I loved the 1998 movie btw
Well it's about time. And here I thought I was the only one. Even my best friend, who is a die-hard fanatic of the 1965 series, doesn't think much of the movie.
Look what I found: Robinsons: Lost in Space(2004)
- Thread starter RAMA
- Start date
Well it's about time. And here I thought I was the only one. Even my best friend, who is a die-hard fanatic of the 1965 series, doesn't think much of the movie.
The Lost In Space movie from 1998 is one of those rare movies that tended to me let me down at the theater but on a rewatch was fairly enjoyable.
And yes, Mimi Rodgers tends to perk up just about anything.
I've yet to see the LiS pilot, but I'll give it a look.
I just caught the Time Tunnel pilot the other day and it was actually pretty good. Wish it had had a chance at a first season.
And yes, Mimi Rodgers tends to perk up just about anything.
I've yet to see the LiS pilot, but I'll give it a look.
I just caught the Time Tunnel pilot the other day and it was actually pretty good. Wish it had had a chance at a first season.
Yes, the new Time Tunnel pilot it might have been a series that would have improved on the other time-travel series Timecop 1997-1998 and Seven Days.
Last edited:
I loved the 1998 movie btw
Well it's about time. And here I thought I was the only one. Even my best friend, who is a die-hard fanatic of the 1965 series, doesn't think much of the movie.
Lost In Space 1998 movie, I just did not like the new Jupiter 2 interior sets, director Stephen Hopkins direction made me need a blueprint floorplan to figure out where they were on board in some scenes. The new Jupiter 2 interior was too much Jetsons. The Jupiter1 Booster looked like the original Jupiter 2 and sadly blew apart to reveal the new Jupiter 2 that looked like a guitar pick...some also called it a flying cow paddy.
Story wise the issues I have are:
1) They send a colony ship out with no protection (and sorry if Don West's fighter squad was there for escort; WHY werent they escorting?!
2) The Captain of the Colony ship waits AN HOUR before calling John Robinson - and doesn't think to look out the window himself?!
The worst episodes of the original LIS had better writing then this garbage. That this script got funded and produced to the tune of 2 million is amazing. I guess someone was looking for a mjor writeoff on their taxes. And lastly, I guess John Woo's worst work wasn't the Hulk.
It appeared they were no longer at war or there was lull?? I think they really didn't expect an attack at all.
Well the captain was a civilian, not a military commander. I think they were trying to suggest there as an over-reliance on technology. Again, the captain didn't seem to have any reason to believe it was an attack. The video-screen glitch could have been anything.
The pilot itself was not great, but I think the general tone of it: serious family in danger drama could have worked. If they had gone to series I'd have expected same major retooling...somewhat like TOS or Babylon 5.
The Robinsons could have been retooled, if only it had a chance.
The '98 movie just didn't work for me. I hated the way they retooled the Robinsons into the obligatory dysfunctional family. In the early episodes of the original series, they managed to find ways to create conflict within a healthy, loving family. I hate the lazy assumption that the only way to generate character conflict is to have the characters be totally screwed-up. Basically all the characterizations were too broad and one-dimensional, and the story was too convoluted. What's with all the time-travel nonsense in a movie called Lost in Space? The whole thing was basically an excuse to cast Bill Mumy as grown-up Will, but when Mumy's Babylon 5 schedule wouldn't allow him to participate, it rendered it rather pointless.
It would've been hard not to improve on either of those. But yeah, the TT pilot had a lot of potential. I wonder why it didn't sell.
It would've been hard not to improve on either of those. But yeah, the TT pilot had a lot of potential. I wonder why it didn't sell.
I loved the 1998 movie btw
I actually think the movie works pretty well up until all the time distortion/alternate future crap at the end, which muddled the story up beyond recognition.
And that new, larger Robot was damn cool.
I'm still holding out hope for a proper LiS series though. The idea of a family of explorers being stranded on the other side of the universe, completely cut off from home (with nothing but a kid's cool robot for backup), is about as compelling as it gets I think.
It's a shame no one's really been able to do that idea justice yet.
I loved the 1998 movie btw
I actually think the movie works pretty well up until all the time distortion/alternate future crap at the end, which muddled the story up beyond recognition.
And that new, larger Robot was damn cool.
I'm still holding out hope for a proper LiS series though. The idea of a family of explorers being stranded on the other side of the universe, completely cut off from home (with nothing but a kid's cool robot for backup), is about as compelling as it gets I think.
It's a shame no one's really been able to do that idea justice yet.
Absolutely agree.
Story wise the issues I have are:
1) They send a colony ship out with no protection (and sorry if Don West's fighter squad was there for escort; WHY werent they escorting?!
2) The Captain of the Colony ship waits AN HOUR before calling John Robinson - and doesn't think to look out the window himself?!
The worst episodes of the original LIS had better writing then this garbage. That this script got funded and produced to the tune of 2 million is amazing. I guess someone was looking for a mjor writeoff on their taxes. And lastly, I guess John Woo's worst work wasn't the Hulk.
It appeared they were no longer at war or there was lull?? I think they really didn't expect an attack at all.
Well the captain was a civilian, not a military commander. I think they were trying to suggest there as an over-reliance on technology. Again, the captain didn't seem to have any reason to believe it was an attack. The video-screen glitch could have been anything.
The pilot itself was not great, but I think the general tone of it: serious family in danger drama could have worked. If they had gone to series I'd have expected same major retooling...somewhat like TOS or Babylon 5.
The Robinsons could have been retooled, if only it had a chance.
I still feel the SERIES would have been given a chance--even though there was no direct connection to the project--if the 1998 movie had done better. Someone at the studio just felt it wouldnt be successful at any level.
I loved the 1998 movie btw
The only saving grace were Mimi Rogers and Heather Graham in these outrageous suits
LOVED the production design on that movie. Its what I think the real future could look like if it were stylish.
RAMA
I really think I would have enjoyed the '98 LiS movie a *LOT* move if Bill Mummy had indeed (as per rumors) been cast as the older version of Will Robinson. That was just a *major* missed opportunity that for some reason (personally) just takes me out of the movie. Every time I try to watch it I just keep thinking "This would have been so much better if..." and trying to imagine Bill Mummy in the role. I guess it's because Bill Mummy actually *looked* a lot more like a believable adult version of the child actor who played young Will Robinson. The resemblance is very uncanny. The scrawny, stringy-haired strung-out looking actor they did get for the movie just didn't convince me.
Well, that, and the fact that the script was weak - *especially* towards the end.
The CGI "Bloop" (or *whatever* he was called) was also pretty bad. WAY too cartoony.
I kinda liked the Jupiter 2 interior - except that it was a little too big and spacious - but I really liked how, before the ship was trashed, the walls acted as display screens. In the future I think the technology to display images and such *everywhere* will become more common...and now when I see dedicated viewscreens - especially when they *look* like TV's or computer monitors (like in TNG & such) - they look too 'modern" to me. In the future I expect walls & furniture to act as data interfaces (because computing will become ubiquitous - and somewhat invisible, in the sense of being just part of the furnishings...I can't find the world I'm reaching for here...unobtrusive?) But I also expect to see more augmented reality-type floating "holograms".
One other problem I had with the movie was that it was placed, imho, *too* soon in the future - sure, it wasn't in bloody *1997* like it was in the original series - 2058 seemed like to soon for so much technological change to have happened. (But who knows, with the pace of progress quickening...still, in 2058 I don't expect us to have hyperdrive...we'll be lucky if we've finally made it to Mars by then...) I would have at least moved the date up to 2097, or sometime in the early 2100's...
Well, that, and the fact that the script was weak - *especially* towards the end.
The CGI "Bloop" (or *whatever* he was called) was also pretty bad. WAY too cartoony.
I kinda liked the Jupiter 2 interior - except that it was a little too big and spacious - but I really liked how, before the ship was trashed, the walls acted as display screens. In the future I think the technology to display images and such *everywhere* will become more common...and now when I see dedicated viewscreens - especially when they *look* like TV's or computer monitors (like in TNG & such) - they look too 'modern" to me. In the future I expect walls & furniture to act as data interfaces (because computing will become ubiquitous - and somewhat invisible, in the sense of being just part of the furnishings...I can't find the world I'm reaching for here...unobtrusive?) But I also expect to see more augmented reality-type floating "holograms".
One other problem I had with the movie was that it was placed, imho, *too* soon in the future - sure, it wasn't in bloody *1997* like it was in the original series - 2058 seemed like to soon for so much technological change to have happened. (But who knows, with the pace of progress quickening...still, in 2058 I don't expect us to have hyperdrive...we'll be lucky if we've finally made it to Mars by then...) I would have at least moved the date up to 2097, or sometime in the early 2100's...
Actually thought most of the CGI was excellent...but yes, looking at it 12 years later, the "Bloop" was subpar.
I LIKED the spacious sets...this movie had scale...more than any of the ST films up to that time, except STTMP.
Agreed, no hyperdrive in 2058, but its not the first movie to have "erred" in speculation. I don't see LA becoming like Blade Runner anytime soon.
I loved the 1998 movie btw
The only saving grace were Mimi Rogers and Heather Graham in these outrageous suits
LOVED the production design on that movie. Its what I think the real future could look like if it were stylish.
RAMA
I liked how the suits looked like they incorporated some sort of combination of smart materials and nanotechnology - as well as incorporating some sort of life-support for the wearer.
They looked very futuristic to me.
(I like the idea that future space travelers would have something *like* the "smart matter" suits in Ken MacLeod's "The Cassini Division": http://thierstein.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=76&Itemid=43 )
The only saving grace were Mimi Rogers and Heather Graham in these outrageous suits
LOVED the production design on that movie. Its what I think the real future could look like if it were stylish.
RAMA
I liked how the suits looked like they incorporated some sort of combination of smart materials and nanotechnology - as well as incorporating some sort of life-support for the wearer.
They looked very futuristic to me.
(I like the idea that future space travelers would have something *like* the "smart matter" suits in Ken MacLeod's "The Cassini Division": http://thierstein.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=76&Itemid=43 )
Loved the nanotech in a major motion picture!
Yeah, that's true.
And I didn't *hate* the huge sets...I just kinda imagine that in near-future space-ships space will be at a premium. Plus - why did they need all that space for a journey they's be asleep during most of. (Well, then again - maybe they'd be using the ship as a home when they got there, so space would be a plus - for psychological reasons.)
But hey, with the technology that they seemed to have - maybe such spacious ships are plausable.
Again...I didn't hate them. And the movie *DID* have a sense of grand scale - which I think is missing from modern movies.
(And if *Lucas* had made this movie, all the sets would be 100% CGI...*ugh*...I like sets that have at least *some* physicality.)
It made $140 million worldwide, which was an even better total then than it is now. I'm sure it made another $10-20 mill or more in DVDs/VHS. Movie budget was $75 million or so. It made more money worldwide in its original release than all the ST films except STTMP, STIV, ST:FC and of course the newest film.
I'm surprised that it didn't sell IMO it wasn't a straight re-imaging of the original series the only additions to the storyline were that Penny was an infant,and there was an older son named David.
There was the robot more humanoid than original,and the fact that there isn't Dr.Smith on board just helps the us get to know Don west and the Robinson family sans David of which if went to series it would have given us a different and a more modern take of the show.
That's all folks
Signed
Buck Rogers
There was the robot more humanoid than original,and the fact that there isn't Dr.Smith on board just helps the us get to know Don west and the Robinson family sans David of which if went to series it would have given us a different and a more modern take of the show.
That's all folks
Signed
Buck Rogers
Even at the time, the Blarp CGI was widely derided as subpar. Whatever its technological sophistication, it was way too cartoony and exaggerated in its movements to be remotely believable as anything other than a CGI construct.
Perhaps to improve their odds? If the ship gets holed by micrometeoroids, then the less total volume of the ship the occupants take up, the smaller their odds of being hit. Although if that were a consideration, they would be distributed as far apart from one another as possible, rather than having all their cryotubes right next to each other.
Similar threads
