Land of the Lost (1974 TV series)

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Land of the Lost
Format	Children's television series
Created by	Sid & Marty Krofft, Allan Foshko and David Gerrold (uncredited)
Starring	Spencer Milligan (Seasons 1 and 2) Wesley Eure Kathy Coleman Phillip Paley Ron Harper (Season 3)
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	43 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	est. 27 min. per episode
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	September 7, 1974 – December 4, 1976

Land of the Lost (1974–1976) is a children's television series created (though uncredited) by David Gerrold and produced by Sid and Marty Krofft, who co-developed the series with Allan Foshko. During its original run, it was broadcast on the NBC television network.^[1] However, it also aired in daily syndication in the early 1980s as part of the "Krofft Superstars" package. In 1985, it returned to late Saturday mornings on CBS as a replacement for the canceled Pryor's Place - also a Krofft production. It was later shown in reruns on the Sci Fi Channel in the 1990s. It has since become a cult classic and is now available on DVD.^[2][3][4] Krofft Productions remade the series in 1991, also titled Land of the Lost, and a big budget film adaptation was released in 2009.

Overview

Land of the Lost details the adventures of the Marshall family (father Rick, his teenage children Will and Holly) who are trapped in an alternate universe inhabited by dinosaurs, a primate-type people called Pakuni, and aggressive humanoid/lizard creatures called Sleestak. The episode storylines focus on the family's efforts to survive and find a way back to their own world, but the exploration of the exotic inhabitants of the Land of the Lost is also an ongoing part of the story.^[4]
An article on renewed studio interest in feature film versions of Land of the Lost and H.R. Pufnstuf commented that "decision-makers in Hollywood, and some big-name stars, have personal recollections of plopping down on the family-room wall-to-wall shag sometime between 1969 and 1974 to tune in to multiple reruns of the Kroffts' Saturday morning live-action hits," and quoting Marty Krofft as saying that the head of Universal Studios, Ronald Meyer, and leaders at Sony Pictures all had been fans of Krofft programs.^[5]
A number of well-respected writers in the science fiction field contributed scripts to the series (mostly in the first and second seasons), including Larry Niven,^[6] Theodore Sturgeon,^[6] Ben Bova,^[6] and Norman Spinrad, and a number of people involved with Star Trek, such as Dorothy "D.C." Fontana,^[6] Walter Koenig,^[6][7][8] and David Gerrold.^[6] Gerrold, Niven, and Fontana also contributed commentaries to the DVD of the first season.^[3]
The prolific Krofft team was influential in children's television, producing many oddly formatted, highly energetic, and special-effects heavy programs. Many Krofft shows have similar plots involving children accidentally trapped in other worlds, but Land of the Lost is the Kroffts' most serious treatment of the premise...especially in the first season, slightly less so in the second, and considerably less so in the third. ^[9]