You Can't Go Home Again

This film is actually deserving of 4 stars, but I gave it 5 just to couterbalance some of the unfairness here. First, I am a long-time LIS fan, who grew up with the original show. Most of the worst bashings I've seen about this movie is from original fans. Their rejection of this film is responsible for the decline in value of old LIS merchandise, interest in making sequels, etc. In effect, they have sabotaged any chance of their beloved show making further comebacks (yes, as the first Batman film shows, multiple viewings by fans is where the money is at). If you read the fan's reviews about the old show, you'll find that many of them lament the fact that the show took a turn in the "camp" direction, as if it had remained as serious as it had started out, that it would have been another Star Trek. Bull! If the original series had continued in that direction, it would have ended up like any other old 60s obsolete show. It was the campiness and the misguided IA vision that accidentally enabled it to seem as modern as it does now, years after even Original Trek starts seeming dated. Back to this movie: It DOES go in the direction that so many fans wish the original series did. Filled with techno-babble to make the situations seem plausible, it plays as straight-faced as the first few episodes of the original series. It starts with basically the same beginning as the first episode "the reluctant stowaway", has something approximating the menace of "the derelict", has 2 versions of the robot to give a feel of "war of the robots", lifts the crash-landing sequence from "island in the sky", the Bloop (or here, the Blarp) from same, the alternate universe device from "the anti-matter man", the dive-into-the-sun threat from "wild adventure", and the suspenseful escape from "blast-off into space", not to mention the menace of an altered Dr. Smith from a couple of different episodes. Yes, the director knew little of LIS and filled it with triteness (the typical hollywood idea of a "dysfunctional" family, the rap-style theme, etc.), but this couldn't overcome the brilliant script by Akiva Goldman showing that she had done her homework. Yes, Judy Robinson here doesn't seem to have much to do, as another reviewer pointed out, but she had even less to do in the original series. Another reviewer said that they couldn't help but see "Friends" in the casting of Don West. I've never watched that show, but I found Le Blanc in the role as an absolutely brilliant bit of casting after having been accustomed for years to a similiarly styled actor (Goddard)in that role in the original show. And who dares posit that anybody else but Oldman could have convincingly followed in Jonathan Harris' footsteps? Also, WHERE did they find that kid that played Will??

LIS was such a personal show for so many, my theory being that situated at the beginning of the TV generation it actually became a substitute for the real family, that I wonder if an original fan can make a truly objective assessment of any kind of remake. Despite the fact that there was so little press coverage for this show at that time, I think most people my age (45) subconciously see Don West whenever we hear the term "cocky pilot", had a crush on Penny Robinson, and instantly recognize "Danger, Will Robinson", or "never fear, Smith is here". I'm reminded of what a friend told me when I complained about the silliness of the recent "Godzilla" remake: When we were watching these basically cult-movies as kids, we never dreamed anyone would ever even think about making a multi-million dollar mainstream remake of them. Back then, mainstream meant John Wayne or Richard Burton, never sci-fi which was strictly under the "B" movie category, always.

Yes, kids today have no idea how society in general would have dismissively viewed their fascination with "X-Men", "Super-Atragon", etc. back then. It took us to get old enough to actually influence things to that point of view. Remember how our parents loved Glenn Miller, Boots Randolph and such? Well, this is our time. We watched the original show with as much fascination in our 6-year old minds as modern audiences watched the new one, perhaps more. Our memories will die with us unless we care enough about them to encourage their evolution to another generation. My aforementioned friend has been gone a few years now, but I'll always remember the pleasant surprise which he felt upon finding that someone had put the time, money and effort to enshrine one of our most treasured childhood memories into such an extravagant opus. This film was a sincere attempt by many highly talented people to pay fitting homage to the old show. I feel this is because LIS meant as much to them as it does to us.

Another Fine Mess

How can you tell that this movie is really, really lame?

Simple. It takes good actors like Gary Oldman and Mimi Rogers, and makes them seem as inept as that heroically bad actor, William Hurt.

The real problem is the writing.

The dialogue is painfully bad. At one point Mimi Rogers says, "I don't like the sound of that sound." And that's the way the whole thing is written: clumsily, clankingly, ridden with cliches, melodrama, and ineptness.

Also (bad writing again) the characters are dizzyingly inconsistent. For no discernible reason, they flicker between being smart and dumb (Judy), dumb and dumber (West), cowardly and schizoid (Smith), nerdy and compassionate (Will).

And then there's the plot. Or, I should say, plots. There are at least 3, maybe 10. All of them tired-but-untrue, none of them very much connected with each other.

Even the vaunted special effects are silly.

I'm sure a lot of money was spent on this. Please be wiser, and don't spend any of yours.

Flawed, but underrated

I like this movie. It is far better than what some of the reviewers would have you believe -- especially in comparison to the godawful TV series. If it had been shortened by about 15 minutes, including taking out some memorably bad dialog, it would have been much better.

Others have already comented on the special effects. I actually bought this just to experience them on a good system, having only seen it on pay channels, and I wasn't disappointed. The production quality is excellent, and if it wasn't for the Jupiter II having so much wasted space onboard, I would find it very believable. The quality of the DVD is top notch, although there are occasionally startlingly grainy scenes (thankfully short ones) and the sound is terrific -- especially through good headphones.

The robot is really cool. Matt LeBlanc is almost cool as Major West. And am I a pervert for lustng after Lacey Chabert in boots, an adult playing a young teenage? LOL

I gave it 4 stars because it's a 3 star movie for less than $10. It certainly was better, IMO, than Star Wars episode I, in every category.