When Netflix rebooted beloved sci-fi series Lost In Space last month, they expected a positive response to a dramatic and modern reimagining of a 1960’s classic. A pleasing reaction to the story of the Robinsons and their attempt to make a new life for themselves in a better world.
What they did not expect was that people would want to smush the show’s robot.
As you can see, in the years since its first iteration on screen, the show’s robot has undergone, what can only be described as, an incredible glow up. The cylindrical, rotating trunk section with extending bellows arms is gone. The bulky glass bubble has been swapped for a sort of luminous, glowing head. The trapezoidal continuous track units at the bottom of each leg have been replaced by thighs that could, let’s be frank, crack walnuts. The new robot is a juicehead gorilla. And it hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“I was initially more of Johnny 5 girl but wow, wow wow!” says i-D Digital Director Hanna Hanra. “He has a nice tush, and seems like he would stroke your hair in a caring way,” suggests i-D Junior Fashion Editor Bojana Kozarevic. Meanwhile, i-D Social Editor Roisin Lanigan states simply, “He looks like an absolute unit!!” (Lanigan caveats that “a skinnier more sensitive robot” is more her type).
Of course, mechanophilia is nothing new, Maria from Fritz Lang’s classic Metropolis first setting hearts aflutter way back in 1927. Since then we’ve had Stepford wives, Blade Runner pleasure models and Rodrigo Santoro tied to a bedpost in HBO’s Westworld. Even a study from Stanford PhD student Jamy Li a couple of years back confirmed humans are turned on by robots, with a fairly conclusive 90 percent of the participants showing some kind of arousal after touching the areas where a robot’s genitals or buttocks would traditionally be. “I think Netflix could really take this franchise and expand on it,” continues Hanra. “Imagine if they did Love Island with the sexy robot? I don’t know what about it is so attractive, perhaps it’s body language, the way he (it?) pensively holds its head, the way that under that tough, man-made exterior you just know that there is a soft, gooey heart of android.” Is it hot in here, or did your internal fan system just crash?