DVD
Review | Lost In Space (Season 1)
Written by: Kage
Alan
Before we had the special effects heavy,
story-lacking and big-budgeted sequelless “Lost In Space” movie, there
was this big-budgeted story-heavy television series. While television
back during the time this program was made was certainly much cleaner,
the special effects were much more expensive and difficult to come by,
so more attention was paid to the stories that were told. If a show
didn’t spin a good yarn, it didn’t last long. The same can’t be said
for today because the market and audience has changed so much.
The earth is overpopulated with no relief in
sight. Natural resources are running low and the only viable solution
(apparently nobody has ever heard of population control) is to build
spaceships and send entire families off to Alpha Centauri. The first is
to be the Robinsons. There’s resident commander and father John
Robinson (Guy Williams), pilot and first officer Major Donald West (Mark
Goddard), wife Maureen Robinson (June Lockhart) and children Judy (Marta
Kristen), Will (Bill Mumy) and Penny (Angela Cartwright). Throw in
saboteur and stowaway, Dr. Smith (Jonathan Harris), and a robot (voice
of Bob May) and you’ve got an interstellar group destined for
disaster…in the most watchable sense.
No sooner does the Jupiter 2 blast off when they
encounter problems. The result? They crash land on an alien world and
thus begins the many adventures they and we have. Without the ability
to move the ship, without an endless supply of food or water, the family
sets up home, plants a farm and makes themselves comfortable. Well, in
theory anyway. The environment isn’t always friendly, Dr. Smith is more
trouble than he’s worth and plenty of aliens come around, only nobody
ever seems to genuinely be able to help the Robinsons. Still, they
press on.
I remember catching later seasons of the show when
they were in color, so starting this series from the beginning was
actually an eye-opening experience. The cheesiness and camp humor
between Dr. Smith and the robot didn’t happen from the beginning. Smith
was actually a very serious and diabolical character for a number of
episodes. It’s only later that he’s neutered and made more
viewer-friendly and bumbling. Since this was a “family show,” it
actually makes sense to do that since you don’t want to constantly see
kids in jeopardy. We’re also given cliffhangers at the end of each
episode. Oooh! And guest stars? We’re talking about Michael J.
Pollard and Kurt Russell for starters. And yes, there’s more, but you
really should discover them for yourself.
Fox has released “Lost In Space” (Season 1) in its
original Full Screen format. Despite the age of the show, picture
quality is actually quite good as is the audio. I wasn’t sure what to
expect, but I certainly wasn’t let down. In the area of extras, one can
only hope that the studio will add in some cast commentaries to later
seasons. I’d LOVE to hear what they think about specific episodes and
what they remember. What we are given is the bonus unaired pilot
episode before the addition of Dr. Smith or the robot and also the CBS
Pitch featurette (5 ¾ min). I’ve seen more and I’ve seen less. For
now, it’s a nice introduction.
The release of “Lost in Space” onto DVD is going to
please a huge number of Sci-Fi fans. With so few quality shows being
made these days within that genre (especially since “Farscape” was
canceled, I’m glad to see that the classics are now becoming available.
This is certainly a show worth preserving and I look forward to the next
exciting installment!
Season
Rating:
B
DVD Special Features: B
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