would now be a good time for Fox to re-do Lost In Space DVD's? (1 Viewer)

[Mark Collins]

Haha Ethan,
I love the comment! Hey last night i was deep into the early morning hours and could not stop watching Season 3. I can see why this show has such a cult following. I love the humor and season 3 looks better and the stories for the first episodes seem to be not bad at all. Confined to my bed for just a few more days i hope to finish all of season 3. I then will have 50 Giant epsiodes and the first season of LIS. I can see how kids could really connect with this show. I saw the movie. The only Irwin Allen series to make it to film is LIS. The producers should have followed the comic and not the serious as I am sure all LIS fans would agree and stated at the time of the films release. Here the new Dark Shadows movie did the reverse of LIS Producers. I think the DS movie is fun to watch and I enjoyed it unlike the LIS film.
The special effects are great in Season 3. Looks like they put a great deal of money into LIS for it's last season. The walking around the J2 is great. I love the Time Tunnel sets being used and I could see the Tunnel as the J2 returns to earth. The space pod is like the flying sub for the show. I know all this is nothing new to you fans. I just have never watched the show and I am viewing it cold with help from my pain pills of course.
I am leaning toward Giants since it was a show i did watch as a kid. I want to leave season 1 of LIS for last. I also have Mannix coming in July plus Dark Shadows episodes and i wanted to sample old Dallas episodes.
I also want to thank Gary for getting me into all this Irwin Allen fun. I really mean it! I enjoy LIS!

 

[SilverWook]

See, boys and girls? Mark has confirmed one thing: Lost In Space is way better when viewed on drugs!! Just think--the show went off the air in 1968--halfway between the Summer of Love and Woodstock! You know what those writers were doing behind the scenes! Just check out that talking carrot, dude! Whoa, trippy-dippy! Far Out Space Nuts can't be "far" behind!
Honestly, I loved the shit out of Lost in Space when I was eight, but oh yeah--it's easy to see why it went off the air. It wasn't actually cancelled, you know... It O.D.'d!

If I remember my old Starlog interviews correctly, CBS wanted to cut the budget for the fourth season, Irwin Allen said no, and that was the end. The entire cast certainly thought they were coming back.
It's too bad Billy Mumy's proposed reunion tv movie never came to be. A lot of his ideas made it into the 90's comic book though.
An all out Blu Ray set would be awesome. Throw in the reunion documentary and the infamous Hanna Barbera LIS pilot.

 

[Mark Collins]

I have noticed that Guy Williams has more screen time in season 3.

 

[DVD S.]

I wonder what it is like to be an adult and
watching Lost In Space for the first time...
it must be surreal(..I guess the drugs might
make it an easier pill to swallow?).
I think that when I was watching this as kid,
it was about trying to take in the feeling
that it was delivering less than it what it
was promising, in the 3rd season at any rate,
it was like: cool countdown!, snazzy new theme!,
space pod!, jupiter2 in space!, more screen time
for the ignored cast members! and....stoned hippies?,
go-go dancing alien teenagers?,a bouncing plant monster?
(the afore-mentioned)talking carrot?, Dr. Smith as a
talking celery stick?
(were the writers on something or....was it something in the air?).
oh.....okay.
I think that this TV series('65 -'68) in its entirety displays quite
the gamut of 60's time-capsuleness to itself.
That being said, I have a certain fondness for a few
episodes namely,
The Condemned Of Space
this was the 1st one and the Viewmaster episode(those
puppies go for alot of $ these days...originally $1.25!).
It is a pretty decent episode with alot of action and pretty
nice visuals and Robby The Robot(in his second LIS appearance).
The Space Primevals
this one could have been a little bit better without the
inanities with Smith(as usual), and also the Robot kind of
acting stupid.
Otherwise this episode is a full-on embracing of the, at the time,
hot new trend of day-glo(..I know because I had the Wham-O items
and other toys of the day, my brother had the psychedelic posters).
it also has a very Tiki Primitive sort of vibe to it, which is now pretty
cool in a retro sort of way, an interesting mix of spacemen, dinosaurs
and cavemen who are evolving into a higher lifeform :alien: ), plus great
footage of the space-pod and the only 3rd season and last ever
appearance of the chariot.
Two Weeks In Space
Dr, Smith, Will & The Robot, a typical combination turn the
Jupiter2 into a hotel for a group of space tourists seeking a fun get-
away vacation destination, but the tourists are secretly slimy
aliens who show their real identities when the moon is full.
This episode is pretty fun, actually and I just enjoy going
along with the ridiculousness of it all, in fact I probably
appreciate this one more now than when I was a kid!
The Anti-Matter Man
is probably the most popular episode from this entire season
and it is pretty cool over-all.
An evil version of John captures good John, throws him into his anti-
dimension and comes to wreck havoc on the Robinsons in this
one.
Will, Smith & Robot must go to the other dimension to rescue
normal John and have to tangle with a bad Don and anti-Robot
along the way.
A good showcase for Guy Williams for once.
Visit To A Hostile Planet is good until it devolves into The
Andy Griffith Show.
Flight Into The Future isn't too bad, considering the usual fare
we get in this season.
The thing that bothers me most about the quality of these DVD transfers,
is that long shots look really fuzzy and out of focus.
The Time Merchant episode, in particular is a hot mess because
of the video quality and the sound is off-key and it is pretty
much un-watchable.
I am glad that you are enjoying it though, Mark and I have
(slowly) been making my way through this particular season,
in-between Dark Shadows, Voyage, Wild Wild West and other shows.
I agree that the LIS movie wasn't that great, didn't capture the
right qualities of the original(paying homage) and reflected that
the people behind it probably weren't fans of the original, which might
have helped.I liked the new Dark Shadows movie somewhat more, I think.
:star:

 

[Professor Echo]

I don't know if it's been mentioned before, but the book LOST IN LOST IN SPACE by Mark Cotta Vaz is a great and fun study of the series in relation to the culture of the era. His theory about the explosive 60's revolutions being the result of color television is fascinating. It sounds silly, but his reasoning is so interesting. I grew up with the show and watched it faithfully every Wednesday night.

 

[PatrickGoodluck]

I love Lost In Space! I grew up watching this show as a kid and just hearing the opening theme/s conjure up all sorts of fond memories for me. It seems that it is the kind of show that needs to have been watched as a kid. Introducing "adults" to the show for the first time doesn't seem to work somehow. The magic is lost.
I think Guy Williams' acting ability in LIS is much underrated. It's usually lost or undermined with the popular relationship between Will and the Robot. I've always gained some sort of security watching the show, particularly as a kid, because Professor Robinson was the perfect Father figure to me. Perfect is probably not the right word but a Father figure to be respected all the same. I know father figures were in abundance on TV back in the 60's but Professor Robinson was also a very strong character in a physical sense too which made it more believable. He was everybody's protector. He would fight if it was absolutely necessary to do so and he would put his family first at all times.
Sure, there are some kooky episodes that people today poke fun at and perhaps it could have been a better series in hindsight. Who knows what would have happened if it ran another season and there was some "conclusion" to the series? However, it is what it is and no one can take away those fun childhood memories, which makes watching as an adult just as fun and nostalgic also.

 

[Jeff Willis]

I liked S1 the best of the 3 seasons. Dr Smith seemed more "realistic", more evil ,etc. But the sparring between Dr Smith and the robot was classic throughout the series.

 

[MBrousseau]

I love reading everyone of you on that dream that I also share about getting a new Lost in Space remastered edition. May this time be a blu-ray edition rather than just another DVD edition.
This is very possible. There is a HD remastered 1 minute excerpt on Youtube taken from the episode The Reluctant Stowaway. The quality is astonishing! The sound is good too but a little of sync. Probably a problem during uploading. When you put the DVD on split screen with the Youtube clip, the comparison is incredible. The DVD sucks... :td:

Don't forget to change to HD quality when looking at the clip in Youtube and switch to full screen.

 

[PatrickGoodluck]

WOW! That teaser really does whet my appetite to see more LIS in HD!
Thanks for sharing, Martin.

 

[MBrousseau]

You're welcome, Patrick.
Now, if we go further into extravaganza, can we dream of a colorized Season One?

... in fact, I'm just kidding.

 

[DVD S.]

From what I understand, if the 1st season had been seen in color(..the way it actually looked during filming), the robot had a clear chest light and plain grey(..instead of red) claws.
Other than the Robinson's outfits, most of the color was added to the props and sets
when it went into color for season 2.
What I would like to know is, if there were Home Movies shot in color by Irwin Allen for the pilots of Voyage, Time Tunnel & Giants(..and they are all on the respective sets of each release), why isn't or where is the one that should exist for LIS and why have we not seen it?
:star:

 

[Lord Dalek]

I'm not sure if color home movies of the LiS pilot would be an adequate reference as the cast doesn't start sporting their season one outfits until 4 shows in.

 

[DVD S.]

Lord Dalek,
yes, it would apply, as The Pilot - otherwise known as "No Place To Hide",
featured plenty of the Robinson's in their early crew outfits, running about
the ship and what not, once they had crashed upon the planet..footage
here was mostly incorporated into episodes 3. 4 & 5.
The natural landscapes would also be interesting to see, particularly
the tropical landscape when they exit the hungry sea.
There was home film footage from episode 17: "The Sky Pirate",
shot by Bob May(The Robot), that was included in the documentary/biography
by May entitled - "My Robot Memories".The primary studio set itself was very drab,
all grey and brown.
Color stock footage was shot on film of the Chariot, Cyclops monster and the
jet-pack scenes, as well as the Jupiter 2 in space flying round the derelict
spaceship(..as seen in episode 2, season 1 and in color in episode 3, season 3).
:star:

 

[Lord Dalek]

Well after a quick watch of No Place to Hide, I officially concur. I guess the only mystery is what color is Dr. Smith's outfit from Ghost in Space through The Magic Mirror.

 

[DVD S.]

I believe that the color of that particular outfit that was worn for just a small
number of episodes was a yellow or creme colored top and dark brown pants....
I recall reading this in an article of an interview with Jonathan Harris
who said that he hated this particular outfit and liked wearing a darker shade
of shirt, that it suited his persona of Dr. Smith much better.
Penny's outfit was also a bit different as it was yellow with orange stripes, rather
than the red/orange with yellow striped ensemble(..though it was otherwise the
same design), as that which was seen in season 2,
I also forgot to mention that color film footage was shot of the infamous
Jupiter2 crash of the ship flying over the mountains(..very realistically , I might
add), but was shown throughout the series at very frequent intervals, somewhat
undermining its effectiveness.
:star:

 

[MBrousseau]

Here's a good example of early season 1 outfits.http://www.hometheaterforum.com/image/id/867849/width/553/height/700

 

[MBrousseau]

Here's something really exciting :

All 83 episodes have been scanned in high definition and are near ready to be on blu-ray!

 

[Jack P]

I noticed that, but at the same time they seem to be indicating that if a new DVD or Blu-Ray release came they would format them 1:78-1 which is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! If I can't watch these shows in their proper aspect ratio, then there won't be any reason to get this no matter how improved the picture is.

 

[Steve...O]

I agree with Jack. Anytime a show is presented modified aspect ratio, this is a "no sale" in my book.

 

[MBrousseau]

For almost 50 years,we have been missing all the information contained on the sides. I wouldn't mind having them back and sacrifice a little on the top and the bottom of the picture.