Netflix Lost In Space - Episode One

I feel so overwhelmed these days by the sheer volume of material a person could watch if they have all the hours in a day to do so. And it's all GOOD programming that is worth my time and attention. I need to be a champion for these shows if they really are memorable and thrilling or just good stories.

First of all the crash of the Jupiter 2 is one of the most terrifying things I have ever seen. Then a minute later I am totally invested and actually sheading tears over the tribulations of the Robinson family. Christmas scenes always get to me.

It's a beautiful show even the scenes that are obviously filmed on a sound stage. The fact that I bring up that detail but do not bitch about it shows you how sucessful I thought the first episode was in setting us in a very specific place - the West Coast of Canada - like ALL alien planets on TV. We understand the dangers this family is in right from the jump not only from their environment but from their own desires to save themselves and their loved ones. This family has issues, none less significant than the tense dynamic between Father John Robinson and his headstrong daughter Judy but they are a united unit - a rare case of an entire FAMILY being given permission to leave a dying Earth.

I loved how there is a different threat for the family to ALMOST die from about every ten minutes or so. I get the point that being LOST is a bad thing. A very, very, bad thing. Again, why wander from a formula that is not broken nor has ever been.

The moments of discovery are thrilling here, especially watching the children overcome their fears to help their family.

John is a terrific father who trusts the hearts and minds of his children so fully that he will trust their ideas to solve problems that he cannot solve. He has the confidence that they would not give him the idea in the first place if they were not certain it would work. Yes it works more often than it doesn't but that only makes me love and value these characters all the more. Their continued survival is not based on luck but on training so I bought all the goofy escapes.

 

"They say that EVERYONE should read Moby Dick before they die." - Judy

 

OMG. They actually went THERE with ME? I should bail on this whole operation but I have grown tolerant in my old age I guess. OMG. Just to hear those sentences again being read aloud made me cringe. Maybe on a new world we can just forget about this so called, "Classic"?

 

The family stuff is very strong here. This is a one to watch with your kids. So little family tales out there when you think about it.

 

"There are lots of vegetables here and probably things that eat those things and things that eat those things." - Will

 

Will was initially denied passage off planet. His mother had to do something shady to get his failed test results to be now approved. Wanna bet the evil Doctor Smith is the one behind that bit of corruption of the process of selection?

 

But Will turns out to be maybe the MOST qualitied person to be on the mission when you consider the whole point of the mission in the first place is to SAVE a piece of humanity somewhere out in Space. Will has a unique instinct for survival and a curiousity that keeps him always moving forward.

 

I think if I just keep telling myself that the whole family survives the whole first season then I will be okay I think. It's the only way to deal sometimes with all the near death experiences. But it's all pretty terrific stuff. I will continue to watch.

 

You know of my fear of the Robot but not THIS Robot. If you don't shred a tear when the Robot says the most famous Robot line in all of Robot history, then you don't have a soul.

 

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the music which is very effective in influencing my emotions and hit all those right buttons for me. You will recognize those notes if you are any kind of fan of this product and I enjoyed all the suble ways that famous tune in inserted into the show.

 

Now Doctor Smith? Where can she be? One line in and I already hate her. Good job Parker Posey. I hope for inspired casting.