Titan Books, out now

A poster for every episode of the original Irwin Allen series…

Lost in Space has never held the same attraction for me as Doctor Who or Star Trek – I enjoyed it when I caught episodes as a kid, and found the stories a pleasant way to spend an hour, but I never became engrossed in it. I also liked the 1998 movie – it wasn’t a brilliant film, or a great translation of the original show – and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the Netflix reinvention. What all that preamble means is that, unlike Ortiz’s books on Star Trek and The Next Generation, I don’t know the episode contents sufficiently to be able to judge at first sight whether he’s worked with themes within them, deliberately done something counterintuitive, or simply allowed his own imagination to wander.

That’s actually very freeing, as it meant I was assessing the art purely as posters, designed to grab the viewer’s interest, rather than as adjuncts to a TV episode. Yes, there are certain ones that will never be forgotten – The Great Vegetable Rebellion receives a very suitable treatment! – and there are others whose rendition in art makes me want to grab the DVDs off the shelf and see if the episode can live up to the ideas present. The styles are incredibly varied – from 1950s pop art to the sort of covers for TV tie ins, to homages to comics geniuses; pulp meeting high art. Which is not a bad definition of Lost in Space itself, when I think of it…

There are a couple of bonus posters at the end – but sadly nothing for either the 1998 movie or the Netflix incarnation.

Verdict: A highly imaginative reinterpretation of the classic show. 8/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to order Lost in Space: The Art of Juan Ortiz from Amazon.co.uk