“Warning, warning, danger Will Robinson.” ~ The Robot.

Is Alpha Prime the new earth? In the year 2058, the earth has pretty much burned through its resources. Suffering from the effects of global warming and pollution, the earth’s habitants are forced to find another planet to settle on. Dr. Robinson decides to sacrifice his family and take them on a 10-year voyage. The crew of Jupiter 2 is on mission to see if life is possible on the planet Alpha Prime. As expected, the mission doesn’t go as smoothly as planned.

Staying true to the original series, Dr. Smith stows away on the Jupiter 2 to sabotage the mission. Unfortunately everything goes haywire and the attempted sabotage literally blows up in Smith’s face, putting the Robinson family and Major Don West at risk. The spaceship is suddenly thrust into another uncharted universe and is literally lost in space.

It’s interesting watching a 1998 movie derived from the popular series which ran from 1965 to 1968. The movie contains an all-star cast including: Mimi Rodgers as Maureen Robinson, William Hurt as Prof. John Robinson, Matthew LeBlanc as Maj. Don West, Heather Graham as Judy Robinson, Gary Oldman as Mr. Smith, Jack Johnson as Will Smith and Lacey Chabert as Penny. The movie’s sound effects sound like they are out of 1980 video game, definitely not the high tech we are used to seeing.

Viewers of the original film will remember Will Smith as the enduring little boy, whose best friend is the quirky Mr. Smith and robot. The duo takes the lead in this film as well.

The movie was generally panned by many critics as a poor rendition of the original series. I found it to be enjoyable if I did not dwell on the series storylines or the poor special effects from some of the movies produced in the late 1990’s.

A bit of Lost in Space trivia:

The original writers must have thought the world would never make it to the year 2000 because they used 1997 as the future in which the earth would be destroyed. Lost in Space, the movie, actually started production in 1997.

Dick Tufield, the voice of the Robot in the original series, was also the voice of the Robot in the 1998 film.

Actually knocked the movie, Titanic out of the #1 spot, ending Titanic’s 15 week reign on the top spot.

I gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars, primarily because I loved the original series and enjoyed concept of a family lost in space.

Rated: PG-13 –Very mild violence and scary spiders.

Runtime: 90 minutes

Director: Stephen Hopkins



Find it on Amazon:
Lost in Space

I viewed this movie on local cable television. I have not been compensated for this review.