'Land of the Lost' is one of my favorite TV shows. Too bad the movie was just a piece of bad junk. It was a prime example of failing due to not paying respect to the source material and instead of making a potential fan favorite transformed it into a shallow, lack luster comedy that insulted its fans.
Sure. The TV show was cheap and cheesy; and it was made before 'Star Wars' at a time when NO ONE spent money on special effects. It had a lot going for it, though. It had good stories and great world building. The characters were good, too. Marshall family were a little bland, I guess; and Chaka was occasionally annoying but Big Alice, the allosaurus frequently found pacing about the ancient ruins, Grumpy the tyrannosaurus and other dinosaurs became staple supporting characters even though they were animated miniatures.
Then there were the Sleestak. The remnant, devolved denizens of the ancient ruins and were the common antagonists of the Marshall family; and of course there was Enik, the civilised Sleestak from the distant past, a time when the Sleestak civilisation was at its height. Enik was pretty cool - and out of place in the land of the lost as much as the Marshall familiy was.
All this background, world building and characters was no accident. Some very famous writers wrote episodes for the series. Larry Niven and David Gerrold among them. The show didn't need to dazzle kids with flashy visuals in the days prior to 'Star Wars'. It did it all in their heads instead with story, characters and world building using cheap sets and even cheaper stop motion animation. Dr. Who stories of the day did much the same thing - sans animation. Great show. Would love to see a remake of it. One that respects the source material. That's where the movie got it wrong at the most fundamental level.
By the way, that Alien figure is 2 feet tall - and it glows in the dark. Skull and all. I think I'll call him Enik.
-Windebieste.
