Lost in Space (film)

Lost in Space
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stephen Hopkins
Produced by	Mark W. Koch Stephen Hopkins Akiva Goldsman Carla Fry
Written by	Akiva Goldsman
Based on	Lost in Space  by Irwin Allen
Starring	Gary Oldman William Hurt Matt LeBlanc Mimi Rogers Heather Graham Lacey Chabert Jack Johnson Jared Harris
Music by	Bruce Broughton
Cinematography	Peter Levy
Editing by	Ray Lovejoy
Studio	Jim Henson's Creature Shop
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	April 3, 1998 (1998-04-03)
Running time	130 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$80 million
Box office	$136,159,423

Lost in Space is a 1998 American science fiction film directed by Stephen Hopkins and starring Gary Oldman and William Hurt. The film was shot in London and Shepperton, and produced by New Line Cinema. The plot is adapted from the 1965–1968 CBS television series Lost in Space. The film focuses on the Robinson family, who undertake a voyage to a nearby star system to begin large-scale emigration from a soon-to-be uninhabitable Earth, but are thrown off course by a saboteur and must try to find their way home.

Several of the actors from the original TV series had cameos in the film.

Plot

In the year 2058 the Earth will soon be uninhabitable due the irreversible effects of pollution. The United Global Space Force prepares the first launch for the colonization of a distant planet much like our own. Meanwhile, the Global Sedition terrorist group, wants to stop the colonization. Professor John Robinson, lead scientist of the Jupiter Mission, prepares to take his wife Maureen, daughters Judy and Penny and son Will on a 10-year mission in suspended animation to the nearby planet Alpha Prime, where they will build a companion "hypergate" to the one orbiting Earth. The project is accelerated after Global Sedition terrorists attack Earth's hypergate, but are stopped by fighter pilots, one of which is Major Don West. The pilot for the Jupiter Mission is also murdered, leading to West's assignment as his replacement.

Dr. Zachary Smith, a spy employed by the Global Sedition, reprograms the mission's robot to destroy the ship. He is betrayed, though, by his employers and left as an unwilling stowaway when the Jupiter II blasts off. A few hours after the launch, the robot activates and starts destroying vital ship and navigation controls. The Robinsons, woken from their cryosleep by Dr. Smith, stop the robot, but not before it causes the ship to become trapped in the gravitational pull of the Sun. Their only option to escape the gravity well would be to use the hyperdrive and end up in almost anywhere in the galaxy. Now lost, the ship eventually comes across a "hole in space" and, after entering, finds a planet with two abandoned ships in orbit; the Proteus, an Earth ship from the future, and a ship that is clearly not human. When they investigate the Proteus they find navigational data that can be used to get to Alpha Prime and an alien primate that they adopt as a pet. They also find the aging ship is infested with carnivorous spider-like lifeforms, one of which scratches Dr. Smith. To escape the spiders' attack, Don reactivates and overloads the Proteus' engine, with the shockwave from the resulting explosion damaging the Jupiter II and forcing it to crash on the planet below.

Professor Robinson and Major West go out onto the surface in search of radioactive material to replace the burnt-out part of the ship's core. They find a strange, growing bubble of unknown origin, which they then enter. They learn that the "holes" and "bubbles" are distortions of time and space, caused by future versions of Will and Dr. Smith constructing a time machine. They want to travel back in time to and prevent the Robinsons from getting lost. Robinson and West find out the bubble is actually small schism of future time on the same planet. They are all betrayed by the future Smith, who has mutated due to the spider scratch while on the Proteus. He plans to unleash an army of spiders on the Earth. Robinson battles with Spider Smith while Major West returns to the stranded Jupiter II to evacuate everyone. Robinson stops Spider Smith by tearing open his eggsac, freeing the baby spiders, who then attack Spider Smith. John pushes the mutated Smith into the uncompleted time portal, where he is torn apart by the gravitational field.

The others attempt to escape the planet in the Jupiter II, as the time machine's warping tears everything apart. They are unable to reach escape velocity and the ship is destroyed by flying debris. Future Will, unconvinced of his father's love, finally recognizes his father's deep love for his family and allows him to travel back through the time portal to before the Jupiter II attempts to escape. Knowing that the escape velocity won't be enough, John commands West to pilot the ship through the planet's core as it breaks up, using the planet's gravity to propel the ship out the other side. They escape, but the collapsed planet forms a small black hole that begins to suck the Jupiter II back in. To escape, the Robinsons once again activate the hyperdrive, using the Alpha Prime navigational data from the Proteus to blast off again into potentially unknown space.

Cast

• William Hurt as Professor John Robinson
• Mimi Rogers as Professor Maureen Robinson
• Heather Graham as Dr. Judy Robinson
• Lacey Chabert as Penny Robinson
• Jack Johnson as Will Robinson
  • Jared Harris as Older Will Robinson
• Matt LeBlanc as Major Don West
• Gary Oldman as Dr. Zachary Smith/Spider Smith
• Dick Tufeld as the voice of Robot; Robot has well-known for the line "Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!" Dick Tufeld also provided the voice of Robot in the original series.

Several of the actors from the TV show appeared in the film. June Lockhart (Maureen Robinson) appeared as Will's school principal "Cartwright" in a hologram. Mark Goddard (Major West) appeared as Major West's commanding officer. Angela Cartwright (Penny Robinson) and Marta Kristen (Judy Robinson) appeared as news reporters. Dick Tufeld returned to his role as the voice of the Robot, having played the voice of the Robot in the original program, as well as narrating the series. However, Jonathan Harris, who played Dr. Smith in the series, declined an offer to cameo as a Global Sedition representative who deals with Dr. Smith in the film.

Music

TVT Records released a soundtrack album on March 31, 1998, featuring eleven tracks of Bruce Broughton's original score (which makes no reference to either of the TV themes composed by John Williams) and eight tracks of techno music (most of which is heard only over the film's end credits). A European version of the soundtrack album was released that omits the tracks "Spider Attack", "Jupiter Crashes", and "Spider Smith" in favor of three new songs unused in the film by Aah-Yah, Asphalt Ostrich, and Anarchy. Intrada Records released a score album for the film the following year. (The track "Thru the Planet" on the TVT album is not the same as "Through the Planet" on the Intrada release, but is a shortened version of Broughton's unused end title music heard on the score album as "Lost in Space.")

TVT soundtrack album

Lost in Space: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Various
Released	March 31, 1998 (1998-03-31)
Genre	Film score
Length	67:59
Label	TVT Records

Lost in Space: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Lost in Space – Theme"	Apollo 440	3:27
2.	"I'm Here... Another Planet"	Juno Reactor	4:21
3.	"Busy Child"	The Crystal Method	7:27
4.	"Bang On"	Propellerheads	5:47
5.	"Everybody Needs a 303"	Fatboy Slim	5:49
6.	"Will & Penny's Theme"	Apollo Four Forty	3:22
7.	"Song for Penny"	Death in Vegas	5:35
8.	"Lost in Space"	Space	3:30
9.	"Main Title"	Bruce Broughton	1:03
10.	"Reprogram the Robot"	Bruce Broughton	2:17
11.	"The Launch"	Bruce Broughton	4:14
12.	"The Robot Attack"	Bruce Broughton	2:54
13.	"The Proteus"	Bruce Broughton	2:26
14.	"Spiders Attack"	Bruce Broughton	2:26
15.	"Jupiter Crashes"	Bruce Broughton	1:17
16.	"Spider Smith"	Bruce Broughton	2:42
17.	"Kill the Monster"	Bruce Broughton	3:54
18.	"The Portal"	Bruce Broughton	2:46
19.	"Thru the Planet"	Bruce Broughton	2:42

Intrada score album

Lost in Space: Original Motion Picture Score
Soundtrack album by Bruce Broughton
Released	March 23, 1999 (1999-03-23)
Genre	Film score
Length	67:03
Label	Intrada Records

All music composed by Bruce Broughton.

Lost in Space: Original Motion Picture Score
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Prologue"	0:57
2.	"Preparing for Space"	2:31
3.	"The Launch"	6:22
4.	"Robot Attack"	3:21
5.	"Into the Sun"	6:21
6.	"Spiders"	10:22
7.	"A New World"	1:25
8.	"Guiding Stars"	1:37
9.	"The Time Bubbles"	2:21
10.	"Smith's Plan"	1:21
11.	"Will and Smith Explore"	2:00
12.	"Will's Time Machine"	4:24
13.	"Spider Smith"	2:39
14.	"Facing the Monster"	8:46
15.	"Attempted Escape"	1:26
16.	"The Time Portal"	2:42
17.	"Through the Planet"	2:31
18.	"Back to Hyperspace"	1:38
19.	"Fanfare for Will"	0:27
20.	"Lost in Space"	3:24

Reception

On its opening weekend, Lost in Space grossed $20,154,919 and debuted at number one at the box office, preceded by Titanic. Ending Titanic's 15-week-long hold on the first place position, Lost in Space was referred to by some as "the Iceberg." It opened in 3,306 theaters and grossed an average of $6,096 per screening. Lost in Space grossed $69,117,629 in the United States, and $67,041,794 outside of America, bringing its worldwide total to $136,159,423, making it a box office success. Those results were deemed insufficient, however, to justify a planned sequel.

Reviews were generally negative for Lost in Space, with a 27% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and 42% on Metacritic.

Roger Ebert gave the film a rating of 1 and a half out of 4, calling it a "dim-witted shoot-'em-up". Wade Major from Boxoffice magazine rated the film at 1 and a half out of 5, calling it "the dumbest and least imaginative adaptation of a television series yet translated to the screen." James Berardinelli was slightly more favorable, giving the film a rating of 2 and a half out of 4. While praising the film's set design, he criticized its "meandering storyline and lifeless protagonists," saying that "Lost in Space features a few action sequences that generate adrenaline jolts, but this is not an edge-of-the-seat motion picture." The film was given a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Remake or Sequel.

External links

• Lost in Space at the Internet Movie Database
• Lost in Space at the TCM Movie Database
• Lost in Space at AllRovi
• Lost in Space at Box Office Mojo
• Lost in Space at Rotten Tomatoes
• Lost in Space at Metacritic