Land of the Lost by Vozzek69

Update: 6th June Just noticed that EW.COM gave a shoutout to Vozzek here about his article.

Did The Writers/Producers of LOST Watch Land of The Lost When They Were Kids?

You bet your sweet ass they did.

Back in the heady days of Saturday Morning Cartoons, I was a young little punk fighting with my sister for the television. The original Land of The Lost TV series blew me away by combining dinosaurs, sci-fi, and a special effects budget that included more Styrofoam and clay than it really should've. Somehow though, that show managed to rock. The writers were some of the best Sci-Fi authors of their time (Larry Niven included) who went on to do some very cool projects. Some episodes were fun, some were creepy as hell. All of them taught lessons. Most included messages of morality, sacrifice, and humility... at least until Uncle Jack showed up, moved in next to the Sleestak, and started stomping all over their eggs.

Anyway, for a long time now I've been mentioning Land of the Lost in my recaps. I drew parallels to both shows containing a closed universe in S3 Every Man For Himself, and I talked about the mirrored universe references at the end of S4 after watching There's No Place Like Home. I mentioned what could be construed as LOTL's final episode "Circle", and how it corresponded to the circular patterns we've seen throughout LOST. At times, the similarities between the two shows are almost uncanny.

As everyone knows by now, The Land of The Lost movie is coming out with Will Ferrell. It's not going to be anything like the original series, but that's okay. Will Ferrell rocks, and he can do what he wants with it. I've always got my LOTL set of DVD's, and can watch them whenever I want... no fighting with my sister this time around.

Long story short, the Sci-Fi channel had an original LOTL marathon the other day. Maybe some of you saw it. I watched a few episodes with commercials, then broke out my DVD's again. Hadn't seen them in a few years, and I thought it would be cool to see what other similarities I could find. Even better, other people are starting to notice. Some other bloggers have begun pointing out the similarities between these two shows. So I thought it would be fun to list them here, and let everyone who's seen them add their own. Here goes:

* The Land of the Lost is a closed universe filled with temporal distortions, time travel, and weird magnetic properties - just like the island.

* Like LOST island, The Land of the Lost is full of people and objects who have arrived there accidentally. Some even describe passing through a storm "full of lightning".

* One of the three main characters who took over for 'Dad' in season 3, was named Uncle Jack.

* The leader of the Sleestak was played by a really tall actor. His name? Jon Locke.

* People in LOTL see characters who aren't there. In Album Holly and Will see their dead mother. Turns out they're seeing only what they want to see... once they deny it (Hurley counting to 5?) these things disappear.

* In Elsewhen Holly runs into an older version of herself, from the future. She gives her past self a locket (just like Richard's compass). She also gets a cut, that turns into a scar on her older version's hand.

* In Hurricane someone parachutes into the Land of the Lost.

* In Hot-Air Artist a hot air balloon lands in the Land of the Lost.

* In The Flying Dutchman an 18th century schooner is landlocked in the middle of the LOTL, looking uncannily like the Black Rock.

* Dialogue from The Flying Dutchman is interesting too. They mention Narcissus blossoms in the valley that have a dream-like effect on everyone. While talking about this, Will says "That's strange... we all seem to have had the same dream..." Later on, the captain uses these blossoms to put Holly to sleep. Before he does he says "Want to sail around the world? See faraway ports? Visit strange islands?"

* In Downstream the Marshalls build a raft to try and escape the LOTL. They travel downstream for a while, only to end up back at their starting point. Much like Sawyer and Michael (and Desmond, who also tried to sail away) they realize that they're stuck in a closed universe that won't allow them leave.

* Beneath the LOTL are a series of underground tunnels called "The Lost City". In Circle, the Marshalls find these tunnels by diving into a small lake and swimming to them through an underwater tunnel, exactly like Jack and Sayid in this year's LOST S5 finale.

* In Possession, Holly gets possessed by an evil being who is currently trapped (Jacob's cabin?) in a special pylon. After Dad destroys the pylon's matrix table, Holly (Claire?) is restored.

* In Split Personality, the Marshalls see trapped versions of themselves from an alternate universe. They're wearing different clothes, but from the same backpacks they had when the first went over the waterfall. Turns out the two universes are "grinding against each other", and they need to free their duplicates by taking a crystal from one of their hands. As Will attempts this, Dad says "Don't touch his hand!" and then goes on to explain about matter touching antimatter (Chang and the rabbits in the Orchid station video?) and the cataclysmic results that might follow.

* In Time Stop, Uncle Jack builds a compass from a tripod and a piece of iron. It doesn't do anything. "Shouldn't it point north?" Will asks him. "Yes it should", Jack says, "but it's not doing anything. There's something weird about the magnetic properties of this place..."

* In Ancient Guardian, the Marshalls find an ancient statue created by the Altrusian ancestors of the LOTL. But it's nowhere near as big (or as cool) as the statue on LOST. ;)

* The original name for LOST was going to be "Circle". The episode where the Marshalls finally make it home... while making it back into the LOTL at the same time??? Circle.

There are other parallels between the two shows, but these are the major ones. Unfortunately, Land of the Lost never had a resolution. Season 3 turned really bad, and it ended abruptly. Uncle Jack was reckless, their Altrusian friend Enik went buck wild against them (after having helped the Marshalls for a whole two seasons), and there were a host of bad 'guest stars' including a Medusa with rubber snakes on her head that came from a Dollar Store. They closed the final few episodes with Will singing and playing guitar, as Wesley Eure tried to promote a music career. Trust me, it was bad. I don't think it was coincidence that the Sci-Fi marathon ended with the last 5 episodes never being shown.

I'd like to talk about Circle for a minute. It was the last episode of Season 1. They were probably worried the show wouldn't be picked up again, so they pulled a neat little trick: they let the Marshalls go home (through a time doorway) but also made them to fall back into the Land of the Lost again. The last scene shown was the very opening scene of the show... which is how many of us have theorized LOST will end.

In Circle, Enik explained a paradox: when the Marshalls fell into the Land of the Lost, they actually split into two separate realities. In one, the people on the waterfall were stuck in a loop. Enik showed them the loop, and in it you could see the time doorway opening beneath the Marshalls as they fell down the waterfall. But right before they hit it, they looped back to the top of the falls. The people in the loop were stuck there, falling over and over, not being able to enter the Land of the Lost because the Marshalls already existed there. "You're not supposed to be here", were Enik's exact words.

Enik then opened a time doorway that led them to home, and the Marshalls stepped through it. When they did, it "resolved the paradox" and allowed the people trapped on the falls to finally fall through the time doorway and into the Land of the Lost. They woke up in their raft, with Grumpy the T-Rex roaring over them... just like in the opening sequence. They also had no memories of anything they did in Season 1.

Now I'm not saying this is how LOST will end, and I'm definitely not saying Enik's logic is sound. The whole "paradox" thing had a lot of holes in it. But it was a great plot device for both ending the show, and also leaving it open-ended in case Season 2 got picked up (which it did). I often wonder how much the writers and producers of LOST were influenced by "Circle". Because it seems that no matter what happens at the end of LOST, I get the feeling we're going to see that plane crash again.

Alright, time for you guys to pony up. Anyone else watch the LOTL marathon?