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Lost In Space (2018)

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 (Edited)

https://www.netflix.com/title/80104198

No spoilers.
It’s fairly rare that I try a new TV show without having been prodded by someone who knows me well. Truth be told, I’m not someone who sits around watching a ton of TV anyway. When I do, it’s a small set of favorites and\or a few old standbys when I’m trying to unwind after a long day. Films are an exception, but they’re scheduled events.

Last week, while I was logged into Netflix to watch an episode or two of He-Man (shut up) 😃 the trailer for Lost In Space ran on the home screen. It looked interesting enough, clearly had a craaazy production budget, plus a few known stars. I made a mental note to give it a look and moved on.

A few days later I gave the first episode a watch. I should point out that I know virtually nothing about the 1960s show. I was two years old, so obviously not something I ever watched, not even in reruns years later. If I did ever see any episodes, all I’ve retained is a vague memory of the robot and “Danger!”. I only remember or know the basics; character names, ship name, basic structure.

I enjoyed the first episode and took some time to let it simmer. It’s geared to family viewing to a large extent, so while it’s gritty and sometimes tense it’s not R-rated gritty or tense. It would probably be PG-13 if it were a film, possibly PG. There is a character for which everyone in the family can identify and their arcs are written accordingly; Adults, older kid, middle kid, and the youngest kid.

Overall it has a sort of Spielberg family feel but not in the cloned ways of Super 8 or Stranger Things (both of which I like). Lost In Space is its own thing. Very much a modern adaptation of the original show. It also has what I thought was a very clever and subtle nod to the original 1812 novel.

This past Saturday I gave the second episode a watch. I was surprised at how comfortable I felt being back in their world. In fact, I’d actually been looking forward to it. It left me feeling refreshed. I’m glad I stepped out of my usual sci-fi safe places. New world, new characters, new ships, new scenarios (even if they are storytelling go-tos).

I ended up binging the remainder of the series over the course of two days. Each episode is an hour, so it was five hours Saturday, four hours Sunday. The article linked below sums up my thoughts on the show perfectly. I’ll be spot-watching episodes the rest of the summer and hoping they green-light a second season.

Mild spoilers if you want to go in clean.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/lost-space-review-1100276

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Having watched the first two episodes, I’m ambivalent about the enterprise. It’s definitely feels like an old TV show that’s been remade with a huge budget, and I like the scope and more realistic depiction of the universe. I just worry that the plot will be too simple to justify these huge vistas.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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Sweet thread, Anchorhead - you have piqued my curiosity - and as a bonus it’s apparently already out in the UK too.

Am looking forward to getting around to watching it 😃

(These new shows with 8-10 or so episode in a season make it a lot more digestible to watch than the old 26 episode runs from the 80’s and 90’s)

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

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I never saw the original series either, so i went into this fairly clean (other than knowing vague pop culture references to it).

My wife and i have been enjoying this so far, 4 episodes in. It does really have a family feel as you stated, when i think it could use a little bit more edge, but hey, so far so good! It isn’t as fun as The Expanse, but it sure is worth watchign so far!

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I watched the first episode, didn’t care for the tone or characterization, won’t watch further.

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Nothing wrong with being a MOTU fan. 😃

Having watched the table read of Billy Mumy’s never produced LIS reunion/finale tv-movie script that was on the Blu_Ray, I wish some sort of animated adaptation of that could happen while the surviving cast is still around. They had a pretty good sound alike for the late Jonathan Harris.

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Where were you in '77?

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I’ve been planning to check it out. Never seen the original for reasons I don’t know.

Question, where does it fall on a scale of hard sci-fi to light/adventure sci-fi?

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DominicCobb said:

I’ve been planning to check it out. Never seen the original for reasons I don’t know.

Question, where does it fall on a scale of hard sci-fi to light/adventure sci-fi?

The physics in the first episode were laughable, so. . . .

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DominicCobb said:

I’ve been planning to check it out. Never seen the original for reasons I don’t know.

Question, where does it fall on a scale of hard sci-fi to light/adventure sci-fi?

i would call it very much light/adventure sci-fi.

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dahmage said:

DominicCobb said:

I’ve been planning to check it out. Never seen the original for reasons I don’t know.

Question, where does it fall on a scale of hard sci-fi to light/adventure sci-fi?

i would call it very much light/adventure sci-fi.

This is good to hear.

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After I wrote all that I spent the day pondering how to better categorize the tone. I think the best way to describe it tone-wise is Doctor Who. Safe for a family in general, but there are several areas that might bother or scare children.

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Haven’t watched it yet, but plan to. I’m kind of glad to hear they kept it family-friendly like the original show, though I’m hoping it adheres to the more serious tone of the early episodes rather than the camp of later episodes.

As much as I loved the gritty BSG reboot, not all new sci-fi needs to be hard sci-fi.

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MTFBWY…A

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I don’t think we’ll be getting space hippies, space hillbillies or Tobor the carrot man in this version. 😛

I wonder how the surviving original cast feels about this new version. Billy Mumy won’t even discuss the 1998 film, but he kind of got screwed out of playing the older Will in that. Jonathan Harris also told them to stick it when approached for a movie cameo. He was to have played the fellow giving Gary Oldman’s Dr. Smith his instructions.

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Where were you in '77?

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SilverWook said:

I wonder how the surviving original cast feels about this new version. Billy Mumy won’t even discuss the 1998 film…

Mumy is fine with this version.
😉

And in answer to Jay’s question, no camp. This is played serious.

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Anchorhead said:

SilverWook said:

I wonder how the surviving original cast feels about this new version. Billy Mumy won’t even discuss the 1998 film…

Mumy is fine with this version.
😉

And that’s a good thing! A real good thing! 😉

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Where were you in '77?

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I’m up to episode 6. Parker Posey is brilliant in this. Master manipulator, criminally insane.

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MTFBWY…A

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Am I thinking of a different show? I thought the reviews were terrible?

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I enjoyed it. I rolled my eyes at the frequent “emergencies” designed to create action/tension, but overall it was solid. It was cast well, the effects were seamless for the most part (the physical sets were great), I liked the Robinson family dynamic, and Dr. Smith came across as a genuine sociopath.

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MTFBWY…A

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Jay said:

I enjoyed it. I rolled my eyes at the frequent “emergencies” designed to create action/tension, but overall it was solid. It was cast well, the effects were seamless for the most part (the physical sets were great), I liked the Robinson family dynamic, and Dr. Smith came across as a genuine sociopath.

couple of eye roll moments, yes. But I actually enjoyed some of the cheese. Would we have gotten to see them escape from a submerged humvee using a helium balloon if he hadn’t stupidly jumped back into a humvee sinking in tar???

TV’s Frink said:

I would put this in my sig if I weren’t so lazy.

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CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

Jay said:

I enjoyed it. I rolled my eyes at the frequent “emergencies” designed to create action/tension, but overall it was solid. It was cast well, the effects were seamless for the most part (the physical sets were great), I liked the Robinson family dynamic, and Dr. Smith came across as a genuine sociopath.

couple of eye roll moments, yes. But I actually enjoyed some of the cheese. Would we have gotten to see them escape from a submerged humvee using a helium balloon if he hadn’t stupidly jumped back into a humvee sinking in tar???

I guess he could’ve left his wife behind and explained the whole thing to his kids later.

It was a nice diversion from the hard sci-fi I usually watch.

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