Land of the Lost

Land of the Lost
As soon as I heard that Will Ferrell was the star of the new Land of the Lost movie, I knew they had missed the mark.

Land of the Lost was a Saturday morning show from the 1970’s that followed a family of three who are thrown into a completely improbable world. That world contained a mixture of giant insect-men, aliens, dinosaurs and proto-humans (something like Australopithecus) along with lost civilizations, time travel and ancient (yet more advanced) technologies.

The series was created and produced by Sid and Marty Krofft who produced such series as H.R. Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and The Lost Saucer.

The show shouldn’t have worked. Cheesy, low-cost production values, plaster sets and hand puppet dinosaurs intercut with stop motion animation, desktop miniatures and early Chroma key were used to try to convey the strange and mysterious world.

Why did it work? The very heart of the show was the family of three: Rick Marshall, the father and Will and Holly Marshall his son and young daughter who would frequently bicker and argue but would come together and help each other in times of need. That message of mutual aid and respect, even for one’s enemies, made the characters sympathetic. This was a major departure from the other Krofft programs.

Many of the writers were notable science fiction authors, including David Gerrold (who wrote The Trouble with Tribbles for Star Trek), Larry Niven, Theodore Sturgeon, Ben Bova, Norman Spinrad, Walter Koenig (Chekov from Star Trek) and Dorothy C. Fontana. These imaginative writers introduced dimensional portals controlled by high tech pylons, crystal tools, aliens composed of light, time travelers from the distant past and the far future as well as civil war era miners and nine foot tall insect-men.

I think the film’s producers (which include Sid and Marty Krofft) made a colossal mistake. They traded on the kitsch of the series instead of recognizing the inherent drama of a small family surviving in a world of completely juxtaposed nightmare elements.

That’s the movie that I want to see: a science fiction adventure filled with fantastic creatures and people who demonstrate the better side of humanity in their efforts to survive. Imagine a movie mix of Jurassic Park, Aliens, Terminator 2 and The Day the Earth Stood Still.

The special effects that are possible today could fully realize the fascinating and nightmarish creatures that populated the original Land of the Lost. Just imagine … fast Sleestak!

Sleestak (for those who didn’t see the series or the movie) were the nine foot tall insect-men who perpetually menaced the Marshall family.