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Land of the Lost (1991~1992)

 
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Pow
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 04, 2021 8:30 am    Post subject: Land of the Lost (1991~1992) Reply with quote

Land of the Lost, September 7, 1991~December 5, 1994, two seasons, twenty-six episodes.

ABC. Krofft Entertainment.

This was an entertaining Saturday morning reboot of the Sid & Marty Krofft Land of the Lost 1974~1977 TV series.
Only the Krofft brothers were associated with both shows.

In this iteration we have Tom Porter, his son Kevin (16), and daughter Annie (11) traveling in their Jeep Cherokee on a camping vacation when an earthquake opens up a dirt road they are driving along. The Jeep plunges head first down into the crevasse and into an underground cavern with misty swirling light. The Porters then drive out of the cave and into a mysterious land from which they seek escape from back to their own world.

This was a very well done series with a likable cast. It had several advantages over the original show from a production value standpoint.

Location shooting. Most of the outdoor scenes were filmed at Descanso Gardens in L.A. Canada-Flintridge, California. Other locales were the famous film & TV Vasquez Rocks, and Port Dume in Southern California.
The original show was filmed entirely on a sound stage.

I always enjoy seeing any TV series that is able to utilize actual outdoor vistas. It always enhances a production visually, makes it feel real and doesn't make a show look and feel confining.

Stop-motion animation. The animation was superior in look and execution to the original show. The designs for the models were more detailed and the animation smoother.
Some scenes even have humans animated when they are in a shot with a creature model which is something the 70s version never did.

Sleestaks. The body suit for these creatures is much better done than on the earlier version. The head masks are impressive & fierce looking. The masks are also articulated so as to allow movement of the eyelids and lips.

Stink. He is the Pakuni inhabitant of this strange world who befriends the Porters. On the original show it was Chaka. The make-up for Stink is quite good and better than Chakas version.

Scarface. This is the terrifying Tyrannosaurus Rex who plagues the Porter family; called Grumpy in the 70s show.

Additionally we see the Triceratops named Princess, a Stegosaurus called spike, and a Brontosaurus nicknamed Big Guy. We also see a Pteranodon and Parasauroiophus along the way. Not only is the animation top notch but it is smoothly blended into the actual outdoors filming locations.
The puppets and animatronics that are used for the dinos in closeup scenes is also sophisticated looking.

Another carryover from the 70s show is this bizarre land possesses three moons.

Oddly enough one of the iconic symbols from the 70s version, the Pylons, are nowhere to be seen in this reboot. Disappointing as they always offered intriguing stories.

The Porters also make friends with the beautiful jungle girl Christa, and a baby dinosaur they adopt that Annie names Tasha.

Cy, or Cyborg, is an alien Myzarian who becomes trapped like the Porter family in this Land of the Lost. He is intelligent and as his name would indicate he's part alien and part technology. He's an even deadlier foe for the Porters than Scarface. The design for this stop-motion model is impressive and scary looking.

There are nitpicks to the show of course. The scene in the opening credits show the Porters Jeep plunge head first into the ground opening. Next we see an undamaged vehicle motoring along through the cave.
The angle that jeep went down into the hole should have at least severely damaged the entire front of the vehicle including the engine. When we see the jeep again in this land it looks like it was just driven off the showroom floor.
No damage, no dirt.

The original show had the Marshall family take up residence inside a cave, and later inside a stone temple. Made sense for protection against the dinos and anything else in this dangerous and unpredictable land.

The Porters construct a log cabin placed on top of four tree trunks for support. They are very vulnerable in such a setup given the jeopardy they face in this land.

Still and all, it remains a fun show. It's ratings were high enough during its second 13-episode season to warrant renewal. However, the Walt Disney Company bought the ABC network and cleaned house of anything they did not create.
This same sad fate befell the excellent Saturday morning show The Hypernauts.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2021 8:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The second season episode "Opah" from September 26, 1992 was nominated for the Humanitas Award. This was an award for film and television writing that promotes human dignity, meaning, and freedom.

Len Janson & Chuck Menville were the scriptwriters for this episode.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 03, 2021 4:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
The second season episode "Opah" from September 26, 1992 was nominated for the Humanitas Award. This was an award for film and television writing that promotes human dignity, meaning, and freedom.

Boy oh boy, I am certainly a promoter of writing which does THAT! Very Happy

Hopefully All Sci-Fi's members will agree that I'm a devoted optimist who desperately hopes the future of mankind will turn out the way Gene Roddenberry saw it.

Maybe someday my own books will become popular enough to earn a reward like that! Very Happy

(See, I said I was optimist!) Cool

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~ The Space Children (1958)
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