‘Lost in Space’ aired on Netflix on Friday April 13th.
Toby was out and about during April promoting ‘Lost in Space’ at various ComicCons. He attended the MEFCC (Middle East Film & Comic Con) in Dubai for Q&A’s and photo and signing sessions at the Dubai Trade Centre from April 5th to 7th.
He was also spotted in the UAE where he was planning to spend the evening relaxing with a “simple massage”.
Then on to Tokyo, and back at Anaheim for WonderCon.
A mixed selection of reviews, but on the whole positive. Digital Spy commented that Toby had “shone previously in BBC Two's fantastic-but-short-lived Vexed and up against Brosnan's Bond in Die Another Day but, so far, he's not been given the chance to show off his considerable comedic skills or much charm.” Hmmm. Debatable.
cnet.com meanwhile commented that “Stephens perfectly plays John Robinson, the dad who's always away and wants back into the life of his wife and kids. While he plays second fiddle somewhat, action sequences of him fighting local critters and engaged in overall macho stuff show off his heroic side.”
sciencefiction.com were less convinced, and have clearly been living under a stone - newcomer? Excuse me???? They wrote they that found the scenes with “husband John Robinson (played by relative newcomer Toby Stephens) fairly strained, and I don’t buy into the pairs emotional dynamic. Stephens himself vacillates between varying degrees of impersonating either Jon Bernthal or John C. McGinley, depending on the amount of vocal inflection he wants to utilize in trying to be cool Dad or strained relationship Dad; this version of John Robinson is written as a fairly-absentee military father, and its not an enviable disposition to have to try and bring to life on screen.” Oh dear. Where have they been????
“It takes an essentially domestic situation with this family and transplants it into this absolutely, on one level, absurd place. You're in outer space, but also in this really serious jeopardy where they could die at any moment."
“It’ not an apple-pie, idealistic, American family. It was a real family, it had a real feel to it. There are dysfunctions within that family, there are things that aren't quite going right, or are going wrong, like in any family."
"It's at this very interesting level where parents could watch it because they'll identify and the kids can watch it because they're watching this amazing adventure, and I guess that's what the original was doing, but in a different time."
"I knew of its existence in pop culture, I had seen photos of it, I had probably seen clips of it, but that's it. I knew it was about the Swiss Family Robinson set in outer space, I knew of the existence of a robot and that Dr Smith was this evil, kind of campy guy who was always causing trouble. But I really didn't watch it, I didn't follow it as a child."
"I deliberately didn't go back and watch episodes of the original series because it was totally different and they were making it in a totally different time. And while being respectful of the original, [the reboot] is sort of the same construct but what's great about it is you can take it in all kinds of directions.”
“John Robinson is a failed father and a failed husband. I think that was what really struck me most of all about him. He's somebody who's got it wrong and I find his journey somebody realising they've got it wrong and they're trying to correct it and find that place very moving."
“Maureen is this incredibly resilient and strong woman, who has now become the de facto head of this family, is holding things together. And John has been sidelined and it's about him finding, 'Where do I fit into this now? How do I make my peace with this and also reconnect with my kids?' "
“The Robot ends up kind of interceding between him and his son and becoming a kind of father figure, or a paternal, protective figure for his son”.
"And [that] just highlights how distant he has become from his own son. His son chooses to be with this robot more than him and finds protection. And I thought it was a really cool idea and gives it this texture and sophistication that obviously kids would enjoy but also adults will identify with."
“Netflix may well have been the only environment in which a reboot of its scale and ambition might have been attempted.”
"Because it's incredibly expensive doing the kind of special effects, all of the stuff that goes into making this look so good”.
"It can only work if it does for kids now what the original series did in 1965. And we've come such a long way. Kids now, they've watched ‘The Avengers’, ‘Star Wars’, they've seen this incredible sophisticated imagery and CGI, and you have to bring that to bear even in something like ‘Lost In Space’."
"One of the jobs of science fiction is either a warning or an aspiration. And I think the aspiration of this is that we've dealt with sexual politics, we've dealt with race issues, we've dealt with all of that and we're now in a more comfortable place where they're just not an issue any more, so there's this international, interracial feel to this whole project.”
"The warning is that no matter what happens on Earth, taking the leap of going somewhere else and just thinking we can plant our seed somewhere else and everything will be fine is a massive leap, not only of imagination, but of faith. And it might not work out.”
"Basically what makes it different from the original is that the family is a much more real family which we can relate to. Everyone comes from a family which has its own dysfunction.”
"Without being depressing, the characters are aspirational. They are the people who are trying to do better and be better. People and sort out their problems. I think that is something everybody can relate to and everyone can aspire to be”.
Source: business-standard.com
“We were all friends together on this thing. We were just lucky that the chemistry among us was just really good. So we ended up really fun as a family. Watching the monitor after shooting every scene was quite anxious and this anxiety was quite infectious and that helped in the bonding process.”
“You go from job to job and you get less affected by the transition and you get used to that feeling. But what I miss is the camaraderie. I love the job and I give the best that I can but one thing that I also love most about filming is pacing about, when you just mock around between takes. Being in a space suit working on this series is uncomfortable but it becomes such fun if you are in a fun company.”
“I think it’s one of the messages. This series shows a lot of positive things and a lot of warnings. One of them is, you know, we need to take care of this place because the idea of going off to some planets thousands of light years away can be very attractive. But when you get there, what is it like? Is there life out there? Its such an enormous risk. So we should know to appreciate how precious Planet Earth is.”
“If it is a family show then the families have to recognise normal families, and normal families are not perfect. Modern families are complicated. We didn’t want to make it a depressing story but they wanted to make it like a real family. Part of their adventure and journey is overcoming their own problems as well as all the exterior problems that are happening on the planet far away in space.”
“Every job you do is completely different from the last one and it demands different things from you. This one was particularly new to both of us. I think what I enjoyed a lot was that even though you are wearing these space suits and you are in this radical situation, you make these relationships seem as real as possible and the scenes as real as possible. The audience expects you to be this real sci-fi show but yet, at the heart of it, theres this family that they recognise and care about, which doesn’t always happen in a sci-fi show”.
“No plot problems you see...Its the future!"
If you were ever stuck on a strange planet, like in the first episode of Lost In Space, and you could make only one phone call, who would you call and why?
Source: digit.in - interviewed Dubai
Why trade in the pirate ship?
“I didn’t. It just happened that way. For me, the thing that I really liked from reading the pilot was the tone that they managed to find. They were irreverent towards the original story, but they made it in a modern frame. The family is not this apple pie American family. Its dysfunctional. Its a real family, with warts and all. The dynamic between them, certainly in the first season, has them not only trying to survive this horrendous accident and this planet, but also trying to survive, as a family, and figuring that out. They’re fallible people, trying to be better. I really loved the aspirational quality of it. In a really unsentimental way, these people are trying to be better people. I love the fact that they’re already smart and they’re really strong, and the kids are really smart and strong. Thats aspirational. If I was a kid watching this, Id be like, I really wanna be like that! Its an inspiring thing. Theres a lot of stuff out there, a lot of which I love, that is super depressing, not only in the real world, but also in a lot of TV series. Theres a lot of dark, gnarly, hard to watch stuff, so its lovely to have something thats aspirational and positive for people."
“Thats what Im most excited about. This is actually something they [my children] can watch me in, without it giving them nightmares.”
“We all did a lot of button pushing!”
Source: WonderCon Anaheim
“The thing is, when you’re starting a series, you just don’t know what it is. It was actually only when I watched the first episode that I went, Oh, thats what it is! I read the script and I kinda went, This is kinda cool. I really like the way they were faithful to the original and yet they jazzed around it. It really feels much more real. When you’re filming it, there are these huge green screens everywhere and you just don’t know whats gonna be there. They say, theres a huge spaceship here and you gotta take their word for it.”
“And how the Hell are they going to do all this?!”
“I think there were. There were moments, like when I saw the robot and when we were first working on the Jupiter. You see the beautiful finish that it had. I was just like, This has been a fantasy of mine since I watched the movie ‘Star Wars’, when I was a kid. I mean I love ‘Star Trek’, I love ‘Star Wars,’ I love the ‘Alien’ movies, I love ‘2001’. Im a huge sci-fi fan. Suddenly finding yourself in this situation where you’re going, I’m in a spaceship, in a space suit, and Im playing a real person, and I’m working with Molly Parker!”
“That was pretty amazing. But also, at the same time, when you’re starting a series you just don’t know what its going to be and you don’t know whether, Is what Im doing any good? Is this going to work?”
“Also, its the writer’s show. There were quick to have had the vision. They knew what they want they aspired to be. They realized it. You kind of go, Well, thats pretty amazing!”
“And really good actors.”
“I think also, when Molly and I were first talking about them as a family and their relationship, we were like, It has to be real. It has to have a kind of texture of these are real family and this is a real couple for anybody to care about what happens to them.”
“I think its an important tone to have at the moment. The world is a very dark and depressing place at the moment. Theres wonderful things happening in it, but its tough. At the same time, you turn on TV and a lot of the drama on it is pretty depressing. Its brilliant and fantastic, and all of that stuff. But its quite dark, a lot of it. Whats nice is the aspiration: this is about people trying to be better. I think we really need that. Its not mawkish or sentimental. Its about people trying to be better people. I like watching that.”
“Lost in space billions of miles away from home.”
“I remember Zack [Estrin] actually came after wed been filming after a certain period of time I think we were about two months into it and I just didn’t realize how real these situations were and how the stakes are really high whereas the original show was kind campy and it was safe. I could see this doubt in Zacks mind that it was going to be too heavy for families that watch and I totally get that, but, in the end, he turned around and went, Actually, its great that its got high stakes because people will invest in it. They’ll be willing you through it rooting for you.”
“I watched the show years and years ago. I deliberately didn't re-watch it, because I remember it being very much of the time. ‘Lost in Space’ was from Swiss Family Robinson, so it was one step removed from that, and this is another step removed from that. But essentially, the ingredients are the same. There is this family that is way out of its comfort zone, and there's this ironic tension between them being in space, but at the same time, being rooted in this domestic truth. To link it to the original question of why I was interested in it, it's about a modern family with all the modern problems that families have. So it's the same kind of deal, it's just been updated. It's got the humor of that ironic tension that I was talking about, but it's also got depth and some kind of feels in it, because it's about a real family and real people.”
“Being a parent and a husband, I identified with the story of their marriage and their relationships with their kids, which is not always a bed of roses. The fact that they're in space, yes, that's dangerous and terrifying, but in a way, their biggest challenge is trying to make their own relationships work.”
“Why are they together if they're separated? What grounds it is the fact that if you don't take me with you, I will never see my family again. So there's that reason for him being there.”
“Oh, well I think for John, it's quite interesting because he has a slightly estranged relationship with his son. Just because he's been away a lot. He's in the military because he's been on various campaigns. He hasn't been at home. So he has a slightly estranged relationship with his son, he doesn't understand Will and his Will doesn't quite understand John.
“Then this robot turns up with his son, and he's protecting the son, who is, by nature, quite delicate and kind of fragile. The robot has this patriarchal and protective relationship that really, John should have with Will. As the series goes on, it's quite interesting because it's a sort of a paternal threat to him. That dynamic, which is quite fun and interesting, gives it a bit of texture.”
“Yeah, the colony. I think it has some kind of biodiversity, but I don't think it has freaky, totally alien - I think it has plant life and stuff like that.
“[Green screen work] It's weird. I've done quite a bit. It's something that you have to get used to doing.”
“And then also letting that go, in a way. There's a tendency, I think, when something's not there, you want to create it more vividly than it actually needs to be. You almost overact its presence, rather than actually just going, "Right, I kind of have an idea in my mind what this is. How would I naturally do this? If an alien was coming at me. How would I react to that?" But you know what I mean, there's a tendency to kind of like, "ahhhh," and you have to find a way of dialling it into something.”
“I remember when I was kid in the late 70s, early 80s, there were these books you could get. These amazing pictures of imaginings of space, like planets. Space stations, huge great big vehicles that have crash-landed into a planet in the desert, something like that. When they showed me the pictures for this, I kind of go, oh, that reminds me. I think it needs that now. It does need that operatic scale so that it can go into this domestic situation as well. It makes it seem so fragile.”
“It’s very much a change, and I think one that was needed. When I was reading the script, I realised I’d never done anything my kids could watch, and I figured maybe its about time. I didn’t really look at it and think: will it be good for my career? Should I do it? I just thought it would be really cool to do some sci-fi.”
“Id been doing ‘Black Sails’, which was a really dark character and a full-on production. Flints options were narrowing down because of the choices he was making, and the fact he was on this mission to destroy Britain, but in doing that he was also going to destroy himself and everyone around him. It was just kind of going down into this black hole, very nihilistic. I did that for four years, and after it I was totally destroyed, so it was great to come to this where I wasn’t carrying anything”.
“One of the key messages is that humanity has these abilities to think itself out of all sorts of situations, but there’s also this warning to be careful of what you do to this place because you don’t really want to have to go somewhere else.”
“You really don’t want to think you know, its okay, we’ll trash this planet because in 100 years we can just go somewhere else and trash that one its so short sighted. We need to look after this place. Use that amazing capacity we have to think our way out of situations to save this planet, not move to another one.”
“The family relationships within ‘Lost in Space’ are also much more complex than the perfect American family of the source material.”
“It was a really cool device to have this weird standoff where this robot becomes to my child what I haven’t provided, and how this affects John. This thing is devastatingly powerful, but also very close to his son. John has become so distant from his son that he’s turning to this robot instead. I found that quite clever on the part of the writers. “
“It was bizarre, but I love that idea of trying to bring a sense of reality to these strange situations, so people can experience it through your character, make them think how they’d react in that kind of situation. If you can ground in some sort of reality, then it gives the robot a sense of reality in a weird way. Otherwise it would just be absurd.”
“We’ve been through a phase of binge watching, but I think that might start to change and take a turn for more subtle storytelling. When so much effort and time has gone into a huge production. Like with ‘Black Sails’, and you see someone on the tube watching it on their phone, it’s just depressing. I also find that when I binge watch, a lot of the more subtle stuff starts to pass over me, I kind of tune out, so personally Id like to think we may turn back to a more thoughtful, subtler way of watching.”
“It's attitude is very different [to the original] in terms of the female characters who are very, very strong I think that's a really great thing that they're represented in such a strong light. The two young girls are such strong, intelligent, capable women. I think the younger generation watching that will find that empowering and aspirational 'I wanna be like that!’”
“Theres great TV around but a lot of it is really depressing”
“Whats great about this show is that its very aspirational. ... it also has this positive message about family and humanity, which I think we need at the moment”.
“I think John is very capable but I know what you mean. He’s not a scientist. All the others are really, really smart and he’s very good at wiring!”
“They wanted to make a show where we’d dealt with all that stereotypical crap and moved on. Our set-up is a modern world where gender rules no longer apply. I like the fact that Dr Smith, who was a man in the original, is a woman in our version and its not an issue.”
“You gather quite quickly that this is not an apple pie American family. Johns wife has become the head of the family because he, feeling like a spare wheel, has gone off to do his job and they’re on the point of splitting when the story starts.”
“There’s dysfunction. That whole side of it gives the story a different kind of texture. What I loved about it was that you have to see the family evolve and that makes you want to hang out with them you have to care about them because, in the middle of this unique, difficult situation, they’re trying to be better people.”
“It’s upbeat it’s definitely not a depressing series, there are so many of those about. It’s escapism but you can relate to it.”
“Finally, something the kids can see me in. There’s no way they could watch ‘Black Sails’ - much too salty”.
“ There was really nothing left for us to do each series had got bigger and bigger, the stunts had got harder and harder. When you tell people you’re an actor they think all you’re doing is tarting about and, to be frank, mostly they’re right. But by the end of ‘Black Sails’ my body was in bits!”
“It was pretty full-on, but easier on the body”
“I hope it comes back for more series - that’s the plan. Theres a long way for this family to go.”
“I suppose it’s sort of chutzpah on my part to actually feel that I can fill these shoes [of characters with large cultural footprints]. It’s the same with ‘Lost in Space’. Loads of people hold this [show] very dear because they grew up watching it.”
“I was in Los Angeles and Canada for a few years when my parents were over here working. My mom was working in Stratford, Ontario, from 1976-80 in the theater there when Robin Phillips was artistic director. So there was a formative period of my childhood when I was consuming American TV: reruns of ‘Star Trek’, ‘Lost in Space’, ‘Gilligans Island’, ‘M*A*S*H’. . I didn’t go back, but there was a method to that I felt it wasn’t going to help”.
“The first series was very much of the 60s: this pristine, apple pie American family. The characters and relationships [in this version] are more nuanced and muddled.”
“I really like the dynamic between Maureen and John. I felt that it was very real. John is trying to find his way back into the family while still being separated from Maureen.”
“I don’t think he has some idea that, ‘Oh, Im going to hook up with Maureen again’ when he goes off on this journey. It just so happens that they find one another again.”
“I really like the idea of the romance of this piece being between the parents which will probably gross out all the kids, but I think it’s lovely and unusual.”
“Although I loved ‘Black Sails’, ‘Lost in Space’ was like holiday camp after that. It couldn’t have been more contrasting. ‘Black Sails’ was an amazing experience, but it was a really tough show for me to do. After four years, it was pretty exhausting because it was such a huge production. One would go to doing huge battle scenes and fights to doing these huge dialogue scenes. And also I was playing a very dark character, Captain Flint. So when that was all over, I was like I really cant do this anymore. I was really beaten up by it. ‘Lost in Space’ actually seemed like the perfect contrast. What I really love about this show is it’s a really affirming show. It’s very positive and very aspirational. It’s about people trying to do better, trying to survive, but also trying to be better people, better parents.”
“It was amazing. It was really refreshing with me. I hadn’t really worked so consistently with kids before. And I say kids but they all seem about 35. They’re really mature and professional. I enjoyed every moment of it. What they taught me was its very easy to become jaded in this industry. You find yourself moaning about various things. And then you’ve got these kids bouncing around so excited to be in these space suits, and it makes you go, ‘Oh my God, what happened to me?’ I want to be like that again.’”
“Its still a bit reverential of the idea of the original series.”
“I gleaned quite early from reading the script that this was a very different thing than the original series. I had memories of the series when I was a child. I'd seen the original in re-runs, although I didn’t see the movie. But I just didn’t think there was any point in going back and watching the 1960s show again to try to help me with my choices."
“I grew up in the States and Canada for a while because my mum came over in the 1970s. We lived in Los Angeles for a couple of years and then moved to Canada for a few more. So I did have a chunk of my childhood very much based on American pop culture. I watched a lot of American TV, all those repeats of Star Trek, Fantasy Island, M*A*S*H, Lost in Space. All that stuff was the fodder of my childhood. And then Star Wars came out and totally blew my head off because I hadn't seen anything like it. Later on, I became much more interested in stuff like ‘Alien’ and ‘Blade Runner’. That’s why I like what were doing with ‘Lost in Space’. It’s fantasy and adventure but its real as well. The science aspect has similar qualities to ‘Interstellar’ or ‘The Martian’. It’s couched on some kind of reality. And also the family at the heart of it is real, it’s familiar to people.”
“Theres a lot of CGI on both of them but they were very different experiences. I loved doing ‘Black Sails’, but toward the end of it, it was really hard work. You had these huge, physical set pieces but also these long, intense dialogue scenes. There was a huge amount of work for me and after some weeks of doing that I was kind of burned out. And the character I was playing had such a dark journey. But ‘Lost in Space’ was a much lighter tone for me. I was working with kids who were so wonderful and full of enthusiasm that it was kind of infections, as opposed to a bunch of grown-ups in pirate outfits on ‘Black Sails’ who were all knackered on the set.”
“Yes, there was an actor in the robot suit. He had a really tough job. He would operate it and he also had a whole crew around him who were dealing with the lights and other technical aspects. It wasn’t CGI, although later it was augmented with CGI. But there was a physical entity which was incredibly helpful in terms of acting with it.”
“The original idea of Swiss Family Robinson in space of a family stuck in extreme jeopardy and having to survive thats a story that everyone can relate to. Its kids and parents reacting to each other in familiar ways, even though they’re a million light years away from Earth. But you can’t repeat what was done in the original, you can’t imitate what was so perfect about it. There’s no point of doing that. If your’e going to re-boot something, re-boot it in a totally original way that speaks to a new generation.”
Source: hollywoodreporter.com
“It's a very clever, modern reworking of a great story. ‘Lost In Space' is Swiss Family Robinson in space, so it was a story that existed before ‘Lost In Space’. The fundamental story is that it’s a family that is lost in a difficult, life-threatening situation and how it challenges them and brings them closer together. That is essentially what the story of this is, it’s just the context is a lot more modern."
"I think that's a really great thing that they're represented in such a strong light. The two young girls [of the family] are such strong, intelligent, capable women. I think the younger generation watching that will find that empowering and aspirational 'I wanna be like that!’"
On gender equality movements:
"I think the movement’s are great. I am a parent of two girls and I have a wife who is very passionate, and I want a change for them, my wife and for all our friends.”
"I can only sympathise with and support the movement. Change needs to happen and it is mad that it has taken so long”.
"It is a correction. It is really needed at the moment. Being a parent of two young girls, I am really excited about a show that has two young girls who are represented as incredibly capable, strong, smart, and sassy.”
"It is really great that there is a show which is showing that. I am excited for my kids to watch that and excited for the whole generation of kids to watch those characters and aspire to be like that”.
"There are moments which are light. Also, what is fun is that it is taking the domestic situation essentially and putting it in space.
"So, there are these situations that occur and every parent or child will recognise... They have either been through that or seen them. But it is this extraordinary situation where they are million of years away from Earth (which makes it different).”
Source: newindianexpress.com
"I haven't been asked back. I would love to work in Bollywood at a drop of the hat."
Source: business-standard.com
“That was a surreal experience for me. Prior to doing a Bond film, I was a young actor doing classical theater and some BBC dramas. Then suddenly I was thrown into this franchise. I had never experienced anything like it. Everybody on the set knew each other they’d done the previous movies together so it was quite stressful. I was like the new boy, like the guest star on a series. But Barbara Broccoli was adamant that my part was played by somebody who was not a star. MGM wanted a star. So the casting went on for a long time while they argued about it I was in limbo for two or three months”
“They were talking about people like Sean Penn, people who would never do it.”
“‘Die Another Day’ was pretty over the top. Even Pierce Brosnan thought the invisible car was a bit too much”
“They had reached the extreme peak where they could push in that direction. Nowadays they’ve got great actors and great writers. But at the time, the scripts were mutable and malleable and things didn’t tie up, so they had to change it while filming. Nowadays it looks like a more rigorous process.”
Source: hollywoodreporter.com
"If any of my children wanted to get into it I would impress on them how ephemeral and how difficult it is. It’s a very fickle world, our business. And one has to be ready for that and really know that.”
“I'm immensely proud of her, I adore her, and I adore her work. I’m staggered by her”.
Molly Parker on green screen acting:
“I've learned a lot from Toby because I haven't done very much of it. I've had this experience a number of times on this show when we go to shoot something, and a lot of what we're supposedly seeing will be put in with the visual special effects after the fact. So you think you know what it is and you've read it, and then they'll show you their design and their mock-up of the thing that you're looking at, and it's really the scale that knocks me out. You think you're looking at this thing here, but actually it's here. That is something that, every time it happens, I remember that we are making something huge.”
