The Sleestak, Grumpy, and Cha-Ka are coming back, so gather your red and green crystals, grab your fly-swatter, and boil up some stone soup!!! The 1974 Sid & Marty Kroft classic Land of the Lost is getting a reboot from Legendary Television, and that will be heading to Netflix.
For those who don’t remember the show, I’ll let the lyrics to the opening theme tell the story (cue the banjos):
Marshall, Will, and Holly
On a routine expedition
Met the greatest earthquake ever known!
High on the rapids
It struck their tiny raft!
And plunged them down a thousand feet below!
To the Land of the Lost.
This show follows explorer Rick Marshall who goes on an expedition with his teenage son Will and pre-teen daughter Holly which ends in disaster as they are cast through a portal to another universe. They find this land inhabited by dinosaurs and the remnants of an ancient civilization, and they struggle to survive its dangers while also looking for a means to return to Earth.
The show ran for three seasons and then enjoyed an extended run in syndication where it continued to gain new fans. A 1991 reboot lasted two years, and in 2009 the franchise got a big-screen re-imagining, though that bombed rather quickly and is best forgotten.
Now they are trying the reboot thing again, and it sounds like this time around they are serious about unlocking the potential of the property, considering the fact that the original was well-regarded and had some notable talent involved during its first run. It was hampered by a shoestring, Saturday Morning budget (though they did a good job with the stop motion) and the production was cringe-worthy at times, but the show certainly had a heart. So as the new version is ramping up, let’s take a look back at ten things you probably never knew about Land of the Lost to get you excited for the revival:
10. It Started with a Few Pictures Put Together in a Book
Sid and Marty Kroft wanted to create a new fantasy series for Saturday mornings, but they were busy with other projects. Star Trek veteran David Gerrold (who was working on an animated Tarzan series at that time) was pulled in and handed a book that had the title Land of the Lost and pictures cut out from magazines. Those included, according to Gerrald, “a waterfall, a jungle, a giant bee, Tarzan, dinosaurs, monkey people, and maybe a couple other things”. They had successfully pitched the show to NBC with that, and Gerrold was asked if he could develop a series from the book.
He accepted the project and wrote an outline inspired by the pictures in the book. The Krofts, along with executive producer Alan Foshko, liked what they saw, and Gerrold produced an hour-long script that ended up becoming the first two episodes of the series.
He wanted to work in the Tarzan-like character from the original pictures as a “mystery man”, but he felt like that could be a conflict of interest since he had been previously working on the Tarzan cartoon. And Sid Kroft also disagreed with the way that Gerrold wanted to handle the character, so he was dropped altogether.
9. David Gerrold Mapped Out the Backstory for the Show
Once Gerrold was onboard, he was given free rein with the show and started expanding on the universe and its back story. He added the lost city, the pylons, the Sleestak, and pretty much all of the mythos of the Land of the Lost. He also created the three main characters along with the Pakuni.
As script editor, Gerrold mapped out the entire 17-episode first season, deciding that there would be a certain number of dinosaur stories, a certain number of Sleestak stories, episodes that focused on Rick, Will, and Holly separately, and so on. This gave him the ability to hand out assignments to the writers to flesh out different aspects of the universe he created.
And while the show was not serialized, he wanted to develop the world and the characters a little more with each episode. This would give the series the feel that it was always moving forward and help it to avoid falling into a formulaic rut.
8. Many of the Episodes Were Written by Science Fiction Writers
In addition to mapping out the world and the story progression, David Gerrold decided to borrow from Star Trek by hiring science fiction authors to pen the scripts. Among the writers who wrote for the series were Gerrold himself, Theodore Sturgeon, Larry Niven, Ben Bova, Norman Spinrad, and D.C. Fontana, most of which had also worked on Trek.
These authors brought in some good stories that explored science fiction concepts and took the show in a direction not typical for a Saturday morning entry. Land of the Lost still had its family-friendly moments along with its more cutesy episodes, but Gerrold wanted it to appeal to older viewers as well and had the writers add a depth that was not common on kids’ TV at that time.
The episodes written by sci fi authors such as “Downstream” (Larry Niven), “Tag Team” (Norman Spinrad), “The Search” (Ben Bova), “Elsewhen” (D. C. Fontana), and “Circle” (David Gerrold/Larry Niven) tended to be well-regarded and helped to build the show’s legacy.
7. David Gerrold Left the Series after Its First Season
Gerrold had been the architect of Land of the Lost in its first year, and he had penned several scripts while also giving the show its over-arching mythology. But he was not happy with how things were going behind the scenes and decided to leave before the second season.
One of the main reasons he cited was the fact that “the director” was re-writing the scripts. It is unclear which director in particular he was referring to as there were two during the first season. But likely he meant Dennis Steinmetz who directed eleven of the seventeen episodes.
Gerrold had put a lot of effort into delivering scripts that he considered “tight, funny, and dramatic”, but the director would change the story to the point that it was unrecognizable. Gerrold almost removed his name from the episode “The Possession”–directed by Steinmetz–because he was so unhappy with the final version.
Tom Swale and Dick Morgan took over the story-editing in the second season and they carried on very much in the spirit of the first season, though few sci fi writers were involved by that time. The third season took a completely different turn, though, and was considered a disappointment by many fans (more on that below).
6. Star Trek‘s Walter Koenig Created Enik
David Gerrold and several of the other writers were not the only Star Trek veterans involved with Land of the Lost. Mr. Checkov himself (Walter Koenig) stopped by to write one of the episodes, and it is a rather important one!
Koenig wrote the original script for “The Stranger” which introduced Enik as a time traveler from far in the future. And that is the way that the story progressed until the twist is revealed at the end that–Spoiler Alert?–Enik is from the past and the Sleestak are a devolved version of his ancestors.
This storyline actually added some pathos to the character of Enik, and gave him much more depth. He would go on to have a recurring role on the show, aiding the Marshalls–often reluctanctly–while also trying to figure out a way to get back to his own time.
Koenig originally wanted to name the character Eneg which is Gene backwards (obviously an homage to Mr. Roddenberry). But David Gerrold did not like the way it sounded and changed it to Enik.
5. Land of the Lost Had a Notably Long Run for a Saturday Morning Series
Saturday Morning shows at that time did not have long runs with multiple seasons producing new episodes. As an example, Star Trek: The Animated Series had two seasons with the first consisting of sixteen episodes and the second adding six more. Sid & Marty Krofft’s H.R. Puffenstuff, Lidsville, and The Bugaloos all had one season each, and yet they were considered successful and ran in reruns for many years.
Kids will watch the same episodes over and over again, and renewing shows for additional seasons was not considered very profitable for Saturday Morning entries. A second season with a limited number of episodes might be produced for some of the more popular shows to freshen up the mix of episodes, but rarely did those shows go over twenty to thirty eps total.
Land of the Lost was different, though, as it had three seasons; the first consisting of seventeen eps and the next two adding thirteen eps each. The first season actually wrapped up in such a way that it resolved itself and set the show on a circular path. But the second season ended up breaking that cycle and carrying the story further.
The third year took things in a different direction with a major cast change and the group moving to a different locale. That season proved to be a major disappointment to many fans, but apparently it was enough to get the show into syndication (where LotL prospered for many years) which may have been what the Kroffts were targeting in the first place.
4. Spencer Mulligan Left the Show Over Money, Sparking the 3rd-Season Changes
The much-maligned third season started with the departure of Spencer Mulligan (Rick Marshall) and it also brought the addition of Jack Marshall (the uncle of Will and Holly) played by Ron Harper, who sci fi fans had seen just recently on the Planet of the Apes TV series. The changes were not popular, though, and the third year is often considered the show’s worst.
Mulligan demanded a pay raise for the third season, but the show’s producers were not willing to give him the money he was asking for. He also believed that he and the other actors should get compensated for the use of their likenesses on the merchandising from the show (which included a board game, a lunch box, various toys, and more). That did not happen and he decided to leave.
In addition, a new story-editor was brought in for the third season, changing up the overall direction. Very few of the previous writers made contributions to the scripts, and no sci fi authors were onboard for that season.
The third year still had some good episodes, but overall the quality seemed to drop as the show became more formulaic. A fourth season was not ordered, and the show ended after 43 episodes with the Marshalls still trapped in the Land of the Lost.
3. The 1991 Reboot Was Almost a Revival
After wrapping up the third season, the show would remain part of the Saturday Morning lineup for several years, running in repeats. It would then go on to a successful run in syndication as part of the Krofft Superstars package.
Sid & Marty Krofft took notice of the show’s lasting popularity and decided to revisit it in the early 1990s. The show that was produced ended up being a complete reboot, but originally they approached it as a revival with connections to the first series.
The characters Christa and Stink were initially supposed to be older versions of Holly and Cha-Ka, still stranded in the Land of the Lost. Kathy Coleman was contacted to return to the role, but negotiations broke down and the idea was eventually discarded, with the reboot having no connection to the original.
If they had kept the Holly character, the new show could have been packaged together with the 1974 series in syndication, possibly giving it an even longer run in that market. But since they dispensed with the revival plans, the new show did not gain many fans and it has been mostly forgotten.
2. Harlan Ellison Wrote an Episode of Land of the Lost (Sort Of)
One of the science fiction writers that David Gerrold contacted during the first season was Harlan Ellison who was also a Star Trek veteran, having written the original script for “City on the Edge of Forever”. Ellison came up with an idea for an episode of Land of the Lost after a conversation with Gerrold and quickly typed up an outline.
This included the first two acts of the episode which Gerrold described as “brilliantly written”. There was no third act, though, only the typed statement by Ellison that “I tie up everything neatly in the third act, trust me”.
Gerrold still wanted Ellison to produce the full script, even though the outline was incomplete. But he knew that network executives would not go for it, and he passed on the chance of having this legendary sci fi author contribute to the series.
1. The Entire First Season Only Had Forty Minutes of Stop Motion Animation
Land of the Lost is first and foremost a dinosaur show, and despite its low budget, they did do a good job with the stop motion animation for the dinosaurs. But across the entire first season, which spanned seventeen episodes, there were only forty minutes total of the animation.
Gene Warren, who had previously worked on George Pal’s The Time Machine, produced the dinosaur animation, but David Gerrold was informed that only $100K had been allotted to cover the cost. That would only work out to about forty minutes of stop motion to be included as part of 408 minutes of finished show assuming 24 minutes per episode.
As mentioned above, Gerrold had already mapped out the full season and knew which episodes would focus on the dinosaurs and he gave a rough shot list to the sfx crew. These ended up being used over and over again, and they would use trickery with the matte work to make the shots appear different. So the first season stretched the sfx as far as it could, and many of the same shots were used throughout the show’s run.
1974’s Land of the Lost is streaming on the Cineverse service along with the 1991 reboot. The original is also available on Tubi, The Roku Channel, and Fawesome TV. If you have a subscription to Prime Video, is is also available there. And you can read more about the show at this link.
Is a reboot of Land of the Lost a good idea or bad? Join the debate over at CancelledSciFi.com.
Sources:
David Gerrold Interview: https://lotl.popapostle.com/html/dginterview.html
Land of the Lost Interview – David Gerrold: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1TtzqOeoHI
Whatever Happened to Kathy Coleman – Holly from Land of the Lost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0A1EJaM3yY
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_the_Lost_(1974_TV_series)
