Land of The Lost and similar shows

[um]

The Original "Kids'" series Land of the Lost which aired in the mid 1970s had the cheapest and old-style types of special effects and corny storylines but it was popular in its own regard, even to people past the age of about 8.
I was a teenager when I watched it. It was not my overall favorite but somehow I just liked it.
It was a bit like "Lost In Space" with the science fiction and goofy, mutated- being characters that appeared out of nowhere (but could speak perfect Earth English).
Lost In Space had amazingly good special effects at times for a TV show of its kind. It brings to my mind that iif it had instead been "Land Of The Lost" that had been thought up when Lost In Space was, and put in the "adult" time slot of 7PM or 8PM rather than on Saturday Morning, it too would have been just as popular. The plots and scenarios were so alike and the entire premise of people from the current age and time getting lost in time and/or space where they cannot be found, and there are "evil" creatures to be wary of, was relatively new in its own context and there was an audience waiting for it so to speak.

Of course they all went down as "Junk TV" but there was a spinoff of "Lost In Space' that was in reverse fashion. I think it was called 'Land of The Giants" in which a group of people, with one child character among them, a boy like Will Robinson, were all trapped in a land where there are people much larger than they and of course the small characters were usually running for their lives or escaping.
There was also another TV show that I recall that had the same type of set-up, a group of people traveling through the forest or wilderness and I think it had the "Lost in time" kind of element to it. I think it might have been called "Voyagers" but from what I read online, I think it might not be that particular TV series. I think it is probably "Fantastic Journey."

Then there were other Saturday morning TV shows well before "Land of The Lost' and which apparently were actually a rehash of Lost in Space. Such as "Arc 2" and "Space Academy."

Any more I am not aware of?

I will follow up on this post regarding certain episodes of "Land Of The Lost" which I would like to know the plot name of.

[RetroGuy2000]

I adored Land of the Lost when I was a kid. At age four, it scared me to pieces when the Sleestacks would start their hissing. I had to be sitting on the couch because I wanted nothing behind me when those evil green creatures were lurking in those caves. I also had a bit of a crush on Holly.

The production values were terrible, and haven't held up, but I did watch the pilot on YouTube a few years back, and was surprised at how well that script held up. And the make-up for Chaka was pretty well done... much better than the cheap rubber wetsuits that were the Sleestacks (did they ever even show more than four Sleestacks? I don't think they did).

Another show similar to LotL was Doctor Who. I started watching that series in 1985. At that time, my local PBS station would air episodes on Saturday nights, complete with a "creature feature" host, Mike Frisbie.

[Torgo]

Originally Posted by um

The Original "Kids'" series Land of the Lost which aired in the mid 1970s had the cheapest and old-style types of special effects and corny storylines but it was popular in its own regard, even to people past the age of about 8.
I was a teenager when I watched it. It was not my overall favorite but somehow I just liked it.
It was a bit like "Lost In Space" with the science fiction and goofy, mutated- being characters that appeared out of nowhere (but could speak perfect Earth English).
Lost In Space had amazingly good special effects at times for a TV show of its kind. It brings to my mind that iif it had instead been "Land Of The Lost" that had been thought up when Lost In Space was, and put in the "adult" time slot of 7PM or 8PM rather than on Saturday Morning, it too would have been just as popular. The plots and scenarios were so alike and the entire premise of people from the current age and time getting lost in time and/or space where they cannot be found, and there are "evil" creatures to be wary of, was relatively new in its own context and there was an audience waiting for it so to speak.

Of course they all went down as "Junk TV" but there was a spinoff of "Lost In Space' that was in reverse fashion. I think it was called 'Land of The Giants" in which a group of people, with one child character among them, a boy like Will Robinson, were all trapped in a land where there are people much larger than they and of course the small characters were usually running for their lives or escaping.
There was also another TV show that I recall that had the same type of set-up, a group of people traveling through the forest or wilderness and I think it had the "Lost in time" kind of element to it. I think it might have been called "Voyagers" but from what I read online, I think it might not be that particular TV series. I think it is probably "Fantastic Journey."

Then there were other Saturday morning TV shows well before "Land of The Lost' and which apparently were actually a rehash of Lost in Space. Such as "Arc 2" and "Space Academy."

Any more I am not aware of?

I will follow up on this post regarding certain episodes of "Land Of The Lost" which I would like to know the plot name of.

The lost in time series you might be thinking of is The Time Tunnel, which along with Lost In Space and Land Of The Giants was created by Irwin Allen.

I own Land Of The Lost, Arc II, and Space Academy on DVD (Also Lost In Space and Land Of The Giants).
I wouldn't call Arc II or Space Academy rehashes of Lost In Space, as far as premises go as neither are about the characters being lost or trapped.
But both do have connections to Lost In Space, Jonathan Harris (Dr. Smith) was in 2 episodes of Arc II, and was a regular on Space Academy. Plus Robby The Robot made an appearance in an episode of Lost In Space and Arc II.

Land Of The Lost while having cheesy effects and production values, had legitimate science fiction writers doing the scripts, at least on the first season- Larry Niven, Ben Bova, Theodore Sturgeon.
David Gerrold and DC Fontana both wrote for Star Trek. Even Checkov himself Walter Koenig wrote an episode.

Wesley Eure (Will), Kathy Coleman (Holly) and Philip Paley (Chaka) provide some of the commentaries on the series DVDs, very entertaining.


Other live-action Saturday Morning shows with a 'lost/trapped' premise-

Dr Shrinker (Three teens trapped on an island, and shrunk by a mad scientist)

Lost Saucer (A boy and his babysitter become lost in space with Ruth Buzzi and Jim Nabors)

[um]

Originally Posted by Torgo

The lost in time series you might be thinking of is The Time Tunnel, which along with Lost In Space and Land OfThe Giants was created by Irwin Allen.
...
I wouldn't call Arc II or Space Academy rehashes of Lost In Space, as far as premises go as neither are about the characters being lost or trapped.
But both do have connections to Lost In Space, Jonathan Harris (Dr.
Land Of The Lost while having cheesy effects and production values, had legitimate science fiction writers doing the scripts
...


Other live-action Saturday Morning shows with a 'lost/trapped' premise-

Dr Shrinker (Three teens trapped on an island, and shrunk by a mad scientist)

Lost Saucer (A boy and his babysitter become lost in space with Ruth Buzzi and Jim Nabors

I don't think I ever heard of "The Time Tunnel." What year?

I remember "Land Of The Giants." It seemed to be such a take-off of Lost In Space . There was one male character that was so much a copy of "Dr. Smith" as far as his position among the other characters, and it was obvious. I think his name was "Fitzue" (pronounced something like "Fits-you" and I am sure I spelled the name wrong.)
Instead of a robot there was a dog. But After looking up more info on the Internet I think it was "Fantastic Voyage " that seemed to be a take-off of both Lost In Space and Land of The Giants. There was a black male character in Fantastic Voyage (who reminded me of Clarence Williams III of The Mod Squad) and it seemed he became something of a "substitute dad" to the teen male character who lost his parents in a different time zone. I think the teen male was played by Ike Isemann.


I guess you are right that Arc 2 was not really about ;eople lost in time or space but in some episodes they
were back in medieval times or at least they came upon a society or culture like that. I am not as familiar with Space Academy but I think it has a spin-off element.

Lost in Space by its title indicates the characters are lost in space and also because of the people or creatures or beings or other worlds the characters come across they are at least in certain episodes lost in space or time. Of course by the end of the episode the characters escape dangers or find their way. But also the main element was that the Robinson family wanted to find a planet called Alpha Centauri and Dr Smith wanted to go back to earth but none could get to where they wanted to go.

Anyone remember "Journey to the Center of The Earth" the Saturday morning cartoon?

Also on The Banana Splits TV show there was "Danger Island" which seemed to be a certain genre of people (featuring kids and teens and/or very young adults ) somehow getting lost and surviving against natural elements.

[stevea]

The Time Tunnel ran in the 1966-67 season on ABC, for 30 episodes.

Currently the reruns are on MeTV Sunday morning at 4 am.