LAND OF THE LOST @ 50

 

Debuting Saturday morning, September 7th, 1974, the classic children's adventure series, Land of the Lost, is marking its 50th anniversary today. Produced by Sid & Marty Kroft, creators of a string of live action Saturday morning puppet fantasies such as H.R. Pufnstuf (1969), The Bugaloos (1970), Lidsville (1971) and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (1973), Land of the Lost saw the pair shifting gears into a decidedly more mature and dramatic tone for this particular production. Though still leaning into the "stranger in a strange land" trope that had been the common thread through their previous work, this particular series left the surreal psychedelic fantasy creatures behind for something somewhat more realistic, albeit still otherworldly, with a more legitimate science fiction style structure, utilizing less puppetry and more stop motion animation.

Originally conceived by the uncredited David Gerrold, the premise of the show involved the journey of the Marshall family: father Rick, son Will and daughter Holly, who were mysteriously transported to some kind of alternate reality/time/planet, where dinosaurs still roamed alongside a primitive primate species, the Pakuni, and an enigmatic and antagonistic reptilian race, the Sleestak, who had devolved from highly technologically advanced ancestors. Particularly in its first of three seasons, the series focused on relatively sophisticated science fiction concepts, as the stranded Marshalls attempted to find a way home while learning about the strange domain where they found themselves trapped. Though the series was restricted to a minuscule budget by being Saturday morning kid's fair, the Kroft production team were able to recruit some serious genre writers to help with the scripts, including Star Trek luminaries like D.C. Fontana and Walter Koenig and other respected talent such as Larry Niven, Theodore Sturgeon, Ben Bova and Norman Spinrad. With this set of minds creating the stories, the first and second seasons were often surprisingly sophisticated in terms of the concepts being explored, particularly when they introduced the advanced remnant of the Sleestak race, Enik, who helped the Marshall family uncover the mysteries of the pylons and the ancient Altrusian technology for creating dimensional doorways, the means by which the family arrived in this "lost land".

The series lasted for three seasons, though the already limited production values suffered by cutbacks in the third, with the story sophistication giving way to more comical and childish themes. The cast also lost the father as Spencer Milligan quit the series over disputes regarding compensation, especially in relation to the merchandising of the characters for toys and other memorabilia. He was abruptly replaced by an uncle, who conveniently managed to stumble into the same dimensional doorway just ad poor dad gets sucked out. After its cancellation, it went on to be revived in syndication over the years, developing a strong cult following while becoming an iconic source of childhood nostalgia for the generation that grew up watching the series. It even had a successful big budget feature film remake in 2009, though with a decidedly comedic bent with Will Farrell staring as the father.

It was certainly a staple of my Saturday morning viewing when I was a kid, though I was just old enough to recognized its flaws in terms of its budgetary limitation. However, I always found the basic concepts of the fallen advanced civilization fascinating and worthy of more serious development. I could very definitely see this show succeeding with a reboot aimed at a more mature and sophisticated implementation.