Lost in Space on Netflix (1 Viewer)

[ChristopherG]

I'm almost done with season 1 (last episode on deck for tonight). I am enjoying it overall but have to agree with the folks who have said this could have been so much more. That said, I am hoping and looking forward to season 2. Kudos to Parker Posey for making me hate her character so very much! It's not that often that I let a character bother me that much.

A couple thoughts and or questions:

- what year is this supposed to be? I keep thinking in a future ahead of us certainly, but maybe not. If so there are a couple incongruities that keep bothering me:

- The microphones in both the Jupiters and the Chariots. Corded like they were talking on a CB in Smokey and the Bandit....really?
- The fire extinguishers hanging up in the ship....so very 20th century....
- kinda miss the Don West that was a wise ass space pilot rather than a wise ass smuggler/opportunist
- really warming up to the Penny/Judy characters

Looking forward to the season finale...

 

[RobertR]

Spoiler--don't read if you haven't watched the series yet.











Funny the gun was brought up because I have a lot to say about it. First, the reason I assumed Will didn't go to his parents is because he didn't want them to know what the robot did. I would have hid the gun if I was in his position in that culture. Look at how guns are treated on the show. They're shunned. No one carries a gun. Professor Robinson doesn't wear a gun. He will take on a dinosaur with a knife before he will strap on a gun. So what Will does makes perfect sense to me.

Spoiler

I just watched the episode with the beasts attacking the camp, and I found the scenario extremely annoying and idiotic. What kind of culture goes to an unknown planet with unknown life forms and carries no weapons with them to defend themselves against danger? Also, I found the jump from the third to the fourth episode to have a big plot hole. They're in a solo survival situation, and then all of a sudden they're going to see people from other ships? And West is ok? Where the hell was the setup for all this?? I think I'm done with this show.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

- what year is this supposed to be? I keep thinking in a future ahead of us certainly, but maybe not.

The show is set near-future, 2046. Without spoiling anything, by the time you finish the finale you'll understand how humanity got from here to interstellar colonization in less than three decades.

What kind of culture goes to an unknown planet with unknown life forms and carries no weapons with them to defend themselves against danger?

They weren't going to an unknown planet, though. They were going to an established colony when a completely unexpected attack forced them to evacuate, with zero preparation time, to an unknown planet.

Also, I found the jump from the third to the fourth episode to have a big plot hole. They're in a solo survival situation, and then all of a sudden they're going to see people from other ships? And West is ok? Where the hell was the setup for all this?? I think I'm done with this show.[/spoiler]

This show is not the most ambitious with its storytelling structure, but it is a nonlinear narrative. All of those questions are fully addressed by the show.

 

[RobertR]

They weren't going to an unknown planet, though. They were going to an established colony when a completely unexpected attack forced them to evacuate, with zero preparation time, to an unknown planet.

The show depicts ships packed with all SORTS of supplies for survival on an alien planet, but apparently packing weapons for unknown contingencies was beyond the comprehension of these people. Amazing.

This show is not the most ambitious with its storytelling structure, but it is a nonlinear narrative. All of those questions are fully addressed by the show.

A "nonlinear narrative" doesn't excuse plot holes. You can't for example, watch the fifth episode and think "it's irrelevant whether the appearance of the robot was set up by an earlier episode".

 

[Robert Crawford]

So does the majority of participants in this thread like this reboot series?

 

[revgen]

I prefer the non-continuous storylines of the original series, especially the first season. While there's less incentive to "binge" with this approach, I believe there is more room for new ideas when each episode is separate and not tied in to the last one. The special effects and set designs are better on the reboot. They both have their positive and negative attributes. I give the reboot credit for not trying to absolutely copy the original series note for note.

 

[Carabimero]

So does the majority of participants in this thread like this reboot series?

I have watched it three times.

Fun fact: Character names such as June Harris, Angela, and Mark are all tips of the cap to cast members on the original show.

 

[David Weicker]

I have watched it three times.

Fun fact: Character names such as June Harris, Angela, and Mark are all tips of the cap to cast members on the original show.

Additionally, Angela was found wearing a suit with the name Goddard, and the ‘pet’ on both shows is named Debbie (bloop/chicken)

 

[Blimpoy06]

What kind of culture goes to an unknown planet with unknown life forms and carries no weapons with them to defend themselves against danger?

Same as some of the religious settlers of the American West who refused to carry guns in hostile territory. Particularly Quakers. Ever see the 1956 film Friendly Persuasion with Garry Cooper? Imagine an idealistic group like that leaving the Earth to colonize a new planet.

 

[Blimpoy06]

- The microphones in both the Jupiters and the Chariots. Corded like they were talking on a CB in Smokey and the Bandit....really?

Aviation and business radios in the UHF and VHF bands still use the corded microphone technology today. I see no reason for it to disappear in the near future.

 

[RobertR]

Same as some of the religious settlers of the American West who refused to carry guns in hostile territory. Particularly Quakers. Ever see the 1956 film Friendly Persuasion with Garry Cooper? Imagine an idealistic group like that leaving the Earth to colonize a new planet.

The family in Friendly Persuasion had guns. They weren't stupid enough to think they weren't needed.

How lucky these idiots are that the deus ex machina robot showed up and saved their asses. "Golly Gee! Weapons can be useful after all!"

BTW, this John Robinson is a Marine, so he's hardly some sort of space going pacifist, yet he's not "allowed" to print a gun.

 

[Carabimero]

The family in Friendly Persuasion had guns. They weren't stupid enough to think they weren't needed.

How lucky these idiots are that the deus ex machina robot showed up and saved their asses. "Golly Gee! Weapons can be useful after all!"

BTW, this John Robinson is a Marine, so he's hardly some sort of space going pacifist, yet he's not "allowed" to print a gun.

One the many reasons I admire this show so much is because its creators offer a vision of the future where personal weapons are not essential or even valued. The ability to make them is there, but the choice not to make them is now our first instinct. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the message this sends, especially to young people, particularly as they watch Will Robinson recoil from the offer of a weapon made from a machine by a machine.

In this brave new world, personal weapons are not the first--or best--solution.

 

[dana martin]

Alpha Centauri doesn't have a 2nd amendment

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It's also worth noting that the presence of extraterrestrial life was not widely known even among the colonists. All of the life on Alpha Centauri was imported from Earth, so they had no reason to think that there'd be living threats that they'd need to defend themselves against.

 

[Carabimero]

Alpha Centauri doesn't have a 2nd amendment

As the captain of the Resolute says when Dr. Smith is caught red handed, he has good news and bad news for her. The good news is, there are no laws set up yet to deal with what she did. The bad news is, there are no laws set up to deal with what she did, so he can do any damn thing he wants to her.

What makes this kind of visionary storytelling so exciting to me is, that at its best, it offers a new system of living--hopefully a better one--for us to critique. As a storyteller, there's no higher form than the visionary story (Christ and the Buddha, for example). And while that's not the emphasis of this family show, the inflections of it are, as Ferris Bueller might say, "So choice."

 

[RobertR]

One the many reasons I admire this show so much is because its creators offer a vision of the future where personal weapons are not essential or even valued.

Something for which many colonists would have paid for with their lives if it hadn't been for the weaponized robot. But hey, what's death compared with sticking to a "principle"?

 

[Carabimero]

If the robot (a weapon) hadn't been in the story, they never would have been stranded on the dangerous planet in the first place. That's the entire thematic point: weapons breed the need for more weapons.

LOST IN SPACE has the richest subtext of any TV show I have seen in a long while.

 

[RobertR]

It's also worth noting that the presence of extraterrestrial life was not widely known even among the colonists. All of the life on Alpha Centauri was imported from Earth, so they had no reason to think that there'd be living threats that they'd need to defend themselves against.

So they ASSUMED there couldn't POSSIBLY be any dangerous life forms under ANY circumstances.

 

[Blimpoy06]

How lucky these idiots are that the deus ex machina robot showed up and saved their asses. "Golly Gee! Weapons can be useful after all!"

BTW, this John Robinson is a Marine, so he's hardly some sort of space going pacifist, yet he's not "allowed" to print a gun.

I've only seen a third of the series so far. But from what has been presented on screen, you can speculate that since there is a military presence on the Resolute, that weapons are likely some part of the expedition. But access is limited and the individual Jupiter ships are not permitted to manufacture them and other items. Certain individuals would be able to do so for common self defense of the colony. But not the general population.

 

[RobertR]

I find it's often helpful for me to use the logical part of my brain: If the robot hadn't been in the story, they never would have been stranded on the dangerous planet in the first place.

Yes, everyone knows with absolute certainty that NO other circumstances they could POSSIBLY find themselves in WITHOUT the robot could EVER conceivably be dangerous.