MovieChat Forums > Land of the Lost (1974) Discussion > unsolved mysteries in the LAND OF THE LO...

unsolved mysteries in the LAND OF THE LOST


there must have been alot of unsolved mysteries on this show. here are a few of my top mysteries. Were they ever solved? do you have other mysteries to add to the list?

1. Who wrote "holly don't" in the episode THE PYLON EXPRESS?

2. Who created the Pylons and thethe matrix tables in the land of the lost?

3. what happened to rick marshall? did he make it home during the earthquake?

4. how did the altrusians destroy their world and how did the sleestak come into being?

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1)I have a theory....

Remember that episode SPLIT PERSONALITY where the Marshall family come across that ghostly figure of Holly from a parallel universe and the Marshall family went out and rescue the alternative Will and Rick Marshall from that other Land of the Lost.....who were stuck in between these two worlds.....Rick told Will NOT to touch one of their mirror images because they might be made of antimatter....meaning they came in contact they could blow each other up.

I thought that maybe this world (that Holly said looked so much like home) may just be that other parallel Land of the Lost where that other Marshal Family lived....and reason that bouncing box blew up is because it was in contact with a world that was made out of anti-matter. Perhaps that note in the sand was left by the other Marshall family who somehow knew Hollie was coming and left that note there in the sand to warn her......as a payback for saving them.

Just a theory

2) The Altrusians (Eniks people) made the pylons.

3) Rick Marshal got sucked through the time doorway back to earth- First episode of season 3

4. Nobody really knows how the altrusians really destroyed their world. Just from seeing the different pylons left over in the land of the lost we know they had great power over many things like controlling night and day, the weather, and many dimensional doorways to other times and worlds,not to mention a way to seal off their world to keep anything from entering or leaving unless through a time doorway. Any beings with that kind of power (to much probably for anybody to have) could do some major damage if used the wrong way but the Altrusion's kept their anger in check as Enik tells the Marshal family...UNTIL he saw the ruins of his home (lost City) and he concluded that in some point in time that they just lost control of their anger and used all their advanced power, and creations for war and created a big holocaust destroying all of their civilization and buildings (except a few pylons)- just like we might in the event a nuclear war....the Sleastack are their primitive descendants of the survivors. They have none of the wisdom or knowledge of their ancestors just primitive hostility.

One altrusion in that pylon (who seduced Cha-ka and Hollie with that wand) might have been a lone survivor of that holocaust who but somehow hid himself in hybernation in the energies of that pylon and needed power to survive.

Another theory!

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[deleted]

1) You're theory makes a ton of sense, except that it has one major flaw. The episode "Split Personality" came 4 episodes after "The Pylon Express." They are number 8 and number 12 in Season Two. One has to assume that they are in chronological order.

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1. That is a good question; perhaps in time someone will come forth to say they penned it. Sid & Marty DID SAY in their first episode narrative that quite a number of the Sci-Fi writers from that era contributed.

2. Enik's people created them; of that I'd bet my next paycheck on.

3. Mr. Marshall was pulled out of that dimension and in (how conveniently) popped his brother. (LoL)

4. My guess is that they misused their knowledge of time/space reality and their crystals somehow. It's my guess that the whole ancient civilization + destruction + crystals is a holdover from the romantic notions of the Lost City of Atlantis that many Sci-Fi writers have a love of. Mix that in with the Lost Continent of Mu and the fictional legends of Lemuria and throw in the Reptillian Brain and you can figure the rest out for yourself.

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Mitches theory on question 1 seems as good an answer as any so I will buy into that. Split personality does shed some light on holly dont if you play it back to back with pylon express. Sorry darren, you misunderstood my question. I am not talking about the writer of the episode. I am talking about the writer of HOLLY DONT warning on the sand when Holly was about to step out .

as to the idea that the altrusians created the pylons- I disagree wholeheartedly. I think it is integral to the story that the altrusians did not creat the pylons. I think somewhere in the recently released dvds someone says it was not the altrusians. I know I heard it somewhere. I think either the pakuni built it at one time or there were another people that no longer are in the land of the lost who were looking to protect the pakuni. I think the temple episode is one of the keys to the Land of the lost and then in the third season they got away from the original premise of the show. I might be wrong but I am betting that there was another power in the land of the lost besides the altrusians. No doubt the altrusians were intellegent and learned from them, but they did create the temple or the pylons.

as to rick marshall getting home through the pylon, I dont know if thats the case either. All we saw was his back and that he was looking at the rocks that might have been earth. There is no way to know for sure that rick got home. after all, he never came back to rescue will and holly. I hope he got home but there is certainly no proof.

and as to the altrusian race... well I guess the whole atomic mutant thing after destroying their world is as good an explanation as any but I think there is alot more to story than that. After all, there is that God thing in the pit and the library of the skulls. There is a mystery to be solved in there and I am going to solve it some day!

thanks for sharing your ideas guys. I appreciate a healthy disagreement but I particularly on the pylon mystery think the altrusians is far to boring an answer. Besides, the pyons and the temple do not look like the kind of thing the altrusians built. It is not in line with the lost city. IMHO.

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I love all the explanations and all are worth entertaining as acceptable.
The explanations are all well thought out & I am impressed as this was considered a 'kiddie show' back when it originally aired.
Keep 'em coming

PS. My Q: Did Beauregard Jackson ever make it back to his correct timeline?

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[deleted]

the episode was CIRCLE, the finale to season 1.

it does sorta make sense in a LAND OF THE LOST sorta way.

who is shrodingers cat?

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrodingers_cat
For an introduction to Shrodinger and his amazing cat.


_____
http://www.avert.org/aofconsent.htm
The subject comes up often enough.

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What I got from it was that the Marshalls speaking with Enik were able to go home. The instant they left through the door, though, it allowed the Marshalls who were stuck "falling", the ones they were watching through the door, to fall and enter the land of the lost (which might explain how they arrived in the first place.) So they didn't become the same ones who arrived. That's how I interpreted it, anyway.

"The best things happen when you don't know what's going on." -- Naathan Phan

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It went over my head when I was a kid, it was a time paradox and
a time loop at the same time. I watched Tom Baker as the Doctor
and that helps too understanding time travel and all its weirdness.

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Just as a laugh but a true comment, that actor just climbed back in the Enoch outfit and continued playing on the show. Go look up his bio and episode 4 of season 1 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0793105/.

The character's name was actually Jefferson Collie btw.

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1. Interesting. There's a fan fic out there, written 7 years before that first post, that theorizes exactly that about "Holly Don't." The "other" Rick Marshall wrote that. It also makes sense given that the hopity thing exploded when it left the pylon. The story is called Personality Split, and can be found if you google it.

2. In an episode called The Musician, it was stated that a group called The Builders built the Land of the Lost, and that included the pylons, so there's that.

3. No question that Rick Marshall made it home. That was the point of the opening scene to Aftershock. He opened a door to Earth, and before he could get Will and Holly, an earthquake hit. He fell through the doorway and the table smashed, so Will and Holly couldn't follow. He went home. The show said he went home. Don't worry about the rocky terrain. If you think about it, if you are falling 1000 feet in a waterfall, even if you go through a portal, the second you hit the LOTL, you crash and die--UNLESS there is some sort of safety mechanism in the doorway that slows you down. Clearly, that's what happened to the Marshalls, or they would have died right away. Likewise, there is no reason to believe Rick didn't survive. Again--the writers made the intent clear--Rick got back to Earth.

4. No idea about this one. Years of bottled up emotions led them to a major cataclysm that was so bad, they de-evolved. Obviously, it was centuries before.

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[deleted]

I love how this show has these unsolved mysteries. The writers and producers created a mythology that needs to be further explored.

The original LOTL is very deep for a cheesy 1970s kid show. It's one of those rare 1970s shows that referenced back to events that had happened in previous episodes. Most shows back then didn't do that. Most shows back then just had simple "hero in jeopardy" stories that was just mindless entertainment.

Also, LOTL features some really awesome banjo music.

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It's one of those rare 1970s shows that referenced back to events that had happened in previous episodes. Most shows back then didn't do that.


And almost unheard of in kids' show. I'm trying to remember a kids' show before this that had multi-episode story arcs and am coming up blank so far.

Oh, earthquake episode just came on, gotta go... :)

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I agree that this show was well thought out and didn't talk down to its young audience.
Also, Didn't Holly say at the end of "Pylon Express" that the 'Holly Don't' sign looked like her Dad's writing?

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She did (just saw tonight myself)....giving credence to the writer being "anti-matter" Rick.

Did I really just write that??? LOL

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[deleted]

A lot of the animated Japanese shows (Speed Racer, Kimba, etc.) had story arcs and recurring characters. The Japanese productions were always way ahead of their American counterparts when it came to not underestimating their young audiences. By the mid-70s they were producing some truly complex, multi-story arc series like Battle of the Planets and Starblazers.

Some of the American cartoons like Rocky & Bullwinkle and Underdog had multi-part episodes, though these were simple cliffhanger stories much like the movie serials of the 30s $ 40s - not terribly complex. You still have to give credit to the Jay Ward productions for interjecting jokes which would fly over the heads of most kids and would get a laugh from the parents.

LotL was definitely way ahead of the curve, especially compared to its American contemporaries (Valley of the Dinosaurs, Korg, Ark II, Jason of Star Command, etc.).

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<<<I'm trying to remember a kids' show before this that had multi-episode story <<<arcs and am coming up blank so far. Underdog, Rocky and bullwinkle, Speed Racer, Kimba the White Lion, Superman (1960s version, and some others

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Uncle Jack Marshall took his shirt off to dive for the supplies in airtight containers from his raft. And he always had his shirt unbuttoned. Mystery: why did Rick Marshall never take his shirt off, even when swimming?
>>I'm trying to remember a kids' show before this that had multi-episode story arcs<< I just want to add Hanna~Barbera's very first cartoon, Ruff & Reddy.

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5. Who was the REPAIRMAN? How did he know that the Marshalls got home?

6. In the Episode where Chaka is in the temple, it is implied there is another NON ALTUSIAN Race that has an interest in the Pakuni? What was that all about? Is it related to the Pylons Mystery?

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gotta bump this back to the top! The junk that is on the top needs to go. Guess if you make a crappy movie, you are going to bring out the dumasses to comment on the boards. The stupid film has had its 5 minutes in the sun. All you non LOTL fans that were excited about transformersII and Ice AgeIII coming out, go back and crawl under your rocks now and leave us in peace!

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For who created the Land of the Lost....I'm going with a different theory (for today)...Perhaps the land of the lost was less of a land to live in and more of a fishbowl or gerbil tank....perhaps this is what happens to a terrarium which is put away in the corner and ignored...chaos happens. The original creators are long gone...but perhaps they never lived inside it in the first place.

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Some questions I'd like to ask about LOTL:

-Who wrote "Beware of Sleestak" on the entrance to the Sleestak cave?
-What was the creature that was in the Sleestak pit?
-Why didn't the Sleestaks leave the cave to hunt down the Marshalls? They've shown they can leave the caves on a couple of occasions.
-So everything on the show was happening over and over since the Marshalls were caught in a time loop? 3 must enter so 3 can leave.

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-Who wrote "Beware of Sleestak" on the entrance to the Sleestak cave?

That was resolved in the show. The two Revolutionary War soldiers wrote the warning and named the Sleestak after an officer, Major Joshua Sleestak (see episode "Follow That Dinosaur").

-What was the creature that was in the Sleestak pit?

That's still an unsolved mystery. David Gerrold mentioned in one of the commentaries that he wanted to depict the God of the Pit as being much smaller than its roar would indicate, but it never happened.

-Why didn't the Sleestaks leave the cave to hunt down the Marshalls? They've shown they can leave the caves on a couple of occasions.

The Sleestak couldn't stand sunlight, so that was a limiting factor. In the first two seasons, the Marshall's cave at High Bluff was apparently too far from the Lost City for the Sleestak to reach during the course of a night (that Sleestak shuffle is not terribly speedy). So the very last episode of the second season ("Blackout") they used a pylon to prevent the sun from rising. During this time, the Marshalls were besieged by Sleestak outside of their cave. In the third season, the Marshalls moved to the temple which was much closer to the Lost City. The Sleestak attacked the temple a number of times during the third season.

-So everything on the show was happening over and over since the Marshalls were caught in a time loop?

If LotL had been canceled after the first season, essentially the Marshalls could be seen as a existing in a perpetual loop. But since the series was renewed, the second batch of Marshalls apparently didn't follow the same trajectory as the originals and had two more seasons of different adventures. Paradoxes are funny like that.

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In the episode Split Personality, an apparition of Holly in a yellow shirt appears as well as Rick and Will partially encased in solid rock have different clothing. Whatever became of the knapsack containing Holly's yellow blouse, Rick's red shirt and Will's white shirt? This clothing was said to have been lost in the initial entrance to the Land of the Lost

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>>Why didn't the Sleestaks leave the cave to hunt down the Marshalls?
>>They've shown they can leave the caves on a couple of occasions.

> The Sleestak couldn't stand sunlight, so that was a limiting factor. In
> the first two seasons, the Marshall's cave at High Bluff was apparently
> too far from the Lost City for the Sleestak.

In the episode "The Hole", the intelligent Sleestak, S'Latch, mentioned that
Sleestak had crossed the great gorge a few times (I believe the Marshall's
cave and the Lost City were on opposite sides of the gorge). None of those
Sleestak had ever returned; I guess why is yet another LotL mystery.

The Sleestak were quite like grad students. Sure they could exist for brief
periods in the daylight, but they preferred the dark. S'Latch, Enik, and
some of Enik's Sleestak persuers (in "The Stranger") were running around
outside in daylight.

Probably doesn't help have giant, fully dialated, unblinking eyes. Now I'm
back to grad students.

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The Sleestack most likely made tasty treats for Grumpy and Big Alice.

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Gerald also siad he wanted the god to some sort of "sleestak queen," like a queen bee.

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The person who wrote Beware of Sleestak was an American Revolutionary soldier who was stuck in the LOTL before the Marshalls. It's in the episode, "Follow that Dinosaur."

Not everything was in a time loop. The arrival of Uncle Jack showed that the events after Circle happened. My own theory is that Enik was showing compassion, and that he merged the two sets of Marshalls, who relived everything, except the events of Circle.

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When the "second" set of Marshalls brought Jefferson Davis Cawley back to the Great Swamp with them, Cawley must not have made it back to his underground caverns, as Medusa had captured him and turned him to stone (but how his canon got there - if it's the same one - is a mystery).

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Im kinda partial to the future Holly theory on who wrote "holly dont". There is one episode where Dad and Rick are stuck in a pit...and a hot blonde shows up to tell holly that she needs to be more self sufficient since she wont always have Dad and Rick there...we can infer that the hot blonde is future holly from the necklace (or some other hint)....so if she can help with one instacne in the Land of the Lost, i like to assume that she may have written that message to help younger Holly along...and due to something she knows she doesnt tell young Holly the truth of how everything happened.

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