Lost in Space returns to the small screen on April 13th, 2018… after several decades lost in syndication.
The Bad Guys Used to Be the Ones Wearing Black. Neato.
The original ran for 3 seasons totaling 83 episodes from 1965 to 1968. Starting out black and white, its second season added in- your-face color that screamed 1960s. We’re talking purples, greens and yellows (colors that should never mix).
The show was about a family of colonists from the distant future, the year 1997 (gasp!). Earth is overpopulated (it’s a dump) and the Robinsons set off on their ship, the Jupiter 2, to establish a colony elsewhere (where it’s not a dump… yet).
DANGER WILL ROBINSON! DANGER!
All should go well, but the ship is sabotaged by the devious Doctor Smith, and he becomes trapped on board. This causes the ship to go off course and end up stranded on a planet that provides mystery and danger, to fill in the weekly television block.
So the real takeaway is that this show has a cool (especially for it’s time) robot that likes to jump to conclusions and yell “Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!” Also, Doctor Smith goes from evil to simply being a bumbling buffoon akin to the C3PO of the duo, with the robot, who is pretty much R2D2.
Seriously those two bicker like an old married couple…in space!
One of These Things Is Not Like the Other. Beep! Boop!
Most shocking of all, and more so than the color palette of the show, would be the futuristic use of V-necks. Like, damn, they really had the foresight that V-necks would be a late ’90s/early 2000s thing.
That all said, more people reading this might be better familiar with the “Lost In Space” sci-fi action film from 1998. That one took place in 2058 and tragically featured zero V-necks.
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It also starred such notable talents as William Hurt (most recently General Ross from the MCU); Heather Graham (“Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” – okay it’s a dated reference but she rocked it); Matt LeBlanc (Joey from “Friends”); and Gary Oldman (from literally everything).
It traded the ’60s colors and fashion sense for flight jackets and deeply body contoured metal suits (take that Batman nipples from “Batman & Robin,” the ENTIRE family is doing it! Ha!)
Surprisingly, it carries only a 27% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, despite Joey from Friends being the smart-ass bad-ass, that Gary Oldman as the scheming villain, and , of course, a badass robot shouting “Danger! Danger!” while blasting stuff. It even has time travel shenanigans and callbacks to the original, including the robot getting a retro look, after being destroyed and re-built.
Let’s be honest, as a high-budget popcorn movie about a family getting lost in space, it was very watchable… critics be damned! The soundtrack was also a totally cool REMIX!
What wasn’t that cool was some of the CGI work…
Here We Go Again… Again!
So now, Netflix is bringing back the space-faring family for a new millennium. There are sweeping changes that even the previous film dared not make, as it was just a flashier and less corny version of the original series, with more ACTION.
Immediate changes, aside from the fashion sense, is the new drastically different robot, a much greater sense of peril, gender swaps for major characters and marital woes!
Oh, and now, it takes place in 2046 (remember the 1998 film took place in 2058… whaa?)
The Far, Far Future . . . the Year 2046! Mind Blown!
Seriously, why don’t they ever just make it take place 100 years down the road, so we can’t look back in a few decades and be saddened by the fact that we still drive vehicles powered by fossil fuels, are still lame in terms of overall technological advancement, but at least have superior fashion sense!?
Get Ready to Get Lost! (in Space)
Bottom line, you can breath a sigh of relief; the family will still be lost in space, regardless of the many other changes! Refreshing for a reboot to keep the core concept, isn’t it!? (Looking at you “ReBoot” reboot – also on Netflix… sigh).
Check out the trailer here:
Be sure to check out our list of the Top 10 TV Space Operas, maybe you’ll suddednly crave another reboot, if only they can update the clothing of the cast…
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