Human enemies? Please be Doctor Smith.
Of course not. How can you be until you see it?
A doctor at 18? Doogie Howser in Space?
But too many writers just lazily fall back on the cliches of dysfunctional relationships as a source of conflict.
That could be an American marketing decision there. Don't forget we supposedly preferred sorcerer's stones to philosopher's ones for the book and film.
Also not crazy about making him a combat veteran rather than a professor and a man of peace. It's as if they're deliberately making every character the exact opposite of what they were originally.
...Voyager, which was pretty lame to be honest, just how many shuttles did they lose and why did they have infinite torpedoes?
I imagine we are getting combat veteran instead of professor because of the required action scenes nowadays in Sci fi shows. Remind me of the pointless action scenes with phasers found in many Enterprise episodes, and Archer constantly getting captured in the first two seasons.
Kirk got captured on a regular basis, too.I will never understand why anyone who has heard of replicators has a problem with this. As long as they have energy (available from any of billions of stars) and raw materials (available from any of trillions of asteroids), they can replenish their supply of just about anything.
"Nowadays?" Come on. How many totally gratuitous fistfights did Captain Kirk get into?
Besides, if they need a soldier to carry action scenes, then Major Don West could've filled that role.
I can't see how they can do the show without Dr. Smith. If they're not going to have him then they're throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
I can't see how they can do the show without Dr. Smith. If they're not going to have him then they're throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
The shadow of Harris' screaming, prancing, scheming, bug eyed Smith is large and is one of the reasons Lost in Space has been harshly criticized for 50 years. That's all the annals of popular culture remembers of the Smith character. The problem of creating a new version was apparent in the dreary 1998 remake movie, where Gary Oldman tried to be scheming, but every ounce of the actor was more concerned with being the Anti-Harris than a fresh version of the character. I doubt any new actor would find it any less difficult to be Smith, but escape the complete actor-to-character bond Harris created.
But by omitting the character completely you risk leaving out part of the reason the show was successful in the first place.
Sure, but it's not just him. If these character descriptions are accurate, then they have very little in common with the originals beyond names, sexes, and ages. So it's a completely different dynamic with or without a Smith. It's not trying to succeed by replicating the original dynamic, but apparently by reacting against its perceived failings, even if that means throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
I don't know, while a remake should put its own stamp on stuff, part of the fun is seeing familiar faces in new adventures and circumstances, with similarities.
Granted, I've only seen a handful of the original Lost in Space episodes, but from my memory, Dr. Smith was the most distinct character on the series. Will was pretty well-defined and Penny had her moments, and the Robot was cool, but the other characters were really flat. So, they're cutting out a key character and one of the few that worked to what point? (I will say, though, that fleshing out the rest of the cast does sound like an improvement for the better.)
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