Lost in Space
Tuesday 1st October 2058, the launch of the Jupiter II mission, piloted by Major Don West and commanded by Professor John Robinson, on board his wife, Maureen, also a professor but of xenobiology while his expertise is physics, and their children, Judy, a doctor, Penny, and Will, with an interest in robotics and the mechanics of time, setting off for distant but habitable Alpha Prime to begin work on a Hypergate which will allow instantaneous transport from the corresponding gate currently in construction in orbit of Earth.
The colonisation project a prudent measure to ease the population burden on the environment, it is believed that the concerted efforts of the various governments to reduce pollution and recycle materials has saved the planet, but that is an orchestrated lie; the Global Sedition, knowing the Earth is dying, set out to sabotage the mission in order to claim the new world for themselves, leaving the Robinson family forced to activate an uncharted hyperjump to escape from the Sun’s gravity, leaving them lost in space…
Running for three seasons from 1965 to 1968, Lost in Space was created by legendary science fantasy and disaster movie producer Irwin Allen, inspired by Johann David Wyss’ 1812 novel The Swiss Family Robinson, transplanting that adventure to outer space while maintaining the tight family unit who together face adversity, changing the dog to a robot and adding the perpetually complaining misanthrope Doctor Zachary Smith as a comedy element, the two icons who would come to define the show.
Adapted for the big screen by Batman Forever’s Akiva Goldsman and directed by Predator 2’s Stephen Hopkins, the 1998 version of Lost in Space was in tune with the blockbusters of that era, loud, colourful and energetic with an eye on the hot stars likely to grab magazine covers, with Friends’ Matt LeBlanc surprisingly good as Major West, resentful of his reassignment to what he regards as a monkey mission and odd man out amongst the Robinsons, Twin Peaks’ Heather Graham as Judy and Party of Five’s Lacey Chabert fairly insufferable as Penny.
The film is carried, however, by the grown-ups, Altered States’ William Hurt as John, a genius who struggles to balance the awareness that in order to save his species he is neglecting his children, The X-Files’ Mimi Rogers as Maureen, having to carry what her husband has abandoned as well as her own duties, scientist and mother with no one to fall back on, and The Fifth Element’s Gary Oldman as the duplicitous and mercenary Smith, a misanthrope fully outed as enemy agent of the Global Sedition hoist by his own petard when he is trapped on board.
Featuring cameos by four of the original cast, June Lockhart, Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen and Angela Cartwright, the cast is rounded out by Jack Johnson and Foundation’s Jared Harris as Will in his present and future incarnations, and like the original show the film is episodic with four distinct phases woven into the continuous narrative, meaning that despite running to over two hours it never drags, a science fiction action adventure, the cavernous sets of the Jupiter II and the derelict ghost ship Proteus adding an epic scale and the special effects, a mix of practical models and digital, for the most part holding up admirably almost three decades later.
Some moments working better than others, the cast play well together and are enjoyable company, other than Oldman who joyfully hams it up as the boo-hissable villain in a rare comedy role, and while there are moments of overt silliness they are forgivable given that even at the time the source material was never to be taken seriously by anyone other than the youngest children, but it stands up as a pleasing and satisfying feel-good film which received unjustly snide criticism on release, sadly derailing the planned sequels.
Restored in 4K from the original camera negative for Arrow, their new edition of Lost in Space enters orbit with archive material from previous releases including two commentaries and adds a plethora of new interviews with Hopkins, Goldsman, cinematographer Peter Levy, art director Keith Pain, Kenny Wilson who worked on the aptly named Robot and Simon Kaye and Robin O’Donohue from the sound department and a video essay by critic Matt Donato.
Lost in Space will be available on 4K UHD from Arrow Films from Monday 1st September
