Lost in Space is a 1998 American science-fiction adventure movie directed by Stephen Hopkins, and starring William Hurt, Matt LeBlanc, and Gary Oldman. The movie was shot in London and Shepperton, and produced by New Line Cinema. Take a look below for 26 more fun and fascinating facts about Lost in Space.
1. The plot is adapted from the 1965 to 1968 CBS television series Lost in Space.
2. The movie focuses on the Robinson family, who undertake a voyage to a nearby star system to being large scale emigration from a soon-to-be uninhabitable Earth, but are thrown off course by a saboteur and must try to find their way home.
3. Several of the actors from the original television series had cameos in the movie.
4. The movie was given a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for West Remake or Sequel, but lost against the tied The Avenger, Godzilla and Psycho.
5. TVT Records released a soundtrack album on March 31, 1998, featuring 11 tracks of Bruce Broughton’s original score, which makes no reference to either of the TV themes composed by John Williams, and eight tracks of techno music, most of which is heard only over the movie’s end credits.
6. Dick Tufeld reprises his role from the television series as the voice of the Robot.
7. The television series was set in the future of 1997, the year that the movie began production.
8. All principal actors were contracted to a three picture option, but as the movie failed to recoup its budget in North America, plans for a new franchise were scrapped.
9. Gary Oldman was the first member of the cast so gin on, jumping at the chance to appear in a family movie.
10. Matt LeBlanc filmed his role while Friends was still shooting, and had to fly back and forth between sets several times per week in order to do both projects at the same time.
11. The first robot in the movie weighed two tons and required eight people to control.
12. Heather Graham was dating director Stephen Hopkins during filming.
13. Sean Patrick Flanery was originally cast as Don West, but he was let go while the project was still in rehearsal because it was thought that he too closely resembled William Hurt.
14. In the script, the ship with the spiders doesn’t have a name, while in the movie, it’s called The Proteus. You could also notice this later on by watching Older Will’s lips move when he talks about how the spiders survived.
15. The Jupiter 1, the booster stage for the Jupiter 2 craft, bears a strong resemblance to the craft in the original Lost in Space television series.
16. A huge production, the movie occupied 12 separate soundstages when it was being filmed at London’s Shepperton Studios.
17. When Major West tosses Dr. Smith his spacesuit and tells him to come along, Dr. Smith makes the excuse, “I’m a doctor. Not a space explorer.” This is a nod to a line said by Dr. McCoy in Star Trek, when Dr. McCoy once said, “I’m a doctor. Not a brick layer.”
18. In the original script and movie adaption, it wasn’t Silicon Graphics who co-sponsored the Jupiter mission, it was Coca-Cola.
19. Blarp was originally going to be an animatronic puppet in the movie, except the puppet didn’t look real enough, so it was replaced with a CGI puppet.
20. Over 3,500 names are listed in the end credits.
21. British band Lighthouse Family recorded the song “Lost in Space” for the movie, but the producers decided not to use it. It wasn’t released for 2 months after the movies U.S. release.
22. None of the actors playing John and Maureen’s three children were born when the original Lost in Space television series was first broadcast.
23. Angela Cartwright and Lacey Chabert, who have both played Penny Robinson, have both also lent their talents to two separate versions of Babes in Toyland.
24. The Jupiter 2 control room has computer displays by Silicon Graphics.
25. Edward Fox, who plays Dr. Smith’s unnamed sedition contact, would later become the father-in-law of Jared Harris, who plays the older Will Robinson.
26. Future Will’s dialogue is entirely dubbed, as Jared Harris didn’t have the vocal scale to complete the role.
