Land of the Lost (1991 TV series)

Land of the Lost is a half-hour Saturday-morning children's television series that debuted on ABC in the fall of 1991, a remake of the original series of the same name which ran from 1974 to 1976. Re-runs were later picked up by Nickelodeon from 1995 to 1997. Tiger Toys received the license to produce a toyline based on the series, which included regular and "talking" action figures, several dinosaurs and playsets, an electronic "Crystal Sword", as well as an electronic LCD game and a board game.

Synopsis
Motivated by the success in syndication of the cult 1974 series Land of the Lost, Sid and Marty Krofft created a new version of it. The new Land of the Lost had advanced special effects and a lighter, less survivalist-oriented tone. Frequent writers Len Janson and Chuck Menville had previously crafted numerous scripts for assorted Filmation series, while producer Jerry Golod had earlier collaborated with George A. Romero on Tales from the Darkside.

The series ran for 26 episodes spread over two seasons, with each season consisting of 13 episodes. It featured the Porter family - teenager Kevin, his young sister Annie, and their widowed father Tom - trapped in a parallel universe after their Jeep Cherokee fell through a time portal while exploring the back country. They soon meet another human, a beautiful jungle girl named Christa who came from 1960s San Francisco. Christa became trapped in the Land of the Lost when she was very young and grew up alone (an earlier concept would have featured an adult Holly Marshall as the "mystery girl", along with Cha-Ka, but, due to casting, the characters were re-visualized as Christa and Stink).

The Porters live in a large "treehouse" (although it is actually built between a series of large logs and not rooted trees) that the family built after they realized their tents provided little safety from dangerous dinosaurs. After their first encounter with the dinosaur Scarface, they devised an alarm system by stringing up a series of empty tin cans surrounding the treehouse perimeter that would shake and make noise if Scarface were to show up again.

Intelligent natives of the Land of the Lost include the chimpanzee-like Pakuni and the lizard-like Sleestaks. Also, many species of dinosaurs fill the jungle. A Paku named Stink and a baby dinosaur named Tasha were befriended by the Porters. Acting as antagonists were a trio of exiled Sleestak criminals named Shung, Keeg and Nim. Shung is their leader and possesses a powerful Crystal Sword. Another major obstacle faced by the Porters was a one-eyed Tyrannosaurus rex named Scarface, who lived near the area where the family made their home and frequently chased after them in an attempt to eat them.

A sorceress named Keela with genuine magical powers was introduced in the second season and appeared in two episodes. Another character added in the second season was Namaki, a strange fish-like humanoid who befriended Christa when she was just a little girl.

12 episodes of Season 1 were released onto videocassette at two episodes per video. As of 2024, the series has yet to be released on DVD or Blu-ray.

The Porters

 * Thomas "Tom" Porter (played by Timothy Bottoms) is the main character of the series, the widowed father of Kevin and Annie. After his wife, Natasha, died in a car accident, he spent the next few years burying himself in his work as an architect. Before his wife's death, Tom would take his family camping most weekends in order to devote more time to them. Continuing the tradition, he arranged to take his children on the camping trip which ultimately led to their arrival in the Land of the Lost. As a result, he feels enormous guilt for trapping his family in this dangerous place and strives to find a way back home to San Francisco at every opportunity. He is a compassionate man with a deep sense of morality and fairplay even when dealing with those who would threaten him or his family. Tom is a devoted and protective parent but is not above giving his kids "space" when he feels it is acceptable to do so. Back home, he often spent his afternoons jogging, hoping one day to win a marathon race. In the episode, "Flight to Freedom", it is revealed he is approximately 180 pounds (He says to Scarface that he is, "180 pounds of raw meat").
 * Kevin Porter (played by Robert Gavin) is Tom's 16-year-old son. He is the most laid-back member of the family. Not only does he accept their situation but he actually grows to like it. Unfortunately, his carefree attitude breeds indifference to the dangers around him and he often finds himself in more peril than he expected. He likes to think of himself as an adult and will often disobey his father if he thinks Tom is being unfair. Of all the Porters, Kevin is the one most reliant on the comforts and conveniences of the modern world. In addition to the usual camping gear, Kevin also smuggled in a portable six-inch TV, a camcorder, a boom-box, and a bag of various junk foods which he keeps hidden from the others. His goal is to one day become a world-famous director, and he carries the camcorder with him at all times to capture the sights and wonders of the Land of the Lost. He expects this footage to propel him to stardom once they return to their own world. He is also a capable, self-taught mechanic, and one of his primary responsibilities is taking care of the family truck to ensure that it is running smoothly when they need it. Kevin often prefers to explore alone and dislikes having to "babysit" his sister. He thinks of her as being a complete "nerd" and often trades insults with her. However, deep down he's very much a caring brother and will not hesitate to act if she's in danger. Kevin has a crush on Christa and often goes out of his way to impress her.
 * Anamarie "Annie" Porter (played by Jennifer Drugan) is Tom's 11-year-old daughter. She is very bright and intuitive for her age and resents her family (especially Kevin whom she considers a "dork") for treating her like a baby. She has had to grow up rather quickly in a hostile environment and has shown that she is more than capable of taking care of herself on many occasions. Annie is a vegetarian, and one of her responsibilities is maintaining her garden at the base of the treehouse. The sorceress Keela takes her on as an apprentice and entrusts her with her spellbook when she has to leave for extended periods. Annie is extremely protective of the dinosaur Tasha and treats her not as a pet but as a member of the family. She is also a bit of an artist, as shown in the episode, "The Thief", when she draws a picture of Christa to give her as a present for the birthday party they throw her. In, "Annie in Charge", her full name is revealed to be, "Anamarie".

Visitors to the Land

 * Christa (played by Shannon Day) like the Porters, the lovely cave-maiden Christa is from San Francisco back on Earth but was born in Chicago. Her family was trapped in the Land of the Lost through circumstances similar to the Porters. At one point, Christa's family built a raft to try to sail to the other side of the ocean, hoping to find signs of civilization. In a subsequent storm, Christa was washed overboard but found refuge on a floating tree trunk where after several days of drifting she found her way to a far away beach. Separated from her parents, Christa grew up practically alone, and by the time the Porters met her, had repressed almost everything about her previous life. She is fiercely independent and feels safe and at home in the jungle. However, she's not oblivious to its many dangers and uses her knowledge of its topography, inhabitants, and various medicinal plants to aid the Porters whenever she can. She is fluent in Pakuni often greeting her human friends with "Acuba Ne" to express both "hello" and "goodbye". She is like an older sister to Annie and the object of Kevin's infatuation. Flashbacks of Christa as a child were seen in "Life's a Beach". Young Christa was played by Farrah Emami. She has curly brown hair and wears a fur bikini along with fur boots. She also has a yell similar to Tarzan's that can calm certain animals which she presumably learned from Stink.
 * Sir Balen (played by Bobby Jacoby) a squire who pretended to be a knight from King Arthur's Court. After "borrowing" his master's armor and sword while he's asleep, Marty Balen sets out into the moors and is enshrouded in a "blue bubbling fog" and winds up in the Land of the Lost just in time to save Christa from the Sleestaks. After Shung hears of this, he sends the Sleestaks after "Ironface"'s "magic blade" (his sword). Balen's desire to protect "M'lady Christa" causes friction with a jealous Kevin as he sets out to escort her home not aware that she can take care of herself. Kevin is guilted into going after him when they again encounter Scarface ("The king of all dragons"). After eluding him, the ground shakes and another doorway appears. Balen offers Kevin his morning star in recognition of his bravery and disappears through the gate.
 * Keela (played by Adilah Barnes) a sorceress from another time who was banished to the Land for not using her magic to aid Magas. She arrived through a green dimensional gate located in a desert on the other side of the Land of the Lost. She is gifted in the ways of magic and sorcery but is not powerful enough to send the Porters (or herself) home. The Porters helped her defeat her enemy, Magas, whom Keela had turned into a one-eyed beast. Keela trusts the Porters entirely, even accepting Annie as an informal apprentice and asking her to guard her spellbook while away. She is a very compassionate person, but admits that even she has times when she abuses her powers (i.e. turning her older brothers into toads) although she may have been joking.
 * Magas (portrayed by Ed Gale) a short, cruel sorcerer and the brother of the late queen whom Keela served. She recognized him as a heartless person and turned him into a Cyclopean dinosaur-like beast, similar to a giant from Jack the Giant Killer and the Cyclops from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, thus sealing his magical powers. Over time, he slowly regained his power and hunted Keela down to the Porters' treehouse. He was defeated by Keela with Tasha's help but not before Keela restored him to his true form.
 * Siren (played by Marta DuBois) was once a beautiful woman, but her beauty became more important than her family. She was sentenced to the Land with no hope of ever seeing the ones she loved in the afterlife, and she used her music to bring the Porters to her. She disguised herself as Tom's wife, Natasha. After talking to Tom about her past, she was finally able to ascend to the heavens.
 * Simon Cardenas (played by Danny Gonzalez) a teenage time-traveler from San Francisco Island in the year 2062. After "borrowing" his father's time-belt, he collides with a Myzarian Cyborg while traveling through the time/space corridor, and his damaged belt drops him off in the Land following a dimensional shift. He wears an "inter-trans" suit that apparently works in conjunction with the belt, possibly protecting the wearer from the forces involved in such travel. He frequently speaks using a form of "futuristic slang" that involves a shortening of modern adjectives (for example, "pendous" for "stupendous" or "morb" for "morbid"). He returns home once the belt's auto-recall device is activated.
 * Cy, also known as the Myzarian Cyborg, it is a gigantic rancor-like cyborg from the planet Myzar-3 who became trapped in the Land of the Lost after colliding with another time traveler in the dimensional corridor, damaging his time device. He is exceptionally intelligent, and his strength alone makes him more than an even match for the dinosaur Scarface. Some of his cybernetic enhancements include the ability to see in the infrared spectrum in one eye as well as heightened senses. He lives in a cave in the mountains that he has made into a base of operations and attacks anyone who comes near. The entrance to his lair is booby-trapped with auto-defense mechanisms which include a form of nerve gas that causes temporary memory loss in humans and renders them unconscious. He wears a device on his wrist which can perform a similar function. Because he comes from a world rich in hydrogen and oxygen, he becomes winded easily in the Land due to the thinner air. In addition, this particular model was recalled due to being particularly susceptible to ultraviolet light.

Native inhabitants
Like its 1970s counterpart, the inhabitants of the Land of the Lost are mostly dinosaurs. An iguana can be seen occasionally. A creature, called an "osongi", which resembles an iguana, once bit Tom. A spitting viper called the "shika" is seen in the Valley of Death, and it blinds Kevin temporarily. Termites have also been found.

Tasha
One of the main dinosaurs in the show is Tasha, an orphaned baby Parasaurolophus (played by Ed Gale, voiced by Danny Mann). After the death of her mother at the claws of Scarface, Tasha's egg was rescued by Annie. Upon hatching, Kevin was the first person she saw and she immediately imprinted on him. However, possibly because he ignores her, Tasha treats Annie as her mother instead living with the Porters as a pet. What will happen to her if the Porters ever find a way home, is a frequent subject of discussion. Annie names her after her mother. Tasha appears to be quite intelligent for a dinosaur exhibiting almost human behavior at times. Through pantomime, body language, and an extensive range of vocal emotions she is surprisingly capable of communicating with humans. She seems to understand complex commands and inquiries and is even able to grasp and manipulate items in her claws (like throwing a ball). For a short time, Tasha was given the ability to speak by Keela. Tasha has a voracious appetite for a herbivore and will try to eat almost anything within reach. However, she prefers melons.

Scarface
A Tyrannosaurus, whom the Porters named Scarface (this series' reboot of 1970s' Grumpy) lives in the area. He has a scar through his right eye, hence his name, which is a lasting testament to his aggressive nature. Scarface is blind in his right eye because of the scar, leaving him able to see only through his left eye (an advantage to his prey). Scarface is one of the Porters' worst threats, as he could take down their treehouse and has tried to before.

Because of his violent nature, Scarface is an enemy to everybody in the series, including the Sleestaks. When Cy arrived, it was thought that he killed Scarface in their fight, but it was eventually revealed that Scarface was simply unconscious and used mud to heal himself. Also, upon being hit by a "light gun" found by Kevin and Stink in old Sleestak ruins, Scarface quickly recovered.

Pakuni
Pakuni are a tribe of hairy, humanoid primates native to the Land. In this series, their appearance is slightly different from the original 1974 series and 2009 movie. One Pakuni named Stink (played by Bobby Porter) is a close friend to Christa and the Porter family.

Sleestaks
A race of intelligent, reptilian humanoids, the Sleestaks were highly advanced until their own pollution drove them to live in caves to avoid the dinosaurs ("thunder lizards" in their tongue). The Sleestaks seen in the show are a group of criminals who were exiled to the surface world, their version of the death penalty. Omnivores, they will consume anything and have threatened to eat the Porters and their companions on several occasions. The trio took up refuge in an old, abandoned temple and have only managed to survive because of Shung's power crystal.

Others

 * Namaki (played by Tom Allard) is a strange, piscine-like humanoid who lives in a hut-like shelter on a beach miles from the Porter treehouse. Years ago, he befriended Christa's family and helped them build a raft to cross the ocean. They were reunited many years later when Christa (whom he refers to as "Christas") brought the Porters to that very same beach to relax. Despite his aquatic physiology, Namaki has never been to the other side of the ocean, afraid to attempt the crossing because of the frequent storms and the dangerous marine predators. Namaki is unable to hear music possibly due to his aquatic physiology. It is revealed that Namaki has a dislike for dinosaurs ("thunder lizards"), because of a scar he received on his right shoulder years before. But after the incident with the Siren, Namaki comes to like Tasha.

Unseen characters

 * Natasha Porter (played by Marta DuBois): Annie and Kevin's deceased mother. It was revealed in Life's a Beach that she died in a car accident two years before the events of the episode. Her name was revealed to be Natasha in the first episode, as Annie decided to name Tasha after her mother. In the episode "Siren's Song", a Siren takes on her form to fool Tom, but Natasha is never physically seen in any episode. Her voice is heard on the telephone in "Dream Maker" when the Porters think they have found their way back home, but such as the house itself, this was merely an illusion to confuse the family.
 * Stink's Mother and Father: Stink reveals that many Pakuni were used as slave labor by the Sleestaks. Among those were his parents, both of whom died from overwork.

Features
As with its 1970s counterpart, the Land of the Lost (never actually named within the series) exists in an entirely different dimension. It is a world similar to prehistoric Earth but it has three moons. The area in which the Porters live is a tropical jungle, although mention has also been made of a vast desert far away.

Crystals
Unique to this world is a peculiar type of quartz-like crystal that can be found in various caves throughout the Land. The Sleestaks often use Pakuni slave labor to mine these special crystals which can function as an energy source. In "Kevin vs. the Volcano", Kevin falls down a shaft covered in Sleestak markings (often marked by pictographs of lizards) and finds a huge shard nearly twice his size. Exposure to the sun reactivates this crystal and it causes it to pulsate, exerting a force which draws Kevin towards it when he tries to climb out of the shaft. Tom posits that the Sleestaks probably used these giant crystals to power their underground cities. It also might have been placed as a controlling device (not unlike the pylons from the 1970s series) for a nearby volcano as its destruction somehow reverses the volcano's eruption. In "Power Play", the Porters use the smaller pieces to act as surrogate "batteries" to run their flashlights and portable devices, but larger crystals (like Shung's) are much more powerful.

Even the smaller shards can be powerful when grouped together in a certain fashion. The Porters discover such a grouping hidden inside a stone carving in a cave in "Dreammaker". They find a number of crystals, varying in length, set into a device very similar to the matrix tables of the 1974 series. This particular table is able to create very realistic illusions (but with physical substance) drawn from one's mind, designed to lure them in to a carefully constructed - but very real - trap. Tom believes that the Sleestaks probably built it to be a psychic weapon.

Dimensional Gates
These often blue (but sometimes green) swirling mists are portals to other worlds and times. They appear to be triggered by earthquakes and are accompanied by sudden winds just before they open and only for a few moments. In this version of Land of the Lost they seem to materialize at random but can be tracked through their electromagnetic interference using the Porter's portable TV. Tom Porter believes these gates will get them home even though he cannot be sure where or when it will take them.

Crew

 * Directors: John Carl Buechler, Anthony Bona, Jeff Burr, Len Janson, Frank De Palma, Ernest Farino, John Strysik, Gabe Torres
 * Writers: Phil Combest, Jules Dennis, Janis Diamond, Len Janson, Chuck Menville, Richard Mueller, Gary Perconte, Michele Rifkin, Marianne Sellek, Reed Shelly
 * Producers: The Chiodo Brothers/Sid and Marty Krofft
 * Executive Producer: Jerry Golod
 * Music: Kevin Kiner