Lost in Space: Transmission
April 19, 2018 8:28 AM - Season 1, Episode 5 - Subscribe

As the team builds a tower to signal the Resolute, Maureen investigates a planetary anomaly, and Will braces for a tough conversation with his dad.
posted by sammyo (8 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
As infuriatingly stoopeed that after wandering off to a cave on an unexplored planet and the only thing the kids are worried about is being grounded if the parents find out is the responsible parent driving off to a cliff by herself...

But the John Williams theme music makes up for all the silliness.

There does seem like there was some last minute editing that cut out chunks where the family makes contact with the other survivors, which was just probably really boring, so better to have lack of continuity than dreary. In the previous episode there was a minor glitch where the letter was in and out of Pennys hands in sequential cuts.
posted by sammyo at 8:36 AM on April 19, 2018


So what do we figure the mom noticed from the balloon? Sunspots? Or the planet is in a decaying orbit?

For practical reasons, it has to be bad. Because if the worst thing that happens if the Resolute never sees them is a decent-sized and semi-diverse band of humans starts a new civilization on a wooded planet that looks a lot like the woods outside of Vancouver (as a disproportionately large chunk of tv/film planets do), then that is not such a big scary thing.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:53 AM on April 20, 2018


I keep thinking Pa Robinson is Doctor Cox.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 7:12 PM on April 20, 2018 [4 favorites]


> So what do we figure the mom noticed from the balloon? Sunspots? Or the planet is in a decaying orbit?

The UI overlay said "Hawking radiation", so there's a black hole there.
posted by kandinski at 12:49 AM on April 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


There does seem like there was some last minute editing that cut out chunks where the family makes contact with the other survivors, which was just probably really boring, so better to have lack of continuity than dreary

See, to me, that led to a really abrupt story shift, where for the first three and 1/2 episodes the plot (for both the Robinsons & Don West/Dr. Smith) was largely driven by, "Who else has survived and where are they?", and then without really any explanation or development halfway through the previous episode the kids are so blasé about other humans that they actually hide, and then BAM this episode has a whole crew wandering around halfway through a major salvage and building project.

I mean, I get that you don't have time to show every little detail (and IMO it's from this episode on that things really improve - the Robinsons as a whole are more likable interacting with other people & figuring out how to balance their family & individual needs against the needs and desires of others rather than just carping at each other in isolation), but it did feel like an abrupt turn from one plot to another.
posted by soundguy99 at 6:26 AM on April 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


So, is anyone able to elucidate for me Dr. Smith's motivation(s)? I must be missing something and she's not just chaotic evil in the midst of, like, an actual emergency in which she too is probably gonna die horribly. Every time she starts scheming I'm just sitting there going, "But why?! What is she trying to accomplish?"
posted by soren_lorensen at 4:22 PM on April 23, 2018


I must be missing something and she's not just chaotic evil

I think she kinda is though - in the sense that she's basically a sociopath but a "disorganized" one. So she's constantly doing things that are in her best interest in the immediate moment - stealing her sister's identity because "Fuck you, sis, I'm the one who deserves a fresh start on a new planet", shoving her sister's lover out the airlock because he discovered that she wasn't her sister, stealing the real Dr. Smith's identity & tech to get her into the nearest Jupiter module away from the robot attack, etc. etc. - and then has to scramble to cover her ass and deal with the consequences of her actions, which she often seems to be utterly surprised by.

Like, stealing Don's last flare & the gun makes perfect sense to her at the time - with a massive storm on the way and no real shelter, the way to maximize the chances of her own survival is to abandon Don, who won't abandon the comatose Angela, and strike out on her own to either look for better shelter or see if she can find other survivors, and she needs a way to signal any other survivors she encounters. Then when it turns out Don has survived the storm and no longer trusts her, she has to quickly figure out how to spin things so that people start wondering whether Don is trustworthy and forget their distrust or suspicions of her.

IOW, mostly (so far) she's reacting more than anything else, and mostly what she's trying to accomplish is "get out of immediate trouble."
posted by soundguy99 at 9:24 AM on April 24, 2018


I must be missing something and she's not just chaotic evil

She wants to seize control of the robot so she can fight her way back onto the Resolute. She turned off the perimeter so that the lizards would come in, to get Will to release the robot from his ‘don’t hurt anyone ever command’. She’ll need to figure out how to control the robot, next.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 9:59 PM on April 24, 2018


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