The Robinsons: Lost in Space (2004)

"The Robinsons: Lost in Space" is a 42-minute pilot television episode for a series that never got picked up. It is basically loosely based on a much older show that got some Emmy Awards consideration several decades earlier, but this remake did not cause enough attraction so it would get turned into a "real" show. The director here is John Woo who made several pretty famous films already and the writer team is also pretty well-known, one of them even an Oscar winner. Guess in exchange for that they had to save a bit of money on the cast. i don't know anybody there except Adrianne Palicki and she isn't exactly a big star either. The story is basically set in the future, about a family who is stuck between fighting evil alien creatures while also trying to get along with each other. This could have been great material for a comedy, but it is all drama and I miss some lighter moments in here. Maybe that is also one of the reason why I give this one a thumbs-down. I would not have watched a television show based on that short film here.

As someone who grew up watching the series, I was very anxious to watch this. After doing so, I have to say, I hated to see that it was over! I always wondered as a child, how Don came into the picture. This was explained in this version. And although I never knew there was a David, I hated to see him left behind. I think that Mr Smith would be missed though. His character made for many a great episode in the past. No one will ever forget that whining man, lol. All said and done, I was very entertained. Would definitely tune in next week...to see what happens next. I cant believe it was never picked up! Maybe someone will try this again in the future?

Third time around for the Robinsons. This time, John Robinson is a retired space marine colonel/war hero who insists on taking his family wife Maureen,teens David and Judy, ten year-old Will, Will's robot and baby Penny) to another planet to become peaceful farmers and live off the land. After some by-the-book family melodrama (none of them, it seems, want to go on this trip), the Robinsons are on their way. Their mother ship (the "Jupiter") is soon under (unexplained) attack by clichéd aliens. David appears to be killed and the rest of them (along with hot young pilot Don West) are forced flee through a black hole in their landing craft (the "Jupiter 2"), ending up, well, you know...Overall, typical action pilot. There's a lot of exposition to pack into 40-some minutes, and too much of that time is wasted on setting up the Robinson's dysfunctional dynamics, so it's hard to tell where this is all supposed to lead. It's a fair bet, however, that since it was made for the WB, had this been picked up, we would have seen a lot of Judy and Don.John Woo's American career had pretty much derailed by 2003 and he was reduced to making this pilot for the WB. Actually he does an OK job, even managing to work in his trademark doves and slow motion.As for the cast, about the only ones who impress are Ryan Malagrini as Will Robinson and Adrianne Palicki as Judy.As is usual for unsold pilots these days, there are no credits (other than a crudely animated main title) and several visual effects (e.g. wire removal)were never finished.As a side note, the sets were bought by the producers of "Battlestar Galactica" and after some modifications, were used as the interiors of the Battlestar Pegasus.

I found this while browsing, don't remember where. The quality kinda sucked (352x240 at 1150 kbps) but I was curious about it. Sadly, I wasn't overly impressed with it. It was kinda standard TV, but still almost entertaining enough.Huge goof: When Will and David are threatened to get sucked out into space, they seem to be suspended in mid-air, just grabbing some handle, However, Will's cables are clearly visible in two or three shots.Also kinda goofy is the use of 2003 Battlestar Galactica music (Richard Gibbs' "Are You Alive?", "Main Title" and "By Your Command") and right after that, Thomas Newman's music from American Beauty (track no. 9 Bloodless Freak").The morphing of Penny into a baby is mildy surprising, maybe they were gonna use it as an arc, like Penny gets sucked into so time-space warp and returns as a teen, preteen or fully grown adult, depending on which actress the network owes a favour to.And Jayne Brook as mom Maureen is hotter than Adrianne 'big chin' Palicki as daughter Judy, that's never a good sign. I'm not sad that it's not picked up, but i'd not have minded watching it on TV. Buying it or giving it space on my hard drive, nah.