Review of Lost in Space (1998) by Steven P — 19 Jul 2010

I did not consider "Lost in Space" to be awful. I merely found it to be mediocre.

As with any adaptation of a TV show that's 15-40 years old, problems will arise. It is a safe assumption that the film will underperform (I won't go so far as "flop") when the majority of the audience you're targeting has never seen or heard of the film (heck, SciFi Network never bothered showing reruns prior to release, just to show the audience what the hell they're getting into.).

The film may look the part with an $80 million budget, a rousing score by Bruce Broughton and a drawn-out script by Akiva Goldsman, but it ends up deviating from the decidedly lighthearted TV series (which I admit I have never seen) into a surprisingly dark story about the perils of space after a scientist and his family are sent to colonize the planet Alpha Prime after earth's dwindling resources will make it unsuitable to live on in 20 years. Since earth previously had threat of a machine-ruled, nuclear state from the Terminator line, perhaps the United Nations should bar apocalyptic stories from being written about it.

Lost in Space made an underwhelming $69 million of its budget back, though that was largely due to the presence of Star Trek: First Contact and the anticipation of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. The film is a simple jack-of-all-trades.

Add the obligatory master-of-none, and you have the reason why I gave Lost in Space the lowest fresh rating I could without deeming it with a rotten rating.