Subject: Review: Lost in Space (1998)

From: [email-masked] (Ernest Lilley)
Date: 3 Apr 1998 06:19:06 GMT

Lost in Space review by Ernest Lilley

Cast: William Hurt (John Robinson), Mimi Rodgers (Maureen Robinson), Gary
Oldman (Dr. Smith), Matt LeBlanc (Don West), Heather Graham (Judy), Jack
Johnson (Will), Lacey Chabert (Penny), Dick Tufeld (Robot's Voice)
Director: Stephen Hopkins Screenwriter/Producer: Akiva Goldsman

LOST IN SPACE is a blast! Of all the TV series remakes I've seen, LIS plays the
deftest hand, updating the overly campy original series with a darker cast
while incorporating style and substance from the original. Gone is the
international tension that sparked sabotage of the Space Family Robinson's
colonizing mission to Alpha Centuri, replaced by the Sedition, a movement to
thwart the unified Earth government's project to establish a hypergate to Alpha
Prime - a planet probes have identified as capable of supporting Terran life.
With the Eco-systems of Earth on the ropes, Scientist John Robinson is willing
to travel to Alpha Prime by normal space to establish the crucial "other link"
and make two-way hypertravel possible. Driven by his work, and haunted by the
specter of his own father's parenting failure, he insists on taking his family.
It's a twisted idea, as the self proclaimed "Space Captive" Penny explains in
her personal video diary, but he means well by it. Dr. Smith does not mean well
by anyone, and in the pay of the Sedition sabotages the mission in classic
style. His reward for avarice is an all expense paid trip to an unknown region
of the galaxy with the Robinsons.

The elements of the original series are lovingly encoded into a very fresh work
by writer/producer Akiva Goldsman, who deserves applause for mixing the old and
new without making them look borrowed…and us blue. The tributes are many, from
the appearance of five of the original LIS cast as support characters in the
pre-launch segment, to morphing of ship and robot from old to new and the use
of the familiar robot voice. Mark Goddard, the original Major West, belies his
retirement from acting in his short but nicely realized role as "The General",
giving orders to the upstart Major West. Throughout the film you will see shots
coinciding with actual sequences from the series as your mind clicks into a
place 30+ years ago, assuming you were around then. It will be curious to see
the reverse effect on younger audiences if they ever see the series pilot,
suddenly seeing the connections in the film.

While the old is well served, so is the new. The original cast cameos work to
hand 
off their roles to the next generations, especially the ones by June Lockhart
(the Principal) and Mark Goddard. The props echo or incorporate their
predecessors, but they do it with cutting edge style. Even the storyline makes
sense. It is excellent SF, and surprisingly consistent for a mass appeal Sci-Fi
project. LOST IN SPACE takes advantage of the audience's SF education in the
intervening years. Goldsman has put together a complex project that would have
been overkill not long ago but now deserves the accolade action packed instead.

The new cast does a super job of balancing old and new. Gary Oldman's Dr. Smith
is a tribute to Jonathan Harris's performance, with just the right amount of
the old ("oh, the pain…the pain…") and the new. Oldman's Dr. Smith happily
acknowledges his evil - it's a philosophical choice, he explains. I liked the
more competent villain he portrays as much as I liked Mimi Rogers as Maureen
Robinson. In fact, I've always liked Mimi Rogers, and I think it's good to have
a Maureen Robinson with a Playboy pictorial (Mar '93) in addition to her movie
credits. Though she doesn't show an excess of skin, Mimi shows plenty of steel
in the new role. William Hurt's John Robinson gets a 90's update too.
Screenwriter Goldsman used the part to recall the splintered families that
surrounded us as we watched the original, and to promise that among the wonders
of future parents working to save their families will be the most precious.
Hurt's character does beat us over the head with his awareness of the effect of
his work obsession though, as we all got it the first time. 

If you want a benchmark for how far CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) has come,
compare the opening "bubble fighter" space combat sequence to the Babylon 5
Star Fury shots. The only things not CGI are Matt LeBlanc and the other pilots.
Crisp and breathtaking. The B5 work has nothing to be ashamed of, but it's
nowhere near the LIS sequence. Now go back and check the Star Fighter combat
scenes from THE LAST STARFIGHTER. Ouch. And I thought they were so sharp when
they came out in 1984. Or even more telling, take a look again at the
Millennium Falcon jumping to hyperspace and then compare it to the Jupiter 2's
fiery transit. Wow.

LOST IN SPACE reunites us with an important piece of our Sci-Fi past . For
those of us who watched, glued to the screen as Irwin Allen's first family in
space launched from our black and white screens back in 1965, this timewarp
serves a kindness no school reunion ever will, showing us our memories as we'd
like to remember them - improved by the passing years. Incredibly, it even
knows when to get off the stage, leaving us brimming with hope and wondering
about what comes next.

Thank you, LOST IN SPACE. Godspeed, Space Family Robinson. Robot, keep an eye
out for them, they're our family too.

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