Netflix greenlights new "Lost in Space"

[Shaka Zulu]

A good remake should take the same concept and just run in a different direction. It would be interesting to see the idea of a family lost in deep space as part of a colonization attempt is interesting. We got campy gold, but it could be done in a series way focusing on them attempting to live on an alien planet and dealing with being disconnected from the rest of humanity. With a robot, we probably won't be seeing the space monkey.

Maybe as a joke, but it won't be hanging around getting into hijinks.

For the record, I liked the 1998 movie as a correction to the show and the campy bullshit it got into; as one writer (C.J. Henderson) put it in his book about sci-fi movies, everything in that movie made sense, even the inclusion of Dr. Smith (Gary Oldman, at least up to the end where he loses it as they take off from the planet by a whisker and says his classic phrase.)

I just saw the trailer on YouTube, and I think that this new show's looking awesome.

Also, I should probably qualify my remarks by mentioning that, unlike many of my age cohort, I thought the original LIS, along with almost all of Irwin Allen's other career emissions was just downright dreadful from start to finish.

The only thing good about the original show was the follow-up comic book from Innovation Comics written by Bill Mumy, which upgraded the show somewhat by making it more serious and fleshing out the characters more, even Smith, while admitting that Will and Penny were growing up (and in Penny's case, filling out.)

I will grant that the most star-struck I've ever been was spending a couple of hours with Jonathan Harris back around...1992?

I'd be more starstruck because he was on Space Academy as Commander Issac Gampu than about him being Smith; the character was useless, and should have been killed off after six episodes as originally planned, with the rest of the show being about survival on an alien planet (or planets) while trying to figure out if they should go back to Earth on just continue on to Alpha Centauri.

 

[Qonundrum]

A good remake should take the same concept and just run in a different direction. It would be interesting to see the idea of a family lost in deep space as part of a colonization attempt is interesting. We got campy gold, but it could be done in a series way focusing on them attempting to live on an alien planet and dealing with being disconnected from the rest of humanity. With a robot, we probably won't be seeing the space monkey.

Maybe as a joke, but it won't be hanging around getting into hijinks.

Seconded.

And a remake, to me anyway, also suggests the original had potential but lost it. If I ever went into the business, I'd look at what went wrong, where, and get good writers and actors to put put out a new vision. Not just write any old thing and slap a well-known label onto it. LIS had moments but became silly. Not always unenjoyable, but silly. And begged the question why they would keep saving Dr Smith, though the show also recognized that and revealed a worse fate had he not been involved. And as much as Smith was the occasional nuisance, I have headcanon that has Smith doing stuff in a positive light to make up for his on-screen Gilliganisms.

How long the show can stretch the basic premise requires a lot out of the writers and actors. Indeed, what if life wasn't discovered on another planet, or a past civilization and stretch it out a while. The galaxy is so big, the chances of other civilizations existing in the same scope of time is probably going to be very slim, miraculous if possible. And that would keep the family busy too... the 60s version had a galaxy that was even more dense than Grand Central Station, and made with a budget that could barely afford alien costuming such as tight blue leotards with blue skin paint, or the giant carrot outfit they got from the defunct halloween costume store.

 

[Qonundrum]

Ron Moore's BSG didn't constitute any kind of overcorrection. It was perfect the way it was.

Seconded. While I didn't care for the miniseries, the actual show that followed quickly fixed up any issues the mini had. The show still lasted too long (4 years, petered out a bit after Richard Hatch left - but I liked his new character and I didn't succumbing to typecasting and seeing him only as Captain Apollo...)

The 1978 original? Looked great, the bridge looked authentic, great robots, Patrick MacNee's narration (as well as voicing the lead baddie, which makes that narration bit even more of fascination), Baltar was great despite being retconned and no longer having his head chopped off, etc... but still had some sci-fi clichés and after "Fire in Space" (or the episode that TNG thought it would do a great job at redoing, except DS9 did it far better with "Starship Down") it really lost its way. Even some of the early episodes with what amounted to the cattle ranch with the Cylons coming in to take everything ("Lost Warrior"?) was... ugh. Really hit or miss, which is a shame. The Pegasus episodes ("Living Legend") was fantastic, though. Wish they kept the 1978 original to TV movies and not chopped into a TV series... but despite a few issues, the 2004 version really nailed it for the first 2 years. "Human cylons" were wasted in "Galactica 1980" (seriously, watch it and then say "I should have listened to you when you said not to watch it" because I'm telling you not to watch it unless you really want to know how insipidly BAD it was...) but, after a while, it did lead to BSG's version of shapeshifting Founders that could infiltrate the good guys' camp. Still, I miss the real cylons and not the shiny CGI toothpicks...

 

[JD]

How long the show can stretch the basic premise requires a lot out of the writers and actors. Indeed, what if life wasn't discovered on another planet, or a past civilization and stretch it out a while. The galaxy is so big, the chances of other civilizations existing in the same scope of time is probably going to be very slim, miraculous if possible. And that would keep the family busy too... the 60s version had a galaxy that was even more dense than Grand Central Station, and made with a budget that could barely afford alien costuming such as tight blue leotards with blue skin paint, or the giant carrot outfit they got from the defunct halloween costume store.

I really hope the new show has aliens in it, one of the my favorite things about space sci-fi like this is the aliens, and I'm getting tired of shows that don't have any.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Singons are so 24th Century.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Netflix is tweeting people named Will Robinson.
https://io9.gizmodo.com/danger-will-robinson-youre-about-to-get-spammed-1823524272
New trailer tomorrow?

 

[Mudd]

New trailer tomorrow.

 

[Gepard]

Here's hoping for some sweet, sweet, robot action.

 

[Redfern]

Here's hoping for some sweet, sweet, robot action.

Looks like the Robot is getting some "sweet action" in this music video Orac linked!
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/scifi-av-contest-robots-androids.293099/#post-12380259

 

[Starscream2112]

Trailer

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[Christopher]

A lot of changes in the environment the Jupiter 2 occupies. We see it sink under the ice at one point and be pulled out onto bare soil in a temperate climate at another point. It could be that the ship relaunches and crashes more than once, but it suggests that they're borrowing the idea from the original's opening story arc (mostly ignored later in the season) that the planet's climate was subject to frequent, drastic change due to its elliptical orbit.

It looks like the Robot is an alien construct, yet it's a lot more humanoid in shape than the original. I find that a bit disappointing. For one thing, humans that are capable of interstellar travel should certainly be capable of advanced robotics without needing aliens to do it for them. For another, making it more humanlike seems like a step backward. It also gives it no design elements in common with the original. (But then, you could kind of say the same about Parker Posey's Dr. Smith...)

 

[Redfern]

Never thought I'd find myself wishing for the movie version of the Robot, either chassis.

 

[BillJ]

Trailer

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Looks cool.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I am also surprised and disappointed by the Robot. It looks like a person in a costume. Like something from a low budget kids show or movie from the 80s or 90s. I really have no sentimental attachment to Lost in Space. This is just a really bad design. I can not see that appealing to kids or adults. Kids have seen much better robot designs in animation and live action. Any background Droid in Stars Wars looks better than this.

 

[Ovation]

Looks good. I’m in.

 

[Christopher]

I am also surprised and disappointed by the Robot. It looks like a person in a costume. Like something from a low budget kids show or movie from the 80s or 90s.

I wouldn't go that far. Yes, it looks humanoid, but if it's a costume rather than a performance capture, then it's a pretty detailed and elaborate costume. (It looks like it starts out in a less humanoid configuration and reshapes itself to emulate the Robinsons, maybe. Although the entity seen earlier has orange energy patterns in its "face" and the subsequent Robot has purplish ones, so maybe they're not the same entity. The first one looks a bit like it has the Doomsday Machine for a head.)

 

[mos6507]

The Robot is a letdown but the production values (IMHO) kick Discovery's butt. It kind of looks more like Interstellar the series which I can accept.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

If that's the Robot in the first shot with the claw like hand then does it seems that it assumes a humanoid shape to assimilate in with the group maybe? In fact that first shot reminds me of the transformed Smith in the Lost in Space movie.

I was more disappointed in the lack of any affectation in Parker Posey's Smith. I don't need TV Smith but that's a part where an actor should be able to ham it up in some fashion.

I love the "explore strange new worlds" factor, that is something I've been missing in modern sci-fi. Discovery passingly gave us a couple of new worlds and aliens but I've been missing that element. Overall, I liked it and am looking forward to seeing the series.

 

[BillJ]

I wouldn't go that far. Yes, it looks humanoid, but if it's a costume rather than a performance capture, then it's a pretty detailed and elaborate costume. (It looks like it starts out in a less humanoid configuration and reshapes itself to emulate the Robinsons, maybe. Although the entity seen earlier has orange energy patterns in its "face" and the subsequent Robot has purplish ones, so maybe they're not the same entity. The first one looks a bit like it has the Doomsday Machine for a head.)

Maybe the color changes based on the environment or emotions it is experiencing?

 

[JD]

Ok, that is not at all what I expected for the robot, even if they didn't completely recreate the original, I would have expected at least a few recognizable elements. Looking at it just as a design, with no history behind it, I actually think it's pretty cool.
The show looks really good, ever since I first saw the original I thought it would be great to see a modern style reboot, and that is exactly what we're getting.