Lost in Space : Season 1 (1965)

The year is 1997 and Earth is suffering from massive overpopulation. Professor John Robinson, his wife Maureen, their children Judy, Penny and Will and Major Donald West have been selected to go to the third planet in the Alpha Centauri star system to establish a colony in the hope that others will also be able to settle there. They are to travel there on a space ship designed by Professor Robinson and christened the Jupiter 2. And with the large distance between the two planets, the ship is equipped with all the latest modern conveniences including a hyper-drive and cryogenics pods where the family will sleep until their journey is complete. However, an agent for an enemy foreign government, Dr. Zachary Smith, has been sent to sabotage the mission and destroy the ship whilst it travels on its 98 year journey to Alpha Centauri.

But whilst trying to re-program the ship's robot, the launch countdown begins and Smith becomes trapped on board the ship. And because of the additional weight of the unexpected crew member, the ships carefully calculated trajectory is affected and the Jupiter 2 and its crew become hopelessly lost in space. During their time lost in space, the Robinson family and Major Don West have countless unique adventures and extraordinary experiences. From encountering alien life forms, space pirates and space travellers, to visiting new planets and surviving cosmic storms, they must also foil the continual attempts of Dr. Smith to disrupt their plans and put their lives at risk.

Season One Episodes

The first season of Lost in Space was only in black and white and it isn't until the second season that the programme was finally broadcasted in colour. Although colour was available in the USA at the time it would take a few more years for sets to become cheaper before the format to really took hold. As a result, there's not much that can be really done about the black and white picture. Never the less, the picture has been tidied up nicely with very few dust specks or picture imperfections. There are a few occasions where outlining can be a bit of a problem, plus grain can be a little troublesome at times, but with an above average bit-rate throughout it is a commendable effort from Twentieth Century Fox. The only minor quibble would be the number of discs the series spans. Surely, with fewer colours to handle the DVD encoding process would have allowed more episodes per discs and thus a cheaper price for the boxed-set?

With the series originally broadcast in 1965, television broadcasts with a stereo soundtrack are still a few years away. But the Dolby Digital 192Kps mono soundtrack is more than sufficient and you can dispense with the surround system and crank up the television volume instead. The dialogue is clear enough, but once anything noisy happens effects wise things can become a little messy and confusing.

The menu is a static and silent affair with the only choice to play an episode with or without subtitles and access the scene selection menu. Extras wise, its a bit of a mixed bag. The eighth disc contains an unaired pilot episode plus an original short five minute CBS featurette advertising the forthcoming exciting series of Lost in Space. They don't make them like that anymore! And that's it. There's no commentaries, interviews (there must be some original cast members stick knocking about) or other promotional material. It's a shame, especially for the amount you're expected to pay for the boxed-set.

Having seen various episodes of Lost in Space on television over the years I was eager to learn where it all began. And to be honest, the rather poor theatrical version of Lost in Space follows the general run of the storyline surprisingly well. The special effects of the age are surprisingly good, even if their first alien encounter is rather silly and laughable, and let's not even go near the monkey wearing what can only be described as a tall wig. It's all the more remarkable that the general techno-babble is still relevant in today's science fiction programming such as Star Trek, even if the stereotypical roles of the Robinson family members are firmly routed in 1960's America.

Fan of the series are sure to be over the moon, or even lost in space, with this DVD release. The only downside would be rather poor extras, especially for the first season set. We can only hope that with subsequent releases more material becomes available and that the fans can finally cast their old VHS copies aside and get the DVD set they deserve. And with a brand new series due for launch in 2004, and with 21st century CGI, fans are in for a real treat indeed.

The only real downside to this boxed-set is the RRP price of £49.99. Ok, you get an eight disc set, but it is a little on the steep side. Fortunately, it is only the RRP so if you shop on line you can be assured of a much cheaper price.