The Adventures of Swiss Family Robinson

Binge watched all 30 episodes over the Easter weekend mostly because I enjoy watching Richard Thomas act. The episodes were filled with excellent storylines and adventures that built upon the Disney movie version I saw and loved as a child.

Loved that their faith and reliance in God was unfiltered and bold and the patriarch of the family was intelligent, a leader and was respected.

Wonderful supporting cast. Mr. Thomas and the actress wife embodied the strength and love of his Waltons parents. And the fact that family was the most important thing and worth fighting for regardless of color or creed (or even species).

Dealt with societal prejudices and equity among different cultures and classes and even legal corruption which surprised me since I was thinking it was just going to be about survival on the island.

For family watching an absolute winner all the way with lots of life lessons.

Johann Wyss' original "Swiss Family Robinson" (1812) has been so popular that many have copied it in whole or in part over the decades. That includes a number of movies and TV productions. But I don't think there's been a single video story that has followed the family cast as Wyss wrote it – a father, a mother and four sons. That's curious, because I think the original book cast would make the adventures quite interesting. We can reflect on films made about Mark Twain stories as examples – Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer.

This TV series from 1998 has some of the original premise about a shipwrecked family, and a protagonist bad man from the shipwreck. But the similarities end there. Perhaps the addition of two daughters and elimination of two of the sons was meant to build more interest for female viewers. I don't object to an all new family, but then the cast should be very good and the script excellent. Unfortunately, this series doesn't have very good acting at all – Richard Thomas included. And the script and direction are quite poor.

In spite of the outdoors scenery and shooting, this series still had a stagy sense about it. As another review commented, I also had a DVD with just a few of the episodes. It was supposed to be 30 installments of half an hour (more like fewer than 25 minutes with commercials and recaps of previous episodes). But, some of the descriptions of those episodes make me wonder if they ever were produced. It seems that the series was dropped before the end of its first season run – or for sure by the end of that season. My guess is that it didn't go over very well. Has there ever been a film in the past in which the natives were so beefy? They might at least have tried to find some slim, muscular men to play the parts of the island natives.

The original story was a very entertaining piece of fiction – along the lines of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "Journey to the Center of the Earth," and similar stories that combine adventure with a little science-fiction. I think this would be a good story to recreate as originally written with a first-rate cast and some of the unusual, fictitious plants and creatures.

This TV series was made as a family program, but I think it would soon put the older family members to sleep, and the younger ones would soon drift away from the TV to play games or do homework.

How do you survive on a deserted island when you're used to being served? That's what this series is all about. It takes us to a normal family in Boston many years ago. Back then in Boston people aren't equal. All people have their certain place and it has to stay that way, but once the family is shipwrecked and has to fight for their lives all the rules seem to change and even disappear. They develop friendships with people who are less important than them according to Boston's standards, they have adventures, survive illnesses, find love and have experiences that changes them forever. The series is sometimes a bit naive and moralistic but in the end it has a few lessons that some people seem to forget: love and friendship stand way above all society's rules and standards. It is that lesson that made me love watching this series. It's great for children, but I'm sure some of the older members of the family will enjoy watching this too!

New to DVD, you can find the complete series set of this fun family adventure series at your local Best Buy. Based on the classic novel, Richard Thomas (John Boy of The Waltons) heads a cast of unknowns in this castaway adventure, playing the patriarch to the Robinson clan as they struggle to survive pirates, wildlife, weather, disease and each other on their mysterious island. Their adventures are simple enough yet fun to watch. It's obvious that the show was made on a low budget for syndication purposes, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment. If anything, I found it enhanced the viewing as kind of a pure guilty pleasure. Basically, it's good wholesome family entertainment, just don't look for Shakespeare here.

The only other actor American audiences might recognize is Kieren Hutchison, who plays oldest son Ernst. Hutchison had a recurring guest role on One Tree Hill as the Australian boyfriend to the mother of Chad Michael Murray's character. However, my favorite character ended up being Ben, played by Gareth Howells, the reluctant accomplice of the series' main villain. I found myself really falling in love with this lost soul, who is caught between following the wrong path while longing to do what's right. Howells was a revelation, and I hope to see him in other productions in the future.

The show plays out in ten separate story arcs of three episodes each, for a total of 30 episodes, and wraps up nicely in the end. Not sure if that was planned from the start, but appreciated it for its nice overall story. Oh, and the settings are absolutely breath-taking. I'd love to be trapped on this island with the Robinsons...

-Dane Hill

Terrible writingVery contrived and simplistic. It's also funny that they have two daughters that have accents from Australia or New Zealand when they are supposed to be from Boston. they have had numerous chances to eliminate the bad guy but have failed to do so and they keep carrying on as if theyHaven't a care in the world even tho The bad guy keeps coming back over and over again they have made no real provisions to protectThemselves from this danger. and no one has yet put their foot down as to the antics of Annie the Chinese pre-Madonna refuses to do anything except for her self.