MediaSavant
10-09-2003, 05:03 AM
Hollywood Reporter
Oct. 09, 2003
'Lost in Space' finds home at WB
By Cynthia Littleton
The Robinson clan is headed back into deep space.
The WB Network has given a pilot order to a remake of the Irwin Allen fantasy-adventure drama "Lost in Space" from Fox Television Studios and 20th Century Fox TV. Feature helmer John Woo is on board to executive produce and possibly direct the pilot, while Doug Petrie ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") has been tapped to write the pilot script.
The prospect of revisiting "Lost in Space" piqued the interest of several networks, setting up the unusual situation that saw CBS, ABC and the WB vying for the same project.
Jon Jashni and Kevin Burns are set to executive produce the pilot, along with Petrie and Woo, through the Synthesis Entertainment banner that Jashni and Burns formed in 2001 to oversee revivals of the many TV and film properties controlled by Allen's estate. Synthesis and Woo's Lion Rock Prods. are co-producing with FTS and 20th; Terence Chang and Suzanne Zizzi of Lion Rock will also exec produce.
The new-model "Space" will hew closely to the original series, which ran on CBS from 1965-68, in following the futuristic adventures of the Robinson family and their loyal robot sidekick.
In the original series, Guy Williams and June Lockhart played the heads of a family of three who set out on a five-year mission to explore a distant planet only to find themselves hopelessly lost in space after the controls of the spacecraft are sabotaged by a nefarious scientist who inadvertently winds up going along for the ride.
"We're sticking to Irwin Allen's core vision of a family fighting for its survival in space," Petrie said. "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."
Petrie's enthusiasm for doing an updated version of "Lost" -- this time set in the year 2097 -- helped spur Burns and Jashni to take the project to the marketplace as a series. Synthesis had previously been working with NBC on a two-hour "Lost in Space" telepic that would have been something of a reunion of original series cast members.
But when original "Lost" star Jonathan Harris, who played the malevolent Dr. Smith, died in November, Burns and Jashni decided that there was no way to proceed with the telepic. But when the Synthesis partners met with Petrie to discuss a range of possibilities, the writer sketched out his detailed vision for a series remake.
"When I got to my ideas for Season 4, they said, 'OK, OK, shut up already,' " Petrie said.
The WB, which bid aggressively, is hoping that "Lost" will become another fantasy-action franchise show for the network, even if its audience has no firsthand memory of the original series.
"In the way that 'Smallville' introduced a franchise to a new audience by reinterpreting a classic character, we think 'Lost in Space' has an opportunity to be a real multigenerational family hit."
"Lost in Space" was packaged by Endeavor.
Oct. 09, 2003
'Lost in Space' finds home at WB
By Cynthia Littleton
The Robinson clan is headed back into deep space.
The WB Network has given a pilot order to a remake of the Irwin Allen fantasy-adventure drama "Lost in Space" from Fox Television Studios and 20th Century Fox TV. Feature helmer John Woo is on board to executive produce and possibly direct the pilot, while Doug Petrie ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") has been tapped to write the pilot script.
The prospect of revisiting "Lost in Space" piqued the interest of several networks, setting up the unusual situation that saw CBS, ABC and the WB vying for the same project.
Jon Jashni and Kevin Burns are set to executive produce the pilot, along with Petrie and Woo, through the Synthesis Entertainment banner that Jashni and Burns formed in 2001 to oversee revivals of the many TV and film properties controlled by Allen's estate. Synthesis and Woo's Lion Rock Prods. are co-producing with FTS and 20th; Terence Chang and Suzanne Zizzi of Lion Rock will also exec produce.
The new-model "Space" will hew closely to the original series, which ran on CBS from 1965-68, in following the futuristic adventures of the Robinson family and their loyal robot sidekick.
In the original series, Guy Williams and June Lockhart played the heads of a family of three who set out on a five-year mission to explore a distant planet only to find themselves hopelessly lost in space after the controls of the spacecraft are sabotaged by a nefarious scientist who inadvertently winds up going along for the ride.
"We're sticking to Irwin Allen's core vision of a family fighting for its survival in space," Petrie said. "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."
Petrie's enthusiasm for doing an updated version of "Lost" -- this time set in the year 2097 -- helped spur Burns and Jashni to take the project to the marketplace as a series. Synthesis had previously been working with NBC on a two-hour "Lost in Space" telepic that would have been something of a reunion of original series cast members.
But when original "Lost" star Jonathan Harris, who played the malevolent Dr. Smith, died in November, Burns and Jashni decided that there was no way to proceed with the telepic. But when the Synthesis partners met with Petrie to discuss a range of possibilities, the writer sketched out his detailed vision for a series remake.
"When I got to my ideas for Season 4, they said, 'OK, OK, shut up already,' " Petrie said.
The WB, which bid aggressively, is hoping that "Lost" will become another fantasy-action franchise show for the network, even if its audience has no firsthand memory of the original series.
"In the way that 'Smallville' introduced a franchise to a new audience by reinterpreting a classic character, we think 'Lost in Space' has an opportunity to be a real multigenerational family hit."
"Lost in Space" was packaged by Endeavor.