This
$90 million science fiction adventure is adapted from the television series,
created by Irwin Allen, which originally ran on CBS from 1965 to 1968. The
original series employed a Swiss Family Robinson in outer space premise;
sent to colonize a planet in the Alpha Centauri system, the Robinson family
was thrown off course by a stowaway and was left wandering from planet to
planet (and changing along the way from a black-and-white series to a color
series). The 1998 remake is set in the year 2058, when the United Global
Space Force sends Professor John Robinson (William Hurt) and family — wife
Maureen (Mimi Rogers), daughter Judy (Heather Graham), teen Penny (Lacey
Chabert), and 10-year-old Will (Jack Johnson) — on a promotional space jaunt
to herald the "offshore" future for the human race (now saddled with eco
problems on Earth). Major Don West (Matt LeBlanc), more accustomed to
fighting menacing Global Sedition forces, is reluctant to sign on as the
Jupiter II pilot but quickly changes his mind after he gets a good look at
Judy in her fetish-fashioned space togs. Space spy Dr. Smith (Gary Oldman),
hired to sabotage the mission, programs in problems but winds up aboard the
craft unconscious. Once awake, he summons the Robinsons from suspended
animation, and they save the ship just in time, passing through hyperspace
to arrive near an Earth ship where they encounter space-pet Blawp and hordes
of teethy spiders. A spider bite makes the villainous Smith mutate, one of
some 750 special effects, from animatronics (Jim Henson Creature Shop) to
CGI, and other adventures await throughout the galaxy. Cameos include actors
from the original series, including June Lockhart and Robot Voice Dick
Tufeld. In a curious coincidence, the TV series took place in the future of
1997, the year this movie was produced. | William Hurt | John Robinson |
| Mimi Rogers | Maureen Robinson |
| Heather Graham | Judy Robinson |
| Lacey Chabert | Penny Robinson |
| Jack Johnson | Will Robinson |
| Gary Oldman | Dr. Zachary Smith |
| Matt LeBlanc | Don West |
| Jared Harris | Older Will |
| Mark Goddard | General |
| Lennie James | Jeb Walker |
| Marta Kristen | Reporter No. 1 |
| June Lockhart | Principal |
| Edward Fox | Business Man |
| Adam Sims | Lab Technician |
| Angela Cartwright | Reporter No. 2 |
| Dick Tufeld | Robot [Voice] |
Genre/Type - Science Fiction, Adventure, Sci-Fi Action, Space Adventure
Produced by - Irwin Allen Productions / Prelude Pictures
Released by - New Line Cinema
Running time - 131 min.
Pitch Black (2000, David N. Twohy)
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999, George Lucas)
Starship Troopers (1997, Paul Verhoeven)
Forbidden Planet (1956, Fred Wilcox)
The Swiss Family Robinson (1960, Ken Annakin)
The Black Hole (1979, Art Cruickshank, Gary Nelson)
Supernova (2000, Thomas Lee)
Mission to Mars (2000, Brian De Palma)