Land of the Lost, the storied and legendary Saturday morning sci-fi show that ran in earnest for two seasons in 1974 and 1975 (and then another season with a changed and generally fan-reviled format, a reboot in 1991 and a film in 2009 [more on all of that in a moment]) remains beloved by late-boomers/early gen-Xers not for high production values and stunning special effects (it generally had neither, although the dinosaurs were state-of-the-art for the time) but because it was a show that respected our intelligence when almost no one else did. When I was ten years old, used to simplistic and formulaic plots on kids’ TV and condescension from my teachers, that was new.
LOTL tells the story of the Marshall family — the father, Rick (Spencer Milligan), the teenage son, Will (Esley Eure) and the pre-teen daughter, Holly (Kathy Coleman) — who find themselves trapped in an alternate, pocket universe filled with dinosaurs (created by the legendary, Oscar-winning special effects master, Wah Ming Chang), malevolent and slow-moving lizard people, known as Sleestak, and the chimp-like Pakuni, who speak a primitive language.
The producers of LOTL hired real sci-fi writers of the era, like David Gerrold (who became the supervising writer), Ben Bova, Larry Niven, and Walter Koenig, who introduced us to real science fiction concepts and also some fairly intelligent world-building, something absolutely unheard-of for a 1970s kids’ show. One of the true joys of the show, for a kid, was watching the Marshalls learn about the Land, and to start to master it.
If you were ten years old in 1974, the odds are you have fond memories of this show, which you might want to revisit. You might want to sit by yourself and enjoy it, though. I’ve received many reports on social media of contemporary kids who love LOTL, but my kids didn’t, not at all. Today’s ten-year-olds are used to sophisticated sci-fi, and the low-tech production values flummoxed them. Re-watching LOTL will be a nostalgic journey for those of us who love it the most. As for your grandkids, proceed at your own risk.
A few pointers.
First, forget about season 3, in which the dad gets sucked out of the Land through a hole in space and time, and his brother, Uncle Jack, gets sucked in. What are the odds that their uncle just happens to show up to save the day just when Spencer Milligan (who played Rick Marshall) quit over a contract dispute? If there is one thing we know from a season 2 episode entitled “The Zarn”, it’s that Will and Holly would not be so easily fooled by such an odd, unlikely and downright suspicious coincidence.
Second, forget about the 1991 reboot. Better production values but less complex, and inconsistent with LOTL mythology.
Finally, most LOTL fans don’t especially care for the 2009 Will Ferrell movie adaptation. I loved it! It was respectful of the original show and took great care to depict the mythology consistently. But as loving as it was, it was still a parody. The original took itself seriously.
With that throat-clearing out of the way, here are the top episodes of Land of the Lost, for your trip down memory lane. It’s pretty hard to write about these episodes without spoiling anything, but I try my best. Please watch them in chronological order!
“Chaka” (Season 1, Episode 1)
No LOTL list would be complete without this episode, the very first, which lays out some of the Land’s mythology, and gives us a good hint that this will not be as episodic as most Saturday morning kids’ shows, that the Marshalls will learn more about the way the Land operates as they go along, and that the family we meet in Episode 1 will be very different from the one we meet in Episode 10.
In this pilot, the Marshalls come across a mysterious metal “pylon,” a high-tech indication that this is not just a primitive world, that they will meet some kind of intelligent life. The episode also introduces us to the Pakuni, furry and primitive semi-humans who live in the forest, and Chaka, a young Paku who is their first new friend in the Land. The dynamics between Chaka and the Marshalls are believable — the distrust gradually evolves into a wary alliance — and the Marshalls have fun learning the Pakuni language, which was the first “conlang” (consistent though made-up language) ever to appear in a film or TV show. The development of a Pakuni conlang demonstrates the extra care that the producers and writers took in creating this show, years before Game of Throne’s multiple conlangs, and in an era when even Klingons spoke only gibberish.
“The Stranger” (Season 1, Episode 6)
In this episode, written by none other than Walter Koenig (he played Chekov, on the original Star Trek series), the Marshalls meet Enik, an intelligent Sleestak, who explains to them to them, “This is the past of my home. I am its future.” One day, he assures them, the hissing and ridiculous lizard people would evolve into a great race of scientists and thinkers.
But as he travels around the geography of the Land, and especially to the Lost City, Erik discovers that the truth of his Sleestak history and destiny is much darker than he suspects.
This admittedly stagy episode introduced kids to the concept of “devolution,” years before Devo, in a way that we could understand. It’s a fan-favorite and remains one of the most memorable and mind-boggling episodes of the series to those of us who watched it when it originally aired, even if it may not hold up especially well today.
“Follow That Dinosaur” (Season 1, Episode 15)
Will and Holly find a journal from an early 19th-century human visitor to the Land, who may have found a way out. More expansive and less claustrophobic than other fan favorites, this is a really compelling little mystery, which, like the best LOTL episodes, slyly reveals more about the Land, its history and even (here) its geology and biology.
We also learn that the Sleestaks were originally named after Major Joshua Sleestak of the 1806 Continental Army, and some of us were fooled (or, anyway, I was fooled) by an entirely unserious internet hoax claiming to have found a painting of the major. Oh well, you live and learn.
“Circle” (Season 1, Episode 17)
“You have a fine grasp of the obvious” Enik tells Holly in this episode, but there was nothing obvious about “Circle” when it first aired.
Legendary sci-fi author Larry Niven, along with David Gerrold (who wrote the famous Star Trek episode, “The Trouble with Tribbles”) penned this episode, which introduced kids to the idea of alternate realities, timelines and time loops, and in which their old pal Enik informs the Marshalls learn that their presence in the Land has resulted in anomalies, that in another timeline they died when they fell over the waterfall — indeed, that they could die in one timeline, live on in another, and that the two timelines will someday converge — and that they can escape from this alternate universe, but only if they pull someone else in.
Timelines are a pretty omnipresent and familiar trope to kids these days, but in 1974 this was an incredibly sophisticated thing to expect a ten-year-old to understand. Writes Nathan Despenas, owner of “Land of the Lore” (a Youtube fan account dedicated to Land of the Lost), “I have vivid memories of watching this particular episode over and over as a child, trying to decipher what exactly was happening. This level of nuance and respect for the audience is something rarely found in children’s media in the modern era, and is truly a testament to why Land of the Lost is still remembered to this day fifty years later, and will always be THE greatest children show ever made.”
If it matters to you, Wesley Eure is shirtless in bathing trunks in this episode. Ganactic, everyone. (It means “Good health, good life, and go in peace” in Sleestak language.)
“The Zarn” (Season 2, Episode 2)
Imagine you are Rick Marshall, and a stunningly gorgeous and charming woman named Sharon suddenly shows up in the Land, plucked from her home back in America. Wouldn’t you want her to move into your cave? Especially if she were played by the beautiful 1970s actress Brooke Bundy? As a kid, she lived on the same street you did, and she went to the same high school that you went to. You’ve got a lot in common and a lot to talk about!
But somehow, even though you grew up on the same street and went to the same school, you never met, and you never even heard of her before. Isn’t that unlikely? Still, wouldn’t you kind of want to turn a blind eye to the uncanny (some would say fishy) coincidences, considering the lack of other suitable ladies in the immediate vicinity? How much would you be willing to overlook, how many unlikely coincidences would you disregard? How long would it take before you listened to your suspicious and nervous kids about this “Sharon” person?
This episode is great because of the broadening of Rich Marshall’s emotional arc, Spencer Milligan’s more relaxed and believable performance, and especially for the unexpected beauty of the visuals as Rick Marshall and Will explore the Land beyond the borders of their little neighborhood.
Also, it introduces the “Zarn,” a horrible and enigmatic fellow whose nature, purpose and history you might want to ponder and debate with other LOTL fans for hours and hours over a drink or two, or something stronger.
Honorable Mention: “Elsewhen”, Season 1, Episode 15
What if you could go back in time and give one piece of advice to your younger self; what would you say? This is the intriguing notion behind this episode, a fan favorite that evidently freaked a lot of us out back in 1974. This notion is still fresh enough that it anchors movies like The Adam Project and the Bruce Willis vehicle, The Kid. But on rewatching this, I just couldn’t get past what seemed to me too many plot holes and inconsistencies.
Still, it’s a big fan favorite, it’s Kathy Coleman’s favorite episode, and it features a guest appearance from the late Erica Hagen, a beautiful actress who also appeared in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Soylent Green and Mannix, and who wrote the introduction to Coleman’s memoir, Lost Girl: The Truth and Nothing But the Truth So Help Me Kathleen.
One Final Thought
The LOTL kids remain really proud of the show and respectful of their fans. They seems nice! They also have lived pretty interesting lives themselves. Wesley Eure is a really fascinating figure in Hollywood history. And Kathy Coleman wrote a couple of good books!
Wow, time flies. A lot of water under the bridge. Has it really been 51 years?
^^^
Steven S. Drachman, who wrote this article, is a journalist and novelist.
Image Design by Kalyee Srithnam, from a Kroft publicity still and a Pexels/Pixabay photograph.