Lost in Space – Arrow

Directed by: Stephen Hopkins
Written by: Akiva Goldsman
Starring: William Hurt, Mimi Rogers, Heather Graham, Lacey Chabert, Jack Johnson, Gary Oldman, Matt LeBlanc
Year: 1998
Country: US, UK
Running time: 130mins
BBFC Classification: PG

The 90s saw an influx of big budget adaptations/reboots of old 50s/60s/70s tv shows such as The Fugitive, Mission Impossible, and The Addams Family. All huge hits, the big screen version of fun 60s cult sci-fi show Lost in Space looked like a sure fire hit but unfortunately didn’t land with quite the same impact. However, the movie version of Lost in Space is a whole heap of sci-fi blockbusting fun, that is better than its reputation suggests.

Sticking to the whole Swiss Family Robinson in space theme of the show, the film sees the Robinsons (a family of scientists and space explorers) set course to explore the universe in their new spaceship, Jupiter 2. Joined by a tough, gruff space pilot, Don West (Matt LeBlanc), the group set off to find a new inhabitable planet. However, stowed away aboard is the nefarious Dr Smith (Gary Oldman) who sabotages the mission, sending the ship and its crew into the outer reaches of space, thus lost. The motely band must now learn to survive in the far reach of space, deal with the treacherous Dr Smith, encounter all kinds of alien species, danger, and even time travel (!): all the while trying to remain a family.

Fire and foremost, Lost in Space is a huge blockbuster and once it gets going, rollicking good fun. While not everything it sets out to do (as there is a lot going on here!) works, more than not it’s great fun. A massive production at the time, Lost in Space comes from the tail-end of an era when blockbusters were made on a huge scale on soundstages before the advent of greenscreen took over. While the film is stuffed with a fair amount of (now dated) CGI, the worlds/planets are often created via massive sets and some cool model work that are still impressive to this day. Stephen Hopkins (Predator 2, The Ghost and the Darkness) orchestrates the action and space travel hijinks with flair melding the practical with the computer generated well for 1998. The space-spider attack sequence, the Jim Henson created robots, and the daring space-flight through an exploding planet are all great stuff and hold up well.

Granted not everything has aged well and not everything lands, the final act getting too twisted up with time travel shenanigans and the Dr Smith/space-spider creature not having quite the impact it should have (the effects not quite able to realise the cool concept of the monster foe!). The makers bite off maybe a bit more than they can chew, the tone never sure whether it’s a dark future thrill ride or if it should lean into the campy feel of the original TV show (LeBlanc’s one liners, no doubt meant to lighten the tone, landing with a thud!): the narrative never quite finding the right balance between thrill ride, family drama, and time-travel gobbledegook. Still, Hopkins and his cast and crew give it a good shot and at over 2 hours the film never feels rushed and still gets a lot right. The cast are great, especially a scenery chewing Oldman and the surprisingly the younger cast members, Johnson and Chabert, who come across as likeable kids rather than annoying brats. There’s some great action and for every effect that doesn’t work/has dated there are at least five that still look great/hold up (the CGI space/combat helmets still look awesome and predate those seen in all that Marvel malarky by 10 years!). Unfairly maligned, better than you remember, and once it finds its groove, Lost in Space is some great old school block busting sci-fi action.

Arrow Video will release Lost in Space on Limited Edition 4K UHD 1st September 2025

4K ULTRA HD LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

• 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative by Arrow Films approved by director Stephen Hopkins – new 4K restoration looks great, the often-vivid colours of the sci-fi world popping and the huge sets look impressive in crystal clarity. While the upgrade does show the age of some of the old school CGI effects (especially the Dr Smith spider monster in the finale!!) other effects hold well especially the multiple mattes and model work used for a lot of spaceship action sequences. Plus Peter Levy’s cinematography looks great, giving the whole thing an epic feel.
  • 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
  • Original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio and lossless stereo audio
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Archive audio commentary with director Stephen Hopkins and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman – insightful commentary from the two main creatives on the film, that cover’s everything from how they shot individual scenes, the difficulties of filming on several huge soundstages, and lots of anecdotes about filming with the cast. Hopkins does the bulk of the talking and seems to relish the chance to discuss the film at length.
  • Archive audio commentary with visual effects supervisors Angus Bickerton and Lauren Ritchie, director of photography Peter Levy, editor Ray Lovejoy, and producer Carla Fry
  • A Space Odyssey, a newly filmed interview with director Stephen Hopkins – fun interview with director Hopkins who favours the film and his experience making it, while not giving too much away about production (he covers much more in the commentary!). He’s not the most forthcoming but still has plenty of anecdotes, talks favourably about pretty much everyone he worked with, and certainly highlights what a massive undertaking the production was (5 units filming simultaneously, occupying 12 soundstages at Shepperton!). He gets candid about how they should have taken longer with postproduction but is rightly proud of what they did manage to achieve all the way back in 1997/98.
  • Lights in the Sky, a newly filmed interview with director of photography Peter Levy – short but informative interview with the very likeable Levy. He talks about his long working relationship with Hopkins, working on everything from their music video days and (the ace!) Dangerous Game early on in their career right up until present day. Again, he talks about the challenges shooting such a large film in the earlier days of CGI but is positive about the experience as whole and interestingly gets little candid about some of the cast.
  • A Journey Through Time, a newly filmed interview with producer and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman – another interesting interview with Hollywood heavyweight screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (A Time to Kill, I Am Legend, I, Robot) who gets quite candid about what a massive undertaking the film was. He’s refreshingly honest about how they couldn’t quite get the tone right (trying to balance between campiness of the original TV show and the darker sci-fi edge of a modern take on the material) and while he seems a little burnt out by the whole experience (this being his first big producing job!) he still seems to have a lot of affection for the film along some with great stories about its making (which I’m sure there are many more if he talked for much longer than the 20 minutes he does here!).
  • Art of Space, a newly filmed interview with supervising art director Keith Pain – another informative piece from art director Pain (everything from Full Metal Jacket, to Glory, To Expendables 2) covering extensively on how they created the sets and working with renowned production designer Norman Garwood (Brazil, Hook).
  • Crafting Reality, a newly filmed interview with Kenny Wilson, former mould shop supervisor at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop – short but sweet interview with Wilson from the Henson Creature shop where he discusses how they created the spacesuits (and how they had to keep remoulding them as the cast kept changing prior to filming!).
  • Sound of Space, a newly filmed interview with sound mixer Simon Kaye and re-recording mixer Robin O’Donohue – short but sweet feature talking about the sound design of the film and the ADR needed.
  • Lost But Not Forgotten in Space, a new video essay by film critic Matt Donato – a look back at the genesis of the film, and the TV show it was based on, and how the film was (unfairly) dumped on when originally released but has now (rightly) become somewhat of a cult favourite.
  • Deleted scenes – a mix of extended and alternate scenes from the original director’s cut including extended character beats and more of the lore around the time travel aspect of the plot (including, the film was originally meant to briefly include various other portals the family could go through!). There is also a whole subplot that was cut featuring Penny discovering a large version of the Blawp character (the CGI alien that is recused early on in the film!) who is a fully realised Jim Henson animatronic. This really should have stayed in as it gives the female characters more presence and the animatronic creature is incredible, and it’s shame it didn’t get seen in the final film.
  • Building the Special Effects, an archival featurette with visual effects supervisor Angus Bickerton and animatics supervisor Mac Wilson – interesting look at the (then) cutting edge technology used to create the special effects, both CGI and practical. It’s a bit tech heavy and dated but fascinating to see how little time they had to create such a huge (for the time) number of visual effects shots.
  • The Future of Space Travel, an archival featurette exploring the film’s vision of the future – very dated look at how the science-fiction elements of the film could one day become reality!
  • TV Years, a Q&A with the original cast of the TV series – fluff piece with some of the original TV cast (who appear in the movie) answering questions. Cool to see some of the old LiS space cast though.
  • Bloopers – a quick selection of behind the scenes goofs, mainly fascinating as it shows Gary Oldman performing early days motion capture as the mutated spider version of his character (and how ridiculous he feels dong it!).
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Pye Parr – not available at the time of review.
  • Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by critic Neil Sinyard, articles from American Cinematographer and an excerpt from the original production notes – not available at the time of review.

A great release/set from the folks over at Arrow giving another almost forgotten/less favoured old school blockbuster another lease of life. Some fascinating and extensive extras compliment the film (and offer a great insight into the massive and sometimes troubled undertaking of the production). Fantastical, fun, and sometimes frustrating, Lost in Space ’98 may not be as hard edged or as digestible as the recent slick looking Netflix reboot but is a thrillingly entertaining old school style blockbuster if you give it a chance.