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TV: Lost in Space Season 1 on Netflix

Lost in Space is the latest modern day remake of an old, venerated show.  The original Lost in Space took the concept of Swiss Family Robinson, in which the titular family find themselves stranded, and gave it a science fiction twist. I never actually saw the original 60's version (I'm way too young for that) but do know that there is a friendly robot whose catchphrase is "Danger, Will Robinson!". In more recent times there was a big budget movie made in 1998 starring Matt LeBlanc, aka Joey from Friends.  I remember that is was panned by critics at the time so I never ended up seeing it.  The revamped theme tune by Apollo 440 did hang around on the radio for a few months though.

That brings us to this all new version of the story, which is a Netflix Original.  The first season actually came out a couple of years ago now but the release of season two prompted me to finally watch it. I ended up quite enjoying it, but there is certainly some room for improvement.  Let's start with the good things first though.  Firstly, it is apparent that Netflix must have spent a significant amount of money on Lost in Space, because it looks absolutely stunning.  If you have a 4K television with HDR, then this is a very good showcase for it.  It's not just the special effects though, which certainly are impressive - it's also the look of the alien planet, the set designs and the space suits that the characters wear.  That famous robot also plays a part, too, and his design is pretty cool I have to admit. He does become a bit overused as a plot device, though.

The acting is also decent, for the most part.  The young boy who plays Will is actually really good, much to my relief, because sometimes actors around his age are just not very good at all (I'm looking at you, Jake Lloyd).  The rest of the cast turn in solid performances as well - it's just that I find the character of Penny extremely annoying.  I know it's not Mina Sundwall's fault, it's the way the character has been written.  She's extremely sarky all the time and she's always going off and getting into trouble. Which brings me to my second problem with the series - it gets a big repetitive.  Pretty much every episode sees one of the Robinson's getting into mortal peril at some point, and then it's up to the family to stop bickering and use their ingenuity to save the life of their family member.  This was exciting in episode one, it became a bit tiresome by episode ten.

I did, however, think that the villain was pretty good.  Much like in the modern day version of Battlestar Galactica, the makers of the new Lost in Space have taken a character that was in the original version and then put their own spin on them.  In this case it's Doctor Smith, who is a woman this time rather than a man, and also isn't really Doctor Smith - the real one was left for dead aboard the main ship when everyone evacuated, and she stole their Jupiter craft in order to escape down to the planet.  It was fun seeing "Smith" plot and scheme behind everyones back throughout the whole season.

So I do recommend watching Lost in Space if you are a fan of science fiction tales. It's pretty light, frothy stuff most of the time but sometimes that's what you need, isn't it?  I hope that season two manages to address the problems I had with the first season.  I'm going to start watching it soon so I'll be sure to come back with an update once I'm done.


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