The other day we were scanning the list of new shows to appear on TV this year.

To be honest, we weren’t taking that much notice, for it is a fair bet that we won’t be tuning into to many of them, especially those appearing on free-to-air. There was the usual fare – police and legal dramas, reality garbage and probably another documentary about Lady Di.

However, one notation caught our eye. Lost In Space is back. Well, not the epic Lost In Space from our youth. This will be a reboot of the series.

This has raised some real concerns, at least for this correspondent.

The original Lost In Space remains one of the great TV series of the 1960s. For those unaware, it concerned the travails of the Robinson family, who, as the title suggests, were lost in space. It was required viewing when we were young, back in the black and white television days.

It’s been repeated about a million times since and in fact, it’s probably still going the rounds in one of the multitude of channels on PayTV.

Lost In Space was, as we TV critics like to say, a classic of its genre. Real TV critics probably even know what ‘classic of its genre’ actually means.

Dr Zachary Smith remains one of our heroes. 

He was the villain of the show and he also had the best lines:

“Never fear Smith is here”,’ “You bubble-headed booby”,’ and the immortal “Oh the pain, the pain.’’

Yes, Lost In Space (LIS) was the complete TV package. Especially when you threw the magnificent Judy Robinson, the elder Robinson daughter, into the mix.

So will the 2018 version of Lost In Space measure up? 

We’ve always believed it is a folly to try and improve on perfection. Would anyone be silly enough to attempt a remake of Get Smart, for instance. Or F-Troop?

We’ve sat through a couple of Get Smart movies over the years and all were tragically bad. There was only one Agent 86, just as there can only be one Dr Zachary Smith.

The makers of the new Lost In Space promise it will have a dark side, whatever that means. 

Someone with the unlikely name of Parker Posey will be playing Dr Smith and that doesn’t sound too promising at all. 

Adding to the concern is the fact The Robot will appear in a modified form. Again, whatever that means.

Apparently there’s no guarantee it’ll be shown in Australia, for it hasn’t been purchased yet, according to the report we read last week. 

That’s probably a good thing, so we can remember the original Lost In Space for the brilliant series that it was.

We don’t want any limp 21st century imitations.

To borrow from The Robot, ‘Danger, danger Will Robinson.’