Lost in Space (film)



Lost in Space is a 1998 American science fiction adventure film directed by Stephen Hopkins and starring William Hurt, Matt LeBlanc, and Gary Oldman. The film was shot in London and Shepperton, and produced by New Line Cinema. The plot is adapted from the 1965–1968 CBS television series Lost in Space. The film focuses on the Robinson family, who undertake a voyage to a nearby star system to begin large-scale emigration from a soon-to-be uninhabitable Earth, but are thrown off course by a saboteur and must try to find their way home.

Several of the actors from the original TV series had cameos in the film.

Plot
In the year 2058, Earth will soon be uninhabitable due to irreversible effects of pollution. The United Global Space Force prepares the first launch for the colonization of a distant planet much like our own. Meanwhile, a terrorist group called the Global Sedition wants to interrupt the colonization to be able to take over the same planet themselves. Professor John Robinson, lead scientist of the Jupiter Mission, prepares to take his wife Maureen, daughters Judy and Penny and son Will on a 10-year mission in suspended animation to the nearby planet Alpha Prime, where they will build a companion "hypergate" to the one orbiting Earth. The project is accelerated after Sedition terrorists attack Earth's hypergate, but are stopped by fighter pilots, one of whom is Major Don West. When the pilot for the Jupiter Mission is murdered, West is assigned as his replacement. Dr. Zachary Smith, a spy employed by the Sedition, reprograms the mission's robot to destroy the ship. He is betrayed, though, by his employers and left as an unwilling stowaway when the Jupiter II blasts off. A few hours after launch, the robot activates and starts destroying vital ship and navigation controls. The Robinsons, awakened from their cryosleep by Dr. Smith, stop the robot, but not before it causes the ship to become trapped in the gravitational pull of the Sun. Their only option to escape the gravity well would be to use the hyperdrive and end up anywhere in the galaxy. Now lost, the ship eventually comes across a "hole in space" and, after entering, finds a planet with two abandoned ships in orbit; the Proteus, an Earth ship somehow from decades in the future, and another ship that is clearly not human. When they investigate the Proteus they find navigational data that can be used to get to Alpha Prime (suggesting that humanity has managed to settle on Alpha Prime without the Robinsons) and a young alien primate that they adopt as a pet. They also find the aging ship is infested with carnivorous spider-like lifeforms, with the leg of one accidentally scratching Dr. Smith during an attack. To escape the spiders' attack, Don reactivates and overloads the Proteus's engine, with the shock wave from the resulting explosion damaging the Jupiter II and forcing it to crash on the planet below. Professor Robinson and Major West go out onto the surface in search of radioactive material to replace the burnt-out part of the ship's core. They find a strange, growing bubble of unknown origin, which they must enter. They learn that the "holes" and "bubbles" are distortions of time and space, caused by future versions of Will and Dr. Smith constructing a time machine. The future Will Robinson wants to travel back in time to prevent the Robinsons from ever taking off. Robinson and West find out the bubble is actually a small schism in time on the same planet. They are all betrayed by the future Smith, who has mutated due to the spider scratch going untreated. He plans to unleash an army of spiders on the Earth. Robinson battles with Spider Smith while Major West returns to the stranded Jupiter II to evacuate everyone. Robinson stops Spider Smith by tearing open his eggsac, freeing the baby spiders, who then attack the injured Spider Smith. John pushes the mutated Smith into the uncompleted time portal, where he is torn apart by the gravitational field. The others attempt to escape the planet in the Jupiter II, as the time machine's warping tears everything apart. They are unable to reach escape velocity and the ship is destroyed by flying debris. Future Will finally recognizes his father's deep love for his family and allows him to travel back through the time portal to before the Jupiter II attempts to escape. Knowing that the escape velocity won't be enough, John commands West to pilot the ship through the planet's core as it breaks up, using the planet's gravity to propel the ship out the other side. They escape, but the collapsed planet forms a small black hole that begins to suck the Jupiter II back in. To escape, the Robinsons activate the hyperdrive, using the navigational data from the Proteus in an attempt to reach Alpha Prime, blasting off once again into potentially unknown space.

Cast

 * William Hurt as Professor John Robinson
 * Mimi Rogers as Professor Maureen Robinson
 * Heather Graham as Dr. Judy Robinson
 * Lacey Chabert as Penny Robinson
 * Jack Johnson as Will Robinson
 * Matt LeBlanc as Major Don West
 * Gary Oldman as Dr. Zachary Smith / Spider Smith
 * Dick Tufeld as the voice of the Robot
 * Jared Harris as Older Will Robinson
 * Lennie James as Jeb Walker

Several of the actors from the TV show appeared in the film. June Lockhart (Maureen Robinson) appeared as Will's school principal "Cartwright" in a hologram. Mark Goddard (Major West) appeared as Major West's commanding officer. Angela Cartwright (Penny Robinson) and Marta Kristen (Judy Robinson) appeared as news reporters. Dick Tufeld returned to his role as the voice of the Robot. Jonathan Harris, who played Dr. Smith in the series, declined an offer to cameo as a Global Sedition representative who deals with Dr. Smith in the film, declaring "I've never played a bit part in my life and I'm not going to start now!". Billy Mumy was likewise offered a cameo, but turned it down after being told he would not be considered for the part he wanted—the role of the older Will Robinson—because he was told that would "confuse the audience."

Music
TVT Records released a soundtrack album on March 31, 1998, featuring eleven tracks of Bruce Broughton's original score (which makes no reference to either of the TV themes composed by John Williams) and eight tracks of techno music (most of which is heard only over the film's end credits). A European version of the soundtrack album was released that omits the tracks "Spider Attack", "Jupiter Crashes", and "Spider Smith" in favor of three new songs unused in the film by Aah-Yah, Asphalt Ostrich, and Anarchy. Intrada Records released a score album for the film the following year. (The track "Thru the Planet" on the TVT album is not the same as "Through the Planet" on the Intrada release, but is a shortened version of Broughton's unused end title music heard on the score album as "Lost in Space.")

Reception
On its opening weekend, Lost in Space grossed $20,154,919 and debuted at number one at the box office, ending Titanic's 15-week-long hold on the first-place position. It opened in 3,306 theaters and grossed an average of $6,096 per screening. Lost in Space grossed $69,117,629 in the United States, and $67,041,794 outside of America, bringing its worldwide total to $136,159,423, making it a moderate box office success. Those results were deemed insufficient, however, to justify a planned sequel.

Reviews were generally negative for Lost in Space, drawing criticism for its darker tone. Rotten Tomatoes has reported that 27% of critics gave them a positive review. The site's consensus reads: "Clumsily directed and missing most of the TV series' campy charm, Lost in Space sadly lives down to its title." It also holds a rating of 42% on Metacritic from 19 critics.

Roger Ebert gave the film a rating of 1 and a half out of 4, calling it a "dim-witted shoot-'em-up". Wade Major from Boxoffice magazine rated the film at 1 and a half out of 5, calling it "the dumbest and least imaginative adaptation of a television series yet translated to the screen." James Berardinelli was slightly more favorable, giving the film a rating of 2 and a half out of 4. While praising the film's set design, he criticized its "meandering storyline and lifeless protagonists," saying that "Lost in Space features a few action sequences that generate adrenaline jolts, but this is not an edge-of-the-seat motion picture."

The film was given a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Remake or Sequel, but lost against the tied The Avengers, Godzilla and Psycho.

Home video
Both a DVD and later a Blu-ray have been released for the film. Both contain deleted scenes that resolve the film's storyline and plot holes suggesting that the film was drastically cut down for cinematic release, prompting a suggestion that a director's cut must exist.