It was the pilot that nearly all of the networks wanted, but when "Lost in
Space" returns to television, it'll be coming to The WB. While the netlet
has only made a pilot production commitment to remake the classic Irwin
Allen sci-fi/adventure series, the cost to obtain the rights was high enough
that The WB should have sufficient impetus to give the show a go next fall.
The WB reportedly beat out CBS and ABC for rights to the project, which will
be developed at 20th Century Fox TV/Fox TV Studios. An impressive team has
already been assembled to bring the series back to the small screen. John
Woo and Doug Petrie ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") are set to executive
produce with Jon Jashni and Kevin Burns of Synthesis Entertainment. Petrie
will writer the pilot and Woo may direct.
The original "Lost in Space" starred Guy Williams and June Lockhart as a
husband and wife who took their family on a scheduled five-year mission to
explore a distant planet only to get, as the title might suggest, lost in
space. The cast included the Robinson parents, their three kids, the
frequently evil Dr. Smith and, of course, their robot servant.
The new series will be set in the year 2097.
"We're sticking to Irwin Allen's core vision of a family fighting for its
survival in space," Petrie tells The Hollywood Reporter. "As a writer, space
is the greatest window dressing in the world, and we are going to have fun
with it. But at its core, it's a family story, and their emotions are going
to be completely real and completely relatable."
Originally, Synthesis, a company set up specifically to manage the
properties controlled by the Allen estate, intended to do a "Lost in Space"
telefilm, reuniting the original cast members. Those plans were halted when
Jonathan Harris, the actor who played Dr. Smith, died last November.
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