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Episode Studies by Clayton Barr enik1138-at-popapostle-dot-com |
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Continuing their mapping survey,
the Read the complete story summary by Nels Olsen
Freeze the frame at 1:26 on the DVD, just as the scene is changing from Cha-ka with the picnic basket to Spot in the jungle. For that single frame, in the top left corner, you can see the fade out of the clapper board used between scenes! It appears to say "Excelsior" (the animation studio at which the stop-motion was shot), "Sid and Marty Krofft" and "Land of the Lost".
At 1:54 on the DVD, after Will says "This looks like a pretty good spot," he picks up a stick and swats away a large insect on the rock on which they then lay out the map. It happens mostly on the bottom 1/4 of the screen almost too quickly to notice. From the dialog between Rick and Will, it sounds as if the Marshalls have determined that pylons are located at about quarter-mile distances from each other. There are some strange noises at 8:44 and 8:46 on the DVD. It sounds like one of the Land's wild pigs, but it sounds very close and we never see it...why bother to put in those sounds beyond the normal jungle sounds that are always heard? Maybe it's Will's stomach...he has been complaining he's ready for lunch since the episode started! Listen: grunt 1.wav and (in the middle of Will saying "...cooking and, believe me...") grunt 2.wav. At 12:04 on the DVD, the producers reuse some first season animation of Big Alice devouring some prey. But apparently it is not actually Big Alice in this case because here Rick refers to the allosaur as "he". I guess the fact that this allosaur also bellows a roar like Grumpy's is meant to attest to it being male. In fact, maybe this is the allosaur that fathers Junior with Alice! Also, perhaps this allosaur is the one at end of the opening credits of the third season episodes, which also makes a roar like Grumpy. There's also some obnoxious chewing sounds coming from the allosaur mentioned above as he eats! Listen: munchalot.wav And, speaking once more about the allosaur above, Rick first says "If he spots us, we're in trouble." Then, a little later, he and Will are in a hurry to get past the beast and simply walk up to him and shoo him away! A moment when "suspension of disbelief" fails, not to mention contradicting the characters own earlier dialog. After Holly falls into the hole, why is her knife still sitting on the top of the closed disc? Shouldn't it have fallen with her? It looks like the animators used redressed action figures to simulate Holly and Rick falling through the shaft. Has anyone been able to identify the figures used? They would have to be figures available in 1974 or earlier. Comparing some photos on the web, here are a couple that seem likely candidates.
The actors have a difficult task in selling the concept that they are floating weightless around the heart. It is obvious they are sitting on a blue-screen floor and just waving their arms and legs around. Kathy Coleman does the best job and Spencer Milligan barely even tries to sell it! Spot dies for the second time in the series, swallowed by the heart. Of course, after the first Spot, the Marshalls were calling any Coelophysis they saw by that name. Rick conjectures that the heart they saw powers the Land of the Lost by consuming matter, turning it into energy and redistributing that energy though the Land via the pylons. In a way, this seems like another example of the closed universe nature of the Land. The Land is consuming itself by converting parts of its own matter into energy but that energy is distributed back into the Land so, unlike a normal world, energy is never lost to the rest of the universe, just endlessly recycled from matter to energy and back again. The Land belches up the Marshalls' picnic basket. Listen: the belch.wav
Kathy Coleman seems to give
a funny look to someone off-camera as the final scene fades out.
Maybe she wanted to get rid of that smoking, smelly picnic
basket!
Memorable Dialog peanut butter and jelly.wav Holly's cooking.wav a pylon can't just up and walk away.wav nipping at Holly's smilax cakes.wav no great loss.wav disappeared into the ground.wav nothing's impossible around here.wav the sand just seemed to evaporate.wav I didn't see any bottom.wav sounds like a drum...or a heartbeat.wav the main source of energy for the Land of the Lost.wav it consumes matter.wav acute heartburn.wav
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