Land of the Lost 

A family is thrown back in time and must survive in a dinosaur dominated land.

Creators:

Allan Foshko, Marty Krofft, Sid Krofft

Stars:

Wesley Eure, Kathy Coleman, Spencer Milligan

2 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Wesley Eure	...	Will Marshall 43 episodes, 1974-1976
Kathy Coleman	...	Holly Marshall 43 episodes, 1974-1976
Spencer Milligan	...	Rick Marshall 30 episodes, 1974-1975
Phillip Paley	...	Cha-Ka 29 episodes, 1974-1976

Storyline

The Marshalls - widowed ranger father Rick, and his two children Will and Holly - are on an outdoor expedition like they have many times before. While rafting on this trip, an earthquake opens up a chasm resulting in them tumbling across some raging rapids and over an unknown waterfall. They end up alive but in a world unfamiliar to them, a world they will ultimately coin the Land of the Lost. It is inhabited by creatures some they have never seen or heard of, and some which no longer exist in the world they knew back home, creatures such as dinosaurs. They will find that some of these creatures are friendly, and some of them which they need to stay away from for their lives. As they eke out a life in this strange land, they try to understand what got them here so that they can make their way back home, that process which is fraught with its own dangers based on the unknowns of what is on the path to home. What they are also initially unaware of is that Rick's brother, fellow ranger ...

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Plot Keywords:

lost civilization | dinosaur | waterfall | earthquake | pylon | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Details

Official Sites:

Official Site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 September 1974 (USA)

Also Known As:

Land of the Lost

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sid & Marty Krofft Television Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min (43 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the final season two new monsters were introduced, a two-headed monster named Lulu and a fire-breathing monster named Torchy. Lulu was based on the Pleisiosaur, an aquatic reptile from the Cretaceous period, while Torchy was based on the Dimetrodon, a reptile that died out before Earth's Paleozoic Era transformed into the Mesozoic Era.

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Quotes

Will Marshall: It's funny - I've walked this way hundreds of times and I've never seen this pylon.
Enik: Nor I, Will Marshall. And I have been in this valley many times longer than you.
Cha-Ka: Cha-Ka think it's *new* pylon!
Will Marshall: Either that, Cha-Ka, or it's been invisible all this time.
Enik: That is not logical.
Will Marshall: Now, Enik, if you've been in the Land of the Lost that much longer than we have, you ought to know by now that not everything here is logical.
Enik: That is logical.

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Connections

Spoofed in The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space (1995)

User Reviews

Excellent science fiction series

The Land of the Lost was an excellent science fiction series-- especially given that it aired on a Saturday morning. Granted, the third season wasn't as good as the first two, with writers ignoring much of the internal logic that had previously been established, but even the third season was better than much of the Saturday morning fare today.

To clear up some misconceptions about the series, the Marshall family did not travel back in time; they fell through a time doorway which transported them to a small, closed universe, which included, among other things, three moons in the sky. In this small universe, a balance was maintained. In order for anyone to enter, the same number of people had to leave (and vice versa).

The presence of the dinosaurs (one of the attractions of the show for many) may be why people think the Marshalls went to Earth's past. But other features, such as the Lost City and the pylons, which TARDIS-like are bigger on the inside than the outside, are signs of a highly advanced culture; one, which we later learn, built the Land of the Lost. The pylons controlled the environment of the land, and some contained time doorways leading to other dimensions.

Oh, and for the record, the dinosaur named "Alice" is called that because she's an allosaur. It's a nickname.

There was a later version of Land of the Lost in 1992, and while it had better effects and slightly better acting, the original was "Masterpiece Theatre" by comparison. While the original Land of the Lost does have some flaws, it at least had interesting scripts and looked like it was another world; and it had a certain quality to it that the remake-- which was filmed in some park-- lacked.

There are currently eight episodes available on video, with four of them re-released to DVD. Like I said, the Land of the Lost isn't perfect (though many of the eight episodes available are considered among the better ones, especially "The Stranger", "Elsewhen" and my personal favorite, "Circle") but it's better than a lot of the stuff on today.

Rick