Marshall, Will and Holly with Chaka
Land of the Lost was Sid and Marty Krofft's fifth television show, and the second to survive longer than one season; forty-three episodes aired on Saturday mornings from 1974 to 1977. The show originally was co-created by Allan Fashko, but by the series' third season, Sid and Marty were credited as sole creators.
Plot[]
Rick Marshall, and his children, Will and Holly, are rafting down the river, on another one of Rick's routine expeditions, until a powerful earthquake produced choppy waters, sending the family down a thousand-foot drop-off into another dimension, known as the Land of the Lost; this parallel dimension resembled that of prehistoric times, being populated by creatures such as dinosaurs, a species of humanoid ape-people known as the Pakunis, and a species of scary lizard-people known as the Sleestaks.
Land of the Lost was another Krofft show that departed from the once familiar campy comedy fair; while it involved the cast of characters embarking on crazy adventures, the series had a much more dramatic nature, compared to others.
Cast[]
- Spence Milligan - Rick Marshall (Seasons One and Two)
- Ron Harper - Jack Marshall (Season Three)
- Wesley Eure - Will Marshall (as Wesley)
- Kathy Coleman - Holly Marshall
- Philip Pailey - Chaka
- Sharon Baird - Sa
- Joe Giamalva - Ta (Season One)
- Scutter McKay - Ta (Season Two)
- Walker Edmiston - Enik
- Van Snowden - The Zarn
Episodes[]
Land of the Lost was produced for forty-three episodes for NBC's Saturday morning lineup; Season One consisted of seventeen episodes which broadcasted during the 1974 TV season, while Seasons Two and Three consisted of thirteen episodes each for the 1975 and 1976 TV seasons.
- Main article: Land of the Lost(1974) Episodes
Production Notes[]
Sid Krofft's childhood fascination with dinosaurs helped inspired the premise for this show, which was one of the more complex he and Marty had created. This was mainly because a lot of the time, the actors were working virtually blind; while many scenes were shot on a sound stage, with actors inside latex rubber suits, many scenes involving dinosaurs and such were the result of chromakey/greenscreen effects, which meant the actors often times really had to complete idea as to what was going on in the scene they were in.
- Not only is this the longest running Krofft show, but also has the biggest cult following, due to it's science-fiction nature.
- Severe complications arose when it came to the chromakey effects - the show was to be recorded on video tape (which projects at 30 frames per second), yet the stop-motion and minatures footage had already been shot on film (which, in America, projects at 24fps). A recording engineer with Compact Video Industries (where this, and other Krofft shows were taped) spent two weeks trying to remedy the situation so that the dinosaur footage would project in sync with the footage being video taped on the stage; while the results were primitive, they were effective.