Lost in Space

I am a big fan of the original series so I was interested in watching this animated spin-off when I saw it on the blu-ray set. Before watching, I read the reviews on here and was well aware that is was nothing like the original show. The cartoon is what you would expect from a mid-70s cartoon show. Lots of action, good storyline and very colourful animation. In this case, the story was very good with a bit of a science lesson about polarity included. I really liked the part where Dr Smith and the young boy were imprisoned in the alien city. For those comparing it to the original show - don't! It is fun little show on it's own and would be especially enjoyable to young kids.

Being a fan of the "Lost in Space" TV series, I remember how excited I was to hear about an animated version for Saturday morning! Boy! Was I ever disappointed! It turns out that the only things this "abortion" had in common was Dr. Zachary Smith (voiced by Jonathan Harris) and the robot! Okay, so there were two characters by the name of Robinson, and the spaceship/shuttle was called Jupiter 2, but the similarities end there! Smith was actually a crew member on this Jupiter 2, not the villain he started out as on the series, but the cowardly buffoon he later became. No wonder it never went to series! All in all, I'd like to see it again just for the nostalgia of it. But it still was nothing like the "Lost in Space" we knew and loved!

A spacecraft of the future becomes lost in space, and then it lands on a planet of frog-looking aliens.

About the only interesting thing is that it was made in the first place. Those Lost In Space (1965-68) re-runs were obviously doing well in 1973 so they made a cartoon. We get the expected "based on the TV series created by Irwin Allen" credit but they need not have bothered. Irwin Allen's Swiss Family Robinson (1975-76) series actually had more in common with Lost In Space than this.

This is pretty fun! The visuals and designs are very colorful and the aliens are cute. The story has a message and feels just like an episode of the Classic Lost in Space series. But the characters don't! Only Dr. Smith is here, played perfectly by Jonathan Harris. The Robot is now purple with a cute voice and the Jupiter 2 is now a yellow rocket! Instead of being about a family, this is about 2 boring brothers, Craig and Link Robinson. How they're related to the real Robinsons, I don't know. There is also a character named Dina Carmichael who is shown to be a scientist which is a welcome change from the classic series which had a lot of sexism. But these characters have no personality and I just pretended they were Don, Judy, and Will- but I still miss the family! These different characters just aren't as fun to get to know as the ones from other versions of Lost in Space- but on its own its pretty good old feeling sci-fi with a message.

After being pummelled by meteors, the space shuttle "Jupitar 2" careens off course at half the speed of light and soon the crew (pilot Craig Robinson and his little brother Link, geologist Dina Carmichael, biologist Dr. Zachary Smith and robot 'Robon') are 'lost in space'. Johnathan Harris is back voicing Smith, who despite having a different back-story is essentially the same verbose coward he was in the original series (complete with his trademark alliterative aspersions against automatons). The series is produced by prolific but low-rent animators Hanna Barbera Productions and is pretty poor (the characters have terrible posture (especially when walking), movement is limited, there is endless recycling of scenes, and (oddly enough) the characters' pupils often stretch into lines, giving them cat/snake/goat-like eyes). The show is essential a child-friendly cartoon version of a live-action show that was becoming increasingly juvenile before its demise. The story line, which involves some friendly pink-frog aliens (the Throgs) and villainous (literally 'bi-polar') invaders (the Tyranos) is ok but the ending is typical of the morality tales that were beginning to permeate kid's TV. The pilot was not picked up, so this is the only example (and can be found on-line).