Dr. John Robinson (William Hurt) cryosuit

The costume of the Archives is the one worn by actor William Hurt as Dr. John Robinson in the movie Lost in Space. It’s a cryosuit worn during takeoff, of the spaceship Jupiter 2, for life support.

The cryosuits are Lost in Space's costume centerpiece and they are form-fitting the actors. They have been made for the space-bound Robinson family (William Hurt, Mimi Rogers, Heather Graham, Lacey Chabert and Jack Johnson) and pilot Maj. Don West (Matt LeBlanc).

The most complex costumes of the movie are the Cryosuits worn by the Robinson family. Stephen Hopkins wanted them machine-like, which presented a huge challenge because they had to be worn for long periods of time by the actors. Burnham wanted to make a key fashion point that you won't see buttons, zippers or buckles in 2058.

To create the latex, formfitting Cryosuits, the actors had to be life cast, standing completely still in fiber glass. It takes about 2 1/2 hours to do the whole body head-to-toe. The designs also had a network of wires which light up sections of the costume. Each day of filming, the costume had to be sealed into the cast with medical glue and then would be unglued with medical solvent for lunch and then be pasted in again. They look great on film, but they are a nightmare to get on since the actors have to be glued into their Cryosuits with medical glue.

Usually actors don't like wearing Burnham designs, because her costumes are almost painfully uncomfortable. They are usually hot or heavy and take ages to get in or out of. For the first fittings, it took 90 minutes to put them in their suits, and in the end we got it down to 20 minutes. The Cryo suits were sculpts by John Coppinger who also worked on Dark Crystal as Creature Design and Fabrication Supervisor and on Star Wars : Episode I The Phantom Menace as Animatronic Model Designer.

Writer: PG

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Jupiter 2 Spacecraft Original Model

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