The Final Episode #63: Land of the Lost (1974 - 1976)

 

Today we go back to the well of "Shows I learned of thanks to Jump the Shark.com". I think we need to talk about more 1970s television and all that on this little blog of mine. So I decided that if we were going to talk about a Sid and Marty Krofft tv show because they were the most 1970s thing ever. A bunch of sci fi writers and hippies got high and made tv shows for children and if this show was any indication it was awesome. I also have to mention the 2009 movie for being the movie that killed the small sub genre of "Movies based around TV shows" for a decade. I can't think of any movie based around a tv series made between that movie and CHiPs and Baywatch. It takes a lot to make Hollywood go "Yeah maybe we should reign this in for a little while" but Will Ferrell (a guy who can be funny and likable in many movies) at his absolute worst can do that. At least for a little while.

Sid and Marty Krofft made like so many tv shows that I've been wanting to watch forever. They all sound like some kind of wonderful fever dream. Land of the Lost seemed to best one to go through because it seemed to be the least insane show they worked on. Despite it involving monsters, dinosaurs and even time travel. They even helped make what is considered one of the worst tv shows ever made called Pink Lady and Jeff but I definitely plan to talk about that series in its own blog post so you will just have to wait to hear all about that gem.

Land of the Lost was about a father and his two children on a raft riding expedition where they end up in well The Land of the Lost. The Land of the Lost was this crazy place where dinosaurs still lived. They had some weird smart monkey cavemen creatures called Pakuni and some crazy bug eyed creatures called the Sleestak. I think Sleestak was one of the coolest monsters ever. The most famous person on the cast was probably Wesley Eure. Famous for being on Days of Our Lives, dating Richard Chamberlain (most famous for being Allan Quartermain in some cheeseball Cannon films... at least most famous for that IN my mind), starring in such film classics as The Toolbox Murders, Jennifer and a live action Hanna-Barbera movie about a robotic dog called C.H.O.M.P.S. and yes I've never seen Lord of the Rings but I've seen those movies (and the remake of the Toolbox Murders too!!) He also worked on a Nickelodeon game show called Finders Keepers. It sounds really bad. Apparently he helped create the PBS kids show Dragon Tales. A pretty good and interesting collection of stuff.

Seeing as this is a show I've seen for the first time I decided that I had to watch a few episodes of this show. So yep, another Extra Special Extra Sized Blog Post! It's like a comic book so I like to do these! The first episode was called Cha-ka in which the children Holly and Will find a pakuni creature named Cha-ka. He looks like a weird monkey caveman thing. I like him. I also like how he learns how to speak some English by this episode and the last one. That's a neat idea I think. He ends up hurting his leg and the kids and their dad have to help him and get him back to his parents. The second episode was called "The Sleestak God" and we first see the Sleestaks for the first time. Will and Holly get captured by them and it's up to Cha-ka and their dad to save them. We don't get to see the crazy looking monster the Sleestak's worship so I'm kinda peeved at that one.

The Final Episode however was called The Medicine Man and it starts off with Holly and Cha-ka making soup for the group, which now has their uncle Jack because the dad wanted more money because they started plastering his face on lunch boxes and stuff. I don't blame him. The pot with boiling water is stolen and we find out who the culprit was. It's a native American man named Lone Wolf. Yes, he's played by someone who is not a native American because this was 1976 and no one cared about anything then. He tells Uncle Jack that he needs to get back but he is too sick to go. They bring back Lone Wolf to the cave.

They learn about Lone Wolf being a Medicine man and taking medicine for his tribe. Will meets up with Elmo Diggs an Calvary man who is here to bring Lone Wolf back. I mean if they can even find their way OUT of the Land of the Lost which uh spoiler warning it's not really shown that they do. Elmo Diggs says that Lone Wolf has stolen the medicine but Lone Wolf says it was supposed to go to his tribe first. Elmo gets the FEVER FROM HELL and its up to Lone Wolf to save him. Lone Wolf goes off and everyone thinks he has left when he doesn't come back. 

Uncle Jack goes off to find Lone Wolf and finds him behind a large rock with Grumpy, a Tyrannosaurs Rex that tries to eat the cast all the time. Uncle Jack confuses Grumpy by sending a rock past him which causes him to go look for that while Lone Wolf escapes. Lone Wolf and Uncle Jack then go look for the stuff to help Elmo Diggs. Then they find the stuff and its the stereotypical scene of native Americans doing their thing. It's pretty wild. Elmo Diggs is saved and I think that just might be my favorite name of all time.

Elmo Diggs then decides to take Lone Wolf back to be put on trial and probably murdered until everyone is like "Bro he fucking saved your damn life" and he decides to not be a piece of shit. Elmo Diggs and Lone Wolf go off to find their way out of the Land of the Lost. We don't see them escape so I'm going to assume that they don't. Holly, Will and Uncle Jack don't get out either. Also Holly and Will were supposed to be in that terrible Will Ferrell movie I mentioned earlier but their cameos were cut out. I think that's pretty shitty but I also would be glad to have my cameo cut out of a movie that bad so It's kind of a weird moot point. I just wanted to point that out.

FINAL VERDICT: I would have watched the absolute shit out of this show if it had appeared in reruns during my childhood, but it's still fun to watch today as a so called adult. Oh, I also have to mention that Sid and Marty Krofft made Pryor's Place. Yes we gave Richard Pryor his own kids show. The past was a wild place.