Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Marshall, Will, and Holly... and the Land of the Lost, November 24, 2006
This will never win any awards for special effects or great acting, but it will forever be one of the best Saturday morning shows ever filmed. The first two seasons, anyway.
Season one was supervised by veteran SF writer David Gerrold (who wrote the Star Trek episode Trouble With Tribbles and the time travel classic The Man Who Folded Himself, among many other fine works) who got some of the best SF names in the business to contribute scripts. The storylines through this season probed the possibilities of what might happen to the family in their "enclosed universe" and introduced some natives such as Chaka, and some dinosaur characters that they kept around as pets and for comic relief. It also addressed themes of peace and integrity that should be instilled into every young person's mind. And what better way to do that than through a format like this... what kid doesn't love dinosaurs? The last episode of this season, written by Gerrold, provided the closest thing to a "satisfying ending" the series ever got.
Season two was much shorter and Gerrold didn't stay with it. I think Ted Sturgeon contributed one script, but most of them were written by studio writers. The series held true to the first season and they explored many of the same themes and kept most of the same characters. At the end of season two, the father was sucked into a time portal. Spencer Milligan didn't want to continue with the series. As a complete series, these episodes should fit into a timeline that took place before the season finale to season one. The first two seasons contained a lot of great writing, some interesting twists, a character named Enid who always seemed to know a little more than he let on and always had something of positive moral value to contribute. There was always the threat of the Sleestaks (which were primitive versions of Enid, whose race had regressed with time), the T-Rex was a constant threat, and of course there had to be a way out... or was there? One problem was that they found a routine and settled in it and spent very little time during this season looking for a way out.
Season three was an embarrassment that violated the rules the show had established for itself. The kids' uncle (played by the guy who was in the short lived Planet of the Apes tv series), while searching for them, got sucked into the Land of the Lost just as the dad got removed. How convenient. Most of the characters disappeared, including Chaka's family (and Chaka looked different) and all of the dinosaurs disappeared except for the ones who kept trying to kill them. They moved into the abandoned city even though it was the place that posed the most danger to the family due to the Sleestaks (who somehow ere able to talk this season, and the Enid character was made to appear weaker than he had before), and the stories grew more and more inane. Human characters appeared without valid explanation, they explored more land (even though the "enclosed universe" had already been established as being a certain small area) and Greek God-like people and the Flying Dutchman and various other "legendary" people kept popping up, and a weird giant kept trying to kill them. Some of the episodes were entertaining, but for camp purposes. The Roddenberryesque life lessons the first two seasons taught were gone. To make matters worst, the last show just ended and there was never any satisfying closure to the series.
I wish the Land of the Lost remake series from the mid-nineties would get released on DVD. It can't be any worse than season three of the original. I would highly recommend seasons one and two to any SF fan who doesn't mind a little camp. Season three and the nineties series I would recommend to completionists only, as some of the episodes weren't really all that bad. And now that you can get all three seasons in one package, why not own them all?
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Classic!!, July 16, 2006
I was 8 when this came out - the perfect age to be fascinated with the story and scared of the dinosaurs and the whole "separated from my mom" aspect. The Sleestack actually gave me nightmares (but then I got them from Scooby Doo sometimes - too active an imagination!).
I got the 4 episode DVD (with Kathy Coleman on the cover) for my son when he was about 8 and totally into dinosaurs but it's my daughter who is the one who watches it over and over at age 6. I think my son is too jaded by the hi-tech 21st century. Still the stories are really neat and as a mom, it has good family values. I think the acting is over the top, but in the situations are good moral lessons, like the value of family, honesty, trying your hardest, dealing with failure, etc. Also keep in mind, the special effects were very mindblowing for 1974. Giant carrots - COOL! Pakuni - WOW! Glowing crystals - AWESOME!!!
I was over the show by the time season three rolled around so I am looking forward to watching it on the DVD, which I just purchased, and am also going to purchase a copy for my older brother. It's a total classic.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Land Of The Good and Bad, June 21, 2006
Saturday mornings of my youth brings back several vivid
memories- NOT having to get up and go to school, eating
FREAKIES cereal and watching LAND OF THE LOST!
I was never a big cartoon person (except for The Archies)
and I was always all about the live action Saturday
morning shows. I loved all of the Sid and Marty Krofft
productions but LAND OF THE LOST was by far the best-
at least seasons one and two!
At that time it was something new and really cool
for a saturday morning show. The storylines were very
smart and some great science fiction!
Season One was of course the best-cool storylines-as good
as any of your prime-time science fiction shows! Sure the
special effects were not "Steven Spielberg" but come-on
for a saturday morning children's program, they were great!
Season two had some of my favorite storylines including
several that included the "ZARN" character. Was this
character creepy or what? The whole marsh scenery spooked
me out!
Then came season (thankfully the last) Three-WHAT HAPPENED?
The storylines became plain-out STUPID! The "Medusa" episode,
"The Abominable Snowman" episode and "Hot Air Artist" episode
are by far the very worst! Wesley Eure breaking into song at
the end of three episodes didn't help the series either!
I can only imagine what would have become of the series if it
had continued for a fourth season!
I won't even discuss the remake and will NEVER talk about
the upcoming movie version (Will Ferrell as Rick Marshall)
Hopefully they've scrapped that!
The DVD set is a nice set however. I do like the interviews
with some of the series stars. I wish they had more special
features but am just happy that the series is available!
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