One of the reasons I'm not trashing this show is not because it was a personal boyhood favorite, but because it actually was inventive and had a slightly higher degree of production values injected into it verse all of the other Kroft offerings that aired at around the same time.The video effects are still apparent, and the stop motion for the time was on par (if not a bit ahead) of other offerings. It still wasn't quite Ray Harrihausen standards, but the stop motion dinosaurs placed against a very lush and rich Jurassic background offered something unique for kids to look at.In this program we don't just have a view of Earth's past, but an alternate Earth with both dinosaurs and more than one moon, as well as an intelligent race of beings who may or may not be descended from the Dinosaurs themselves. The sets, both live scale and miniatures, are fully realized, and the acting isn't half bad either. It's no wonder that this children's series lasted so long in a day and age when children's venues were pretty iffy business in terms of quality.Consider all of the other Kroft production offerings that relied on very primitive video effects, laugh tracks, and a lot of "show" to attract a children's audience. Land of the Lost beat them all out because it was a solid production with a lot of imagination. It did suffer some primitive video effects (notably the raft segment in the opening sequence), and was predominantly over lit like a lot of other video offerings at the time, but the settings and stories helped carry the show for more than one season, which is a lot considering who produced it and the other shows they produced for children.Land of the Lost was a window on what could be done for children if the show was smart on a children's level and didn't rely on the old cutesy character clichés. Japan was ahead of the US and UK by leaps and bounds, and it wouldn't be until the late 1980s that Hollywood producers started to smarten up and revisit the Land of the Lost formula in terms of production values for children's television.Some of the short comings of the Land of the Lost were that the more scientific aspects of a prehistoric world weren't touched on too much, and they could have been to maybe give an educational zinger to the children in paleontology. Regardless, the show held its own, and outlasted everyone else. And, on top of that, was recycled in syndication and aired in other time slots long after its cancellation. A thing no other Kroft production had done.Land of the Lost is sort of like the classic "Star Trek" of kids Saturday Morning fare. Unique, inventive, a true science fiction adventure series with decent acting and over all production value. That, and even though there was the usual wisdom coming in act four, the lesson of the day so to speak, it wasn't preachy. Tyhpically the adult character of Marshal pointed out the shortcomings of what they experienced and then moved on.In this way it was very different from the saccharine "After School Specials" that aired on ABC, with just over the top preachy mental hygiene themes that had me rolling my eyes. And yet kids (mostly girls, or so I recall) watched it because it had slightly higher production values than the Saturday Morning offerings. And yet even here the "After School Specials" were not widely recirculated by the network, and yet Land of the Lost was. Apples and oranges in terms of genre, but it shows that even being shot on video and with the use of some primitive video graphics mixed in with more sophisticated film based graphics and special effects for an adventure series.

The original 1970s Land of the Lost seems to be a very special memory for the great majority of those who were pre-schoolers/grade schoolers in the 1970-1980 period, despite a few annoying downbeat reviews. In my own case, I recall LoL being one of my favorite memories of Saturday mornings in the '70s, one of the best "live action cartoons". Others of that sort were Shazam, Isis, Ark II, etc., but LoL outdid them all, and yes, I have seen the DVD releases as an adult - the defects are obvious, true. The acting could have been better(although I always found Kathy Coleman very good as Holly - were there any of us guys who didn't have a crush on her?) No doubt the dinosaurs were a big part of the attraction for many(I assume the creators of the land of lost brought them there at some point before their civilization fell), the Sleestak, and so on. Enik was often a fun character as well(played by late Walker Edmiston), who was from the period when the "Altrusians" were civilized, and built the land - sort of a traveling dimensional-door repairman, I guess, who became stranded in the land's future himself. The episode with the remains of the Revolutionary War soldiers stuck in the memory, esp. when the Sleestak revive near the climax, the Pylon Express was another good one. For the record, the Krofts were noted for being penny pincher's when it came to just about everything, special effects included. Then, any 1970s-era live action sci-fi Saturday morning series has cheesy effects by todays standards, for crying out loud, people! True enough, the 3rd season wasn't as good when Ron harper replaced Spencer Millgan - Rick Marshall(Milligan) fell through a pylon-dimension dorr during an earthquake) and Uncle Jack(Harper) came in to replace him while searching for the family. Harper was a good actor, but let down by lower-quality scripts('though I did enjoy some of the mythological aspects like bringing in Medusa). The songs Will sung that final season were indeed awful, though...The mid-2000's DVD release in 3 volumes has a number of interviews, and commentaries which are missing on the later single-set re-issue, so try to get those, if possible. The 1992 TV remake despite great effects is a quite bad series, one which didn't last a full two seasons - not issued on disc, but I would say avoid it in any case.

One of the low points 1970s kids Saturday morning television. Terrible on every count, but the so-called "acting" takes the prize. Of the "so bad it's bad" category, and that's about it, though I can understand how soft headed 20 and 30 year olds might "love" it thinking it's camp or due to some childhood "crushes" on the actors that they can't seem to get over. Hard to believe that some think that the last season went "downhill" and was "hokey"--it never went uphill and was hokey from the start! But then there's no accounting for taste and especially stupid taste. Have been watching bits of the Sci-Fi network's LotL marathon, but I can't watch more than 2-3 minutes at a time without crinching at something. Holly and Cha-ka are especially grating. They act like those kids on BARNEY--phoney and just too much all around. Hard to believe a Hollywood movie is being made from this show. Oh, wait, that's right: I mentioned 'Hollywood,' so it makes sense. In the land of No Ideas, why not go back to 70s kiddie trash and bloat it in to a big-budget summer flick! That's certainly a formula for success these days.

I actually read that they fell through a time trap(door) What?? They were on a camping trip and they went over a waterfall and ended up in the land of the lost. OK now that I got that off of my chest why was Holly so annoying? She was always complaining. Dad why is a boulder coming after us? Dad why is that dinosaur going to eat us? It never was out of fear but rather the sound of an annoying child. Also about those boulders...come on. They were the size of a peanut. I guess that is why they would shrink the actors to make the rocks appear much larger. I just bought the show on DVD. I hope it is worthwhile. I guess just seeing Holly's face in braids on the cover is worth the price.