Lost in Space 20th Anniversary

April 3^rd marked the 20th Anniversary of Lost in Space: The Movie.  Starring established television actors Matt LeBlanc of Friends, and Lacey Chabert of Party of 5, who at the time were still shooting their respective shows during the making of this movie.  Plus a headlining credible cast of William Hurt as the Patriarch of the family John Robison and a now fellow academy award winning actor Gary Oldman as the treacherous Dr. Smith.  On paper it seems this film would have been considered a bona fide hit with Akiva Goldsman co-writing the movie, who back then was considered one of the go to script doctors in Hollywood.

Blarp a poorly executed CGI Character

 In addition to writing the screenplay to Lost in Space the movie, this was Akiva’s first time listed as a producer. The technology and mastery of many special effects that are used today never existed during the making of this movie and the company had to outsource to several creative local production companies to work on its grand scale production sets and special effects to create this final product you see today. The film was shot at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England. So Akiva and company did not have ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) or a nearby establishment that housed this level of production, to work on dailies or pre/post production set ups.  As explained on the blue-ray special features, and commentary of Lost in Space (1998).  

Lost in Space (1998), has one stunningly lesser known accomplishment, it’s the first movie of 1998 to reach #1 at the box office.  It was nicked named the Iceberg, being that the film replaced James Cameron’s Titanic at the Box Office Mountain top, which had remained number one for 15 straight weeks since December of 1997.  An accomplishment still unsurpassed to this date; and really the only record Marvel Studios can’t break and surpass.

The series is also unique in the sense it continues to move forward in chronology. The original series lasted only three seasons from 1965 – 1968, making this movie’s debut on the 30^th anniversary of the series’ final episodes. The Series took place in the year 1997, when production of the movie transpired, so in the visual sense the world of Lost in Space physically existed during 1997, on fully realized large production set.  The blue-ray special features - highlights the set design as one of the films greatest strengths.  As we move forward 20 more years on the month of the release of the motion picture to April 13^th, 2018.  We are presented to the release of a new television series featured on Netflix.  This will introduce The Robinson family and their journey to an audience of a new generation; as the story is being brought back to life 50 years later.  As we the audiences are shown the year 2048, the acclaimed time period the Netflix series claims to start, 30 years in our future. And like its predecessors when we look back at the Netflix series at the alleged year, we can then judge how far technology and effects have held up.