Saturday, August 11, 2012

Behind-The-Scenes Pix #24: LAND OF THE LOST

One show that I originally intended to write about here at Space: 1970 a lot more than I have (especially, as I haven't written about it yet, really) is the 1974-76 Saturday morning children's adventure series, Land Of The Lost. During its three-season run, it was probably the most imaginative sci-fi show on television, and certainly the one with the most special effects per episode.

I really need to start giving this show some of the attention that it deserves.

This cast shot certainly demonstrates just how extensively the show relied on chroma-key/bluescreen compositing. Series stars Spencer Milligan (as Rick Marshall), Wesley Eure (as Will Marshall) and Kathy Coleman (as Holly Marshall) pretend to navigate their raft down a river - a miniature river and landscape that would be shot seperately and matted in behind them for airing.

I have to say, though, looking at their expressions (especially Milligan's and Coleman's) makes me wonder what they thought they were supposed to be seeing...

14 comments:

  1. Still love this show! This pic appears to be from the episode where they follow the river to only find out it is a complete circle. The raft pictured is made from logs. They were in an inflatable raft when they went over the waterfall in the first episode.

    Here was another hollywood blunder in making the film adaption a comedy.

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  2. I Gotta Say
    This Is One Wonderful Site
    Where Else Do You Get Such Great Photos?
    Have To Go
    WILD WILD WEST Is On Soon
    1969 Episode

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  3. I'd love to see more from Land of the Lost. Great show.

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  4. As I noted in my post; I am well aware of how delinquent I have been in my coverage of this superior series, and will try to do much better. :)

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  5. Man this show is just Brilliant looking at it now as an adult I appreciated more!

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  6. Definitely one of my childhood favorites. I liked almost everything the Krofts put out. My absolute favorite would have to be Bigfoot and Wildboy.

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  7. I loved this show when I was a kid. I remember watching it and then going and trying to act out the episodes in my sandbox with plastic dinosaurs and figures. I still like it now too, but it's a shame the third season was such a mess.

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  8. I picked up the box set for nostalgia, discovered how great the show really was. It's one of my favorites now.

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  9. The first two seasons of Land of the Lost was generally excellent. The third, not as such.

    The loss of Milligan, to me at least, was a huge blow.

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  10. My absolute favorite show back in early grade school. I watch every episode of the first two seasons. Recently, I was able to purchase the DVD set, although I only bought seasons 1 and 2. From what I hear, season 3 doesn't live up to its predecessors.

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  11. There are a number of things I don't care for about Season 3, but I do like the characterizations. Will and Holly are forced to grow up quite a bit when their father disappears, and I actually like Ron Harper's "Uncle Jack" a great deal. I also like their new home and some of the new monsters.

    I could do without Wesley Eure's singing, though.

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  12. I actually like Season 3 very much Im a big fan of Ron Harper it wasnt as good as the first 2 seasons but still good!

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  13. On a personal (and cheesy) note, the sole reason I disliked the third season was that Spencer Milligan was the 'TV Dad I most wished to replace my own'. As a little kid, I thought he was the greatest.

    I remember being terribly bummed when those Uncle Jack episodes first reared their head. I couldn't quite understand how 'Marshall Marshall', as my wife now calls him (a riff on the theme song), could just vanish.

    Curse those salary disputes!

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  14. These live action types were my favorites on Sat.
    I have all three seasons and enjoy them. Some of the SF concepts were definitely adult concepts.
    As a kid I assumed Chaka was a chick Paku.
    My first season fav was the downriver raft trip -I assumed the gunner was from the civil war period.
    My second season fav was the trip across universes. I always wanted to know what that thing that sucked up rocks and nearly sucked up Holly was.
    My third season fav was the repairman although I thought the comedic touches silly.

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