The experts on the panel were Karen Halliwell, from Jim Henson's Creature Workshop, Alan Marques, from the Magic Camera Company, and Bill Scanlon, from Film Factory. Each represented a different part of the Special Effects Crew that worked on the film, but before the discussion the latest trailer flown in from U.S.A. was shown. WOW. This received a ripple of applause from the mainly industry audience.

     Alan Marques started by crediting the 80 people who worked on the miniatures for the film, which included the landscapes, which were so large that they used half an old Unigate Dairy to build them in. The various Jupiter 2 models ranged from 3 inches to 12 feet across, the later pulled by a Range Rover for the crash sequence. However, the two models of the Proteus were each 25 feet long- one being filmed for explosions and overlaid on the other.

     Karen talked firstly about the Robot which the tech-heads, (her words), at the Creature Workshop had built. The result was a 2-ton robot, which many people feared would kill someone. She also talked about the cute alien, (the Blawp), which was supposed to have been a puppet for close-ups. Unfortunately, the result was so shoddy that the company decided to computer animate the creature. The Workshop bid to do this work, and up against I.L.M., they won the contract.

     Then Bill Scanlon talked about the C.G.I. work that his company did to animate the alien spiders. These infect Dr. Smith, (Gary Oldman), who starts to mutate into a strange half-human half-spider creature. These he could talk about but not show us. After trying to put Garry through 5 hours of make-up for this part, it was decided to create a digital face using 30 motion capture sensors applied to the actor's face.

     Ms. Halliwell then had a show-reel played which took us through the development of the computerised Blawp. When the film was first designed, it was going to have a 'seventies kitsch look- all bright colours. Come the filming, it was given a dark feel, though the Blawp remained a gaudy Lizard-Monkey that changes colours depending on its moods. Two short clips from the movie had been cleared for us to watch, so that we could see the Blawp in situ.

     'Lost in Space' has the most effects of any film ever made in the U.K., the same number as in 'Starship Troupers'. While that film took 3 years to make, 'Lost in Space' only took 1 year, a triumph for the British Movie Industry.

Reviewed by Suzy Kuba.