Help from Bava Loyalist & Myst Moonstruck: was Irwing Allen far better than Spielberg?

Question

THE LOST WORLD movies - which versions do you mostly prefer as the best one? a little help from filmexperts like Mystmoonstruck & Bava Loyalist (frightfilm-watchers)

why is the Irwin Allen´s old version 1961 not available anymore on VHS or DVD format?

was Irwin Allen far better than Spielberg?http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054038/

Answer 1

No, Irwin Allen is not better than Steven Spielberg. The main reason is that Allen never truly understood what makes science fiction work. He could come up with all sorts of ideas, and he certainly entertained us, but it simply isn't very good science fiction. He proved his inability to work with sci fi concepts in his TV series. While they started out all right, it didn't take long for them to dwindle to complete goofiness, embarrassingly bad episodes that went beyond camp. It's as if he never gets it, not the way others did. Glen Larson is another one who could come up with ideas but simply couldn't follow through successfully.

Steven Spielberg wins against Irwin Allen. However, I think we're going to continue to enjoy Allen's movies and series for decades to come. He succeeded in entertaining us, right?! The same can be said for Larson's productions I suppose.

EDIT: I noticed your reference to "Lost World". Those two films can't be compared actually because they dealt with two novels. Allen's "The Lost World" is based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel of the same name. "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" is based on Michael Crichton's novel "The Lost World". Thus, you would have to compare Allen's version to the Silent film or perhaps the made-for-TV versions. That actually wouldn't be a fair comparison either if you're referring to the 2001 miniseries, with its wonderful usage of CGI. To me, that is an exceptional interpretation of the novel.

As for Allen's "The Lost World", the Fox Channel airs it fairly often, so I'd be surprised if it's not available out there. BTW, I saw that one in the movie theater when I was about 9 years old and recall wishing that they had used dinosaurs as in "King Kong" (1933); the lizards just weren't as satisfying. Still, it gave me a redhead to identify with, AND she wears pink! I loved red, pink and purple, and fashionistas insisted that redheads shouldn't wear those colors. So, Jill was one who gave me courage to flaunt that rule! She even has a pink poodle. *giggle*

WOW! I just checked, and Amazon.com has a special edition of the 1925 and 1960 versions!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SAG...

Here's the same offer at Target:

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/602...

EDIT 2: About the time David Hedison was on TV in "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", my half-aunt met a young man she'd end up marrying. When my sister and I saw him, we looked at each other and said, "He looks like David Hedison!" All these years later, he still looks exactly like that handsome actor.