Land of the Lost
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Land of the Lost |
| Abbreviation(s): | LotL |
| Creator: | Sid & Marty Krofft, Allan Foshko, and David Gerrold (uncredited) |
| Date(s): | September 7, 1974 – December 4, 1976 |
| Medium: | Television, Film |
| Country of Origin: | USA |
| External Links: | at Wikipedia (1974 series) at Wikipedia (1991 series) at Wikipedia (2009 film) |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Land of the Lost was a children's adventure television series, detailing the life of a family trapped in a world inhabited by humanoid creatures and dinosaurs. It was a live-action show mixed with stop-motion animation. The show received a remake in 1991 and a parody in 2009, the latter was aimed at an adult audience and starred Will Ferrell.
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Some of the Writers
Fans would have recognized some of the writers' names from Star Trek: TOS and other shows, as well as some well-known science fiction writers. Some of those writers were David Gerrold, Larry Niven, D.C. Fontana, Theodore Sturgeon, Ben Bova, Norman Spinrad, and Walter Koenig.
One of those writers was outspoken in his disenchantment with show. In 2-5YM #5 (March 1976), David Gerrold was reported to have said he wouldn't go back to the show, saying they "don't treat writers well."
Gerrold talked about the interference he ran into as the show's story editor trying to make an "intelligent show from a mish-mash of an original premise. The show was, probably due to the efforts of David and the writers (D.C. Fontana, Larry Niven and others), number one in the ratings. David Gerrold now joins Gene Roddenberry, Harlan Ellison and Rod Serling on the list of s-f writers whose ideas were tampered with by T.V. execs."[1]
Fan Comments
1977
[anonymous]
ST fans are usually SW fans — but why aren't they usually fans of other sf TV shows? Fantastic Journey, The Immortal, Planet of the Apes, Six Million Dollar Man, Land of the Lost — and especially the older shows. Can't they remember anything before ST? Outer Limits, Science Fiction Theatre, Man into Space, Space Patrol, Johnny Quest... And because of Lost In Space & Land of the Giants, do they automatically presume anything with the name "Irwin Allen" attached to it isn't worth a snow cone concession [stand] in Hades?[2]
2003
[Jeanne Rudmann Grunert]
I'm writing a Land of the Lost fan fiction story. My fifth, actually, and what's looking to be the first full length Land of the Lost novel."Why do you bother with this junk?" my husband cries. The show plays on the TV from a well-worn videotape. Claymation dinosaurs chase basketball players in green diving suits. Orange furred monkey men scatter in the forest.
I ignore his comments and keep on writing. I'm pouring over words that only a select few Generation Xers scattered throughout North America are waiting to read. Why do I get up at 5:30 a.m. every morning and write fan fiction for an hour before leaving for my demanding job as a marketing manager? Most normal people are snug in bed and catching the last few minutes of zzz's at this hour. They're not immersed in the jungles of ancient Altrusia.
[...]
I pretended to be in the Land of the Lost in my imagination, although I never wrote down the stories. After all, professor said science fiction wasn't literary enough, and why should a writer like me who was going places waste her time on it? My imagination wouldn't let it go. Always in my mind I saw the jungles, the Sleestaks, the pylons and the temples that would set me dreaming. In my mind's eye I could still wander the jungles with Will and Holly. When the sci fi channel began showing the episodes again right after I graduated from college, I had my father tape every last one of them. I used to watch them on Sunday mornings while my dad was at church. I would spend one blissful hour every Sunday morning, immersing myself in the sights and the sounds in that land far away.[3]
2012
[anonymous]
I saw a commercial for Land of the Lost [remake], with Will Ferrell, and, ok, granted, Land of the Lost was mid-seventies, late seventies, very cheesy [laughter]. I remember watching it as a kid, I liked it, it was cheesy. It wasn't a comedy by any stretch of the imagination, but that's what they made it. That's why it tanked, because it's not what people watched. So I think when you have a decent remake, it's because whoever it is was faithful to the original. I mean, they will do things like, the man who plays Duke, the sergeant, the older sergeant with the. He is the son of one of original actors on the original show. Now I can't remember which actor, but he is the son of one of the original actors on the show. And the character is named after another. They'll do, like little things that they put in that say, ok yeah. You have to be, you have to understand why it's popular in the first place for it to be able to remake it. That's why I think a lot of remakes have just completely crashed and burned.[4]
Example Fanworks
Fanfiction
- The White Tiger by Pat Ames (My Name AIN'T Mary Sue! #1, 1993)
Meta
Archives, Communities & Resources
References
- ^ David Gerrold comment at 2-5YM #5 (March 1976)
- ^ excerpt from a fan's letter in The Clipper Trade Ship #18 (November 1977)
- ^ Jeanne Rudmann Grunert's comment from Why I Write Fanfiction (2003)
- ^ comment from Media Fandom Oral History Project Interview with Amy D