The reason the original Lost in Space is so loved and revisited decades after its launch is certainly not the special effects, which add up to lots of tinfoil and cheesy 60' style painted sets.

Its the unintentionally camp but nonetheless inviting warmth of the family dynamic and the humour found in the original series that makes it so appealing. In the latter instance , the show stealing comedy routine that underlined the relationship between the robot and Dr Smith.

By contrast, the latest attempt to reinvigorate this series is yet another flop. The family dynamic is flawed. The hubby character is a military industrial complex weirdo. A beardy knife toting, coldly distant paranoid. He's matched up with a wife who is estranged from him and seems to be in a semi permanent state of black rings under the eyes, washed out, nervous anxiety. The children don't get along that well either and the son, the only character I could relate to, is isolated by his weirdo parents. Poor kid.

All in all, if this is a statement on the modern 21st century family, then God help us all. The abysmal familial chemistry is not helped by equally weird and unlikable peripheral characters, like the creepy female Dr Smith and the dismal decision to turn the robot into a disturbing cybernetic alien.

The narrative is as bland and uninteresting as the characterisations resulting in a over riding sense of "meh". Suffice to say I hope Lost in Space 2018 stays lost after the first tedious season.

Update. Season two is no better than one. Visually interesting but in every other respect downright boring.

4/10 from me.