I never watched the original, but after one episode of the revamped Lost in Space, I instantly came to the depressing conclusion that this is the type of series you watch on a Sunday afternoon, whilst feeling sorry for yourself on a full stomach, knowing that tomorrow is the start of another week at work. Lost in Space should be a weekly show to be enjoyed leisurely, whilst you switch your brain into a dream state. The Netflix Original Series is not TV you should obsessively binge. Occasionally the episodes are an hour long, sapping your soul and helping you question your existence. The series is a laborious story about a family trying to solve personal and scientific issues in space, with a cast assembled purely for the purpose of performing in the most generic way possible, and writing that is so artistically simple that anyone could have written it. It’s just a dumb, family orientated, space adventure series and I could not help but hate myself watching it.
The Robinson family sell themselves as ordinary, who have the skillful parents courageous enough to be one of the groups venturing out to space in a titanic moving space station. In the opening, the family is nervously playing cards whilst chilling in their space suits, with the parents keeping the situation tentatively calm. The family is about to crash land on an alien planet due to an attack that has caught them off guard, putting their colonization mission on hold. It is clear from the outset that this family is dysfunctional; holding secrets that only they know, ready to reveal to the audience. The problem is, none of their issues are noteworthy. The alien planet causes a range of issues that provide major setbacks for the Robinson family and the other crew members who have also, unfortunately, crash landed. There is also an alien robot, that Will Robinson (Maxwell Jenkins) forms a preoccupying relationship with. Adding to all the drama, there is a lot to suggest that the planet is falling apart. There are other crew members from the space station, all with different incentives and agendas to get off the planet. Lost in Space has a lot going on, and the amount of forced problems feels tiresome.
You have to question whether or not there is an appetite for a family space adventure in today’s climate, especially as we are spoilt with exceptional sci-fi stories. The Robinson family look like the typical, good looking and generic American white family. There is a box-ticking exercise to appease the diversity crowd by making sure that one of the children is black. The storyline, for all intents and purposes, is typically cheesy, which provokes cringeworthy moments despite the evident money spent to craft the settings. With the number of sci-fi stories we are subjected to every year I do not think a family trying to enact the American dream in space, whilst coming across disastrous life-threatening obstacles, is something to heartily care for. To add to the lost cause, the first six episodes are painfully dull, lifeless and almost empty. You will not be entertained by the forced stale family adventure, mixed up with the odd scientific jargon demonstrated by Maureen Robinson (Molly Parker).
It is abundantly clear that a lot of money was spent putting Lost in Space on Netflix, except in the writing. The dialogue between characters at various times is nonsensical and unforgivable. In moments where a character is trapped under ice or an unknown species starts an assault, the dialogue should be at its strongest; those scenes should bring out the desperation of the characters and help form chemistry between their peers. The action only makes matters worse, because it is difficult to comprehend the lack of thought behind the story. A lot of disregarded problems just happen, without any real story progression or development of a character.
Lost in Space does hold one positive: the narrative between the alien robot and Will is cool. Everyone is wary of the danger the robot could bring and is the only story that has an appreciable impact on the group. The problem is, the alien robot does not help save the sci-fi family adventure, and what made me feel even more fed up is that everything is set up for a second season. Stop wasting your money.
I agree, the series is a crap drama with way too much garbage dialog and characters that should be in the Brady Bunch. It is 95% drama and 5% science fiction.
Could not agree more but there are over 2k votes of 10/10 on IMDB. Makes me leery of Americans.
What is bothersome is the lack of urgency in high pressure situations as a pattern, girl trapped under ice they go for a leisurely walk stopping to have “deep” conversations while the sister instead of working on the ice has conversations with a girl supposedly meant to conserve her oxygen as a one time mistake it’s forgivable but the pattern continues when threatened with an glacier about to crush the ship which was only partially submerged the casual conversations continue unaware of the urgency of the situation … basically sophomoric writing will doom this project. Oh yeah when the storm is approaching and she is tasked with putting wheels on the rescue vehicle one sister has all the energy of a kid told to clean the garage.
Part of what is killing my ability to get into this series in the constant beds of music prevalent In every single scene! It’s impossible to get “lost” in the story when the dialogue is drowned and distracted by the continuous flow of music composition. Cheapens and ruins what could have been a decent drama.
Clearly none has seen the original. Major cheese served with a side of cheese crackers… Loved it! It’s why there’s a cult in the first place and why the story gets revisited. It’s not supposed to be cerebral lol.
I’m so old, I remember the original. The modern version has great special effects, a terrific robot, Will, and the evil Dr. Smith. The rest is just so so. Nevertheless, I’ve enjoyed each episode, and watch, knowing it’s not great, but good enough.
You’re watching a pg-13 family series and critiquing it like it was meant for the Cannes Film Festival. It’s not supposed to be a deep psychological thriller so why try to judge like one? Instead of the whiney complaining why not go check out the orginal and see that cheesy is the point. But at least we’ve come to the point where the “typical American white family” has biracial children.
Some shows need a little time to get started. I think some of the ideas are good, but like Star Trek Generations, Season 1, you have to start somewhere. Better than the original TV show.
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