Lost in Space is a reimagining of the 1965 series of the same name, and also a reimagining of the 1812 novel The Swiss Family Robinson. The series is set in the future with the Robinson family on board a spaceship, with the aim of colonizing extrasolar planets. They were part of a group traveling to Alpha Centauri to start a new life. However, through various circumstances which we are not told of at first, they crash landed onto a planet through their escape vessel Jupiter.
Luckily, they had crash landed onto a Goldilocks planet with an atmosphere suitable for humans and terrain similar to Earth. While the possibility of just so happening to land onto a suitable planet for humans to survive on without spacesuits is astronomically low, you feel that there is more to it than what we are initially told. The Robinson family is comprised of John, a former US Navy Seal, his wife Maureen, and their three children, Will, Judy and Penny. From the onset, we can see that there are family issues. John and Maureen are in no good terms thanks to the former's constant absence from home due to his job. This plays into a few key moments where one will act in defiance against the other, even when it is not a good idea to do so.
In the first episode when we get to see the planet for real, the environments were quite breathtaking but at the end of the day, it doesn't feel too alien and just more like an uninhabited part of Earth. It ups the suspense with the issues that the family is facing which is crucial for their survival. Before too long though, Will becomes the first human to ever encounter an alien life form and we learn that it is a robot. The robot is hostile at first but quickly forms a bond with Will and in a corny and cheesy way, only Will is able to communicate with the robot. The origins of the robot is shrouded in mystery at first and seemed to be tied to the colony spaceship when the passengers were forced to evacuate.
The series follows the Robinsons in their journey to find any other survivors and survive in this desolate new world. Confusingly in the early episodes, we get frequent flashbacks which while it covers off the backstories, breaks the pacing as well. There are viewpoint changes as it follows another set of survivors and you can see how future conflicts will occur thanks to some of the characters' personalities (which are less than stellar, you just know betrayal and treachery is not far away).
Once the villain comes into play, you can see how selfish they truly are. It is also at this time that the nature regarding the alien robot, and the original encounter on the mother spaceship Resolute, is starting to be revealed. Annoyingly, it is given to us piecemeal, making it frustrating as you only get one tiny piece of the event per episode. As the season progresses, the actions of the primary villain just does not make sense. They are supposedly looking out just for their own survival, however, they do stuff that would actually decrease their chances. It simply feels as though the writers had to write something in just for something to happen, no matter how contrived.
The driving force of the series isn't the unknown of the planet they are on or the mystery of the robot, but just the family issues that is plaguing the characters. These issues are more in line with a typical family drama than a sci-fi adventure. We have John and Maureen arguing on the reason that they split, Judy experience trauma from a bind she was in early on and Penny being reckless. Then wrapped around this are other survivors who do not have the best intentions. All this combines into some annoying and likable characters.
Lost in Space is at its best though when it shows off the weird and unique life forms on this unknown planet. The dabs into science such as why each day is drastically shorter than the previous one or when the Robinsons find broken pieces of other ships are very interesting.
The final episode is one of the more exciting ones purely because you know that all their problems will end one way or another. The time limit created a neat tension but the flaws of the whole season still rears its head: things will definitely go wrong but they feel too contrived. It ends on an epic cliffhanger though. Overall, Lost in Space had a lot of potential but it stumbles too much in its story developments and unlikable characters.
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