''Lost in Space'' is a 1998 American
science-fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univer ...
adventure film
An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, a ...
directed by
Stephen Hopkins, and starring
William Hurt
William McChord Hurt (March 20, 1950 – March 13, 2022) was an American actor. Known for his performances on stage and screen, he received various awards including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award and Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor.
H ...
,
Matt LeBlanc
Matthew Steven LeBlanc (; born July 25, 1967) is an American actor. He garnered global recognition with his portrayal of Joey Tribbiani in the NBC sitcom '' Friends'' and in its spin-off series, '' Joey''. For his work on ''Friends'', LeBlanc ...
,
Gary Oldman, and
Heather Graham. The plot is adapted from the 1965–1968
CBS television series
of the same name (itself inspired by the 1812 novel ''
The Swiss Family Robinson'' by
Johann David Wyss). Several actors from the TV show make
cameo appearance
A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...
s.
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.
''Lost in Space'' received negative reviews from critics and grossed $136.2 million worldwide with an $80 million budget.
Plot
In 2058,
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...
will soon be uninhabitable due to the irreversible effects of
pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
and
ozone depletion. In an effort to save humanity, the United Global Space Force sends Professor John Robinson, his wife Maureen, daughters Judy and Penny, and young prodigy son Will on the spaceship ''Jupiter II'' to complete construction of a hypergate over the planet Alpha Prime, which will allow the population of Earth to be instantly transported and populate the new planet. Penny rebels by breaking curfew, while Will's prize-winning science experiment involving time travel goes largely unnoticed by John. Global Sedition, a
mutant
In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It ...
terrorist group, assassinates the ''Jupiter IIs pilot, who is replaced by hotshot fighter pilot Major Don West, to his chagrin.
The family's physician Dr. Zachary Smith, a Sedition spy, sabotages the ship's on-board robot before launch, but is betrayed by his cohorts and left unconscious as the ship launches and the family enters
cryosleep
Suspended animation in fiction is the temporary halting of life processes of fictional characters followed by their later revival.
The process often serves as a plot device and is used in innumerable science fiction stories as a means to transport ...
. The robot activates and begins to destroy the navigation and guidance systems, en route to destroying the family. Smith awakens the Robinsons and West, who manage to subdue the robot, but the ship is falling uncontrollably into the Sun. Forced to use the experimental hyperdrive with an unplotted course, the ship is transported through hyperspace to a remote planet in an uncharted part of the universe.
Passing through a strange distortion in space, the crew finds two abandoned ships in orbit: the Earth ship ''Proteus'', and another ship clearly not of human origin. They board the ''Proteus'', with Will controlling the now-modified robot. They find navigational data to reach Alpha Prime, and a camouflaging creature Penny calls "Blarp", along with evidence suggesting the ship is from the future. They are attacked by spider-like creatures; one scratches Smith, and the robot's body is irreparably damaged but Will saves its computerized intelligence.
West destroys the vessel to eradicate the spiders, causing the ship to crash-land on the nearby planet, where another distortion appears. Will theorizes they are distortions in time, as his experiment predicted, but John ignores his input. Exploring the time bubble, he and West encounter a future version of Will and a robot he rebuilt with the saved intelligence. (The time-travel illusions in the 1967 ''Lost in Space'' television episode "Flight into the Future," such as a future statue of the Robot and descendants of Dr. Smith and Judy, are likely an influence on this part of the film.) The older Will explains that surviving spiders killed Maureen, Penny, and Judy. Constructing a time machine, the future Will intends to return to Earth to prevent ''Jupiter II'' from launching.
Young Will and Smith investigate the time bubble on their own. Smith tricks Will into handing over his weapon, but is foiled by a future version of himself, transformed by his spider injury into a spider-like creature, who has been protecting Will since the rest of the family was killed. The present Will and West return to the ''Jupiter II'' with an injured Smith and the robot in tow, while the future Smith reveals his true plan: He killed the Robinsons, but kept Will alive to build the time machine, so Smith could return to Earth and populate it with a race of spiders.
John, remembering that spiders eat their wounded, rips open Smith's egg sac with a trophy Will turned into a weapon. Smith's spider army devours him and he is thrown into the time portal, ripping him apart. The planet's increasing instability forces the ''Jupiter II'' to take off, but they are unable to reach escape velocity and are destroyed by the planet's debris. Realizing his father never actually abandoned them, and that he really does love him, Will sets the time machine to send John back to his family, but there is only enough power for one person. Saying goodbye to his family, the future Will is killed by falling debris, and John reunites with his living family.
Realizing they do not have enough power to escape the planet's gravitational pull, John suggests they drive the ship down through the planet, using the gravity well to slingshot them back into space. They are successful, but the planet turns into a black hole, and they activate the hyperdrive to escape. Using the ''Proteus''’ navigational data to set a potential course for Alpha Prime, the ship blasts off into hyperspace.
Cast
*
William Hurt
William McChord Hurt (March 20, 1950 – March 13, 2022) was an American actor. Known for his performances on stage and screen, he received various awards including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award and Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor.
H ...
as Professor John Robinson
*
Mimi Rogers as Professor Maureen Robinson
*
Heather Graham as Dr. Judy Robinson
*
Lacey Chabert
Lacey Nicole Chabert ( ; born September 30, 1982) is an American actress. One of her first roles was playing Erica Kane's daughter on ''All My Children''. She was the third actress to play Bianca Montgomery, playing the part from 1992 until 1993. ...
as Penny Robinson
*
Jack Johnson as Will Robinson
*
Jared Harris as Older Will Robinson
*
Matt LeBlanc
Matthew Steven LeBlanc (; born July 25, 1967) is an American actor. He garnered global recognition with his portrayal of Joey Tribbiani in the NBC sitcom '' Friends'' and in its spin-off series, '' Joey''. For his work on ''Friends'', LeBlanc ...
as Major Don West
*
Gary Oldman as Dr. Zachary Smith / Spider Smith
*
Dick Tufeld as the voice of
Robot
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be ...
*
Lennie James as Jeb Walker
*
Mark Goddard as General
*
June Lockhart
June Lockhart (born June 25, 1925) is an American actress, beginning a film career in 1930s & 1940s in such films at ''A Christmas Carol'' and '' Meet Me in St. Louis''. She primarily acted in 1950s and 1960s television, and with performances on ...
as Principal
*
Marta Kristen as Reporter #1
*
Angela Cartwright as Reporter #2
*
Edward Fox as Businessman
* Gary A. Hecker as voice of Blarp
Production
Filming began on March 3, 1997 in London's
Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not to be confused ...
, with more than 700 special effects shots planned, done by
Industrial Light & Magic
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded on May 26, 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when he began ...
and
Jim Henson's Creature Shop
Jim Henson's Creature Shop is a special/visual effects company founded in 1979 by puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. The company is based out of Burbank, California, United States.
History
Jim Henson's Creature Shop was originall ...
. The $70 million ''Lost in Space'' film was New Line's hope to launch a multimedia franchise, followed by animated and live-action television series. Licensing deals were made with
Trendmasters for toys and
Harper Prism
Harper Prism (1993–1999) was launched by John Silbersack, Publishing Director, in 1993 as the first science fiction and fantasy imprint of HarperCollins Publishers in the United States. Prism's early authors included Stephen Baxter, Terry Pr ...
and
Scholastic
Scholastic may refer to:
* a philosopher or theologian in the tradition of scholasticism
* ''Scholastic'' (Notre Dame publication)
* Scholastic Corporation, an American publishing company of educational materials
* Scholastic Building, in New Y ...
for tie-in novels.
Music
TVT Records
TVT Records (Tee-Vee Tunes) was an American record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 24-year history, the label released 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon ...
released a soundtrack album on March 31, 1998, featuring 11 tracks of
Bruce Broughton's original score (which makes no reference to either of the TV themes composed by
John Williams
John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review '' WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...
) and eight tracks of electronic 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", and instead includes three new songs unused in the film ("Aah-Yah" by O.P. Phoenix, "Asphalt Ostrich" by
HeadCrash, and "
Anarchy
Anarchy is a society without a government. It may also refer to a society or group of people that entirely rejects a set hierarchy. ''Anarchy'' was first used in English in 1539, meaning "an absence of government". Pierre-Joseph Proudhon adopte ...
" by
KMFDM).
Intrada Records released a score album for the film the following year, and the complete score in 2016. 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 Records Soundtrack Album
Intrada score album
Release
On its opening weekend, ''Lost in Space'' grossed $20,154,919 and debuted at
number one at the US box office, ending ''
Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unite ...
''s 15-week-long hold on the first-place position. It opened in a record 3,306 theaters and grossed an average of $6,096 per screening. ''Lost in Space'' grossed $69,117,629 in the United States and Canada, and $67,041,794 internationally, bringing its worldwide total to $136,159,423.
Reception
''Lost in Space'' was panned by critics on release.
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
gave the film a rating of one and a half out of four, calling it a "dim-witted shoot-'em-up". Wade Major of ''
BoxOffice'' 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."
Online
aggregators have tracked both contemporary and recent reviews of ''Lost in Space''. At
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
, the film has an approval rating of 27% based on 84 appraisals, with an average score of 4.9/10. The site's consensus reads: "Clumsily directed and missing most of the TV series' campy charm, ''Lost in Space'' sadly lives down to its title." The film holds a score of 42 out of 100 on
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, based on the opinions of 19 journalists, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.
Accolades
''Lost in Space'' received six
Saturn Award
The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films bel ...
nominations, including
Best Supporting Actor for Oldman. The film also received a
Golden Raspberry Award nomination for
Worst Remake or Sequel, but lost to the tied ''
Godzilla
is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film '' Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produ ...
'', ''
The Avengers
Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to:
Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe
* Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes
** Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes o ...
'' and ''
Psycho
Psycho may refer to:
Mind
* Psychopath
* Sociopath
* Someone with a personality disorder
* Someone with a psychological disorder
People with the nickname
* Karl Amoussou or Psycho, mixed martial artist
* Peter Ebdon or Psycho, English snook ...
''.
At the 1998
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film won Worst Supporting Actress for Chabert and was nominated for four other awards: Worst Song in a Movie for "Lost in Space" (lost to "
Come with Me"), Worst Resurrection of a TV Show (lost to ''The Avengers''), Worst Director for Hopkins (lost to
Jeremiah Chechik for ''The Avengers''), and Worst Picture (lost to ''
Spice World'').
Home media
VHS, DVD, and later a Blu-ray have been released for the film. Both the DVD and Blu-ray releases contain deleted scenes.
References
External links
*
*
*
*
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*
{{Authority control
Lost in Space
1990s American films
1998 films
1990s English-language films
1990s science fiction action films
1990s science fiction adventure films
American films with live action and animation
American robot films
American science fiction action films
American space adventure films
Black holes in film
Films about terrorism
Films adapted into comics
Films based on television series
Films directed by Stephen Hopkins
Films produced by Akiva Goldsman
Films scored by Bruce Broughton
Films set in 2058
Films set in the future
Films set on fictional planets
Films set on spacecraft
Films shot in England
Films shot in London
Films shot at Shepperton Studios
New Line Cinema films
Films with screenplays by Akiva Goldsman
Films about time travel