Lost in Space (2018)

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1. 

   Siskoid

   The original Lost in Space had iconic elements or else we wouldn't remember it so well, but it's plots were frequently silly and camp. No different from other Irwin Allen shows, really. I wasn't able to finish the movie when I caught it on TV, just lost interest. So Netflix's new Lost in Space series is, to me, the most watchable version of the franchise yet. While not really on the same level, I was reminded of the Battlestar Galactica reboot in the twists and permutations it gave the original concept. We still have the Swiss Family Robinson crashing their Jupiter saucer on a planet that then tries to kill them, though many more colonists survive the event. The robot is alien, which builds the world of Lost in Space more than what the original allowed. Parker Posey is the new Dr. Smith, and a very different character. And of course, the family dynamics have been updated. A rollicking good ride that can be summed up as "one damn thing after another", which is a good way to build a survival story. The dangers are logical, the solutions clever, and the effects excellent across the board. As a break from the wilds of the planet, the show uses a flashback structure to develop the characters' backgrounds, which sometimes felt disjointed, I admit. But this is definitely bingeable, and unlike some other Netflix fare I could name, it doesn't waste time. Every episode is full of daring, tells a complete chapter, and through the course of the 10 episodes, I think we get properly invested in the family and see each member of the cast grow in your estimation. (I see it all the time, some people want the heroes to be likable and functional from the start, and lose patience with shows that use their first seasons to get the protagonists to that point. Lost in Space is of that ilk.)
   
   Season 2: Netflix's Lost in Space revival's second season starts off real well with some insane alien environments and the same "one damn thing after another" attitude towards its survival script as the first season's. Around the middle there, it gets bogged down in standard and tired TV science fiction tropes, my own personal bugbears, conspiracy stuff and people acting stupidly to keep secrets we don't really care about. It's like genre TV doesn't know what to do to keep its ongoing narrative going without them, and it makes me ache for more old-fashioned episodic structures when I encounter them. It does lead to good survivalist moments however, which I think is where this series lives. We don't need human villains other than Dr. Smith, frankly, and the Robinsons are better as whizes who use science to get out of crazy cliffhangers than as these sorts of social rebels that no one listens to despite their having all the answers (and then being treated like these over-competent Messiahs, which is what happens when they're allowed to interact with too many other colonists). Still an entertaining and good-looking series, which dropped on Christmas Eve probably because the Robinsons celebrate a Christmas in the first episode. That's fun. I certainly haven't given up on the family yet, so the conspiracy bugaboos haven't bothered me toooo much as yet.
   
   Man, Will Robinson has really grown like a weed! At the start of Lost in Space's third season (Netflix version), they basically have to jump ahead a year to make it work. Third and final, as advertised, these back 8 episodes wrap the story up, give us a satisfying ending, and solves the mystery of the robot race that's been plaguing the colonists since the previous season. More importantly, Season 2's dull conspiracy plot is over and done with and the show gets back to what it does well, i.e. survival stories in hostile alien environments as "one damn thing after another" creates complications for the heroes. As the finale, you want the characters to arc, and that works well for Judy and Will (and Smith), but I don't think Penny ever worked for me. Beating her insecurities at this point feels like trying to force a square peg in a round hole, and though everyone goes on and one about how genius a writer she is, all her voice-over is ordinary as hell. Don's humor never worked either, but at least he brought some levity to the proceedings, while Penny just irritated. She's still a member of this family, and Lost in Space is about members of a family supporting one another through thick and thin. Ending it after only three season means everything is tied up before the non-stop danger gets too ludicrous and the show overstays its welcome. 6 years ago

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