Distributor: |
New Line Home Video - Platinum Series |
Release Year: |
1998 |
Run Time: |
130 Minutes |
Aspect Ratio(s): |
Widescreen (2.35:1) |
Audio Tracks: |
English (5.1); Track 1 - Director and Writer Commentary; Track 2 - Visual Effects Supervisors, Director of Photography, Editor & Producer's Commentary |
Subtitles: |
English |
Extras: |
Deleted Scenes; "Building the Special Effects" featurette; "The Future of Space Travel" featurette; "The Television Years" synopsis of original episodes and cast interviews; Production Designs; Apollo Four Forty Music Video; Theatrical Trailer; Biographies and Filmographies of current and original casts. |
DVD ROM Content: |
Five Interactive Games; Original Screenplay with Film Links; Website Access Links. |
Media: |
Dual-Layer |
Gary Oldman |
Dr. Zachary Smith |
William Hurt |
Professor John Robinson |
Matt LeBlanc |
Major Don West |
Mimi Rogers |
Maureen Robinson |
Heather Graham |
Judy Robinson |
Lacey Chabert |
Penny Robinson |
Jack Johnson |
Will Robinson |
Overall: |
4.5 |
Clarity/Sharpness: |
5 |
Color: |
4.5 |
Audio: |
4 |
Menus: |
3 |
Extras: |
4.5 |
DVD-ROM Content: |
3 |
Due to the high image quality and many extras, Lost in Space is must-own DVD. Clarity and sharpness are excellent. Colors are good, hurt only by the dark lighting through most of the film. Menus are of average quality with a pretty cheesy main menu which is intended to be the control panel of a starship, but looks like a low quality computer drawing.
Extras are plentiful, both in DVD and DVD-ROM format. Two commentaries, two featurettes and much more give the DVD format a very well-rounded package, while the DVD-ROM side contains a mirror of the LIS web site, a copy of the screen play and web links. This is a great disk to show off the power and versatility of DVD.
Overall: |
3 |
Concept/Idea: |
3 |
Script: |
2 |
Acting: |
2 |
Action: |
3.5 |
Comedy: |
2 |
Romance: |
2 |
What do you get when you take a great out-of-this-world concept, combine it with a low-budget, a changing target of appeal and the decade of the 1960s? Well, you get a campy television series called Lost in Space.
So, what do you get when you add some bucks, thirty years of technical maturity and a pretty decent cast? You get a movie that's a lot better than the original series, but one that still falls far short of its original concept. Oh, and by the way, it's still called Lost in Space.
Earth is nearing the end of it's life-supporting ability, overpopulation, pollution and the squandering of our natural resources has put our race in jeopardy. Enter Prof. John Robinson -- the man with a plan to save our existence. By pioneering a new way of traveling through space at faster-than-light speeds, Prof. Robinson's invention will enable Earth to colonize the closest inhabitable planet before our time runs out. It's unfortunate that humans of the future don't seem to be able to work together any better than those of the present and the result is a deliberate sabotage of the project.
The results of this sabotage are that the Robinson family, along with pilot Major Don West and the scheming and generally evil Dr. Zachary Smith, are helplessly lost in space.
Again, the concept is great. The potential for this film was great. The effects are very good. The trailer was excellent. So what's the problem, you ask? Basically, the script and the acting do a lot of damage to this movie. I think the script is more to blame, since the actors have all done better (except possibly for Matt LeBlanc -- but he does make a great "Friend"). Still, a poor script combined with flat acting and a pathetic attempt at romance, weakens this film from the start. That combined with a series of completely improbable coincidences, a questionable time-warp element and an equally improbably climactic escape pretty much take care of the second half-of the movie.
High quality special effects and mindless fun still allow this film to escape with a three and it should be watched for it's DVD features alone.
