Get Lost!
Once in a while a show on the Sci-Fi Channel can rise above the normal of average junk that pervades the television landscape. Even less often do we get a little gem of television viewing that is borderline masterpiece.
The stuff of the literary.
If you managed to catch “The Lost Room” on this particular channel that specializes in the bizarre, then you already know about the Objects, The Collectors and the Events which surround this six episode series. However, the largest impact this series has made is its idea. The concept of it is very simple.
Yet the writing takes you further down into the strange universe where things don’t seem the way they are. And the more you explore, the further you dig into the mythos, the stranger it gets. It is a crazy mix of the Twilight Zone and Ray Bradbury in disguise. And you don’t find stuff this good on the Sci-Fi channel.
If you didn’t see it on the original channel, you can also find it on the shelves of nearly any DVD rental store. It’s worth seeing where television can become a literary media.
Peter Krause plays detective Joe Miller who finds a lost room that almost acts like a black hole that cuts through different dimensions or follows snaking routes to any place in the world. It is a travel device. And the only way you can find this room is through using a motel key designated number “10” on the tag.
But he loses his daughter Anna in a middle of a custody battle, and while Joe fights some unseemly bunch of guys, when she escapes into the lost room where she vanishes forever. She becomes a ghosts that goes missing and her father must find a way to get to her. In many ways, that is the only thing which matters to him. His daughter means the world to him.
When the detective digs deeper into the mystery of the key and the room, he finds himself almost forced into another world that seems to coincide with the real world. There is a different world with objects that offers different properties. These objects somehow find their way from the motel room and don’t work like ordinary things. The key, found by the detective, can unlock the room. Along with almost any other door. Another object, such as a pen, can destroy anything by burning them up like a fiery ball. The list goes on with different objects.
There is a calmness about the detective Joe Miller as played by the dependable Krause. He maintains a balance. He doesn’t go over the edge like some of the other people who are also looking for the objects for unlimited power. Perhaps this is what sets him apart from the other people. He keeps focused on his daughter. That’s what keeps him anchored to sanity. The other people are interested simply for gaining control or power over others.
It becomes a battlefield out there for the possession of the objects. And it does get a little crazy out there. There are three splits of groups searching for the divine-inspired things: the collectors, the legion and the order. There are many theories to what the objects are. Some believe they are pieces of God that needs to be placed together to restore the supreme being. No one knows for sure.
Throughout the search, Joe does find creative ways of using the objects in his ever driven search for his daughter. And that’s all he wants. Many congratulations are in order for the actor Kevin Pollack who is best known for his many campy impersonations of William Shatner on different comedy shows. But here he is in a far more serious dramatic role. He plays a wealthy man Kreutzfeld who uses money to collect the objects and uses a variety of pawn shops to acquire such things.
He is doing this so he can bring back his son who is dying of leukemia. He isn’t a bad man because he has sincere intentions. But he lets his notions get the better of him as he becomes more reckless and disregard everything else simply so he could bring back his son to perfect health.
There’s some beautiful writing. And clever ways which Joe Miller uses things like the comb and the photo to get much closer to his daughter. There is a feeling of the literary while watching this show. And you get a thought that keeps telling you, “I can’t believe this was shown on Sci-Fi Channel.” And it was.
Also there’s a lot of nice strings or storylines involving other characters such as Dr. Martin Ruber who is played by Dennis Christopher… he can be seen as a flip-side of Joe Miller, the destructive and bad version of this good person. He wants to steal the spotlight in spite of everything including his life, money and wife. Yet, interestingly enough, the story makes a nice round off at the end when his character is designated as the prophet.
It gives the idea that perhaps they may make a second part of stories involving the Lost Room. Because the series does leave an open ending. And it does let you question more rather than find any answers. It’s like a book without a final chapter in which you have to write. Perhaps there will be more stories involving Ruber’s ascendency to Godhood. It could make for some interesting sequel. Then again this is a series that is an enigma. It might just leave it at that.
This is a remarkably inventive series that breaks some new grounds with television. What starts as a simple idea such as a lost room becomes a complex tale of deceit and ambiguity. Of good and evil. There are balances and oppositions. But in the heart of it all is a maze where people can go through to find their true selves. Joe Miller managed to reach his goal without becoming involved with the cosmic war of objects.
For the others, they should beware. Some things are better left untouched.
The stuff of the literary.
If you managed to catch “The Lost Room” on this particular channel that specializes in the bizarre, then you already know about the Objects, The Collectors and the Events which surround this six episode series. However, the largest impact this series has made is its idea. The concept of it is very simple.
Yet the writing takes you further down into the strange universe where things don’t seem the way they are. And the more you explore, the further you dig into the mythos, the stranger it gets. It is a crazy mix of the Twilight Zone and Ray Bradbury in disguise. And you don’t find stuff this good on the Sci-Fi channel.
If you didn’t see it on the original channel, you can also find it on the shelves of nearly any DVD rental store. It’s worth seeing where television can become a literary media.
Peter Krause plays detective Joe Miller who finds a lost room that almost acts like a black hole that cuts through different dimensions or follows snaking routes to any place in the world. It is a travel device. And the only way you can find this room is through using a motel key designated number “10” on the tag.
But he loses his daughter Anna in a middle of a custody battle, and while Joe fights some unseemly bunch of guys, when she escapes into the lost room where she vanishes forever. She becomes a ghosts that goes missing and her father must find a way to get to her. In many ways, that is the only thing which matters to him. His daughter means the world to him.
When the detective digs deeper into the mystery of the key and the room, he finds himself almost forced into another world that seems to coincide with the real world. There is a different world with objects that offers different properties. These objects somehow find their way from the motel room and don’t work like ordinary things. The key, found by the detective, can unlock the room. Along with almost any other door. Another object, such as a pen, can destroy anything by burning them up like a fiery ball. The list goes on with different objects.
There is a calmness about the detective Joe Miller as played by the dependable Krause. He maintains a balance. He doesn’t go over the edge like some of the other people who are also looking for the objects for unlimited power. Perhaps this is what sets him apart from the other people. He keeps focused on his daughter. That’s what keeps him anchored to sanity. The other people are interested simply for gaining control or power over others.
It becomes a battlefield out there for the possession of the objects. And it does get a little crazy out there. There are three splits of groups searching for the divine-inspired things: the collectors, the legion and the order. There are many theories to what the objects are. Some believe they are pieces of God that needs to be placed together to restore the supreme being. No one knows for sure.
Throughout the search, Joe does find creative ways of using the objects in his ever driven search for his daughter. And that’s all he wants. Many congratulations are in order for the actor Kevin Pollack who is best known for his many campy impersonations of William Shatner on different comedy shows. But here he is in a far more serious dramatic role. He plays a wealthy man Kreutzfeld who uses money to collect the objects and uses a variety of pawn shops to acquire such things.
He is doing this so he can bring back his son who is dying of leukemia. He isn’t a bad man because he has sincere intentions. But he lets his notions get the better of him as he becomes more reckless and disregard everything else simply so he could bring back his son to perfect health.
There’s some beautiful writing. And clever ways which Joe Miller uses things like the comb and the photo to get much closer to his daughter. There is a feeling of the literary while watching this show. And you get a thought that keeps telling you, “I can’t believe this was shown on Sci-Fi Channel.” And it was.
Also there’s a lot of nice strings or storylines involving other characters such as Dr. Martin Ruber who is played by Dennis Christopher… he can be seen as a flip-side of Joe Miller, the destructive and bad version of this good person. He wants to steal the spotlight in spite of everything including his life, money and wife. Yet, interestingly enough, the story makes a nice round off at the end when his character is designated as the prophet.
It gives the idea that perhaps they may make a second part of stories involving the Lost Room. Because the series does leave an open ending. And it does let you question more rather than find any answers. It’s like a book without a final chapter in which you have to write. Perhaps there will be more stories involving Ruber’s ascendency to Godhood. It could make for some interesting sequel. Then again this is a series that is an enigma. It might just leave it at that.
This is a remarkably inventive series that breaks some new grounds with television. What starts as a simple idea such as a lost room becomes a complex tale of deceit and ambiguity. Of good and evil. There are balances and oppositions. But in the heart of it all is a maze where people can go through to find their true selves. Joe Miller managed to reach his goal without becoming involved with the cosmic war of objects.
For the others, they should beware. Some things are better left untouched.
posted by K.M. Paters at 11:03 AM
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