Stars: 4.5/5
“Lost in Space” was an interstellar family spectacular, and I watched it alone. I mention this because the keyword here is “family”: The show follows the Robinsons, a family that has suddenly crash landed on a planet somewhere between the ravaged Earth they’re escaping and the paradise in Alpha Centauri they’re running to.
The show doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to drama – I’d already shed tears several times by the end of the first episode. While that might say more about me than the show, I at least have to acknowledge how quickly I was encouraged to bond with the characters. I already knew all of their names and the essential points of their personalities.
Judy, the oldest Robinson kid, was one of my favorites. She managed to be incredibly kind and selfless without being gullible, and had a surprising reckless streak fed into by her other traits. She encourages Don West, a mechanic and my other favorite character, to be a bit more selfless later in the show.
The character who needed a lesson in selflessness the most was an impostor who we’ll call Dr. Smith to avoid spoilers. She steals the identity of the real Dr. Smith and essentially sentences him to an unpleasant death. The more you learn about her, the easier it is to hate her. She’s been a terrible person since Earth and supposedly conned her way onto the colony ship for the chance to become a better person in Alpha Centauri.
The whole escaping your Earth problems thing comes up often with these people. My main man West, seasoned as he was in ships and the people who escape on them, was the only character in the show who said what I was thinking. They outran the physical issues of Earth, but as long as they had people socialized in its societies the same Earth problems would apply. The local entity receiving your taxes changing from the state of California to the colony head in the nearest star system doesn’t do anything to make you a better person. It’s easy to be awful in every zip code.
I guess certain people are always going to think colonizing other places instead of fixing the already populated ones is the sexiest option.
That’s my one beef with the concept. Everything else, from the creature design to the scenery to the always-astounding space effects, was wonderful. What wasn’t wonderful, however, was some of the things I saw being posted about the robot on Twitter when I wasn’t busy watching the show. It’s a weird world out there.
The world the Robinsons landed on was weirder, though. The flora and fauna were the chopped and screwed remix versions of real and imagined creatures I’ve seen before. I wouldn’t say it took away from the experience. On the contrary, it was pretty fun to look at a creature and think, “Wow, so that’s what cthulu would look like as a dog, huh?”
I have to recommend “Lost in Space.” This show has all of those Lifetime family drama tropes but in space, and they simmer long enough to feel significant. There are also big science words and charts for those who like to nitpick fake science. There’s a little something for everyone in this show.
