Lost in Space 4K (1998)

 

Arrow Films are releasing New Line Cinema's big budget movie version of the classic Irwin Allen TV show in a 4K restoration supervised by director Stephen Hopkins (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 5, PREDATOR 2, THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS) with a batch of newly filmed extras as well as plenty of archival material.

Originally conceived in TV land as The Swiss Family Robinson in space, the film spends the first half an hour of its running time setting up the characters of the Robinson family, consisting of father William Hurt, mother Mimi Rodgers, older daughter Heather Graham, younger daughter Lacey Chabert and young son Jack Johnson. Pilot Matt LeBlanc is going to fly them all across the solar system so they can set up a stargate to allow a dying earth's inhabitants to migrate to another planet. However, they reckon without saboteur Gary Oldman who causes the ship to end up lost in another part of the universe where they encounter a species of nasty spiders, crash their ship, and try to get back home. 

For a film based on a colourful TV show that tended towards having a 'daft thing happening of the week' (often a monster) this version of LOST IN SPACE is by turns drab, slow and frustratingly low on monsters, thrills and all the elements one assumes its core audience would have been looking for. However if you want to see Hurt and Rogers talking at length while they make a bed on their flying saucer, or LeBlanc's sub 1970s James Bond attempts to chat up Graham then you've come to the right place. 

The screenplay is courtesy of the notorious Akiva Goldsman, whom SFX magazine once dedicated an article to concerning the number of criticisms, hate mail and death threats the writer had received during this period for his services to truly terrible movie science fiction. His work is in evidence here from the very start with a clunky expository voice over followed by a lot of flashy crashing about accompanied by 'heroic' dialogue that would embarrass a ten year old. 

Someone at Arrow does, however, deserve a huge pat on the back for the wealth of new extras that have been put together for this release and if you're a fan of LOST IN SPACE 1998 you are going to love it. New interviews include director Stephen Hopkins (21 minutes), DP Peter Levy (17 minutes), Goldsman (18 minutes), art director Keith Pain (32 minutes), and Kenny Wilson of Jim Henson's Creature Shop (7 minutes), while critic Matt Donato provides an 18 minute video essay praising the film.

Archival extras include two commentary tracks (Goldsman and Hopkins on one, other key crew members on the other), 11 minutes of deleted scenes, 16 minutes on the special effects, 10 minutes on 'The Future of Space Travel' a 7 minute Q&A with the original TV cast, some of whom pop up in the film, two minutes of bloopers, a trailer and image galleries. There's also a booklet featuring new writing on the film. If you love LOST IN SPACE 1998 you are going to love Arrow's 4K package.

LOST IN SPACE is out from Arrow in a limited edition 4K UHD set on Monday 1st September 2025