The basic setup for LiS is a classic — stranded family battling for survival, alongside the man who caused them to be stranded. The original show, in its black-and-white first season, was high-tech adventure and even a bit of suspense (e.g., the picture below, back when Dr Smith was actually a sinister SOB, not the shrieking coward). Alas, once the popularity of Will / Smith / Robot was established with the audience, the show morphed into zany hi-jinx, tag lines, and plain goofiness.[1]
But it didn't have to be that way. LiS was, in concept, the Man Against the Frontier tale that westerns of the era knew how to do so well. While TV drama today is looking for something more than Injuns and Buffalo Stampedes, the bones of the setup provide just the platform to provide it.
In other words, I think there's a ton of possibility to do LiS well for a modern era, akin to the Battlestar Galactica reboot. The 1990s movie, for all it's (myriad) scripting and direction flaws, pointed the way: the sense of isolation, the strained or broken family dynamics, the desperate family strengths, the sinister Smith[2], the threat of the unknown, the desire for adventure, the longing for home, the opportunity to not just survive but excel … this is all stuff that could be great.
Though, honestly, the creative team here is not filling me with confidence. With that caveat, I'm fully behind this effort.
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[1] To be sure, the parallel Irwin Allen production, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, suffered from increasing goofiness over time as well, but at least they tried to play it straight, not as camp.
[2] I loved Gary Oldman's Smith, so much so that I essentially ran him as an RPG character.
10 New Episodes of Lost In Space Are Coming to Netflix in 2018
The campy, iconic scifi show Lost in Space is making a comeback. Eight months after Netflix first purchased the rights to remake the show, they’ve officially given the series a 10 episode commitment with an eye on new episodes airing in 2018.
There was a pilot for a new series. Parts of it are on YouTube.
Even the laser pistols and rifles they used were authentic in that laser energy is white. It is too bad they made Smith a simpering coward later on. This actually wasn't the last science fiction show Jonathan Harris appeared on. He was on a kiddie sci-fi show called Space Academy in the late 70's as Commander Gampu.
The boy, I think Bill Mummy, was a major character on Babylon 5 and played in an episode of Star Trek Deep space 9
+Chris Palazzolo Correct — and he also played the Kid with the Power in the "It's a Wonderful Life" ep of Twilight Zone (Will Mumy – http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0612621/)
Smith was always a timid character. Harris just progressively camped it up more after the first few episodes. The first real sign was in the second episode, The Derelict, where the alien ship's automatic docking system pulls them aboard. He hides behind Will and starts mayhem by shooting the alien they disturbed from its hibernation.
+Travis Bird I don't remember his character ever firing or even holding a laser after that episode.