- Network: Netflix
- Series Premiere Date: Apr 13, 2018
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Critic Reviews
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First-rate production values, a stellar cast, and a perfect blend of action and character development make Lost in Space a must-watch series.
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Lost in Space didn’t have to be very good at all to improve on either the original or the movie. Still, it’s much better than might have been expected, as is Netflix’s ongoing One Day At a Time reboot. The Robinsons and their antagonists look good to go again.
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Netflix’s energetic reboot of the cult sci-fi series adheres to the best spirit of creator Irwin Allen’s vision of a family in space fighting for their futures.
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The cast is solid, the FX are top-shelf and the survival-related drama comes at a steady pace, with some episodes (the pilot included) delivering no less than white-knuckle sequences.
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Its casting is more diverse, its women more nuanced. Its Robot is amazing. But the story, which I liked better 10 episodes in than I did at the beginning, takes a long time to get off the launchpad.
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It's not without problems, mostly having to do with pacing and length and a certain narrative repetitiousness that creeps in when your story arc lasts 10 hours. But its solutions to building out and modernizing characters who in the original were brightly painted cutouts are generally sound, while some basic alterations to the premise help ensure that the new series is not the cosmic "Gilligan's Island" the '60s series became.
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There’s nothing particularly challenging here narratively, and the series starts on some rocky terrain before it finds its footing, but this is high-caliber escapism, the kind of well-done show that develops a propulsive rhythm as you get to know the Robinson family.
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It's an old-fashioned, fast-moving, family-friendly adventure yarn unmuddied by an excess of subtext, political undercurrent or narrative mythologizing. Even feeling overcalculated at every turn, the show is fun, occasionally exciting and ever-so-accessible.
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If not as sharply realized and profoundly resonant as the "Battlestar" reboot, this "Lost in Space" is a visual stunner packed with exhilarating action sequences. It's not a great drama, but it is great fun.
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Lost in Space has taken on that baggage and still achieved a credible liftoff and landing to its first season. The question lingers how long these Robinsons will be able to sustain that creative trajectory.
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There’s a sense of adventure in Lost in Space, but what could have been more giddy fun has been ejected from the series, and is presumably spinning in orbit somewhere, getting burnt up by the sun. Lost in Space functions mainly as an escapist, more or less conventionally designed diversion.
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[Parker Posey] makes the counterfeit doctor a bona-fide sociopath. And a solid reason to keep watching. You may need one. In what’s probably a trend, the 10 episodes of the 2018 Lost in Space seem intentionally constructed with the binge-watcher in mind, hence the leisurely, erratic rollout of character, conflict and circumstances, and an introduction rooted in pure boredom.
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Oddly enough, it’s the robot who proves most engaging. ... What really makes the robot stand out is its complexity. It’s mysterious, both in its origins, intentions, and inability to over-communicate. The human characters don’t earn the same mystery.
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Lost In Space is at its strongest when the unknown is coming for the Robinsons, not the other way around. The Netflix series never fulfills the wasted promise of Lost In Space, but for a show that’s navigating such well-trod territory, it does turn up some intriguing unknowns.
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It’s a dark, sometimes dreary Lost in Space with great special effects and some interesting character relationships that sit awkwardly alongside predictable plots.
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Posey plays the role with a gravity that encourages the show to orbit her, eccentrically, whenever she’s in view. The dynamic exemplifies the awkwardness of this muddled update. Charging in several directions at once, it asks the viewer to imagine efforts to secure a proud future for humankind, but it seems most vital when painting depraved schemes to survive.
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The thrill of exploration, or the examination of family dynamics, never feels like it arises organically from the action, in the way it might have on the show’s most obvious forebear that isn’t its direct predecessor: Lost.
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The show’s creative team--the writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless and the showrunner Zack Estrin--has assembled these spare parts with more competence than the project really required, and in the first couple of episodes they achieve something that could fairly be called Spielbergian, or at least Spielberg-esque. ... Things subside pretty quickly, though, and the balance of the season is a formulaic and increasingly sentimental family drama.
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There are some nice action sequences, particularly in the opening two episodes, directed by Game of Thrones‘ Neil Marshall, and the series as a whole looks great, convincingly transforming the wilds outside Vancouver into something that feels genuinely alien. But outside of everyone’s complicated relationship with the Robot (and even that’s a very slow burn), there’s just not enough there in the story or characters that feels distinctive or compelling enough to keep going.
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The show is watchable, but mostly for the special effects. The scripts are plodding and formulaic and the direction consistently flabby.
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Only Ignacio Serricchio, as mercenary mechanic and unrepentant booze smuggler Don West, brings a spirit of infectious irreverence to these adventures. Otherwise, it's a long slog to the climax which ends where the series should have began. [16 Apr - 29 Apr 2018, p.12]
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The new Lost in Space (all 10 episodes premiere Friday) is visually adequate but substantially thin, a stack of matzoh crackers where one hoped for frosted Pop-Tarts.
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As a vision of adolescence facing a life-and-death crisis, it’s far too tidied, controlled, and sober to come off as relatable. There’s no sense of how seductive and overwhelming the unknown can be for an adult, never mind a kid or teenager. And as a vision of adulthood in both personal and elemental disaster, it’s simplistic, safe, and dominated by work.
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The show looks like a blockbuster space movie, with a soundtrack loaded up with the same wonder-filled strings and horns we hear in those same movies. But all that action is painfully repetitive and tedious. ... Posey, though, grew on me as Dr. Smith. She’s not over-the-top enough to raise the overall energy level, but she provides a welcome spot of evil and humor. While the Robinsons brave every crisis the CGI whizzes throw at them, always certain they will prevail, her fear and loathing are tons of fun.
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A better title for “Lost in Space” would be “Mired in Mediocrity.”
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After watching so many hours of this boring show, looking at a wall sounded like an improvement.
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From Batman (’60s camp classic became morose Dark Knight movies) to Battlestar Galactica (bad utopian ’70s sci-fi became good dystopian sci-fi), the idea is to complicate the original premise and go for a realism signified by a somber tone and a cynical, knowing air. Knowing this, the new version of Lost in Space seems to be trying to have it both ways, and loses in the process. ... After checking out the first few episodes of the Netflix series, I found myself wishing [Matt] LeBlanc would rocket-ship in for a cameo.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 184 out of 345
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Mixed: 59 out of 345
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Negative: 102 out of 345
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Apr 13, 2018
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Apr 15, 2018
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Apr 13, 2018