The Good
The Bad
Well, this is it, with Lost In Space Season 3 - Vol. 2 the show about a lovable space crew trying to get back to earth finally came to a close. With only 9 episodes to it’s credit, this show seemed to know the end was near thus it really “went for it” as far as the subject matter for the final episodes. For example, in Episode 7, “The Flaming Planet”, a plant thinks that Dr. Smith is it’s mother! Or how about Episode 8, “The Great Vegetable Rebellion”, Dr. Smith picks a flower and is suddenly brought up on murder charges by a talking carrot!! Are you getting the picture?
Now there are two schools of thought. Either the shows creators knew that their days were numbered, so they just wrote the most wackiest story ideas they could imagine? Or, the creators presented these story ideas and this is when the folks with big pockets decided that Lost In Space might be better of remaining lost? Whatever the case, I think that it’s sort of odd for a show that had a three year run to end with only 9 seasons on it’s ledger. However with Volume One clocking in at 735 minutes, to just 441 minutes of Volume 2, me thinks that something is up
I found these shows to be interesting. I don’t know that I would say that they were really that good, but for the most part the 9 episodes that comprise this 3 disk set were entertaining. As usual, my favorite character was Jonathan Harris who played Dr. Zachary Smith.
Features
Interviews with Bill Mumy and Jonathan Harris
These are both very lively interviews with Bill Mumy and Jonathan Harris. I think it is readily apparent that for these two actors, doing this show was one of the most important things in their lives. When the show ended, they obviously moved on, but not in a way that they ever turned their backs on the show. Mumy’s and Harris’s ability to remember stories and anecdotes from when they worked on the show, and to remain as committed as they are to sharing those stories for these DVDs, is really something that should inspire both casual viewers and fans alike. In fact, I never watched this show until I was asked to review it, but I must admit that seeing these clips made me have a lot more of a reverential mindset when I did screen these DVDs.
Target Earth Act Break and Interstitial Blooper
While I didn’t really understand the reason for why the “Target Earth Act Break” was on here, I guess there will be people who will appreciate it. The interstitial blooper is basically something where the robots arms fall off when they shouldn’t. “He lost his f*cking arms!” exclaims Dr. Smith and everyone erupts with laughter. For a final season, this 3 disk set seemed amazingly short on the extras side but maybe that’s because they were all used up for Volume 1?
Video
Full Frame - 1.33:1 - Aspect Ratio. I love the colors on these disks. It almost seems as if this show was shot in black and white, and then the colors were painted in in post-production. Since we know that this isn’t what happened, I’d be really curious to hear from the crew people to find out how the look of this show was achieved. There is a painterly quality to every frame that adds something to these scenes. While I do admit that a lot of the episodes seem pretty “out there”, the entire cast plays all the scenes with a nary a wink to the audience. Even when Dr. Smith goes over the top, he seems to be timing those moments so that when things happen we don’t feel like we can time them ourselves. Everything about the look of Lost In Space Season 3 - Vol. 2 looks extremely organic.
Audio
Dolby Digital. English - Mono. Spanish - Mono. French - Mono. All of these audio tracks are also subtitled in these languages as well. I loved the music used for these episodes. I also can appreciate that it wasn’t used too much. Mainly, it seems like it only swelled in very specific parts. Other then that, it was seemingly unnoticeable. The dialogue and the sound FX were basically left to carry the soundtrack. Overall, I didn’t have a problem hearing what any of the characters were saying, and I didn’t even have to adjust the volume levels on my television too much. Sure, this show had some pretty routine space sounds, but I think the cheapness of these kinds of FX really added something to the show. It allowed us to focus more on the actors and the stories, and as a result I think injected the sci-fi genre (especially at that time) with some much needed humanity.
Package
A touched up color cover featuring the cast of the show and of course our trusty friend Robot B-9. The back features a space background, four small pictures from different episodes, a description of the show, a tiny extras listing and a tech specs chart. Each of the 3 disks is housed in it’s own thin, plastic case (I tell you, these cases are favorite for ANY DVD box set release) and each case features different characters from the various episodes that make up the show. On the back of each case, is a show listing with a description, air date and who the writer and director of that show was. This is a really well done packaging job. It won’t take up too much space in a DVD collection (or a store shelf), but consumers will find all the DVDs very easy to negotiate. As all the extras are on the third disk, this makes things even more user friendly.
Final Word
Lost In Space Season 3 - Vol. 2 is very much for the nostalgic TV viewer. Since I am one of those people, I could watch a show like this if it got in the regular rotation on either TV LAND or KDOC. I don’t know how much a show like this appeals to a younger crowd, or even an older crowd mainly because it seems that people want something more sophisticated. Truthfully, in a writing sense, I think that Lost In Space is a lot better written then many of the shows on the air today. It’s look however does date it but I think that that is just one of the vagaries of making anything at a particular time.
Things are always going to advance but it can be very dangerous to forget the simple things that got us there. In hindsight, I think that this might be the strongest theme in the entire Lost In Space series.
Lost in Space was released .