Sweet! Been meaning to rewatch this show.

I just watched the first episode where they meet Chaka. There was a moment on the soundtrack where it sounded like they were about to start singing "Boom Chaka lakka." I had forgotten how much fun this show could be - especially Grumpy.

It's a fun show. The 3rd season got silly (sillier), by then they were introducing characters from fantasy/mythology, it was all over the place.
The series had some known scifi writers writing some the scripts including Theodore Sturgeon, Ben Bova, and Larry Niven.

David Gerrold himself wrote the script for that first episode and was the story editor or something like that. I'm sure you know him from his various TV sci/fi scripts for Star Wars (orig & animated - he wrote the Tribbles episodes I believe), Babylon 5 and others as well as the novelization of Battle For the POTA.

Oh yeah! And DC Fontana, who also wrote for Star Trek. Interesting how this Saturday morning show had these guys writing for it.

Since Gerrold was a story editor for LOTL, he probably pitched all the best Star Trek writers. As writers, I don't think that doing Saturday morning TV had an anthema for them since they were not as visible as actors would be. Back then, a lot of actors didn't even want to do TV because they felt like it cheapened them. But writers were probably eager to sell scripts wherever they could.

But you're right, Land of the Lost is not necessarily known for intelligent scripts the way that Trek is.

Plus they probably thought it was just a bunch of kids watching, who would pay attention to the credits?

A few months ago, I read an old science fiction story from the 1930's or 40's, and I suspect it might have been the inspiration, or one of the inspirations, for Land of the Lost. Does this sound familiar?? I might have mentioned it here, I forget. I think it was by Clark Ashton Smith. I'll try to remember.

hey Smerd, this is the story I was thinking of. I'm pretty sure I mentioned this once before, either here, or on IMDB, but I guess it got lost on the shuffle... anyway, there was a story by Clark Ashton Smith called Dweller in the Gulf. There are at least two slightly different versions of it that got published... I'm thinking of the one that had the character Chalmers in it. Apparently it was written in 1932, and published in 1933.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

It's a story about a small group of explorers who travel down a very deep cavern on Mars. Mars is already supposed to be reasonably well settled and explored by humans at the time of the story, so they are really making an effort to seek out unexplored places... ah yes, they hid in the cave to escape from a sandstorm, and ended up exploring it. Had to double check that.

Here, you can read about the story here if you want, these guys did some serious research:
https://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/55/the-dweller-in-the-gulf

The Chalmers character reminds me a lot of Collie, from Land of the Lost... Jefferson Davis Collie III, living in the caves, viewed by the explorers as a lost vestige of an earlier period in their own culture... in Dweller in the Gulf, Chalmers has succumbed to the malevolent powers around him, although in LotL Collie is still fiesty and constantly battling the Sleestaks.

The Sleestaks are similar to the Aihai in DitG. The Alhai also are divided into the devolved and evolved versions, which the explorers deal with at different points, in different ways. That, to me, is a particularly striking similarity between Lotl and DitG.

I feel like there were more similarities, but I can't think of them right now... in general, Clark Ashton Smith is pretty similar to HP Lovecraft, by the way, but he is better for horror fans in some ways because he is willing to depict gore, and generally disgusting things. Like, in DitG, the main monster/demon/god/thing sucks people eyes out before it turns them into its slaves.

I actually e-mailed one of the writers from LotL about all these similarities, but he hasn't gotten back to me yet... he still could, I guess.

Cool! Thank you! That is really interesting, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they were inspired by these stories seeing as t hey were scifi writers themselves. I will defintiely look these stories up to read!
And thank you for the info on this!

Yo peeps - you got a 50 point bonus coming for completing the original POTA quintet!

Oh yeah, oops. Thanks, b.

Kong: Skull Island (2017) [118]
Project X (1987) [108]
King Kung Fu (1976) [95]
Planet of the Apes (1968) [112]
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) [105]
Monkey Shines (1988) [113]
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) [130]
Shakma (1990) [101]
Spider-Man (1967) 206: Diamond Dust [25]
Congo (1995) [109]

total
1016

Tue Jul 11 FTV: Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues (1984) 1 Points = 91

Total = 91

Movies:

Planet Of The Apes (1968) 112min
Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) 95min
The Barefoot Executive (1971) 96min
Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) 98min
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) 88min
Battle For the Planet of the Apes (1973) 93min +50
Tanya's Island (1980) 82min
Link (1986) 103min
Monkey Shines (1988) 113min
Birds Do it (1966) 88min **
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) 104min
Schlock! (1973) 80min
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) 130min
Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967) 88min
War For the Planet of the Apes (2017) 140min +50
Africa Screams (1949) 79min
Mighty Joe Young (1998) 114min
Going Ape! (1981) 87min
King Kong (1976) 134min
King Kong (2005) 187min

TV:

Jonathan Creek: House Of Monkeys 59min
Leave It To Beaver: Beaver's Monkey 26min
Gilligan's Island: Voodoo Something To Me 25min
Tales Of The Gold Monkey: Pilot 90min
Tales Of The Gold Monkey: Ape Boy 47min
Wonder Woman: Wonder Woman vs Gargantua 50min
Land of the Lost: Cha-Ka 23min
Land Of The Lost: The Babysitter 23min
The Ghost Busters: The Maltese Monkey 27min *
The Ghost Busters: Dr. Whatshisname 27min *
Planet of the Apes: Escape From Tomorrow 47min
Planet Of The Apes: The Gladiators 47min
Gilligan's Island: Bang! Bang! Bang! 25min
Planet Of The Apes: The Trap 47min
Planet Of The Apes: The Good Seeds 47min
Planet Of The Apes: The Legacy 47min
Return To The Planet Of The Apes: Flames Of Doom 24min
Return To The Planet Of The Apes: Escape From Ape City 24min
Return to the Planet of the Apes: The Unearthly Prophecy 24 min.
Return to the Planet of the Apes: Tunnel of Fear 24 min
Planet of the Apes: Tomorrow's Tide 47min
Planet of the Apes: The Surgeon 47min
Planet of the Apes: The Deception 47min
Planet of the Apes: The Horse Race 47min
Planet of the Apes: The Interrogation 47min
Planet of the Apes: The Tyrant 47min
Planet Of The Apes: The Cure 47min
Planet Of The Apes: The Liberator 47min
Planet Of The Apes: Up Above the World So High 47min +50
Return to the Planet of the Apes: Lagoon Of Peril 24min
Return to the Planet of the Apes: Terror on Ice Mountain 24min
Return to the Planet of the Apes: River of Flames 24points
Return to the Planet of the Apes: Screaming Wings 24points
Return to the Planet of the Ape: Trail to the Unknown 24points
Return to the Planet of the Apes: Attack from the Clouds 24points
Return to the Planet of the Apes: Mission of Mercy 24points
Return to the Planet of the Apes: Invasion of the Underdwellers 24points
Return to the Planet of the Apes: Battle of the Titans 24points +50


* 1975 live-action series
** Featuring Judy the chimp


Books/Comics:

King Kong novelization - Delos Lovelace 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue One 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Two 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Three 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Four 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Five 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Six 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Seven 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Eight 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Nine 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Ten 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Eleven 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Twelve 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Thirteen 50points
Planet Of The Apes - Pierre Boulle 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Fourteen 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Fifteen 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Sixteen 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Seventeen 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Eighteen 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Nineteen 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Twenty 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Twenty One 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Twenty Two 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Twenty Three 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Twenty Four 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Twenty Five 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Twenty Six 50points
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Twenty Seven 50
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Twenty Eight 50
Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Issue Twenty Nine 50

Points: 5253



From Jonathan Creek: House Of Monkeys-

Maddy Magellan: [Seeing Jonathon who has fallen down the stairs and the gorilla, who was attacking him, lying dead after jumping off the balcony] What happened?
Jonathan Creek: He just went... I don't know.
Maddy Magellan: What?
Jonathan Creek: Apeshit!

For Wonder Woman vs Gargantua, fun episode, but one of the worst apes suits I've seen. Even the one from Gilligan's Island where they made their own ape suit from Lovey's fur coats looked more realistic.


Enjoyed very much the novelzation of the original King Kong film.

Read the first issue if Marvel's Planet Of The Apes Magazine. Fun so far. I like the articles, and especially enjoyed the interview with Rod Serling. For the first part of the original Planet of the Apes adaptation. Like how Taylor looks more like Steve Reeves as Hercules than look like Heston. Black curly hair, and built like The Hulk.

Ooh lala - I think I'll be looking at your post a lot, Smerd!

The girl's pretty cute too.

Hadn't noticed.