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| Where it all began (except that it began in black and white.) |
There are so many reboots these days, and Irwin Allen's classic 1965 scifi
family soap Lost in Space - recounting the oddly domestic adventures of the space-stranded Robinson family, their hunky pilot Don West, comedy villain Dr Zachary Smith and an unhelpfully excitable robot - has already
had one; or two if you count a failed 2004 pilot as well as the 1998 feature
film, with Matt LeBlanc reinterpreting upright 60s chauvinist Don as 'Joey-from-Friends' in Space. Repeats of the original were a part of my childhood landscape, so I have a certain fondness for the property, and
for my money the film at least shouldn't count against the possibility of a new
version, since it was both bad and highly forgettable(1), so I'm excited to see what Netflix makes of the property.
What they make of it is a gritty, SF survival drama, eschewing the somewhat cosy affects of the original, while keeping the optimistic family togetherness vibe and occasionally inappropriately upbeat theme tune. In a near future in which the world is going to shit, the Robinson
family are part of an interstellar colony mission which hits rough skating and a possible wormhole. The family consists of
engineer Dr Maureen Robinson and her three children - Judy, an eighteen-year-old
medical prodigy; Penny, a more conventionally troubled teen; and Will, who
against the tendency of prior versions is a modestly intelligent boy who
questions his place alongside his more gifted siblings - as well as her somewhat
estranged husband, military man John.
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| The new hotness. |
When something goes badly wrong with the
colony transport, Resolute, they evacuate on their lifeboat, Jupiter-2(2), and crash on
an unknown planet. Across the opening episodes they learn that not only are
they off course; they seem to be in the wrong galaxy. The Robinsons struggle to survive freezing conditions with the Jupiter submerged. Will is separated
from the family while searching for magnesium to melt Judy out of a glacier and
runs into a damaged alien robot. At first hostile, after he helps it self
repair, it assumes a more human form and seems to imprint on Will as its
master. A flashback shows us that the robot attacked the colony ship, the Resolute, during which attack a sociopathic
identity thief adopted the identity of one Dr Z. Smith (the original played by
original Will Robinson Bill Mumy.) She came down with engineer Don West, later
ditching him to improve her own chances and hooking up with the Robinsons during a rain of deadly, falling diamonds.
And then there are fuel-eating space eels! Because of course there are.
With a strong, diverse cast - Judy is half-sister to the younger
Robinsons and step-daughter to John, played by Taylor Russell(3), and Don is Hispanic,
as well as Parker Posey's Dr Smith making the main cast 50/50 male and female,
if you count the robot as male based on the voice actor for its three words of
dialogue(4) - and a much stronger range of characters than the original, in
which Maureen and Judy Robinson basically made meals and gushed over John and
Don respectively. In this version, each of the character has earned a place on the colony mission, so
they all have skills; apart from Smith, who is a phoney, and Will, whose place
was wangled by his mum bending some rules. Not sure what's going to come of
that, but it must be something.
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| 'Danger, Will Robinson.' It's the new 'I am Groot.' |
Three episodes in, and Lost in
Space is definitely justifying my investment.
(1) Apart from the Apollo-440 remix of the theme music; that was baller.
(2) In this series, the lifeboats are all Jupiters.
(3) And don't think that there hasn't been the usual furore about having
a mixed-race family. Blah, blah, diversity for the sake of it, blah, blah.
(4) Yes, those three.
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