The sci-fi space epic isn’t an uncommon phenomena and, as you probably know, two of the most lucrative franchises of all time fall in the genre. But for every Star Trek or Star Wars you have countless films that don’t measure up or, even worse, put the genre to shame. It really is the norm these days, and the great standalone sci-fi space films like The Fifth Element are few and far between. Now let’s take a closer look at Star Trek, the first sci-fi television serial turned film. Smashing success doesn’t begin to describe the situation, and so the adaptation of similar serials shouldn’t have taken quite as long to follow suit. But follow they did and eventually the classic Lost in Space got its shot, and it doesn’t miss entirely.
It starts by flexing its muscles with a respectably shot space battle with special effects that do well in the Blu-ray upscaling and don’t show their age in the way a particular CGI character does later on. We meet Major Don West (Matt LeBlanc), the space pilot whose reckless, heroic antics get him the equivalent of a desk job babysitting the Robinsons, human civilization’s scientific saviors voyaging through a wormhole to be the first settlers of the planet which will replace their dying Earth. The Robinson family consists of absentee father, Professor John Robinson (William Hurt), the leader of the voyage and pioneer in the field of space exploration; wife Dr. Maureen Robinson (Mimi Rogers), whose every bit her husband’s equal, never falling into the damsel in distress rut that would have been so easy; oldest child, Judy (Heather Graham), who has followed in her father’s footsteps in the world of science; the second daughter, Penny (Lacey Chabery), currently going through her troubled teenager phase replete with sneaking out and making a video documentary of her plight; and of course Will (Jack Johnson), the child prodigy who is essentially the film’s protagonist.
The Robinson’s journey would have gone without a hitch was it not for a clandestine organization hell bent on preventing the human race from abandoning the world they killed. The masochistic junta sends Dr. Smith (Gary Oldman) to sabotage their voyage which sends them off course and, if you haven’t guessed, gets them lost in space. In their efforts to figure out where (and when) they’ve reemerged from the wormhole they encounter an abandoned ship whose inhabitants were sent to find the wayward family but killed by a species of arachnoids. The story ends in a huge cataclysmic ball of time travel and father-son reconciliation which carries little weight but doesn’t feel entirely hollow.
As said, the special effects start out impressively enough, but once a weird alien thing, concocted entirely from aged CGI is introduced, the film’s age screams through the screen – luckily it never plays too large a part in the story. It’s there, it drags the film down a little, but overall the film is a prime candidate for showcasing your HD setup. The film itself is cheesy sci-fi through and through riddled with holes in its logic that you overlook assuming you’re having fun, otherwise you throw up your hands in frustration and shake your head. What were you expecting though? The show it was based on was hokey beyond all get out, and the special effects crew and director Stephen Hopkins did his best to update the classic portions of the show while keeping them recognizable to their small screen origins. It’s got everything a fan of b-grade sci-fi wants (assuming that includes poor one-liners that fall flat and some overwrought drama that never truly lands). But there’s a robot that says “Danger, Will Robinson!” The movie didn’t have to do much more than that, even though it tried to and embarrassed itself slightly in the process.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Two audio commentaries are offered and the first, featuring Director Hopkins and writer Akiva Goldsman actually pale in comparison to the one featuring the special effects crew – because considering it’s a special effects film now 12 years dated (which makes it ancient, it’s like dog years but worse). Then you have some decent featurettes (all from the original DVD releases) including a look at the special effects of the film (again interesting as a retrospective) and a somewhat laughable look at theorizing the future of space travel as they discuss wormholes in a way that was intended to be easily accessible to the average Joe, despite being a subject that’s really anything but. Then, there’s a Q&A session with the original cast of the show, followed by a music video and some deleted/additional scenes. It’s a fair offering, but disappointing that something new wasn’t recording to look at the film 12 years later.
"Lost in Space" is on sale September 7, 2010 and is rated PG13. Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi. Directed by Stephen Hopkins. Written by Akiva Goldsman. Starring Gary Oldman, Heather Graham, Jack Johnson, Lacey Chabert, Matt LeBlanc, Mimi Rogers, William Hurt.
