Land Of The Lost - Season Two!

The second season of Land of the Lost is still a respectable entertainment. The emphasis on science fiction remains and the threats the Marshalls face are varied but not too cliched. One that does change a lot is the focus on the dinosaurs. There are only a few episodes that focus on that side of the story. Instead, room is made for more speculation about the mysterious Pylons which seem to control the Land of the Lost when they are working correctly. Also we meet a new nemesis for the Marshall family,  a stranger alien named the Zarn. 

The Marshall family itself is still camped in a cave on what they call "High Bluff" which offers them a degree of safety from the more primitive threats in the land. They really have upgraded the living conditions as well. In the first season they made do with sleeping bags and a few makeshift low tables. But now they have made real furniture with a rather sleek looking table and chairs which serves as a center to the cavern home. They have put their sleeping bags on actual beds, albeit made from primitive materials. Basics like water seem easier to find and there is even evidence of actual gardening whereas in the first season they foraged. Their lives seem easier if no less psychological rugged. 

The dinosaurs as mentioned before have fallen into the background and for the most part folks move around the Land of the Lost with little concern for them, though a roar now an again is heard. One thing which has been given a new focus are the "Pakuni", the primitive tribe Cha-Ka  belongs to which is made up two more folks -- Ta (a male) and Sa (a female). It sometimes appears they are family and other times not so much. One thing which does get a bit noisome is the extensive use of their language. Now the show bragged in its first season that the language used by the Pakuni was developed with some care but I'll be frank it sounds more and more like gibberish in this second season which assaults us with long conversations. 

The "Sleestak" appear to be less of a threat and in many episodes are shown to be in hibernation. Enik pops up now and again and he's just as difficult to understand as always, though he does seem to want to work with the Sleestak a bit more. We are introduced in this second season to the Library of Skulls which are an assembly of Sleestak skulls which speak and presumably supply wisdom to this bizarre underworld clan. 

One of the major additions to the story is the Zarn. He is an alien with his own spaceship but he's presented as a human figure of sparkling lights. He has malevolent tendencies and is more directly a threat to the Marshalls than the unpredictable Enik. There are three stories which focus on the Zarn and all of them are pretty decent outings for the show. 

The acting in the show is much mellower this season and that's a decided plus. Spencer Milligan who plays Rick Marshall really performs his part decidedly low key and that seems to affect his young castmates Wesly Eure and Kathy Coleman. The conversations seem a bit more natural and the hyperactive overacting evident in the first season is muted to good effect. 

The series seems to lack the sense of a larger all-encompassing storyline and  is more episodic, but I for the time there is still a remarkable memory of events from show to show. The show does lose a bit of its majestic writing ensemble though still we get scripts by Ted Sturgeon and Don Glut. The latter surprised me quite a bit because it didn't focus on dinosaurs. 

But big changes were in store for Land of the Lost in its third season. More on that next Saturday. 

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