Wait …. where is Joey? Remember Joey from Friends … he played Don West in the last Lost In Space movie (1998).

I want Joey back.

Actually I think Netflix should have done “Friends In Space” as a Friends reunion project.

OK … I’ll stop. I know I’m irritating the scifi geeks.

On to what everyone else now doing in the blog-o-sphere … reviewing “Lost In Space” …

So far I’ll rate it a 3.5 out of 5. I like the show, and the new modern scifi feel – but I grew up with the original show, so I miss a little quirkiness of it – and thought Netflix would have attempted to insert a little of that with Dr. Smith. I think they tried to do that with Parker Posey’s Character, but honestly I think that Parker was not the right casting. Like other’s reviewing the series, my first take is that her character as played does not fit in the gist of the current series. She’s just out-of-place …. and not out of place like Dr. Smith was in the old series … but, to a point where if her character left nobody would probably care nor notice. Nothing against Parker … just not the right fit.

Overall I think Netflix did a nice job of taking the basis of the series and updating it with a modern flare that actually seems possible in the near future (not within my lifetime, but in fifty years or so).

I’m getting older so besides the Dr. Smith thing being noticed (probably much due to sentimental remembrances of the character), a few niceties were noticed:

1. I could watch with my family without constantly being tensed up and ready to cover my children’s eyes  due to the politically correct sex scene inserted every 15 minutes or so specifically to attract all lifestyles to view the show (or at least to not offend them), adding no value to the show.  This even with it being TV14.
2. There is a balance in the characters. As a man, I don’t mind see strong women characters in a show or movie … but when it gets to the point where a series has been turned around to only have strong women characters (unless appropriate – documentaries and such) and the men are depicted to the point where they are only “stupid pitiful entities” (that might be a quote from Star Trek – I’d have to check) that’s also a form of discrimination, and slightly offensive. Lost In Space did a great job of not doing this with their character development – Kudos. This is a very nice representation of everyone being seen as strong in a group … when it is time for them to be so.
3. The Robot wasn’t presented as a glorified microcontroller … he was present as a true friend to Will Robinson … who sometimes gets  pushed to the side and needs that friend.

The show also does a great job of presenting everyone as one big family. A little dysfunctional, but family. They all realize that if they don’t work together (you even see it in the acting with the Dr. Smith and Don West characters) they will not be around much longer, and humanity will have found no new place to live.

The almost immediate twist of Maureen Robinson noticing the black hole while floating on the edge of space doing recon was reminiscent of “Lost”. That very “Lost” feeling of “oh … wait, we crash landed on a planet we may be able to survive on” … and then the realization that it’s going to all end in a few weeks if they don’t get off the planet. That “I’m safe now …. but wait for it …. I’m actually still screwed again” feeling. Although I can see this being used multiple times in the series, I honestly hope they don’t beat it to death. It took some serious writing skill to innovate that in “Lost” when nobody knew it as a writing method … but now people know about it and can feel it out, so hopefully the writers will take that into account.

All-in-all the design of the spacecraft, the presentation of the cast and story by them, and the very decent acting makes this delightful to watch.

My rating again: 3.5 out of 5.
My Wife’s rating {{snore}} … but that’s another story.

Enjoy the show … pass the popcorn, please.

-SWB