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{{redirect|Land of the Lost (TV series)|the 1991 remake|Land of the Lost (1991 TV series)}}
{{Cleanup|date=November 2007}}
Land of the Lost (1974–1976) is a children's television series created and produced by
Sid and Marty KrofftSid and Marty Krofft are a sibling team of television producers who were influential in children's television and variety show programs, particularly throughout the 1970s and early 1980s....
. During its original run, it was broadcast on the
NBC television networkThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
. It has since become a cult classic and is now available on
DVDDVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
. It was shot in
Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California...
. Krofft Productions remade the series in 1991, also titled
Land of the LostLand of the Lost is a half-hour Saturday-morning children's series that debuted on ABC in the fall of 1991. The series was very popular ranking #1 on Saturday Mornings during its first season and ran for an additional season. However, it was not renewed for a third season as Disney elected to run...
, and a
big budget film adaptationLand of the Lost is an American comedy film directed by Brad Silberling and starred Will Ferrell and Anna Friel , based on the 1974 TV series of the same name....
was released in
2009The year 2009 has many new films to be released worldwide, including several major mainstream sequels, prequels, and remakes as well as original films.-Top-grossing films:...
.
Overview
Land of the Lost details the adventures of the Marshall family (father Rick, his son Will, and younger daughter Holly) who are trapped in an alternate universe inhabited by
dinosaur{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Taxobox|name = Dinosaurs|fossil_range = {{Fossil range|230|65|earliest=230|latest=0|PS=
Descendant taxon Aves survives to present.}}|image = field_dinos_2.jpg...
s, a primate-type people called Pakuni, and aggressive humanoid/lizard creatures called Sleestak. The episode storylines focus 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 is also an ongoing part of the story.
An article on renewed studio interest in feature film versions of
Land of the Lost and
H.R. PufnstufH.R. Pufnstuf is a children's television series produced by Sid and Marty Krofft in the United States. It was the first Krofft live-action, life-size puppet, program. There were seventeen episodes of the show originally broadcast from 6 September 1969 to 4 September 1971...
commented that "decision-makers in Hollywood, and some big-name stars, have personal recollections of plopping down on the family-room wall-to-wall
shagShag is typically used to make deep-pile carpets. This is the oldest use of the term. Shag carpet is sometimes evoked as an example of the aesthetic from the culture of the 1970s in the United States. In recent years, Shag carpeting has seen a resurgence of popularity. Shag is also used to make...
sometime between
1969The year 1969 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1969.For the American TV schedule, see: 1969-70 American network television schedule.-Events:...
and
1974The year 1974 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1974.For the American TV schedule, see: 1974-75 American network television schedule.-Events:...
to tune in to multiple reruns of the Kroffts' Saturday morning live-action hits," and quoting Marty Krofft as saying that the head of
Universal StudiosUniversal Studios , a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is one of the six major American movie studios. Its main motion picture production/distribution arm is called Universal Pictures. Its production studios are located at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California...
,
Ronald MeyerRon Meyer is an American entertainment executive and former talent agent.-Early life:Ron Meyer was born to Jewish immigrants whose love of film influenced him at an early age. At fifteen Ron dropped out of high school, and at the age of seventeen he joined the United States Marine Corps, which he...
, and leaders at Sony Pictures all had been fans of Krofft programs.
A number of well-respected writers in the
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature...
field contributed scripts to the series, including
Larry NivenLaurence van Cott Niven is a US science fiction author. Perhaps his best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. It also often includes elements of detective...
,
Theodore SturgeonTheodore Sturgeon was an American science fiction author.He was known to use a technique known as "rhythmic prose", in which his prose text would drop into a standard poetic meter...
,
Ben BovaBenjamin William Bova is an American science fiction author and editor.- Personal life :Ben Bova was born on November 8, 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1953, while attending Temple University, he married Rosa Cucinotta, they had a son and a daughter. He would later divorce Rosa in 1974. In...
, and
Norman SpinradNorman Richard Spinrad is an American science fiction author.Norman Spinrad, born in New York City, is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. In 1957 he entered City College of New York and graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science degree as a pre-law major. In 1966 he moved to San...
, and a number of people involved with
Star TrekStar Trek is a science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that aired from September 8, 1966 to September 2, 1969. Though the original series was titled simply Star Trek, it has acquired the retronym Star Trek: The Original Series to distinguish it from the spinoffs that...
, such as Dorothy "D.C." Fontana,
Walter KoenigWalter Marvin Koenig is an American actor, writer, teacher and director, known for his roles as Pavel Chekov in Star Trek and Alfred Bester in Babylon 5.-Early life:...
, and
David GerroldDavid Gerrold, born Jerrold David Friedman on 24 January 1944, in Chicago, Illinois, is an American science fiction author who started his career in 1966 while a college student by submitting an unsolicited story outline for the television series Star Trek. He was invited to submit several...
. Gerrold, Niven, and Fontana also contributed commentaries to the DVD of the first season.
The prolific Krofft team was influential in children's television, producing many oddly formatted, highly energetic, and special-effects heavy programs. Many Krofft shows have similar plots involving children accidentally trapped in other worlds, but
Land of the Lost is the Kroffts' most serious treatment of the premise.
Plot and format
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. This portal opens when they are swept down a gigantic 1,000 foot waterfall. We later learn in what should have been the series finale (titled "Circle", which explains the time paradox) that this portal is actually opened by Rick Marshall himself, while in Enik's cave, as a way for the current Marshall's to return to earth, resolving the paradox and allowing Enik to also return to his time.
Outfitted only for a short camping trip, the resourceful family takes shelter in a natural
caveA cave or cavern is a natural underground void large enough for a human to enter. Some people suggest that the term cave should only apply to cavities that have some part that does not receive daylight; however, in popular usage, the term includes smaller spaces like sea caves, rock shelters, and...
and improvises the provisions and tools that they need to survive. Their most common and dangerous encounters are with
dinosaur{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Taxobox|name = Dinosaurs|fossil_range = {{Fossil range|230|65|earliest=230|latest=0|PS=
Descendant taxon Aves survives to present.}}|image = field_dinos_2.jpg...
s, particularly a
Tyrannosaurus rex they nickname "Grumpy" who frequents the location of their cave. However, many of the dinosaurs are
herbivoreA herbivore is an animal that is adapted to eat plants and not meat.Herbivory is a form of predation in which an organism consumes principally autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria....
s, posing no threat to the Marshalls. One is a particularly tame young
BrontosaurusApatosaurus , including the popular but obsolete synonym Brontosaurus, is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived about 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period . It was one of the largest land animals that ever existed, with an average length of 23 m and a mass of at least 23 metric tons...
whom Holly nicknames "Dopey," and whom the family looks upon as a pet.
They also tangle with menacing Sleestak (lizard-men) and "cave men" called Pakuni (one of whom, Cha-Ka, they befriend), as well as a variety of dangerous creatures,
mysterious technologyLand of the Lost was a 1974-1976 TV series presenting the adventures of the Marshall family . The Marshalls become trapped in a pocket universe populated by dinosaurs, ape-like creatures called Pakuni, and lizard-like creatures named Sleestak...
, and
strange geography.Land of the Lost was a 1974-1976 TV series presenting the adventures of the Marshall family . The Marshalls become trapped in a pocket universe populated by dinosaurs, ape-like creatures called Pakuni, and lizard-like creatures named Sleestak...
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. Spencer Milligan's absence was explained by having Rick Marshall disappear after he was trying to use one of the pylons to get home, and that Jack had stumbled upon his niece and nephew after he embarked on a search of his own to find them.
Though the term "time doorway" is used throughout the series,
Land of the Lost is not meant to portray an era in
EarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun. It is the fifth largest of the eight planets in the solar system, and the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in terms of diameter, mass and density...
's history, but rather an enigmatic zone whose place and time are unknown. The original creators of these time portals were thought to be the ancestors of the Sleestak, called Altrusians, though later episodes raised some questions about this.
Many aspects of the
Land of the Lost, including the time doorways and environmental processes, were controlled by the Pylons, metallic obelisk-shaped booths that were larger on the inside than the outside and housed matrix tables — stone tables studded with a grid of colored crystals. Uncontrolled time doorways result in the arrival of a variety of visitors and castaways in the Land.
Production
Land of the Lost is notable 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. To support the internal mythology,
linguistLinguistics is the scientific study of natural language. Linguistics encompasses a number of sub-fields. An important topical division is between the study of language structure and the study of meaning...
Victoria FromkinVictoria Fromkin was an American linguist who taught at UCLA. Dr. Fromkin studied slips of the tongue, mishearing, and other speech errors and applied this to study how language is organized in the mind.- Biography :...
was even commissioned to create a special language for the Pakuni, which she based on the sounds of
West AfricaWest Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries distributed over an area of approximately 5 million square km:*Benin...
n speech and attempted to build into the show in a gradual way that would allow viewers to learn the language over the course of many episodes. The series' intention was to create a realistic fantasy world, albeit relying heavily on children's acceptance of minor inconsistencies.
The show played effectively to children and was an ambitious narrative project, introducing an unusually complex fantasy storyline thanks largely to first-season
story editorStory editor is a job title in television series production. A story editor is a member of the production team of scripted television series, usually dramas and comedies. The story editor has many responsibilities including finding new script/breakdown writers, developing stories with writers, and...
and writer David Gerrold (in fact, in a 1999 interview, Gerrold claimed that he largely created the show, based on photographs of various science fiction tropes which were glued to a posterboard and given him by the Kroffts and co-creator Allan Foshko).
http://lotl.popapostle.com/html/dginterview.html
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. PufnstufH.R. Pufnstuf is a children's television series produced by Sid and Marty Krofft in the United States. It was the first Krofft live-action, life-size puppet, program. There were seventeen episodes of the show originally broadcast from 6 September 1969 to 4 September 1971...
and
LidsvilleLidsville was Sid and Marty Krofft's third television show following H.R. Pufnstuf and The Bugaloos . As did its predecessors, the series combined two types of characters. Conventional actors in makeup were filmed alongside performers in full mascot costumes, whose voices were dubbed in...
.
The series for the first two seasons was shot on a modular indoor soundstage at General Service Studios in Hollywood, and 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 and chromakey. During the final season, the Marshalls and Cha-ka moved from their cave to a Sleestak temple. A popular myth for the reason of this set-change is tied into the fire that destroyed the cave sets for another Krofft show
Sigmund and the Sea MonstersSigmund and the Sea Monsters was an American children's television series that ran from 1973 to 1975, produced by Sid and Marty Krofft and aired on Saturday mornings. There were 29 episodes spanning two seasons....
. However, this fire took place during the second season of
Sigmund, at which time
Land of the Lost would have been in production of only its first season. The first two seasons of
Land of the Lost were taped at a different studio entirely from that of
Sigmund. The show then moved to Goldwyn Studios for its third season. This was the studio where the fire did occur two years prior that destroyed the
Sigmund sets. {{Fact|date=November 2007}}
Spencer Milligan departed the show at the beginning of its third season for financial reasons. In addition to a salary increase, he believed it was only fair that he and the rest of the cast receive compensation for using their image on various merchandise. His character Rick Marshall was replaced by his brother, Jack Marshall, played by actor
Ron HarperRonald Robert "Ron" Harper is an American television and film actor.- Biography :Harper was born in Turtle Creek in Allegheny County near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Mabel Grace Champion and George Harper...
. Milligan did not return for the brief scene, also shown in the credits of the third season, showing Rick Marshall being transported out of the
Land of the Lost. One of the show's crew played the role instead, wearing a wig resembling Milligan's hair and standing with his back to the camera.
Non-human characters were portrayed by actors in latex rubber suits, or with heavy creature make-up.
Dinosaur{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Taxobox|name = Dinosaurs|fossil_range = {{Fossil range|230|65|earliest=230|latest=0|PS=
Descendant taxon Aves survives to present.}}|image = field_dinos_2.jpg...
s in the series were created using a combination of
stop motionStop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
animation miniatures,
rear projection film effectsRear projection is an in-camera special effects technique in film production for combining foreground performances with pre-filmed backgrounds. It was widely used for many years in driving scenes, or to show other forms of "distant" background motion...
and occasional hand puppets for close-ups of dinosaur heads. Wesley Eure points out on a commentary track for Land of the Losts first season DVD 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. {{Fact|date=November 2007}}
Cast
- Rick Marshall (Seasons 1 and 2) - Spencer Milligan
Spencer Milligan is an American actor best known for playing Rick Marshall, the father of Will and Holly Marshall, on the first two seasons of the 1970s children science fiction TV series, Land of the Lost. The fictional Marshalls were an American family who found themselves transported to a...
- Uncle Jack Marshall (Season 3) - Ron Harper
Ronald Robert "Ron" Harper is an American television and film actor.- Biography :Harper was born in Turtle Creek in Allegheny County near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Mabel Grace Champion and George Harper...
- Will Marshall - Wesley Eure
Wesley Eure is an American actor.Eure came to prominence when he appeared in two long running television series in the 1970s, Days of our Lives and Land of the Lost. For several years, he appeared in both shows simultaneously...
- Holly Marshall - Kathy Coleman
Kathy Coleman is a former American child actress who is known for playing Holly Marshall in the children's TV show Land of the Lost, a cult favorite...
- Cha-Ka - Philip Paley
Phillip Paley is an American actor possibly best recalled for his role as Cha-Ka in the 1974 American television series Land of the Lost....
- Sa - Sharon Baird
Sharon Baird is an American actress and dancer who is best known for having been a Mouseketeer.-Early life:Sharon Baird was born in Seattle, Washington to Eldon Baird, an aerospace worker, and Nikki Marcus, a future talent agent. She has one younger brother, Jimmy Baird, also a former child actor...
(Seasons 1 and 2)
- Ta - Joe Giamalva (Season 1) and Scutter McKay (Season 2)
- Enik - Walker Edmiston
Walker Edmiston was an American actor and voice-over artist who was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Edmiston appeared on various television programs in character roles during the 1950s – 1970s, such as Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible, Knots Landing, and The Dukes of Hazzard, all on CBS...
- The Zarn - Marvin Miller
Marvin Miller was an American film and voice-over actor. Possessing a deep, baritone voice, he began his career in radio in St. Louis, Missouri before becoming a Hollywood actor...
(voice) and Van Snowden (body) (Season 2)
- Malak - Richard Kiel
Richard Dawson Kiel is an American actor best known for his role as the steel-toothed Jaws in the James Bond movies The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker as well as the video game Everything or Nothing, and Mr. Larson in Happy Gilmore. He is 7 feet 1.5 inches tall.- Life and career :Kiel was born...
(Season 3)
- Sleestak Leader - Jon Locke (Season 3)
- Sleestak - Dave Greenwood, Bill Laimbeer
William "Bill" Laimbeer, Jr. is a retired National Basketball Association player for the Detroit Pistons. Playing at center, the 6'11" Laimbeer was a four-time All-Star and integral part of the Pistons teams that won two championships...
, John LambertJohn Edward Lambert is a retired American professional basketball player.A 6'10" center from the University of Southern California, Lambert played in the National Basketball Association from 1975 to 1982 as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Kansas City Kings, and the San Antonio Spurs...
, Cleveland Porter, Jack Tingley, Scott Fullerton, Mike Westra, Bill Boyd, David HarrisDavid Harris may refer to:In politics and government:*David B. Harris, former Canadian Security Intelligence Service planner and terrorism consultant*David Harris *David Harris , British Conservative MP...
, Clarke Roberts
DVD Releases
From 2004 to 2005,
Rhino EntertainmentRhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company, owned by Warner Music Group.-Company history:Rhino was originally a novelty song and reissue company during the 1970s and 1980s, releasing compilation albums of Pop Music, Rock & Roll, and R&B successes from...
owned the rights to the show, and released seasons one through three, and a complete series package, with several bonus features, including commentaries, on all of the releases. Those DVDs have since gone out of print. On May 26, 2009,
Universal StudiosUniversal Studios , a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is one of the six major American movie studios. Its main motion picture production/distribution arm is called Universal Pictures. Its production studios are located at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California...
released two complete series releases, one in original packaging, and the other enclosed in a Land of the Lost vintage lunchbox; the only bonus feature was a look at the film starring
Will FerrellJohn William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, actor, voice actor and writer. Ferrell first established himself as a cast member of Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films A Night at the Roxbury, Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Kicking & Screaming, Talladega Nights,...
. On October 13, 2009, Universal will release the three seasons individually; the DVDs are expected to be identical to Universal's Complete Series Boxes.
Cultural impact
Despite the short run of the series, the show continued to be aired extensively through syndication. Based on that success, a
remakeLand of the Lost is a half-hour Saturday-morning children's series that debuted on ABC in the fall of 1991. The series was very popular ranking #1 on Saturday Mornings during its first season and ran for an additional season. However, it was not renewed for a third season as Disney elected to run...
of the series began in 1991 and ran for two seasons. The DVDs of the series earned a Saturn nomination for best retro TV series release in 2004.
In the 2001 film
Jay and Silent Bob Strike BackJay and Silent Bob Strike Back is a 2001 film written by, directed by, and starring Kevin Smith, the fifth to be set in his View Askewniverse, a growing collection of characters and settings that developed out of his cult favorite Clerks...
, Will FerrellJohn William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, actor, voice actor and writer. Ferrell first established himself as a cast member of Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films A Night at the Roxbury, Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Kicking & Screaming, Talladega Nights,...
plays a character named "Federal Wildlife Marshal Willenholly," a reference to the three main characters on Land of the Lost
.. (Ferrell would later portray Rick Marshall in the 2009 film.) Comedians Daniele GaitherDaniele Gaither is an American comic actress. Gaither is most notable for her membership in the recurring cast of comedians on sketch comedy series MADtv.-Early life:...
, Nicole ParkerNicole Frances Parker is an American actress best known for her work on Fox's sketch comedy show MADtv. She is the longest-serving female actress on the show since 2003...
, Frank CaetiFrank Caeti is an American actor and comedian. He joined the cast of MADtv in 2005 as a featured player. Caeti was promoted to a repertory player the following season; however, he did not return in the fall of 2007 for season 13...
and Bobby LeeRobert "Bobby" Lee, Jr is an American comedian, notable for his membership in the recurring cast of comedians on the live comedy series MADtv. As an American of Korean ancestry, he is the show's first cast member of Asian descent, he has played Asian and Asian American celebrities and political...
spoofed the series on the season finale of MADtv in 2006.
On June 5th, 2009
a feature film based on the 1974 TV seriesLand of the Lost is an American comedy film directed by Brad Silberling and starred Will Ferrell and Anna Friel , based on the 1974 TV series of the same name....
opened in U.S. theaters. Unlike the original series, which was a serious take on the story, the film is a comedy/parody. The film is directed by
Brad SilberlingBradley Mitchell Silberling is an American television and film director. He is married to the actress Amy Brenneman, whom he met on the set of NYPD Blue and with whom he has two children, Charlotte Tucker and Bodhi Russell .Silberling studied film directing at the UCLA Film School...
and stars
Will FerrellJohn William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, actor, voice actor and writer. Ferrell first established himself as a cast member of Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films A Night at the Roxbury, Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Kicking & Screaming, Talladega Nights,...
, with the Krofft brothers serving as co-producers. Although the original series was aimed for children, the film's target audience is adults.
See also
- List of Land of the Lost episodes
- Land of the Lost characters and species
Land of the Lost was a 1974–1976 TV series relating the adventures of the Marshall family . The Marshalls become trapped in a pocket universe populated by dinosaurs, ape-like creatures called Pakuni, and anthropomorphic reptilian creatures named Sleestak...
- Land of the Lost geography and technology
Land of the Lost was a 1974-1976 TV series presenting the adventures of the Marshall family . The Marshalls become trapped in a pocket universe populated by dinosaurs, ape-like creatures called Pakuni, and lizard-like creatures named Sleestak...
- Land of the Lost (1991 TV series)
Land of the Lost is a half-hour Saturday-morning children's series that debuted on ABC in the fall of 1991. The series was very popular ranking #1 on Saturday Mornings during its first season and ran for an additional season. However, it was not renewed for a third season as Disney elected to run...
, the TV remake of the original series
- Land of the Lost (film)
Land of the Lost is an American comedy film directed by Brad Silberling and starred Will Ferrell and Anna Friel , based on the 1974 TV series of the same name....
, a 2009 film starring Will FerrellJohn William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, actor, voice actor and writer. Ferrell first established himself as a cast member of Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films A Night at the Roxbury, Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Kicking & Screaming, Talladega Nights,...
based on the 1974 series
- Valley of the Dinosaurs
Valley of the Dinosaurs is an animated television series from Hanna-Barbera that ran for 16 half-hour installments on CBS Saturday Morning from September 7, 1974 to September 4, 1976...
, a Hanna-BarberaHanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. , was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
cartoon with a virtually identical premise.
External links
{{Sid and Marty Krofft}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Land Of The Lost (1974 Tv Series)}}