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| Dvdivas
was founded by John Gabbard in 2000. It's purpose has been and
remains to be to provide you, the entertainment community with
the latest dvds and movie reviews. It will continue to be your
link to the most popular dvd movies. |
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“Lost
in Space: Season 2, Volume 2”
|
 |
Reviewed
by: |
Wayne A. Klein |
| Genre: |
Science Fiction
|
| Video: |
1.33:1 Full
screen |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
Surround 2.0 (mono) |
| Languages |
English |
| Subtitles |
English |
| Length |
726 minutes
|
| Rating |
NR |
| Release Date |
11/30/04
|
| Studio |
20th Century
Fox Home Video |
| Commentary:
|
None |
| Documentaries:
|
None |
| Featurettes:
|
None |
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
Vintage interviews
|
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
None |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
None |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
None |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Guy Williams,
June Lockhart, Jonathan Harris, Bill Mumy, Mark Goddard, Marta
Kristen, Angela Cartwright, Bob May, Dick Tufeld |
| Written
By: |
Norman Lessing,
Bob Duncan, Peter Packer |
| Produced
By: |
Irwin Allen
|
| Directed
By: |
Paul Stanley,
Leo Penn, Sobey Martin, |
| Music:
|
John Williams,
Bernard Herrmann (uncredited) |
| The
Review: |
This is
where “Lost in Space” got too stupid even for a six year old.
The first season of Irwin Allen’s “Space Family Robinson”
had just enough intelligent writing and suspenseful sequences
to make it memorable science fiction. Although “Lost in Space”
still couldn’t hold a candle to the more adult “Star Trek”
during its first two seasons, it got about as absurd as “Trek”
did during much of its third season except that the series
crossed the line from comic to camp. Jonathan Harris, the
Robotm (Bob May) and Bill Mumy continued to be the primary
focus for much of the juvenile and, at times, infantile stories
produced in the latter half of the second season. When episodes
like involving revolutionary vegetables become the highlight
of a season either Salvador Dali has taken control of your
television set or the head writer had a full frontal lobotomy.
---
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| Image
and Sound: |
Like the
black and white season one and the first half of the second
season (which for marketing reasons was broken up in the US
although it wasn’t anywhere else in the world), “Lost in Space”
looks stellar. The rich cartoon colors of the wardrobe and outlandish
costumes look vivid, sharp and crystal clear in these exceptional
good transfers. There’s little to no analog defects or digital
defects that you can detect and clearly most of the money for
this set went into obtaining as pristine a transfer as possible.
--- |
| The
Extras: |
The
only extras included here are vintage interviews with Guy
Williams, June Lockart and Jonathan Harris. It’s kind of quaint
seeing these interviews nearly forty years on kind of like
looking at old newsreel footage. While there aren’t any relevations
(it was, after all, done to publicize the show), the trio
of actors are quite charming and come across as quite warm
in these interviews. It’s a pity that Fox has chosen to release
this set without a retrospective featurette on the series.
I know that the cast had choice words about the direction
of season two (there’s one episode here where June Lockhart
and Guy Williams couldn’t stop laughing due to the absurd
scene they were shooting. A pity that none of those outtakes
survive) many of which were voiced on the extras for the “Lost
in Space” extras for the feature film and in interviews from
around that time. What about a featurette on the Jupiter 2
and the optical effects for the series. Surely there’s outtakes
and test footage that still exists somewhere in the Fox vaults?
---
|
| Commentary:
|
I’m sure
Dr. Smith would have something insulting to say on the commentary
track but, sadly, he’s silenced. Actually, Jonathan Harris passed
away last year but Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen, June Lockhart,
Bill Mumy and Angela Cartwright could have provided some insight
and amusing stories on the production of the series. --- |
| Final
Words: |
Unlike most
of the boxed sets that Fox has released, “Lost in Space” got
the bum’s rush. There’s no retrospective Featurettes, no documentary
on the marketing and toys of the series and no commentary tracks.
That’s a pity because, although the series did become increasingly
surreal and absurd by the second half of the second season,
it did provide the first introduction to many science fiction
fans to the genre. The frequently infantile plots undermined
much of the second season although there were a number of minor
highlights with more adult orientated adventure material. |
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