The 'Lost' of the 70's?


Anybody else feel like this show was the "LOST" of the 70's? I don't watch much of either shows, but from my recent limited exposure to both, they both feel similarly enigmatic in nature with mind-*beep*s aplenty.

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

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[deleted]

The Lost series was never aimed at kids, and was much more adult oriented. However, I think a well done reboot, penned by the right writers could create a series much like Lost.

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Even the sound effects were similiar.

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Lost is of course much more complex, but I've often thought that the writers (who are about the right age) may have been influenced by LotL.

For instance, Lost's various Dharma Stations are similar to LotL's pylons in a lot of ways. In LotL, each pylon had its own control function (time, weather, the sun, etc.). In Lost, each Dharma Station was custom built for its own unique function. In both cases, when the heroes first encounter them they have to figure out what each enigmatic structure is used for.

Likewise, LotL had that big beating-heart-energy-ball thing which Marshall theorized acted as the energy source for the Land of the Lost. Lost has a vast underground power source which also seems to act as the "heart" of the island.

There's other parallels to be made if one looks.

I like to think that some of the seeds sewn by LotL reached fruition with Lost.

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I agree very well put overall moundshroud ! That's what I thought too but wasn't sure at first . Thanks so much moundshroud for your most excellent and informative reply .

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Hmm, it is making me rethink Lost. I used to think it was more original, and in many ways I do. However I keep seeing places where plot elements were borrowed. First Langoliers, than Land of the Lost.

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I do see similarities.
*Both the LotL and the island from "Lost" have people & things appearing from different eras. (Land of the Lost had dinosaurs, soldiers from George Washington's army; Confederate miners; parachutist from the future. "Lost" has the Black Rock; "Adam & Eve"; A buried hydrogen bomb; etc.)
*The giant, ruined old statue in "Lost" reminds me of the Lost City in LotL.
*The hatches can be considered similar to the Pylons.
"Lost" has the mysterious magnetic energy underground, while tLotL has the "Power source" in its nether regions.
*Both shows involve time travel.
*Both the Island and the LotL seem almost alive in their own way, with their own natural (or unnatural) rules. (Such as when--and if--someone is allowed to leave.)
*The scenes of the Marshalls running from Grumpy often remind me of the 'Lost' castaways running from the Smoke Monster.
*We're told many people have been sucked into the LotL over the years, just as many people have ended up unwillingly on the Island.

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Yep, that covers a lot of them.

A couple other minor similarities I noticed...

In the early days of Lost, Locke and Boone would go off on hunting forays into the jungle. Later on we discovered that some of this time spent "hunting" was actually spent investigating the first of the mysterious hatches. This reminded me of the way that Rick would send the kids out to get food or water, but they would almost always get distracted by a new pylon or something else they had to explore.

Another bit from the early days on the Lost island... Remember how the rain showers just seemed to come out of nowhere? One of the characters made a remark about it - how it can just start raining on with none of the typical warning (for some reason, this idiosynchrocy of the Island seemed to have been dropped or forgotten later on). Anyway, the first thing that came to my mind was "check the Weather Pylon for a burnt out crystal!".

And of course both places ended up with a beached 17th/18th Century sailing vessel (The Black Rock on Lost, The Flying Dutchman on LotL).

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[deleted]

Boonya2, Adam and Eve are what they named the skeletons which the Losties found in the cave that contained fresh water in season 1. They were holding black and white rocks in their hands. There is a lot of speculation now with the time travel as to who Adam and Eve actually are. One theory is that it's Rose and Bernard, but hopefully we'll find out in the final season next year.

Another monster besides smokey? I don't remember that one. Can you refresh my memory please?

Were there any big statues in the Land of the Lost which resemble the big statue where Jacob lives in Lost?

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That's okay boonya. Lost confuses me all the time! I don't think I would have realized they were the same monster either if I hadn't read about it on televisionwithoutpity.com.

By the way, on the home page of televisionwithoutpity.com there is an article comparing Land of the Lost with Lost. I haven't checked it out yet, but I'm going over there now...*sneaks off to TWOP boards*

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[deleted]

Whoops, it's not on the front page anymore, but here's the link:
http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/lost/land_of_the_lost_vs_lost_which.php

They did have a couple of interesting points mixed in with the comedy. I'd forgotten that there were Pylons on the Lost island as well in the form of the large, ear-bleeding inducing fence pillars set up by the Others.

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He got confused. Adam and Eve are the nicknames given to the male and female skeletons found in cave. There is alot of speculation on who they might be, but I highly doubt that it's THE Adam and Eve.

My money is on either Jack and Kate or Rose and Bernard.

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Lost is more like Gilligan's Island than LotL. Lost has people on an island then goes completely off track (instead of getting OFF the island, they start doing a bunch of stupid stuff and acting like idiots just like Gilligan).

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Lost is more like Gilligan's Island than LotL. Lost has people on an island then goes completely off track (instead of getting OFF the island, they start doing a bunch of stupid stuff and acting like idiots just like Gilligan).
I've never seen anyone on Lost do "a bunch of stupid stuff and act like idiots" that keeps them from getting off the island.

...and obviously you haven't seen Lost in a while because 6 of them (actually 7 or 8, depending on who you count) DID get rescued from the island 2 seasons ago, but they had to return this past season.
quote by: guittarjedi-1:
I was thinking the same thing while watching, except this show held my attention more. Probably because I know there is an end in sight, unlike Lost.
I suppose you haven't watched Lost in a long time, either. This past season -- which featured the return of many of the main characters to the island 3 years after their rescue -- definitely advanced the storyline to a clear ending (which will happen next season -- the last season.)

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There was also The Fantastic Journey, which wasn't a success and didn't run past much of ten episodes, that starred Ike Eisenmann, Roddy McDowell and Jared Martin as various alien and Earthling travelers lost in time who band together.

I never thought of Land of the Lost while watching Lost.

Lost seems to be more government, science, manmade situations, taping into some unknown.

LotL and Fantastic Journey were both encounters of the supernatural of nature.

Yes, Enik's people seemed to be responsible for the pylons, never heard who brought about the skylons, but neither one seemed to be responsible for bringing the dinosaurs, the Marshalls and all the other creatures to the valley.




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I started to see the parallels in the season one finale of LotL. I ran to get my fiance and we watched Enoks explanation of how the marshalls got there. It was a little disheartening to be honest. it seemed likthey summed up Lost with it. That when i went online to see if there was anyone else who thought the same thing. thank god, i am not alone. i did notice something though and this is where i really got convinced that the Lost guys ripped this off and thought noone would notice, the show had and actor that did a bit part. that actors name is JON LOCKE. i swear to Jacob. go look it up, he plays the abomidible snowman. i wonder if there is an actor name jack shepard or a sawyer in there too.

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Another parallel which just occurred to me: When the castaways returned to the island this past season, four of the characters were transported back to 1977. Three of these characters (Jack, Kate, and Hurley) awoke around the water pool at the base of the waterfall (sound familiar?). Whatdya think? Homage to LotL or coincidence?

Also, when Oceanic Flight 815 crashed on the island, who was Kate handcuffed to? Yep, there was a Federal Marshal on that flight! ;)

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Well, you missed two that I thought for certain you were going to pick up, but let's see if we can do some more.

by the way, I think Lost is utterly ridiculous and overblown with its mystery and has no substance.

Land of the Lost, for kids, began as merely people in the dinosaur land, then we got pylons and all the other stuff, but it was concealed on Saturday morning and there were no toy playsets or action figures, as no one was really fascinated with it beyond watching the show itself.

Now I watched it on Sci Fi last week and I enjoyed it immensely and wish the Farrell movie would do a better job with the story, but I know it won't.

But anyway, you said they went back to 1977 on Lost.

Yes, they did.

1977 was the year Land of the Lost was cancelled.

You made note of the characters names, Jack, Kate and Hurley.

Jack was the name of the uncle who turned up the third and final season.

Kate is short for Kathy Coleman, who played Holly.

Does Holly sound enough like Hurley, or will we use Wesley Eure's name instead?

Wesley Eure played Will.

Wesley, Hurley, Holly, Hurley?

Sawyer sure doesn't sound like Spencer, does it? Bit of a stretch.

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[deleted]

The season one finale of LotL was done in case the show wasn't picked up again, so there would be a kind-of conclusion.

The sixties Irwin Allen show, Time Tunnel, did the same thing and the final episode had the two guys looped back to the first episode, when they were on the Titanic.

That show, Time Tunnel, wasn't picked up, so those guys are just stuck in that loop.

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rb dynamics: "It was a little disheartening to be honest. it seemed likthey summed up Lost with it. That when i went online to see if there was anyone else who thought the same thing. thank god, i am not alone. i did notice something though and this is where i really got convinced that the Lost guys ripped this off and thought noone would notice, the show had and actor that did a bit part. that actors name is JON LOCKE. i swear to Jacob. go look it up, he plays the abomidible snowman. i wonder if there is an actor name jack shepard or a sawyer in there too."
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I guess you were disheartened to see Lost summed up in a show that is over 35 years old and was a kids show as well, cuz you had high hopes for Lost?

Nothing is really original. Apparently the gripping plot of Watchmen, a comic book over 20 years old, can be traced all the way back to an episode of The Outer Limits, with Robert Culp.

But as I noted with the other fellow and then saw in your post:

The characters on Lost have gone back to 1977.

1977 is the year Land of the Lost went off the air.

Jack is one of the characters on Lost.

Jack was the uncle who turned up in the final season of Land of the Lost.

Kate is another character on Lost.

Kate is short for Kathy Coleman, who played Holly on Land of the Lost.

and with yours, Jon Locke portrayed the abominable snowman on Land of the Lost.

One of the first creatures the Lost characters were confronted with, Jon Locke included, was the polar bear.

A seemingly arctic creature in an island setting for both.


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The characters on Lost have gone back to 1977.

1977 is the year Land of the Lost went off the air.


Well, Will, Holly and Uncle Jack didn't escape at the end of the series. However the father, Rick Marshall managed to escape, and after escaping would have had some new mind abilities after being in the Library of the Skulls.

Trying to come up with a good reason why Rick Marshall might consider joining the Dharma Initiative and making his way to the island in 1977. Perhaps Jacob finds him after he returns and points him in the way of the Dharma initiative? Or perhaps Rick could join a year before the Losties get there.


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Oh, yes, this is correct, except for one thing.

I didn't say Will, Holly and Uncle Jack DID escape at the end of the series. I said the show went off the air.

As for whether or not Rick Marshall (or Spencer Milligan) will turn up on Lost, we'll have to wait and see.

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tresjolie9:
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The characters on Lost have gone back to 1977.

1977 is the year Land of the Lost went off the air.
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Well, Will, Holly and Uncle Jack didn't escape at the end of the series. However the father, Rick Marshall managed to escape, and after escaping would have had some new mind abilities after being in the Library of the Skulls.

Trying to come up with a good reason why Rick Marshall might consider joining the Dharma Initiative and making his way to the island in 1977. Perhaps Jacob finds him after he returns and points him in the way of the Dharma initiative? Or perhaps Rick could join a year before the Losties get there.

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RichardFuller1 Wrote:

Oh, yes, this is correct, except for one thing.

I didn't say Will, Holly and Uncle Jack DID escape at the end of the series. I said the show went off the air.

As for whether or not Rick Marshall (or Spencer Milligan) will turn up on Lost, we'll have to wait and see.


Hmm, lol, not expecting Spencer Milligan to turn up on Lost, this was just speculation for a potential fanfic. Although, seeing anyone from the LOTL cast as extras on Lost would be great!

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tresjolie9: "Hmm, lol, not expecting Spencer Milligan to turn up on Lost, this was just speculation for a potential fanfic. Although, seeing anyone from the LOTL cast as extras on Lost would be great!"
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Kathy Coleman would be virtually lost to the audience if she showed up, having grown up, obviously, so hers would be lost, no pun intended. Same for Philip Paley, who played Chaka, unless they could dress him up as Chaka again, but it still wouldn't be the same.

The only ones to benefit, and benefit Lost, would be either Milligan (depending on how much he has changed), Ron Harper, who played Uncle Jack, who seems to be nearly the same tho older and Wesley Eure, who unless he sounds the same, no one would really recognize him.

For this to take place in the alleged final season of the show seems unlikely and why bother?

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Trying to come up with a good reason why Rick Marshall might consider joining the Dharma Initiative and making his way to the island in 1977. Perhaps Jacob finds him after he returns and points him in the way of the Dharma initiative? Or perhaps Rick could join a year before the Losties get there.

simple. to try to rescue will and holly from the land of the lost.

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[deleted]

You guys really shouldn't read so much into this.

As I pointed out in a Doctor Who group, when his two companions were Jack (John Barrowman) and Rose (Billie Piper).

These are the same names as the couple from Cameron's Titanic.

And likewise, Jack and Rose were sitting side-by-side when the plane crashed in Lost.

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Jack is the uncle of Aaron in Lost.

Jack is the uncle of Will and Holly in Land of the Lost.

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