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...

August's Space Babe: Lea Brodie

 

Beautiful brunette Lea Brodie as Delphine, in the John Dark/Kevin Connor production of Warlords Of Atlantis (1977). This month's Space Babe comes from inner space in the fine form of an Atlantean slave girl who comes to the aid of stranded 19th Century mariners led by stalwart Doug McClure (The Land That Time Forgot, At The Earth's Core) in this fun, Saturday matinee lost world adventure.

I admit it - Lea was not my original choice for August, but I just received and watched my new imported-from-the-UK Warlords Of Atlantis DVD and was struck by the beauty of the young actress, whom I immediately recognized from her role in the Roger Moore film, ffolkes. And since this is my blog, she gets this month's nod for Space Babe!

The lovely Lea (also known as Lea Dregorn) had a very brief acting career in the Seventies, appearing on British television programs (including a first year episode of Space: 1999, "Force of Life"), stage, and in a handful of feature films. She retired from acting in the 80s, and is now a spiritual and holistic healer.

Her website.

THE CRATER LAKE MONSTER (1977) Theatrical Poster

Pretty much the only good thing about Crown International Pictures' 1977 drive-in fodder, The Crater Lake Monster, is the evocative theatrical one-sheet pictured here. (I'm sure someone out there knows who the artist is.) Unfortunately, the movie itself is an ultra-cheapo bore with a no-star cast that only sparks to life during the all-too-brief instances where the titular monster is on screen.

Of course, the film's creature looks nothing like the Tyrannosaur-like beastie on the poster, instead resembling some sort of mutant plesiosaur/salamander hybrid. To be fair, the stop-motion animation in the movie, executed by David Allen, is actually pretty good - there's just not enough of it.

Surprisingly, The Crater Lake Monster is actually available on Blu-ray disc, paired up with Crown International's space spoof Galaxina. And... yeah, I own it.

KING KONG (1976) Burger Chef Glasses

One of the biggest genre movie events of the 1970s was the Paramount Pictures remake of the 1933 fantasy epic, King Kong, produced by Dino de Laurentis and directed by John Guillerman. It was released in the U.S. Christmas week, 1976, and although the movie was ultimately not considered much of a commercial nor artistic success, it was heavily marketed and merchandised. There were tons of toys, posters, coloring and activity books, and more - including a variety of fast food franchise premiums.

We didn't have Burger Chef restaurants in Maine when I was growing up (and as far as I know, not before or since, either), so I never got my grubby mitts on any of these commemorative soda glasses, decorated with the various John Berkey promotional images created for the film.

My own history with the 1976 Kong is a vivid memory, and I'll have to write about it here at Space: 1970 one of these days. And, for the record, I actually kinda like the movie. I'll write about that here, too, eventually.

Coming Attractions: WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS (1978) Theatrical Trailer

And... speaking of warlords Of Atlantis (as I was in the last post), here's the theatrical trailer. Looks like fun to me!

WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS (1978) International Posters

Back in the Summer of 1978, I was on a trip with my parents to the Pennsylvania Dutch country and then, Washington D.C. I believe that it was on that trip that we drove by a movie theater marquee with the title Warlords Of Atlantis emblazoned upon it. Based on the title alone, I knew it was a movie I had to see.

Unfortunately, by the time we returned home it was no longer playing in area theaters (if, indeed, it ever had), and strangely, it never seemed to show up on network or local TV. Some years later, I found out more about the film (no doubt through articles in Starlog or Fangoria), and discovered that it was part of the John Dark-produced, Kevin Connor-directed cycle of 70s fantasy adventure films that included The Land That Time Forgot, The People That Time Forgot, and At The Earth's Core - all of which starred (or featured, in People's case), the indomitable Doug McClure. But although I eventually saw all of those other films on television, Warlords never seemed to crop up in the TV Guide. I never found it on VHS in the Eighties, either. And once DVD came along, MGM released all the others on DVD... but not Warlords, dammit.

A few weeks ago, I finally got a multi-region DVD player. I knew that Warlords (also known as Seven Cities To Atlantis) had been released on DVD in the UK, so I set out on an Internet safari to try and track a copy down for purchase. Unfortunately, I haven't found one that I can afford... so it looks like it will be a while longer before I finally get a chance to see the film. I could probably find it on YouTube... but I hate watching movies that way.

So, for now, I've got these terrific theatrical one-sheets to enjoy - and I hope you do, too.

Coming Attractions: AT THE EARTH'S CORE (1976) Theatrical Trailer

At The Earth's Core was another of the John Dark/Kevin Connor 70s adventure films based on and/or inspired by the writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs. As with the others - The Land That Time Forgot, The People That Time Forgot - the film starred stalwart Doug McClure. In this case, though, he was joined by the stunning Caroline Munro (Starcrash's Stella Star, herself) and the always awesome Peter Cushing (Star Wars' Garnd Moff Tarkin) in a loose adaptation of the Burroughs classic, which I watched again last night on DVD.

Set in a savage, Stone Age jungle within the hollow Earth, the film version of At The Earth's Core eschewed the dinosaurs and primitive mammals of the novel in favor of utterly fantastic monsters portrayed by men in rubber suits and animatronic 'bots. Truth be told, I actually dig these goofy monsters, and am kinda glad the filmmakers went that way with the beasties. The two best things about the movie, though, are Caroline Munro as Dia the Beautiful ("Dian" in the book) - and the realization of the heroes' subterranean "Iron Mole" vehicle, which has a gorgeous, Victorian aesthetic to its design and features. The third best aspect of the film is Cushing's delightfully scatterbrained portrayal of Professor Abner Perry. 

I'll write more about this film one of these days, because corny as the Dark/Connor films were, they were among the more high-profile genre movies of the era. I remember really wanting to see them whenever they played at local theaters and drive-ins, and am still annoyed that I never got to see Warlords of Atlantis... and still haven't.

THE LAST DINOSAUR (1977) Theme Music

To further spark childhood memories, here is the opening theme song to The Last Dinosaur, composed by Maury Laws, lyrics by Jules Bass, performed by Nancy Wilson.

THE LAST DINOSAUR (1977)

One of my fondest sci-fi TV memories from my childhood was an ABC television movie-of-the-week called The Last Dinosaur (1977). Now, thanks to the crew at Warner Archives, I've been able to revisit that experience on DVD.

 

An Antarctic oil survey financed by billionaire industrialist and big game hunter Masten Thrust (Richard Boone,) discovers a pocket of prehistoric flora and fauna in the crater of a dormant volcano, surrounded by mountains of ice and inaccessible by land. Using a drill-equipped vehicle called the "Polar Borer," Thrust personally leads a scientific expedition through the crust of the Earth itself into the time-lost land, accompanied by a plucky girl reporter (TV veteran Joan Van Ark), a Japanese scientist (Tetsu Nakamura), a geologist (Steven Keats, Hanger 18) and his African "hunting guide," Bunta (Luther Rackley). After a disastrous encounter with a vicious Tyrannosaurus Rex, the group finds themselves stranded in the prehistoric jungle and must find a way to survive its myriad perils, including a tribe of savage proto-humans and the ever-present threat of the hungry T-Rex.

The Last Dinosaur made its U.S. premiere on prime time network television, but this co-production between Rankin-Bass Productions (best known for their stop-motion holiday specials) and Japan's Tsuburaya Productions (creators of Ultraman), was released theatrically pretty much everywhere else in the world, and this new DVD from Warner Archives makes that extended theatrical version available in the U.S. for the first time.

Written by comic book veteran William Overgard, The Last Dinosaur is an entertaining lost world adventure with compelling characters, plenty of prehistoric thrills, and lots of dino-action. It's not particularly original, with elements borrowed from genre favorites like At The Earth's Core and The Land Unknown, but it hits all the right adventure beats, and even manages some decently-sketched characterizations and effective moments of drama.

Despite an awful toupee and ill-fitting dentures (I swear he adjusts them on screen more than once) Richard Boone is great as the egomaniacal Thrust, who, it seems, is the true "Last Dinosaur" of the title; an archetypical Alpha-male, unapologetic chauvinist and hunter, who despite his material wealth and success, seems out of step with modern society. As the token female, Joan Van Ark is attractive, tough and appealing.

The special effects are delightfully Old School, with wonderful man-in-suit dinosaurs, gorgeous matte paintings, and miniature sets/vehicles. They're not realistic or even remotely convincing, but they are damned charming and entertaining. My personal favorite effects sequence is the battle between the T-Rex and a Triceratops in a "dinosaur graveyard" surrounded by dino skeletons! I would be remiss if I neglected to mention the wonderfully corny theme song, a decidedly 70s-styled ballad by composer Maury Laws, sung by Nancy Wilson.

The Manufacture-On-Demand DVD from Warner Archive sports a very decent, 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and Dolby 2.0 Mono audio. The source print used - the extended International theatrical cut - is in reasonably good shape, with only minimal evidence of age-related wear. Picture quality is surprisingly good, except during some of the special effects process shots, but that's inherent in the old-school techniques used in the film and not any sort of deficiency in the transfer. There are no extras included.

The Last Dinosaur is a product of its time, and unlikely to impress those who demand the slick CGI and lightning pace of modern fantasy films. But, if you're looking for an old fashioned adventure tale, it's a terrific flick, along the lines of The Land That Time Forgot & The People That Time Forgot, and a lot of fun. Recommended.

You can buy it direct from Warner Archive or through Amazon:  The Last Dinosaur

Coming Attractions: PLANET OF DINOSAURS (1978) TV Spot

Here's a fun 30 second TV Spot for the 1978 stop-motion sci-fi epic, Planet of Dinosaurs... in "Cosmic Color!" (Was color really still a selling point in '78?)  I actually reviewed the DVD of this movie shortly after launching this blog, back in 2009. Several of the effects artists and technicians on this film went on to work on Jason Of Star Command and The Empire Strikes Back! Enjoy!

THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (1975) & THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT (1977)

For a few years in the early-to-mid-Seventies, producer John Dark and director Kevin Connor made a series of fantasy adventure movies based on and/or inspired by the works of pulp writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan. These films (all starring beefy TV cowboy Doug McClure) were The Land That Time Forgot, The People That Time Forgot, At The Earth's Core and Warlords of Atlantis. Produced by England's Amicus Studios, and released in the United States by American International Pictures in 1975, Land is one of the last old-fashioned fantasy films produced before Star Wars came along and re-defined the genre forever.

Doug McClure (you may remember him from such TV series as The Virginian and movies like Humanoids From The Deep and The House Where Evil Dwells), stars as Bowen Tyler, an American passenger on a British liner that is torpedoed by a German U-Boat during the first World War. When the U-boat surfaces, a handful of survivors, led by the gung ho American, manage to take control of the sub.

After McClure demands that the Germans take them to a neutral port, the two crews battle back and forth for command of the submarine until they somehow manage to get hopelessly lost. Just as supplies are about to run out, they come across the lost continent of Caprona, and discover that it is a world where evolution works differently, and dinosaurs still exist (along with cavemen).

The story is pure classic pulp, with plenty of hair-breadth escapes, fistfights, gun battles, volcanic explosions, and a great climax. There's plenty of rugged, two-fisted action, and a true sense of wonder to the film that should entertain all but the most thoroughly jaded.

Many of today's viewers may laugh at the puppet and mechanical dinosaurs (although the pleisosaur that attacks the submarine still looks pretty cool to me), and the make up on the Neanderthals is admittedly pretty shoddy. But the miniature work is excellent, the action scenes are well-staged, and while nobody's going to win an Oscar here, the performances by the cast of talented British character actors (especially Susan Penhaligon, who makes a delightful damsel in distress, and Anthony Ainsley as the sinister Dietz) are just right for a movie like this.

Land was one of my favorite adventure films when I was growing up, and I still enjoy it today.

The People That Time Forgot, American International Pictures' sequel to Land, was released in the Summer of 1977. A square-jawed aviator, played by Patrick Wayne, son of John, and star of the same year's Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger, leads an expedition to the prehistoric island of Caprona in search of adventurer Doug McClure, still marooned there after the events of the previous film. The expedition consists of Wayne, his mechanic (Shane Rimmer; The Spy Who Loved Me), a female reporter (Sarah Douglas; Superman 2, Beastmaster 2, Space: 1999), and a paleontologist (character actor Thorley Walters). After their biplane is forced down by an attacking pterodactyl, the adventurers discover a beautiful cavegirl (the gorgeous Dana Gillespie), who eventually leads them to Skull Mountain and the evil, samurai-like Nagas, who have McClure locked away in their skeleton-strewn dungeon.

People is a full-blooded, old-fashioned Saturday matinee adventure, with vicious cavemen, clunky (mechanical) dinosaurs, an evil Tor Johnson lookalike, volcanic eruptions, swordplay and plenty of heroic derring-do. As in his Sinbad film, Wayne makes an handsome, whitebread, hero, while Douglas, an underrated actress who's appeared in tons of fantasy films, makes the most of her spunky girl reporter role. Gillespie provides the eye-candy, and Walters and Rimmer provide solid support. McClure, who shows up late in the film, looks a little tired of these cut-rate lost world epics, but acquits himself adequately.

The production design and special effects have a charming, nostalgic cheesiness about them, with obvious matte paintings, miniatures and mechanical monsters adding to the cliffhanging fun. Although primitive by today's high-tech standards, I'll take this kind of hand-crafted filmmaking over today's CGI-dominated 3D toons any day. The photography is magnificent, making good use of the rugged, prehistoric-looking locations, and the score by John Scott is rousing, if a bit spare.

Fox/MGM released both films on their "Midnite Movies" label several years ago, and eventually paired them up on one double-feature disc. The disc includes trailers for each feature, and that's it. Both movies look great, presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, and the original mono soundtracks are crisp, clear and devoid of background hiss. If you can still find it, it's a great deal for just a few bucks. The Land That Time Forgot/The People That Time Forgot

Now, if Fox/MGM would release Warlords of Atlantis, my Dark/Connor/McClure collection would be complete!

News: THE LAST DINOSAUR (1977) on DVD

Yesterday I posted that the Hanna-Barbara animated series Valley of the Dinosaurs was coming to Manufacture-on-Demand DVD-R from Warner Archives. Well, I also should have mentioned that the studio is now also offering the 1977 dino-flick, The Last Dinosaur, as well.

Originally airing on prime time TV in the United States, The Last Dinosaur stars Richard Boone as millionaire big game hunter Masten Thrust(!), who leads a exploratory expedition into a prehistoric world hidden beneath the polar ice cap. There, along with other prehistoric creatures, the hunter discovers the ultimate game - a ferocious Tyrannosaurus Rex!

This Japanese/American co-production was produced by animation studio Rankin/Bass and Tsuburaya Productions, the makers of Ultraman. It also stars Joan Van Ark and Steven Keats.  This new DVD-R disc from Warners Archive marks the first time the movie has been legally available on video in the U.S. and contains the original 106 minute international theatrical cut - which has never even been seen in this country before.

Needless to say, this is on my Wish List; like most 70s Star Kids, I loved dinosaurs - and dinosaur sci-fi, like Land of the Lost and this movie, which I watched on TV when it originally aired - as much as I did spaceships and aliens.

News: VALLEY OF THE DINOSAURS (1974) on DVD This Week

According to TV Shows on DVD, the 1974 Hanna-Barbara animated Saturday morning series, Valley of the Dinosaurs, will be released this week by Warner Archives as a 2-disc, MOD set containing all 16 episodes.

The science fiction/adventure cartoon, which aired on CBS from September 7, 1974 to September 4, 1976, chronicled the adventures of the Butler family - father John, his wife Kim, children Katie & Greg, and dog, Digger - who (like the Marshalls on Land of the Lost, which began the same year on rival network NBC) experienced an unusual whitewater rafting trip that left them trapped in a lost world populated by prehistoric reptiles and proto-humans. They befriended the English-speaking caveman Gorak and his family, and together they struggled to survive in the dangerous valley while continually searching for a way back to their own world.

The show was popular enough to spawn some limited merchandise and a short-lived Charlton comic book series, but even as a sci-fi/dinosaur-loving kid, I found it pretty mundane compared to the wildly imaginative universe of its live-action, Sid & Marty Krofft rival, Land Of The Lost.

Here's a link to Warner Archive's Hanna-Barbara "Store;" Valley of the Dinosaurs isn't listed yet, but there's a lot of other 70s Saturday morning favorites there.

LAND OF THE LOST (1974-6) Episode-by-Episode Commentary

My internet pal Michael May has been writing a series of episode-by-episode commentaries and analyses of the mid-70s Sid & Marty Krofft Saturday morning sci-fi adventure series, Land of the Lost.

Land of the Lost is one of my favorite television shows ever, and I intend to write about it here on the site. The world that the writers - specifically David Gerrold, as first season story editor - created for the show was layered and utterly fantastic. You also couldn't complain about the writing (especially in year one), with noted science fiction scribes like Larry Niven, Norman Spinrad and Ben Bova (among others) contributing scripts. It may have been a kid's show, but it was one of the best genre series of its era.

But, as I haven't gotten around to writing about the show yet, and Michael's been doing such an exhaustive job of it over on his own blog, I thought Space: 1970 readers might like to read his articles for themselves.

Links below:

Season One. Part One.

Part Two.

Part Three.

Season Two. Part One.

Part Two.

And Michael's just starting on Season Three now.

PLANET OF DINOSAURS (1978)

Uber-low budget sci-fi schlock saved solely by some stunning stop-motion animated prehistoric beasts, Planet of Dinosaurs chronicles the adventures of a group of starship crash survivors on an uncharted world populated by, well, dinosaurs. As they struggle to survive on the hostile planet, they find themselves plagued by the attentions of a ferocious Tyrannosaurus Rex, and soon come to the conclusion that if they are to have any future at all, the savage carnosaur has to go.

The acting is terrible, about on par with porno films of the same vintage (seriously, these folks are horrible!) -I mean, c'mon, the only "name" in the cast is James Whitworth (The Hills Have Eyes)! - and the story is paper-thin. Even the locations - mostly Vasquez Rocks and its environs - are overly familiar from TV shows and B-Westerns. But the stop-motion effects are great, and many of the people who worked on them went on to bigger productions, like Jason of Star Command and The Empire Strikes Back.

Retromedia’s 30th Anniversary Edition (although it says "20th" on the DVD cover) presents the film in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, sourced from both 16mm and 35mm elements. Some parts of the film show serious damage, while the rest looks great. There’s a commentary track with director James Shea and effects artists Doug Beswick and Steve Czerkas, as well as a couple of vintage TV spots and two silent stop-motion shorts by King Kong’s effects genius, Willlis O’Brien.

Like I said, it's not a good film. But I've also been pretty honest on this blog in admitting that I can put up with a lot of crap in order to enjoy well-crafted, handmade special effects. And the stop-motion sequences in this film - if not quite up to Ray Harryhausen or Jim Danforth standards - are very well done and very enjoyable. The animation models are nicely detailed and move believably, and the animators even throw in a few nice homages to previous stop-motion films. There's a monster in one scene that's a dead ringer for Harryhausen's "Rhedosaur" from The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, for example.

In fact, much of the animation footage from this feature has been cannibalized over the years by other low budget filmmakers (like Retromedia's proprietor Fred Olen Ray, who's used shots from Planet in several of his B-movies, including The Phantom Empire and Wizards of the Demon Sword).

Ultimately, it's only worth hunting down if you're an obsessive fan of 70s sci-fi and stop-motion animation... and I'm both.