TL;DR – Blllaaaare baba bi bop bum barrrr, Blllaaaare baba bi bop bum barrrr, blllaaaare baba bi bop bum barrrr, blar, blarrrrrrr

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Review –

Can you reboot a TV series that has been off the air for 40 years, and which the last attempt to bring it back to life on film was mixed at best and the last time on TV didn’t make it past the plot? Well, that is the question being asked here in this new Netflix series, and right from the start, we can see that Netflix is not here to play games. Today we are going to look at the pilot episode Impact, an episode that shows you how to do the first episode, and do it right.

So to set the scene, it is in the near future and something has happened to Earth so much so that people are starting to leave. We join the Robison family, Maureen (Molly Parker) mother to the three children and a zero-space engineer, her husband and also father of the kids John (Toby Stephens) a long-serving member of the military, Judy (Taylor Russell), the eldest daughter and medic, Penny (Mina Sundwall), the quintessential middle child, and Will (Maxwell Jenkins) the youngest of the three. They are all on board the Resolute as it makes its 24^th trip to Alpha Centauri, setting up the new colony when they are forced to hunker down in their personal ship the Jupiter 2 when all hell breaks loose and soon they have crash landed on an alien planet and their ship is sinking under the ice. A strong opening move, for a moment I thought I had missed something but as the episode moves on we get little glimpses of what happened before as the family tries to survive in an unforgiving world. Now as we go on there will be some [SPOILERS] for the rest of the episode, so just be warned if you have not seen it yet.

Welcome to the family Robinson Image Credit: Netflix

The first thing that Impact did which was really smart is that only really has the core five family members during the episode, which is important because these will be the heart of the show. Indeed we don’t even get to meet Don West (Ignacio Serricchio) and Dr Smith (Parker Posey) until the closing moments of the episode. This also allows us you get to know everyone’s strengths and weaknesses, as everyone’s strengths become a weakness, and their weaknesses become strengths. We also get to see the hints of how they have shaken up the family dynamics in this iteration which adds a new dimension to it. One of the big new changes is that of the Robot, who is not a member of the crew this time around. In fact, Will finds him dismembered near the crash site of an alien ship. This is a big shift for the show, but it adds new layers with this potentially ticking time bomb walking around with them all the time.

Right from the start, we can see that they have put a lot of money into this show because they have spent a lot of time making that Jupiter 2 set look impressive. You have a ship that feels at both a starship, a home, a science facility and an outpost out on the frontier. That is such an interesting balance to pull off but it works. As well as this, in Impact, we get the first look at some of the truly breathtaking scenery that we will be seeing this season, with some beautiful shots that might be CG or might be on-location, but either way, they look amazing.

Yep I am more than ready to take a ride through this world Image Credit: Netflix

In the end, I could get annoyed with the deus ex machina ending with the Robot coming to save the day, but I can’t. That is because they have done a fantastic job setting the world up, setting the family up, that yep I think they earnt it. Look, to be honest, I think I am a sucker for this and I was kind of sold from the moment that the hints of the old themes song worked their way into the score, which was also fantastic. So, should you start binging Lost in Space? Well from this first episode I can say I’ll be watching more, so crack out the snacks, get a beverage of your choice, sit in a comfy chair and enjoy the ride.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Lost in Space yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Trailer – Click Here to View (all trailers have heavy spoilers)
Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Lost in Space
Directed by – Neil Marshall
Written by – Matt Sazama & Burk Sharpless
Based off – Lost in Space created by Irwin Allen
Created by – Irwin Allen, Matt Sazana & Buck Sharpless
Starring in Season One – Toby Stephens, Molly Parker, Taylor Russell, Mina Sundwall, Maxwell Jenkins, Ignacio Serricchio & Parker Posey