Lost in Space on Netflix (1 Viewer)

[Carabimero]

Has an Atmos sound track.

I am going to record all the end title sequences and make a kind of soundtrack that way. Hardly definitive but better than nothing.

 

[TonyD]

Ten minutes in and I’m already really disliking both the girls.

 

[TonyD]

So the first ep for me was, pardon the pun, dead in the water until Robot appeared.

Interesting what we learned about Robot just near the end of the ep.

Also Bill Mumy’s cameo was pretty good.

Plus don’t forget that Johnny Williams wrote the original LiS theme.

It’s been years since I watched the original series but I loved Dr Smith.
One of my favorite all time tv characters.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I'm three episodes in and really enjoying it. The worldbuilding choices that I understand are mostly really smart. And the worldbuilding choices that don't make sense yet -- like how in less than thirty years a near future that otherwise looks very much like ours technology-wise has managed to summon the innovation and marshal the resources for interstellar colonization -- have left me intrigued.

I realize I am a soundtrack guy. I respond emotionally in terms of themes and texture changes. There's a moment in episode three when the main theme hits and I actually felt like I was a kid watching LOST IN SPACE again. Brought tears to my eyes.

The music is one thing that's really stood out for me with this show. It's a very old school way of scoring a show, in a good way. Very few shows have fully developed themes anymore, and most shows don't seem to want you to notice the music. Here, it's a very key part of the show's identity.

Parker Posey is great. Every character has something meaningful to do and is getting development. I'm halfway through. I love this series. I hope other people love it, too. But my joy in loving it is, alas, enough for me

Dr. Smith is the weak link for me so far, not because Parker Posey's doing a bad job -- she isn't -- but because they've done such a good job writing and casting the family that I just want to watch them Swiss Family Robinson it in space.

What I really appreciate is that through the first three episodes, each of the Robinson children gets a chance to shine; the pilot is Will's big episode, Penny steps up in the second episode, and Judy saves the day in the third episode. The colonization program understands that it's drafting pioneer families, on an Oregon Trail through the stars where a million things could go wrong. As such, the entire family is way more skilled than your average family would be.

As a former U.S. marine, John Robinson is really set up to be the action hero here. But he's also the more emotionally tuned in parent; in his extended absence, Maureen has turned these three kids into pretty extraordinary people. The downside to that is that she's a bit of a tiger mom who isn't great at recognizing when her kids need emotional support.

Ten minutes in and I’m already really disliking both the girls.

I think they're both terrific. One gets the sense that Judy, prior to the events of the pilot, was a bit of a Mary Sue, the perfect daughter who was good at everything. And then immediately when the show picks up, her first big heroic moment goes disastrously awry and the trauma from that lingers with her. There's also the fact that she's biracial in a family of pale redheads. Based on her interactions with both parents, and the fact that she seems to be kid who has taken her parent's estrangement and her father's long absence the hardest, I get the sense that she's Maureen's biological daughter from a previous relationship and John is the adoptive parent. I'm very interested in seeing where that father/daughter relationship goes, and when John can heal the divide between them.

And Mina Sundwall has wonderful comic timing as Penny. She was one of the highlights of Maggie's Plan, a movie that I didn't much enjoy overall, so it was a pleasant surprise to see her cast in this.

Also Bill Mumy’s cameo was pretty good.

Yes, it was an elegant way to tip the hat to the original series, and address the gender swap for Dr. Smith. I believe the photo album Posey's "Smith" found at the crash site were photos of his real family, too.

 

[Carabimero]

I finished it. I thought it was terrific. I thought they played to the strengths of their form and diminished the weaknesses very skillfully. It reminded me of Earth 2 meets The Martian. You have the space exploration for a new world with the family unit and extended community, and you also have the life-and-death hard-science problem solving. What they did with the characters was fresh and unpredictable for the most part. They all had weaknesses but they all had some nice growth too. The writers didn't dodge moral issues or leave them hanging. The dialogue sounded like real talk but had moral argument. And it was clear to me they took their time with the writing, respecting the job, having all ten of their teleplays in order before getting ahead of themselves in production. They used visual effects in service of their story. They didn't create elaborate and implausible sequences, then justify them with dumb character action.

Is it the greatest science fiction series I've ever seen? No, but it's solid, imaginative, with a creative riff on "Danger Will Robinson." Thankfully Shimon Wincelburg's fingerprints are all over this series. I'm gonna watch it again with my wife. The season was built as one unified rise and fall, then tagged and divided into episodes--instead of conceived episodically and ultimately being uneven or anticlimactic. By the end there were no unnecessary parts. Just satisfaction because the writers kept their promises. I'm a happy fan. I hope other fans are too.

I don't know what the disc-based-media release history is for Netflix, but I would pay premium dollar for some LIS Blu-rays and a CD soundtrack.

 

[Blimpoy06]

I am going to record all the end title sequences and make a kind of soundtrack that way. Hardly definitive but better than nothing.

Has a link to download the soundtrack as well. (iTunes)

 

[Carabimero]

Has a link to download the soundtrack as well. (iTunes)

Thank you. I searched and didn't find it. But I'm so glad to have it. They are evil the way they don't release the CD first but compel me to get the MP3 now knowing full well I am too weak to not get the CD later too.

Tricksy Hobbittses!

 

[Blimpoy06]

I watched the first episode.

1966
Star Trek > Lost In Space

2018
Star Trek < Lost In Space

 

[Nelson Au]

I’m a little late to the thread, it sounds like this series remake might be worth a look if it comes out on disc. Lost in Space and Star Trek were part of my childhood, and Star Trek won for me. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t have some curiousity about this.

Josh, if you are still reading this, I am amazed you haven’t seen the original series! Or The Outer Limits. . When the blu ray came out of Lost in Space TOS, I watched the first 9 episodes and stopped. I thought the first 4 or 5 were pretty good, but the science was bad and it made it harder for me to watch as an adult. There was some nostalgia too. Mr. Nobody was an interesting idea that could have been stronger in a better writer’s hands. A later episode would have been a good morality tale about the nature of good and bad when they are shown to be attractive and ugly beings. But it was mired by the limits of the production. It could have been a good Star Trek.

 

[Francois Caron]

Watched two episodes now. Both episodes helped alleviate the "Pilot Syndrome" by dumping the audience ahead into the story instead of starting from the beginning. Very nicely done. I also liked that the girls weren't dumbed down and rendered helpless or begging for their boyfriends' help as is often the case with just about anything produced by the highly misogynistic Hollywood studio system. And the one girl who did have a momentary breakdown had more than just cause to feel that way.

I'll be watching the rest of the show during all of next week. I don't do binge watching.

 

[Carabimero]

Lost in Space and Star Trek were part of my childhood, and Star Trek won for me.

Lost in Space won for me until I was about ten. Then Star Trek took over. But LIS holds a very special place in my heart. The soundtrack to this new series is spectacular. I don't know how large the orchestra was, but it sounds theatrical (and I am responding to it that way). IMO this is easily Lennertz's best score.

I watched the first episode again, even though I said I'd wait for my wife to get home. Heck, I'll watch it *again* with her.

Edit: Track 10 is boss.

 

[TJPC]

I watched the original “Lost In Space” during its first run and found that after a promising start it became really silly. My parents would not even watch it.

My chief problem was that the show should have been called “Lost on a soundstage stuck in the set of a very dull planet for an entire season”. The space adventures I had hoped for never materialized. Does the new show have more action?

 

[Carabimero]

Does the new show have more action?

I have three answers to your question.

Yes.
Yes.
And Yes.

And the characters are all very smart.

This show restored my faith.

 

[Blimpoy06]

My chief problem was that the show should have been called “Lost on a soundstage stuck in the set of a very dull planet for an entire season”. The space adventures I had hoped for never materialized.

Season two changed the premise from being stranded on the appropriately named episode, "Blast Off into Space". They had more off world adventures in the last two years. Things were still silly. Season three produced a very moody episode called "The Anti-Matter Man". A personal favorite.

 

[mattCR]

These are the kind of revisits I enjoy. I admit, I am enjoying this far more than CBS All Access Star Trek series. it also makes me want a New Outer Limits run (I must be one of the few people who LOVES the Showtime/SciFi Channel remake in the 90s)

 

[Johnny Angell]

We just watched the first two episodes and this is so much better than the original. I was in my late teens and found the original, even when it was fun, to be very cheap and cheesy. The opening with the rock music in the background and the father dealing cards, “one, one, one, one, one, two, two ....” had me laughing. I did that, I’ll bet we all have.

Great show.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Only watched the pilot so far but i like it its a lot better than the 98 movie, it's an interesting reworking of the original, of course the family dynamic is more modern ,I just wish not every family to be disfunctional but alas its of our times

 

[Josh Dial]

I think the show is merely okay. Acceptable, but certainly nothing special.

The production values are definitely high, and in general the performances are fine (I really enjoyed Toby Stephens on Black Sails). The music is fantastic. The directing is passable, but nothing special (though Deborah Chow's work was great). The sound design and lighting are both pretty poor.

As an adventure show, it's decently fun and enjoyable for what it is. However, it is completely and utterly predictable. Almost every story beat, and even every line of dialogue is obvious and by-the-numbers. Very, very safe. No storytelling or characterization risks were taken whatsoever. To be blunt, if it wasn't for the special effects and set design, this show would be completely at home on network TV (and perhaps network TV 15 years ago...). You can almost see the cookie cutters from which the characters were made (and with respect to the children, in as bland of fashion as possible).

 

[Carabimero]

My wife got home from her business trip and asked me how LIS was. I said with a straight face, "Find out for yourself." So we put the first episode on.

"I'm tried, I'll just watch one," she said.

Here we are three hours later on episode 4. She said she wants to clear her schedule tomorrow to finish it all.

Great job by these writers. They really know what they are doing. I used to rewrite switch lines for a living--when characters switch from talking about action to value to being--and it's hard to do. Usually I can point out a clumsy switch line a mile away. But switch lines in this show are so seamless half of them didn't even register with me the first time I saw it. I'm catching more of them the second time. And I found some new moral argument I missed the first time. It's so natural they make it look easy.

I've made my living being a story doctor for nearly three decades. But I would be out of a job on this show. Whatever these writers got paid, it wasn't enough.

 

[BobO'Link]

I have three answers to your question.

Yes.
Yes.
And Yes.

And the characters are all very smart.

This show restored my faith.

You have me wanting to get Netflix just to see this program! Well, you and a few others. That there are several comments that it's better than the New Trek series (which I don't particularly care for) makes it even more attractive. Up until now I've had absolutely no interest in Netflix so that's saying something...