Lost in Space

Within the genre of movies based on TV series there are few that capture the original storyline as well as this film. Basic sci-fi always uses the fantastic to help drive the story, but keeps the characters well grounded so that the audience enjoys the trip and hopefully by the end they want more. The cast of actors are headed by William Hurt and Gary Oldman, who bring this troupe of spacefarers through a highly action based story.
When an interplanetary space flight is sabotaged, sending the ship and crew into the far reaches of the universe, the family of explorers must battle against unknown forces to find survive and find their way home. The whole movie has the feel of the original series the cliffhanger scenes and the dialog that just seems to come naturally for each of the characters. Having some of the shadows of the TV series show up throughout the film, actors, sound effects and props, help remind the fans of where the story comes from. Some of the effects by today's standards aren't that good, and there are a few spots where they could have been cleaned up for the DVD release but weren't, but all in all they don't draw anything away from the movie or the story.
With the success of this film you would think that New Line would try to turn this into a franchise, and continue the story. But for whatever reasons this turned out to be the only film, and it's a completely enjoyable ride from beginning to end. I think with the right cast and the right storyline almost any of the old TV shows could be successfully brought to the big screen, but as we've all seen over the past few years sometimes the stories are just thrown together and we get a disaster which leaves a sour taste in our mouths for the next movie that comes out.