Lost in space

Year of release : 1998

Run time : 2h10m

Genre : Sci Fi / Action / Adventure

Cast : Gary Oldman, William Hurt, Matt LeBlanc, Heather Graham, Mimi Rogers, Lacey Chabert, Jared Harris

The movie is based on the 1965-1968 tv series of the same name, which were inspired by the 1812 novel, "The Swiss family Robinson"(the book is about a Swiss family who travels to Port Jackson, Australia, who's ship goes off route and are shipwrecked in the East Indies ) by Johann David Wyss.

In 2058 there are irreversible pollution effects on the earth, and there are barely any "fossil fuels" left.

The United Global Space Force send the Robinson family on a 10 year journey to the only livable planet, Alpha Prime, where there is a research colony. The Robinsons' mission is to supervise the build of a hyper gate, while the people on earth are to finish the build of the "companion" hyper gate. Once it's finished they will teleport everyone from Earth to Alpha Prime.

The kids are not happy with leaving their whole life behind.

Professor Robinson chooses major Don West to pilot the ship, after the original pilot of the mission was k1lled by the terr0rist organization The Global Sedition.

Doctor Smith, a Sedition spy, is sent to sabotage the family's space ship. He tempers with one of the robots,giving it orders to k1ll the family and destroy the ship,only to be betrayed right after by his employers.

After the family and the pilot enter cryosleep for a period of 10 years, doctor Smith wakes up, and tries to stop the robot he programmed to destroy the ship he is on too, now. Unable to do it, he wakes up the family, and the kid, who is a genius,disables the robot's k1ller mission.

Trying to stabilize the operating systems, they find out they are pulled into the sun's gravitational field (although apparently it doesn't affect the ship in any way, it's not hot, it doesn't burn it..), and the pilot decides to fly straight through the sun into hyperdrive.

They are thrown into a new galaxy they never heard of, being lost in space.

They landed near a damaged ship, where "waves" which distort time keep on rippling.

Getting inconsistent life signs from the ship, they dock to the ship, and looking around, they find a scared space monkey (looks like CGI) they take with them, and space spiders (very bad visual effects, looking like animations), and they barely get out alive. Fleeing, doctor Smith is bit, and major West blows the spider ship up in order to destroy them, as the spiders follow them through space, flying to their ship! (they really lost me with the space spiders!)

The blast propels them on a planet where at the moment is winter. Time waves keep on shaking the planet, taking more of its space, the ripple effects getting bigger and bigger. Will, the Robinsons' youngest son, thinks these waves are distortions in time caused by a time machine, but his father ignores him.

Major West and John Robinson go out to investigate, while his wife and the two daughters fix the exterior of the ship.

Will wants to follow his father, and is tricked by Smith to take him with him.

The movie had an interesting premise, but the visual effects make it hard to watch, although the acting saves it.

I actually have the movie on original video tape, as I liked it 20 years ago, and Gary Oldman was one of my favorite actors.

The visual effects at the beginning were good, but as the movie progressed (at the minute 36) they just got worse and worse, to the point everything looks animated (like the monkey,space, the space ships ).Whenever I saw the bad visual effects I was thinking of how good the actors are, acting against nothing or a ball, pretending there was something in front of them.

The actors were good.

I didn't care for the soundtrack. I did like the song by Apollo 440 with samples from the movie, I found it original.

The movie received negative reviews from critics, and grossed 136.2 million dollars against a budget of 80 million.

Cinema Score audiences gave it a B-,on an A+ to F scale.

The producers expected the movie to be a hit, and hoped to launch a multimedia franchise with animated tv series and tv series.They even hoped to make toys, and write novels based on it.

 

The movie received 6 Saturn Awards nominations, and even a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Remake or Sequel (but lost to the 3 movies - Godzilla, Psycho and The Avengers ), and 5 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards nominations (Worst Song (for "Lost in space", song I actually like!), Worst Resurrection of a Tv Show,Worst Director and even Worst Picture) and won one (Worst Supporting Actress for Lacey Chabert who played in her first movie role).

Rating : Could have been a contender !