Lost In Space

Lost In Space (1998)

Image From IMDB

The film that finally dethroned Titanic from the top of the box office… Joey in Space. I can’t quite put into words how excited I was about Lost in Space when it came out. I was a big fan of the original TV Show and was far less cynical at fifteen so couldn’t wait for the remake. The trailer looked cool, and the Stargate music––guess they weren’t ready to reveal the awesome Apollo 440 track at the time–– got me pumped. I was ready.

Then I saw the movie, and honestly, it was mostly everything I wanted. The action was dumb, the overused one liners were cool, it was extremely science fictiony, the characters were fun, Dr Smith was great, Joey played West in a really Joey fashion, Heather Graham was in it, and it had alien spiders. Fifteen year old me loved it, and nearly thirty years on, i’m still a fan.

Watching it through adult eyes it feels like William Hurt may have given up half-way through the movie, and the second part of the third act still bugs me, but all my initial excitement for it is still there. The movie just has an energy about it that I enjoy, all the way up until when they step out onto the ice planet.

I loved the whole cast, and the effort they mostly––i’m looking at you William–-put in. They treated the movie as a fun, exciting, action flick, which is what it was. Gary Oldman in particular seemed to relish playing Smith. Maybe plenty around them were rolling their eyes at the one-liners, cheesy action, and dubious science, but I wasn’t. I thought it was great, and still do.

* As a quick side-note I absolutely loved Lacey Chabert performance as Penny and fuck The Stinkers Bad Movie award for awarding a kid Worst Supporting Actress. I’ll never be ok with that. I’m glad they’re defunct.

Every set piece felt like they just wanted to entertain the audience. I was already a fan of the director Stephen Hopkins through Judgment Night, and this elevated him further in my eyes. He made the Lost in Space movie I wanted. The show was great, but it wasn’t, and wouldn’t be, cinematic, and I felt like he got that. Why try the monster of the week format on the big screen when you can make Lost in Space a bombastic cheesy action sci-fi with Joey from friends uttering lines like “And the monkey flips the switch.”

I’m well aware the movie is kinda insane and that the pacing is all over the place, but i’ll always defend it––except the whole time travel bubble thing, that’s on its own. It was a movie that felt like it was made for me at the time so maybe my nostalgia is bias, but i’m ok with that.

I still think Lost in Space is an entertaining fun movie that’s exactly what it’s meant to be. We don’t really get these type of bombastic sci-fi family movies anymore and I think cinema is worse off for it. It’s a movie which is easy to look down on, but I think if you switch your brain off at the door and just let the dumbness consume you for a couple of hours, you can have a great time with it.