love both the new and the old series!
I also love the two very top!