The sound quality is brilliant with speakers exploding all around the room as
the shots are fired, spaceships take off or get blown up and creatures called
Blarp go "Blarp !". This is one of the few EiV titles to get a Dolby
Digital 5.1 soundtrack - why can't they ALL be encoded this way ?
Seeing space outside made Gary Oldman realise
not all was well with his escape plan.
Extras :
Chapters and Trailer :
24 chapters cover the major scenes in the film that the box claims lasts 130
minutes, although it's closer to 125. A few more wouldn't have gone amiss, but
the booklet containing the chapter titles looks to have had a slight mishap in
the printing as the first few pages have been cut off at the wrong point,
resulting in some of The Mask's title coming through.
Two trailers adorn this release. The back cover states they are the US and
International one, but the DVD states "teaser" and "theatrical" options,
the first being in an anamorphic 16:9 ratio and the second being non-anamorphic.
Languages & Subtitles :
Just one language, but the good news is that it is in English and in Dolby
Digital 5.1. Subtitles are also included in the same language.
Other extras :
Biographies & Filmographies: The information for each of the
principal actors, as well as screenwriter Akiva Goldsman and director
Stephen Hopkins scrolls upwards, but it seems impossible to select a
name individually. You have to take them in the order it gives you. I find
it hard to swallow that Lacey Chabert appeared on All My Children in
1970 when she was only 15 at the time this film was released...
Special Effects: A 16-minute documentary showing how certain scenes
were created. I always find it interesting to see the build-up of the SFX.
Deleted scenes: 9 deleted scenes which didn't make it to the final
theatrical version spread over 12 minutes, but each accessible in their own
right.
Music videos: Two are included here: Apollo 440's brilliant
techno reworking of the Lost in Space theme tune, as heard over the
end credits and Crystal Method's Busy Child, the latter being
missed off the American release.
Director's Commentary: Not stated on the back of the box, but this
one holds the musings of Messrs Goldsman and Hopkins, so it's not a
director-only commentary track.
What's missing ? :
While there's plenty of extras on this DVD, there's still a few more that
could have topped them off.
A second feature-length commentary track, this time from visual effects
supervisor Angus Bickerton and other special effects team members,
director of photography Peter Levy, editor Ray Lovejoy and a
producer.
A featurette entitled "The Future of Space Travel".
"The Television Years" featuring synopses of all original episodes
from "Lost in Space" and interviews with original cast members.
Production designs, despite what the back cover states.
Menu :
The main menu is one of the best yet for the UK DVD market. After the dull
copyright logo, the screen goes black and the new Lost in Space logo
swings into view. The main and sub-menus are also animated - most of them
containing sound too - and with a look the same as the control panels on the
Jupiter 2.
On inserting the disc, you see the copyright info, the Entertainment In Video
logo and then the spinning LS logo leading to an anamorphic main menu.
Clicking on "Start" brings up the New Line Cinema logo again before the film
starts.
Matt Le Blanc felt sure to win the Spawn lookalike contest.
Lost in Space on DVD, like The Mask, is a product scoring
close-to-full marks in most technical sections, but for this film it could have
been improved by shortening certain scenes (it seems to take a fair while before
the Jupiter 1 takes off, for example, as well as later scenes which run too
long) and stopping Heather Graham from looking too pasty-faced.
Overall, if you have a Region 2-only machine it's a worthy purchase but, again,
the American disc still wins hands down if you're not fussed about losing a
Crystal Method promo. It would be nice if someone in the quality control
department took a bit of time to get the box info right though.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
