How “Lost in Space” Has Mastered the Art of the Reboot
If I had a dollar for every reboot announced in the past decade, I might have enough money to concoct a few choice reboots of my own.
At this point, any movie that garnered enough original success is susceptible to being remade, revamped, and rebooted.
Yes, there are differences:
Not all reboots are bad though, I guess. Star Trek Beyond, released in 2016, was the third installment in the rebooted series of Star Trek films, and critics praised and welcomed it with open arms.
You don’t even have to be a freak or geek (though that is kinda in these days) to have heard of Star Trek. It’s been lauded as one of the greatest pieces of science fiction ever created, and it’s gone on to have a boatload of spinoffs and revivals.
And for good reason—its creator Gene Roddenberry was passionate about creating episodes that would blend exciting intergalactic fiction with moral tales which have Star Trek a dual appeal. It was revolutionary for its time, using otherworldly allegories to bring public awareness to global issues.
However, it actually debuted on the heels of another product of the space opera sub-genre: Lost in Space.
LOST IN SPACE
First airing in 1965, Lost in Space launched one year before Star Trek. Unfortunately, even with a head start advantage, Lost in Space would never develop the cult fan base that Star Trek amassed when the reruns of the latter began airing globally. Instead, it would fade quietly into the shadows, never to be seen again.
Or, uh, would it?
Let's Take it Back to 1965.
Star Trek has yet to debut and leave its mark on television history. The Twilight Zone wrapped up the year prior, carving out the grown-up science fiction niche, only to leave it empty once again following its final episode.
Squeezing into this gap was Lost in Space.
Lost in Space ran for three seasons, airing between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. It was inspired by Johan David Wyss' 1812 novel The Swiss Family Robinson and a Gold Key comic book titled Space Family Robinson—also inspired from the aforementioned novel.
It follows the Robinson family, who have been selected as the first family to leave the overpopulated Earth and travel to a new habitable planet. However, a stowaway named Dr. Smith sabotages their mission and leads their spaceship to crash on an alien planet. The family, Dr. Smith, and the ship's captain, Don West, then tackle the galactic adventures that follow together.
The original Lost in Space had quite an interesting journey of its own. The first season was filmed in black and white and, according to a handful of the actors, had a much darker tone.
The show had attracted a large number of younger viewers, and the network worried the show’s initial approach was too grim and scary for children. At the request of CBS, the second season was lighter.
The show’s antagonist Dr. Smith became a main character and served as a source of comedy. To compete with ABC’s Batman for viewers, Lost in Space became campy and leaned into absurd storylines and over-the-top characters. The third season followed suit, but before it could reach a fourth season, CBS canceled it due to increasing production costs.
Hidden in the shadow of Star Trek's wild success, with only three seasons to its name, Lost in Space was left to fade away.
That is, until 1998.
On the cusp of the millenium, Lost in Space returned as a movie.
It’s reception, however, was anything but stellar. Critics called out its hollow, lifeless characters and the directionless storyline.
It seems as though director Stephen Hopkins and lead screenwriter Akiva Goldsman didn’t quite know where they wanted to take the film. Should they turn it into a somber sci-fi thriller? Or should they embrace the nostalgic campiness and comedy of the show’s later seasons?
It’s pretty clear even from the film’s trailer that they never made a firm decision. While the special effects were acknowledged by a handful of critics, the few action scenes couldn’t make up for the movie’s flimsy storyline and poorly written dialogue.
Lost in Space was once again forgotten.
But you know what they say…
Third time’s the charm.
Now, let’s get this out of the way: Reboots get people heated.
And for good reason–they're pretty hit or miss. The act of playing necromancer and resurrecting dead media is delicate, dangerous. For creators, it’s a balancing act–make sure you don’t piss off fans of the original and also avoid alienating new fans.
In 2015, Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless set out to do just that.
NETFLIX’s version of Lost in Space
Their Lost in Space reboot was picked up by Netflix while it was still in its development stage, with Zach Estrin joining the team as showrunner, and the streaming service announced that the first season would premiere in 2018 with 10 hour-long episodes.
The first season was met with primarily positive feedback. Critics praised the special effects and its alluring production design, though there was some criticism of the pacing and the questionable choices the characters often made.
I can sympathize with that. When I first watched the first season, I had to push myself through the initial episodes, invested in the story but woefully disenamored with the characters.
However, the more I watched, the more they grew on me. Upon rewatching the first few episodes, it’s clear that they had to be a bit dislikable from the start. How else would they have room to develop further down the line?
In contrast to the original, which opens in a space center where the Robinsons are preparing to board their ship, Netflix’s Lost in Space drops you right into the thick of it. Not only do the Robinsons crash land on a foreign planet, but they’re also dealing with interpersonal drama. The family is heavily fractured, and while this makes their actions pretty annoying at times, it also helps to humanize them–a quality that sci-fi protagonists often lack.
Though they’re not all that relatable. The family is made up of geniuses, and it’s easy to get a bit lost when they start throwing scientific million dollar words into their conversations.
There’s clearly been some thought put into diversifying and modernizing the characters, however, which certainly makes it more engaging. The mother, Maureen Robinson, is a great (albeit slightly predictable) example. In the original series she was a biochemist, but she was primarily seen fulfilling traditional housewife duties–cooking, cleaning, etc. In the new series she’s a rocket scientist, constantly saving the day with her problem-solving skills and foresight.
The development of Judy, the eldest Robinson child, is another step towards adding depth and diversity to the cast. In the original, she’s a blonde-haired, blue-eyed 19 year-old with a passion for acting and singing. In the reboot, she’s a young black girl with leadership skills, no shortage of ambition, and a medical license–all at the humble age of 18.
Even the supporting characters have been modified to fit with the more modern narrative. Don West, who acted as the ship’s pilot in the original, is now a scrappy engineer with a secret smuggling side hustle.
Though the most interesting character shifts are undoubtedly seen in the characters of Dr. Smith and “Robot.” The original Dr. Zachary Smith was a scientist and enemy agent working for a foreign government, and his failed sabotage of the Robinsons’ ship left him stranded in space with them.
The new Dr. Smith isn’t a doctor at all–or even a man, for that matter. She’s a con artist, stowaway, and the morally ambiguous character that every sci-fi show needs to succeed.
The Robot goes hand-in-hand with Smith’s character. In the original series, the duo were famous for their bickering and pieces of that dynamic seem to translate over to the reboot. However, Netflix’s Robot is less communicative than its predecessor and less forthcoming about its intentions, which is what drives much of Smith’s animosity towards it.
Unlike the original Robot, this new incarnation isn’t used as a source of comedy, utters only a few phrases throughout the entire series, and doesn't have a pre-established spot on the Robinsons’ ship. The creators have managed to create such a complex and beautiful character without stripping it of its identity as a machine, and it’s a very clever way of exploring the contemporary discussion surrounding AI and its potential to develop consciousness, as well as our responsibilities as humans towards the tech we create and rely on.
Okay, so it’s more progressive than the original, the characters are more developed, blah blah blah…
But why exactly is it such a great example of a reboot? What does it hold over other reboots, like Fuller House or the recently released And Just Like That?
Well, as much as people moan that they want to see more of this character or that character from an original series, they really don’t. After all, series usually cap for a reason–the writers have told their story, and they’re happy with how they’ve wrapped everything up.
Reboots that follow the same formula as the original are doomed to fail because there’s nothing new, there’s nothing engaging. If you shove the same old personalities into a reboot, you run the risk of not only boring your audience to death but also ruining beloved characters.
Lost in Space evolved.
See, the line between science fiction and reality is constantly blurring. In fact, writer Burk Sharpless even commented in an interview that the story came easily because “if you just try to do what [scientists] are almost doing now, it can almost seem so cutting-edge that it creates a really exciting fictional world.”
The Lost in Space writers have managed to create something that appeals to today’s audiences and still manages to embody the fantasy and extraordinary discoveries of the original. The reboot takes the quintessential elements of the original–family unity, an epic space voyage, and a quirky set of side characters–and gives them new life from a contemporary perspective. They’ve reimagined the classic space opera and created a cosmic story that really doesn’t feel all that distant after all.
Bravo, bravo.
