Lost In Space: The Complete Classic Series

I hesitated to purchase this Widescreen version but did so after reading some reviews that the loss of image on the top and bottom of the screen was minimal. I am very glad that I made the purchase and have enjoyed watching every episode. And that the quality was excellent, and the price was great. That said, please be aware there IS a difference between Widescreen and the original version. I do not have the Blue Ray or other 4:3 (Original) format to compare with this Widescreen version. As a result, I did not notice much difference until I watched "Invaders from the Fifth Dimension" with the famous blooper where The Robot's legs (Bob May's human legs) are visible for several seconds while he is walking (it is near the end when the Robinson's are attempting to rescue Will). Well, in this Widescreen version the bottom is cut-off so the blooper is not visible! Since Amazon just made Lost in Space available on Prime Video, I was able do to several random screen "pauses" to compare various scenes. The Prime Video (streaming online video) version has much more image on the top and bottom of the screen and actually a fraction more on each side. I am not a technical person, so I do not know how the conversion to Widescreen was made. If/when I purchase a Blue Ray player I may spend the $160+ for the Original 4:3 version! But until then, I am happy with this Widescreen version. LOST IN SPACE REVIEW: Lost in Space is by far My "Favorite TV Show of All-time"! I watched it as a child in the 1960s, watched the re-runs of most episodes many times in the 70s and watched all episodes again over the last few months. To properly appreciate Lost in Space, it may be best to recognize the time it was made and the outlet it was made for: 1965 -1968 TV. Space Travel was a significant event. We would watch the first man land on the moon in 1969. Lost in Space overlapped b&w TV and color TV and the culture was changing. Please remember that context when watching. My recommendation is to start with the first episode and watch in the order they aired. A big part of the reason for that is you can see how Dr. Smith develops from a cold spy, there to sabotage the journey, to eventual sneaky, cowardly, crooked (but sometimes likeable) buffoon. One of the most iconic TV show characters of all-time. The entire cast is top-notch (as are many of the guests). Many with familiar faces. If you watch closely, there are many nuances between the family members that make it special. It seems to best to review each Season individually. I also created Ratings and Reviews for each episode on IMDB. My Ratings: 34 (of 83) episodes as "10" or "9" (Gem or excellent) 18 (of 83) episodes as "8" or "7" (Very Good+) 13 (of 83) episodes as "4" - "6" (watchable) 18 (of 83) episodes as "3" or below (watch only if you want to view every episode!) Season One: The first season (as is well known) is in b&w. It is the best season and IMHO, the best season of any TV show ever made. The back-ground music in just about every episode in top-notch. Possibly the absolute best of any TV show, ever! The plots are great, the acting is great, the guest stars are great, yes Dr. Smith starts to soften up mid-season (or so), but buffoonery is in check. The personalities are developed. Of the 29 Season One episodes, I Rate 25 as either a "10" or "9", with only one (The Space Croppers) below a "7". The first five episodes rely heavily of the pilot and are gems. Just about every episode from the first season is excellent. Season Two: Season Two definitely has some low quality episodes, primarily in the back half of the season, but that is not always the case. Some attribute the drop in quality to Dr. Smith's buffoonery and the shift to "Dr. Smith, Will and the Robot" themes. However, that is just part of it. The significant change was from Si-Fi or fantasy to episodes that resembled a nonsensical dream, as well as some that are just terrible by any measure. Of the 30 Season Two episodes, I Rate 4 as either a "10" or "9", with 11 episodes in the "3" or lower bucket. The best are: "The Prisoners of Space", "Wreck of the Robot" and "The Astral Traveler". "The Questing Beast" ("9") is a must-watch. The first half is a super campy, then it gets serious and the back half provides some of the greatest Lost in Space moments ever! Season Three: Season Three is an improvement over Season Two. The opening and theme music are great!!! However, some of the same issues of Season Two remain (or creep back in). Inconsistent may be the best way to describe Season Three. Of the 24 Season Three episodes, I Rate 5 either a "10" or "9", with 7 episodes in the "3" or lower bucket. There are four straight duds ("3" or below) in the middle of the Season. However, it recovers somewhat after the mid-season duds. The best episodes are: "Visit to a Hostile Planet", "Hunter's Moon", "Flight Into the Future", "Space Creature" and of course "The Anti-Matter Man" (which is one of the very best). If you are interested in a deep-dive into every episode (all three seasons), please read the Lost in Space books (V1-V3) by Marc Cushman. PS: Never fear, Smith is here!!!

DVD: The quality of this DVD transfer far exceeds my expectations when I ordered it. So many Television-To-DVD transfers are poor. Not so here. To get the proper aspect ratio and optimum picture clarity some of the picture (mostly the bottom as far as I can tell) was sacrificed to maintain the quality. It's a great picture in all respects if you don't mind that small modification. SOUND: The sound seems very high quality just using my standard Sound Bar. The addition of Closed Captioning availability is also a much appreciated feature. SERIES ITSELF: It seems very well done for 60's TV. Special effects are very good for its era. The stories are well written and well acted. I never saw this show on TV, as I was living overseas in the '60s, but I am enjoying them for what they are; better than average 60's TV. (One complaint about the show. If the father, Captain Robinson, would have given his son Will a good thrashing in episode 1, they might have avoided most of their troubles in the ensuing 82 episodes. But then I guess they would not have had the emergencies that seemed to define each episode.) I give it 3 stars out of 4.

Arrived as promised. The product is exactly what was promised. The discs are in good shape and the picture was clear; no problems at all with any of them. I watched this show when I was a child and wanted to see it again. It is nothing like Star Trek or Star Wars, of course. The Robinsons were the first family into space so it's focus is different. There are no CG monsters or extraterrestrials and the "science" is sometimes laughable but the series didn't disappoint. The family was supportive, not critical or each other. It isn't popular today but the men were the leaders and the women trusted them rather than viewing them as enemies. The children didn't always obey but they were respectful to each other as well as adults. Watching it was very nostalgic and there was nothing in the series I wouldn't want my grandchildren to see. If you are looking for an exciting series you probably want to look elsewhere. But if you are looking for something light and entertaining that is "family oriented" without trying to promote anything, I recommend this series. My only complaint is that the series just stopped with no end. Too bad the producers didn't bring them home or see them safely to their original destination instead of leaving the wandering around in space.

This is truly amazing. "Lost in Space" in WIDESCREEN. It fills the entire screen of my 48 inch TV and it looks fantastic! I don't ever feel I'm missing a portion of the action, this is SOOOO well done! The detail that is visible is just incredible. You can read the little buttons on the control panels in the ship. You can see detail in the Robot's costume that you didn't see before (i.e. those "vents" at the waist are actually see-through!) You can see people's metallic fillings in their teeth for crying out loud! It's almost like being there. I grew up with this series and never got enough. My curiosity about the Jupiter 2 is insatiable. I have every book on the series, pretty much. But nothing beats REALLY seeing the series on a big screen. To be released from the limitations of a 4:3 ratio is, for me, a revelation. And the picture quality, while it may not be HD, is still exceptional. Thank you to FOX for this wonderful, wonderful gift of one of my favorite shows reformatted beautifully and giving the viewer a new degree of enjoyment, Doing this amounts to a fabulous tribute. BRAVO!

I was a little skeptical at first. $27.99 for the complete LIS series in widescreen? I just wasn't sure and I read a few reviews here. There aren't many reviews yet for this recently released widescreen edition of Lost In Space, but I was curious. I own the Blu-Ray complete set and I have been absolutely satisfied with it. Because the price was so low, and because I thought I would really enjoy seeing the series in widescreen, I ordered it. Boy! My expectations were surpassed. I didn't know exactly what quality I would find, but I am blown away. I began by watching a second season episode and I was amazed at the clarity, crispness, and overall quality of what I was seeing. And the widescreen is incredible. I then watched a season three, and finally a season one episode with the same satisfactory results. Now, mind you, I am playing this through a Sony Blu-Ray player, which I'm told will upgrade the picture quality a bit, but I am completely happy with the job they've done in restoring this, and at such a reasonable price. I love the wide screen look on my 50" flat screen. I love watching the series in Blu-Ray, but this is a close second to the Blu-Ray, and I think I even prefer it due to the widescreen presentation. The packaging is okay with me. It's not first-rate, but very easy to manage. All of the discs are clearly labeled with the season and disc number, and there are no pesky cardboard sleeves to wrestle with like the Blu-Ray set has. I highly recommend this set for the price and especially the quality. And I think you'll love the widescreen presentation, too!

UPDATE: I wrote this original review on the release date on 02/05/2019. Let's just say, my feelings on this DVD set have evolved in a little over 3 years and I would like to share them. 1) I am still giving it 4 stars and I still feel it's a budget priced set - but you get an awful lot for $20+. 2) I still feel 5 episodes per disc is overly compressed and does not allow for the best possible picture quality, but I do admit the picture quality (and sound) is good for DVD. 3) Since I wrote the original review below, Mr. Kevin Burns (the Lost in Space keeper of the flame and financial guru of all aspects of LIS) has sadly passed away. He was responsible for keeping LIS alive for many, many years. He was also the most instrumental in getting the new Netflix LIS off the ground. 4) I am going TO GO BACK on my feelings of the Widescreen reformatting. The original 4:3 aspect ratio is truly FAR superior in my revised opinion. Yes, it looks nice to NOT have black bars on the sides of your widescreen TV, but it truly looks odd at times in Widescreen with the tops and bottoms cropped off - even minimally. This release, even though in Widescreen formatting, is still superior in image quality compared to the early DVD volumes released in the 2000s - and a bargain pricewise for the average person interested in revisiting LIS. 5) For those on the fence about ordering this set, have no hesitations. The price and overall quality will not break your bank. Enjoy! This review is for the Lost in Space - The Complete Classic Series DVD Set Widescreen released February 5, 2019. For starters: To Amazon, please remove the older reviews listed under this title (from many years ago) that are intended to review very old, previously released VHS tapes. Those reviews have nothing to do with this newly released DVD set. Let me state up front. I am a HUGE LIS fan and was 100% in support of a widescreen release (in fact, I still am). Many LIS purists, and devout fans of classic television from the 50's and 60's, are often militant about keeping the original aspect ratios of such era TV shows they remember from pre-widescreen television days. As several other knowledgeable reviewers have mentioned (and I thank them for their well composed and informative reviews) - please see reviews from D. Ice and Serious Critic. Reading their reviews will help some understand that NOT a lot of image is lost in converting to a Widescreen format in the case of LIS. It's clearly a matter of preference, I realize. Some only want to see this show (and other TV shows of this era) in the original aspect ratio. Others are keen on viewing it in Widescreen. Undoubtedly, loyal LIS fans are of a certain age demographic, but perhaps fail to realize how a Widescreen release opens up a renewed longevity for this classic Lost in Space series. Much younger fans of the new Netflix reboot just might take an interest in our beloved LIS, simply by viewing it without pillar boxing on both the left and right sides. Who knows? Maybe MeTV or perhaps SYFY may start showing the classic LIS more regularly in Widescreen. But again, I understand we all have our preferences. Like so many things in this world. One last comment to anyone who is defiantly against a Widescreen presentation of the series. Have you purchased the Blu-ray set, Lost in Space - The Complete Adventures from 2015? Have you viewed the Widescreen presentation of Condemned of Space from Season 3 which is one of the extras? That bonus extra gives you a great idea of how the Widescreen formatting looks. There is also an audio commentary on that Blu-ray set by Kevin Burns and Mike Clark for the episode, The Reluctant Stowaway, where Mr. Burns explains, in great detail, how Lost in Space was shot and how a Widescreen formatting does not lose much image - and in fact, gains image on the sides. So I think it's fairly safe to say, the price for this set seems reasonable. So if you happen to embrace the idea of a Widescreen presentation, we're off to a good start. Now.....some NOT so great things to mention about this DVD set. Some may not agree with me but if you order the set, I suspect many will, in fact, agree. 1) It's a budget priced set. Packaging is a super flimsy plastic clamshell that clasps on the side providing access to all 17 DVDs. The discs do seem to hold well on the hubs - although they do not necessarily release very easily. There are no inserts, booklets or episode descriptions. Just a list of episodes by name, on the inside of the slipcase artwork. There are 5 LIS episodes per disc - that's some fairly tight compression. And that's somewhat of a bummer. 2) So you get 6 discs for Season One. 6 discs for Season Two and 5 discs for Season Three. The short version of the Unaired Pilot - No Place to Hide is on the 6th disc of Season One. All the other extras, including Lost in Space Forever are on Disc 5 of Season Three. Another downside - the discs for ALL three seasons are ALL the same color and look alike. It would have been nice if a different color/artwork was used for each of the seasons' discs. Luckily they are NOT two sided discs! 3) There is a play-all selection for each disc unlike the first DVD release in the early 2000s. 4) I have done a random sampling of discs/episodes and they all seem to play well in both my Blu-ray players. But even upconverted to 1080p via HDMI, the quality is NOT even close to the Blu-ray discs (and I certainly was not expecting them to be) but I'm afraid to say, I feel the image quality might be below par even for standard DVD. The sound seems fine. A mono Dolby. English is the only audio and subtitles. My two cents. I wish there were a Widescreen Blu-ray release. However, this DVD set is certainly a huge step up from the previously released DVD sets in the 2000's. Lost in Space fans really wanting a Widescreen presentation might want to hold off for a potential Widescreen Blu-ray release. Or is that going to the well, one too many times? P.S. Amazon!!!! Please ship these in something other than the blue and white bubble padded envelopes. They need to be shipped in a box with air cushions. Thanks!

great

The tape arrived as advertised and it plays nearly perfectly.

Es muy agradable poder ver series viejitas.

I liked the box presentation, all 23 discs handy, remastered; but the season 2 video quality not as good as B & W season 1, production must have been lower quality master tapes ?? Dr Smith & Robot's iconic exchanges timeless .... "Bubble-headed booby !!! " I would be fascinated to see how these master tapes fare on blu-ray discs, maybe DVD is the limit.

While Lost in Space may never enter the pantheon of great television programming, the 1960s sci-fi show certainly has its charms, all of them in evidence on this volume of episodes from the second season. Produced by Irwin Allen, who would later be responsible for blockbuster disaster films like The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure, these episodes from 1966-67 (spread out over 8 DVDs) find the show undergoing some changes, both technically (from black & white into color) and in terms of tone (more campy and tongue-in-cheek, especially as the season goes on). The latter is due in large part to the performance of Jonathan Harris as Dr. Zachary Smith, who puts the "arch" in archvillain (it was his meddling that got them all lost in the first place). Harris's portrayal of Smith as cowardly, duplicitous, pompous, and not a little fey often goes right over the top, but the other characters (including Guy Williams as Prof. John Robinson, June Lockhart as his wife Maureen, and young Bill Mumy as Will) are so bland and generic that Harris, the family robot, and guest stars like Strother Martin and Wally Cox offer the only available relief. Guy Williams, June Lockhart, Bill Mumy. The Robinsons continue their bumpy ride through space in the first 15 episodes from the second season, including Blast off into Space," Wild Adventure," The Ghost Planet," Space Circus," The Green Dimension" and more

I first bought this series two 'Lost in space' for my son (age 9) and he loves it (it is packaged just like the series 1 set). We watch about an episode or two a week (so have weeks to go). The series 2 was 'Lost in space' as I remember it: classy and very bold colourful sets, funny, with an increasingly camp Dr Smith having more catch phrases than Arthur Askey ("Spare me the barbs Major", "You posturing ninny"). In fact the robot's tagline 'It does not compute' was a favourite phrase of mine during my schooldays. I did vaguely remember the B&W first series as well (particularly the excellent first few episodes concerning leaving Earth eg. 'The reluctant stowaway') and knew Dr Smith, the Jupiter II and the crew were all present and correct. However I had forgotten how dark, menacing and calculating Dr Smith was compared to this second series. My son found series one too frightening to watch past the first few episodes, and was particularly disappointed with the B&W TV images - although I found these episodes far more interesting than those in the second series - but even I did miss the series 2 gaudy colour, although the B&W sets and effects are just as 'good'. By this second series the title should have been changed to 'The Dr Smith, Will Robinson and Robot show', where the comic talents of Jonathan Harris, Billy Mumy and Bob May (inside the robot) are increasingly in evidence (nicking some of competitors Batman's camp visual style) - this is reflected in this DVD set's cover art. The third series corrected this imbalance a little, giving other short changed cast members better parts. So if you are buying for your children I would miss series one and skip straight to this series two, giving a two minute intro. But if you want a bit more bite then go for series one as well. Be warned though there are around thirty episodes in this 8-disk DVD collection - over twenty hours of prime time TV from 1966/1967 (Series One is the same length but from 1965/1966 and in B&W). So very good value at least, and the picture quality and production values of these series 2 (and 1) DVD's is top notch. The set has English language and English subtitles only. No extra's, although in both the very nice packaging includes a cute little pull-out booklet of the episodes and characters. In 2008, when we get through all 50+ episodes from series 1 & 2, we may risk series three despite the very poor DVD picture quality warnings from other reviewers. The expected fourth season of Lost in Space was ironically cancelled despite high ratings, due to Fox's financial disaster with Cleopatra reducing the available budget of Lost in Space to a point where creator, Irwin Allen, refused to continue.

Tive a infeliz surpresa de descobrir que este pack de dvds não pode ser assistido em aparelhos brasileiros. Por se tratar de dvds importados e utilizarem a região 1 que abrange os Estados Unidos, não é possível assistir no Brasil por conta de restrição legal. Acabei ficando com o produto por uma questão de coleção pois sou fã da série. A Amazon deveria advertir os compradores em relação a este problema que, ao meu ver, é grave.