Land of the Lost, TOS

[Noclevername]

I recently recieved the Land Of The Lost TV series on DVD, and I'm watching it now. Ultra-cheap and cheesy special effects, overacting, and all, and it's still head, shoulders and several entire bodies above the 5 or so minutes I could stand to watch of the unbearable Will Ferrel parody.

I keep seeing the names of many of Science Fiction's greats in the "written by" credits. Now that I think back, I recall that as a child, most of my first impressions of common SF ad science concepts were shaped by Saturday mornings with the Marshalls. Time travel, paralllel universes, curved space, evolution, dinosaurs, etc.
I keep thinking of children's TV today and cringe at the thought of a generation raised on Spongebob someday being in charge of science budgets.

[Fazor]

I never had a chance to see much of The Land of the Lost. A few years back, there was a channel that cropped up on our digital package that showed old TV shows, and each night of the week had a different "theme."

Their "Sci-Fi" night was what introduced me to "Voyage to the Bottom Of the Sea" and I greedily consumed every episode from start to fininish. Then I realized "Lost in Space" (familiar with, of course, but never watched it) and Land of the Lost were on as well. But within a week or two of starting to watch them, the channel changed formats and dropped all the Sci-Fi stuff. Then the channel went belly-up. Coincidence?

Moral of the story: Never underestimate the power of classic Sci-Fi, no matter how cheesey.

[KaiYeves]

I keep seeing the names of many of Science Fiction's greats in the "written by" credits. Now that I think back, I recall that as a child, most of my first impressions of common SF ad science concepts were shaped by Saturday mornings with the Marshalls. Time travel, paralllel universes, curved space, evolution, dinosaurs, etc.
I keep thinking of children's TV today and cringe at the thought of a generation raised on Spongebob someday being in charge of science budgets.

Well, I've turned out okay so far, haven't I?

[redshifter]

I recently recieved the Land Of The Lost TV series on DVD, and I'm watching it now. Ultra-cheap and cheesy special effects, overacting, and all, and it's still head, shoulders and several entire bodies above the 5 or so minutes I could stand to watch of the unbearable Will Ferrel parody.

I keep seeing the names of many of Science Fiction's greats in the "written by" credits. Now that I think back, I recall that as a child, most of my first impressions of common SF ad science concepts were shaped by Saturday mornings with the Marshalls. Time travel, paralllel universes, curved space, evolution, dinosaurs, etc.
I keep thinking of children's TV today and cringe at the thought of a generation raised on Spongebob someday being in charge of science budgets.

Hey, watch it buddy! Those Sleestack were NOT cheesy! Seriously though, interesting point. That show got me thinking about stuff like that too: alternate universes, etc.

[Noclevername]

Well, I've turned out okay so far, haven't I?

Sadly, you (and other science buffs in your age group) are the exception and not the rule.

[Noclevername]

Well, I've gotten through the series now and can definitely recommend the first season. The second, while not as good, has several episodes covering some very interesting and mind-bending concepts, like how you power an artificial universe (especially one that can absorb matter from other spacetimes), and what happens when the gravity gets out of whack.

Skip the shark-jumping third season entirely. It's barely the same show, replaces sci-fi science with unexplained magic, has almost unnoticeable characterization and weak writing (except "Repairman", which features a character who reminds one of a certain Doctor --but if there's a repairman, why didn't he show up for any of the other extremely frequent malfunctions?) and replaces the patient, philosophical mentor Rick Marshall with the bland just-babysitting Uncle Jack. It also makes Cha-Ka even more annoying and omnipresent.

[Jeff Root]

I know I can go to Wikipedia or the Internet Movie Database,
but could you tell me what kind of program 'Land of the Lost'
was? I watched 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea' and 'Lost
in Space' (mentioned by Fazor) when they first aired, back in
the early years after the glaciers retreated, but must not have
had a TV when 'Land of the Lost' was on. When was that?
I've seen the title before, but know nothing about it.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[SeanF]

It was a live-action Saturday morning kids show. It originally aired from '74-'76, but was rerun in syndication through much of the 80s.

It was about a family (father, son, and daughter) who were transported into some kind of alternate universe involving dinosaurs. I remember watching it as a kid (I was born in '68) and really enjoyed it.

[iquestor]

I loved Land Of The Lost. I especially liked the episode where the Confederate Soldier showed up.

[publiusr]

I had a crush on Holly as a kid.

[Noclevername]

I had a crush on Holly as a kid.

I think she was my first pre-adolescent crush.