Land of the Lost: Elsewhen

"Elsewhen"
Written by D.C. Fontana
Directed by Dennis Steinmetz
Original airdate: December 14, 1974

In the time doorway chamber of the Lost City, Holly encounters a strange woman.

Read the complete story summary by Nels Olsen

I placed "Elsewhen" as the last episode of Season 1 simply due to my own leaning towards the artistic estheticism of having it be the first season finale, seeing as how I've invalidated "Circle" as same.

Didja Notice?

Rani looks just like Will and Holly's mother from "Album". (Of course, it helps that it was the same actress!)
That loop they tie in the rope for Holly sure doesn't look very secure...she could easily slip out of it!
At 13:33 on the DVD, you can see that the stalagmite set piece to which the rope is tied starts to tip over on it's base!
After being captured by the Sleestak, Rick and Will are worried about facing the creature in the pit. Of course, they should be, but have they forgotten that they found a passage in/out of the pit in "The Hole"?
Rani tells Holly to "cherish her father and brother" and then at 22:08 on the DVD, she gets a subtle, sad look on her face as she continues, "They won't always be there." What is going to happen to them? Rani also looks sad shortly after that as she turns away from Holly and disappears.

Unanswered Questions

The Marshalls discover two pylon keys on the cave walls in the Lost City. Why are they there? Is it because of the hole in the wall? If so, what, really, is the significance of the hole since it just seems to lead back to the Land (or does it)? (By the way, given their experience with the pylons, don't you think they should have tried turning the keys to see what would happen?)
Rani gives 3 pendants to the Marshalls. Are the colored jewels in the pendants made from the same power crystals found throughout the Land?
What is the significance of the landscape Holly sees as she is climbing back up to the hole? I had always assumed it was another demonstration of the closed-universe nature of the Land of the Lost; in other words, by climbing DOWN the hole as far as she did, Holly had emerged at the TOP of the Land of the Lost. Now I'm not so sure.

In watching the scene over, it is clear that Holly is not emerging down from the sky, she is emerging from a (the?) crevasse...climbing down into the sky! Is she even seeing her Land of the Lost...or an alternate version? Remember, it was too dark for her to see anything until suddenly a light shone, presumably the rising sun, revealing the landscape to her. But it was already daytime when the Marshalls entered the Lost City. So, I would speculate that by climbing through the hole, Holly has emerged into an alternate Land, one whose day/night cycles run opposite to the Land familiar to her (meaning the sun has now risen for her in the hole but is setting in the "real" Land).
	Holly's vision
Additionally, in the audio commentary for this episode, writer D.C. Fontana states that Holly has "come out the bottom of the Land of the Lost, into another world." She does not go into any more detail about it, but she could have meant an alternate version of the Land of the Lost.
The final evidence that Holly is viewing an alternate Land is contained in these two images below.

Holly's vision flipped	The crevasse (from "The Sleestak God")
By flipping Holly's vision, we get to see the world "right-side up". Notice the similarity to the crevasse leading to the Lost City as seen in several previous episodes. The butte in the upper left quadrant looks essentially identical in both images (the minor differences could probably be attributed to a slight difference in viewing angle). However, the other 3 quadrants are significantly different upon examination. The stone bridge is different, the trees and shrubs are different, the background view and horizon are different. So, the same butte, but otherwise different terraforms comprising the familiar crevasse-crossing suggest...an alternate universe Land of the Lost! Perhaps this is where the alternate Marshalls of "Split Personality" wound up after their plunge over the waterfall?

From the audio commentary by D.C. Fontana

Fontana resolves a minor point of contention among Losties, confirming the spelling of Rani's name (it's not Ronnie!).
Rani's quote regarding the time doorways that "they come and go so quickly" is borrowed and paraphrased from the Alice in Wonderland quote, "the people come and go so quickly around here."
A scene was cut from the script in which Holly sees some skylons (at the time still "sky snakes") as she climbs back up the rope.
When Holly fights back against the god in the pit, it backs off cowardishly. This was inspired by the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz.
Fontana reveals that Wah Chang (the dinosaur designer) and Mentor Hubner (show designer) are well known as fine artists in addition to their work on shows such as LOTL.

Memorable Dialog

the correct sequence.wav
feed you to the thing in the pit.wav
don't do this-that.wav
like my own family.wav
the unknown can be dangerous.wav
I can handle it.wav
don't they ever feed that thing.wav
care and feeding.wav
I'm not afraid.wav
it's just a scratch.wav
I'm here, Holly.wav
I know who you are now.wav
I came back through a time doorway.wav
cherish your father and brother.wav
there's a future.wav

People, Places and Things (Provided by Michael Taylor)

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