I thought it was an interesting idea done reasonably well until the final act, when things fell apart [as they usually do with this kind of story].

It has a pretty respectable cast for a Sci-Fi Channel production: Peter Krause, Julianna Margulies, Kevin Pollack, Ewen Bremner, Dennis Christopher, April Grace, Chris Bauer, Tim Guinee and Elle Fanning [younger sister of the ubiquitous Dakota]. My favorite character is the guy with the bus ticket who sends people to 'Hell' [i.e. Gallup, New Mexico] whenever he gets into an altercation. When Joe [Krause] lands in Gallup, he sees a sign painted on a wall saying "This isn't Hell. This is Gallup, NM. Bus station that way." :lol:

But good cast aside, they could have gone deeper into the whys and wherefores of the lost room and the objects. And the resolution, when it comes, doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Maybe I missed something, but they seemed to imply one thing and then abandon that implication immediately. And they never really explain the Occupant. Who was he? What happened to him? How did he keep objects away from himself, and if he could keep objects away, why didn't he keep the photograph away?

It made me think once again about how Hollywood is missing out by not exploiting the wealth of great material in the fantasy section of the bookstore. Tim Powers can write this kind of stuff in his sleep and make it deeper and richer than anything a Hollywood screenwriter can come up with.

All three episodes of THE LOST ROOM repeat tomorrow on Sci-Fi [5-11pm PT].

I recorded it, but I'm in no hurry to watch it. Maybe I'll just get the dvd when it comes out (like I did for 'The Triangle') so I won't have to bother fast forwarding through the comercials and won't have to put up those damn commercial inserts that take up a quarter of the screen when you're trying to watch the program.

What would the 'Lost Room' had been like if they had just spread it out over 10-13 episodes as a one-shot series? Maybe they wouldn't have had those last act issues.

With the caveat that I have not seen it but only read reviews (but a close friend gave me his reaction as well), the answer might be: "something like FRIDAY THE 13th: THE SERIES but with an ending."

And here, when I saw the commercial, I though for just a second that there was the teensiest chance it was an updating of the Fitz James O'Brien's weird classic "The Lost Room"!

I suspect the mini was a pitch for a subsequent series. They left things open at the end to continue with it if the ratings were high enough. But would Krause come back? It wouldn't really work without him.