Land of the Lost (1974 TV series)
Land of the Lost (
1974–
1976) is one in a variety of popular, uniquely produced children's
television series created and produced by
Sid and Marty Krofft. The prolific Krofft team was very influential in children's television, producing many oddly formatted, highly energetic, and special-effects heavy programs. It has since become somewhat of a
cult classic, and is now available on
DVD. [
1]
Krofft Productions did a remake of the series in
1991, also titled
Land of the Lost.
Land of the Lost detailed the adventures of a family of three (father Rick Marshall, son Will (around 15 or 16 years old), and younger daughter Holly) who are trapped in an eclectic alien world inhabited by
dinosaurs,
chimpanzee-like cavemen called
Pakuni, and aggressive, humanoid creatures called
Sleestak that have a mix of insectoid and repitilian characteristics. The episode plots focused primarily on the family's efforts to survive and find a way back to their own world, but the exploration of the exotic features of the Land of the Lost was also an ongoing part of the story. [
2]
The series is notable for having a much darker and serious tone than most children's series, and for having a grander and more epic storytelling vision than most shows. The relatively complex plots, unique internal
mythology, and ambitious
special effects (generally considered unrealistic and even
campy today but advanced for Saturday morning TV in the 1970s) have earned the show a large popular following, particularly among adults who watched the show and other Krofft productions as children.
Many Krofft shows involved similar plots, often including children accidentally trapped in other worlds, but
Land of the Lost was easily the Krofft's most serious treatment of the premise.
|
Left to right: Holly, Will and Rick Marshall. Rick is manipulating a crystal matrix table located in the Lost City. |
The Marshalls are brought to the mysterious world by means of a dimensional portal,
a device used frequently throughout the series and a major part of its internal
mythology. Though the term "time doorway" is used through the series, the "Land of the Lost" is not meant to portray an era in
Earth's history, but rather an enigmatic zone whose place and time are unknown. The original creators of these time portals were the ancestors of the
Sleestak, called
Altrusians. Some time doorways are metallic triangular booths called pylons, with mysterious and unpredictable powers, sometimes opening and closing unexpectedly. As a result, the Land is occasionally populated with a variety of
visitors and castaways. Inside each pylon is a stone table studded with a grid of colored crystals, and moving them can trigger various events, such as controlling the weather.
Outfitted only for a short camping trip, the resourceful family takes shelter in a natural cave and improvises the provisions and tools that they need to survive. Their most common and dangerous encounters are with
dinosaurs, particularly a
tyrannosaurus rex they nickname "Grumpy" who frequents the location of their cave. They also tangle with menacing Sleestak and morally ambiguous "cave-men" called Pakuni (one of whom,
Cha-Ka, they befriend), as well as a variety of other dangerous creatures,
mysterious technology, and
strange geography.The main goal of the three is to find a way to return home. They are occasionally aided in this by the Altrusian castaway
Enik. At the start of the third season Rick Marshall is accidentally returned to Earth alone, leaving his children behind, and is replaced by his brother Jack.
Land Of The Lost is notable in large part for its epic-scale concept, which suggested an expansive world with many fantastic forms of life and mysterious technology, all created on a children's series' limited production budget. The series' intention was to create a realistic fantasy world, albeit relying heavily on children's non-critical eyes for detail. Though many adults and later-era viewers find the production design to be quaint and humorously artificial, they are often impressed by the amount of artistic detail. The show played effectively to children and was an ambitious narrative project, introducing an unusually complex fantasy storyline thanks largely to first-season story editor and writer
David Gerrold. It was a marked departure from the Krofft team's previous work, which mostly featured extremely stylized puppets and sets such as those in
H.R. Pufnstuf and
Lidsville.
The series was shot on a modular indoor soundstage, which made economical use of a small number of sets and scenic props which were rearranged frequently to suggest the ostensibly vast jungles, ancient cities and cave systems. Additional locations were often rendered using scale miniatures. Non-human characters were portrayed by actors in latex rubber suits, or with heavy creature make-up.
Dinosaurs in the series were created using a combination of
stop motion animation miniatures, rear projection film effects and occasional hand puppets for close-ups of dinosaur heads. (On a commentary track for
Land of the Lost's first-season DVD, Wesley Eure points out that the Grumpy hand puppet has no hole in the back of its throat, even though it is often seen opening its mouth wide to roar.) Special effects footage was frequently re-used. Additional visual effects were achieved using manual film overlay techniques, the low-tech ancestor to current motion control photography.
*
Characters and species*
Geography and technology*Rick Marshall (Seasons 1 and 2) -
Spencer Milligan*Uncle Jack Marshall (Season 3) -
Ron Harper*Will Marshall -
Wesley Eure*Holly Marshall -
Kathy Coleman*Cha-Ka -
Phillip Paley*Sa -
Sharon Baird (Seasons 1 and 2)
*Ta -
Joe Giamalva (Season 1) and
Scutter McKay (Season 2)
*Enik -
Walker Edmiston*The Zarn -
Marvin Miller (voice) and
Van Snowden (body) (Season 2)
*Malak -
Richard Kiel (Season 3)
*Sleestak Leader -
Jon Locke (Season 3)
*Sleestak -
Dave Greenwood,
Bill Laimbeer,
John Lambert,
Cleveland Porter,
Jack Tingley,
Scott Fullerton,
Mike Westra,
Bill BoydLand of the Lost has achieved a minor
cult status among those who were young in the late
1970s. References to the show occasionally crop up in modern media, such as:
* In
Bubble Boy,
Land of the Lost plays a very prominent role for the characters.
*In
Stargate SG-1, an
Unas that
Daniel Jackson befriended and who appeared in several episodes was named "Chaka" after the Paku.
*In
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,
Will Ferrell plays Federal Wildlife Marshal Willenholly (a reference to the first line of the theme music and the names of the main characters, "Marshall, Will and Holly"). The same film features county policemen from "Sleestak County". On a somewhat related note, in 2005,
Universal Studios announced that Will Ferrell was going to star in a movie adaptation of
Land of the Lost.
*The animated show
Family Guy, in the episode "
The King is Dead", has Peter singing the theme song during his audition for the play.
*In the MMORPG
World of Warcraft, there are two NPCs named Williden and Hol'anyee Marshall, a play on Will and Holly. One of these NPCs gives a quest entitled "Lost!" Also, the game contains a zone full of dinosaurs (Un'goro Crater) which contains deposits of four different colored "power crystals" as well as three different "pylon" stations. Combining the power crystals at the pylons in different color combinations results in a unique effect.
*In the MMORPG
City of Heroes, one of the villain groups is named The Lost. One of the neighborhoods of Paragon City where many Lost can be found is named "The Land of the Lost."
*A psychedelic rock band from the midwest United States called
Sleestak formed in 2003, dedicated to the show and its fiction.
*In the Halloween 2002
Homestar Runner cartoon,
The Poopsmith is dressed as a Sleestak.
*A famous
graffiti tagger in
Los Angeles went by the pseudonym "Chaka", after the Paku.
*An article
["Nostalgic Memories Of Land Of The Lost Ruined In DVD Release", October 12, 2005 The Onion issue 41•41] from the satirical news weekly "
The Onion" from October 12, 2005, (Issue 41•41) was entitled "Nostalgic Memories Of Land Of The Lost Ruined In DVD Release"
*
Land of the Lost (unofficial) homepage*
Land of the Lost artwork*
Tavis Smiley - Sid & Marty Krofft Interview (Transcript and Real Player Audio)*
World of Krofft - Krofft Kollectibles Museum
