The dream I just woke up from was horrifying.
I was unable to run the dishwasher in the ancient Sleestack temple, because guest star Bruce Jenner had accidentally spilled cat litter in it. It was at least clean cat litter, but seeing as how there are no repairmen in the Land of the Lost, if the little granules of clay were to jam it up, I'd owe the Sleestack's a new dishwasher.
Showing posts with label Land of the Lost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Land of the Lost. Show all posts
Friday, January 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Marshal Willenholly (Updated)
Man I hope they don't screw up that new Land of the Lost film.
Oops, I forgot:
Anyhow, back to subject: Land of the Lost. Man I hope they don't screw up that new Land of the Lost film. Will Ferrell is playing the part of Rick Marshall. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
He was soooo good in Stranger Than Fiction, so it might be a good thing. Maybe he loves the show, and has fond childhood memories. Maybe he's trying to branch out in dramatic roles, but wanted to start with another one that wasn't super-deep so the transition was smooth. Maybe he's a sci-fi fan, and I just don't know.
But it could also be a clue that they're going to do a terrible spoof that ridicules the original. The way Starsky & Hutch or Brady Bunch or Underdog weren't very kind to the old shows they "reinvented". And since I really like Land of the Lost, that would be a real bummer.
Updated: Crap. I was afraid of this:
What's up with making Comedy versions of old shows that weren't comedies?
A modern, serious, dark and moody sci-fi film version of Land of the Lost would be awesome. Look at those Sleestacks - creepy.
So would a mildly campy version that is lighter family fare but stays true and close to the original.
But a satirical version? That seems pretty stupid.
Can you imagine if Peter Jackson had a comedic vision in mind for LOTR?
Oops, I forgot:
"Fuck you. Whoever you are. For whatever reason. (No offense intended.) Now that I no longer have to worry that I might offend you, I can talk about any subject freely..." (Click on it for context)Yeah, that's gonna get old, real quick.
Anyhow, back to subject: Land of the Lost. Man I hope they don't screw up that new Land of the Lost film. Will Ferrell is playing the part of Rick Marshall. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
He was soooo good in Stranger Than Fiction, so it might be a good thing. Maybe he loves the show, and has fond childhood memories. Maybe he's trying to branch out in dramatic roles, but wanted to start with another one that wasn't super-deep so the transition was smooth. Maybe he's a sci-fi fan, and I just don't know.
But it could also be a clue that they're going to do a terrible spoof that ridicules the original. The way Starsky & Hutch or Brady Bunch or Underdog weren't very kind to the old shows they "reinvented". And since I really like Land of the Lost, that would be a real bummer.
Updated: Crap. I was afraid of this:
Will Ferrell stars as has-been scientist Dr. Rick Marshall, sucked into one and spat back through time. Way back. Now, Marshall has no weapons, few skills and questionable smarts to survive in an alternate universe full of marauding dinosaurs and fantastic creatures from beyond our world—a place of spectacular sights and super-scaled comedy known as the Land of the Lost.[emphasis mine]
Sucked alongside him for the adventure are crack-smart research assistant Holly (Anna Friel) and a redneck survivalist (Danny McBride) named Will. Chased by T. rex and stalked by painfully slow reptiles known as Sleestaks, Marshall, Will and Holly must rely on their only ally—a primate called Chaka (Jorma Taccone)—to navigate out of the hybrid dimension. Escape from this routine expedition gone awry and they’re heroes. Get stuck, and they’ll be permanent refugees in the Land of the Lost.
What's up with making Comedy versions of old shows that weren't comedies?A modern, serious, dark and moody sci-fi film version of Land of the Lost would be awesome. Look at those Sleestacks - creepy.
So would a mildly campy version that is lighter family fare but stays true and close to the original.
But a satirical version? That seems pretty stupid.
Can you imagine if Peter Jackson had a comedic vision in mind for LOTR?
The Greatest Earthquake Ever Known
With all due respect to Brad, he's wrong: Land of the Lost does not suck. Just gotta get that out there.
For that statement, as well as what follows, I'm only talking about the 70's classic Land of the Lost, not the 90s (?) remake version (of which I've only seen one episode). The classic is just that: a classic. The newer versions, I haven't seen enough of to judge.
Dissing Land of the Lost is like dissing Metropolis or Citizen Kane or Wizard Of Oz or Gone With The Wind or Casablanca or BladeRunner.
They all have faults, and seem almost cliche because of how often they've been aped. There's even one on that list that I don't personally care for. But if you're focusing on those faults, you're missing the point (as I no doubt did the one time I saw Gone With The Wind).
It's like dissing Warhol because the internet and the latest Photoshop filter lets us crank out similar work in under 5 minutes. (No, I've never met the people in the photo to the left, they came up in a google search. Presumably, it's not really a long-lost Warhol original like they sarcastically claim. No offense intended.)
Dissing Land of the Lost is like dissing Rocky Horror because Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon are capable of much more believable and emotionally gripping performances.
I will admit, the child actors in Land of the Lost do suck from time to time. But considering that they were frequently acting in front of a bluescreen, reacting to monsters that didn't exist (in an era where that was no yet the norm for TV or movies), they actually didn't do as badly as they could have. It was the 70s, after all, complete with bad hairdos, cheesy slang, and social dynamics that no longer resonate - the performances could have been much worse, all things considered. When's the last time a 12-year old convinced you they had a broken leg while limping around for two whole episodes? Despite 30+ years of progress, child actors still suck in most movies and TV shows.
Compared to modern technical expectations, the effects leave something to be desired. But the effects were revolutionary in their day, and pretty damn good for a weekly half-hour kids show in the 70s. Remember, this was before the era of CGI, motion capture, and digital color timing. It was all puppets, clay, and bluescreen superimposing.
On a related note - they only had three Sleestack suits. There's some incredible editing where they give you the feeling that the Marshalls are fighting off dozens of Sleestacks. I had to read it online to catch it - if it weren't for wikipedia, I'd still be assuming they must have made at least a dozen Sleestack suits. But if you watch carefully, it's all done with never more than 3 on screen. It's genius that they managed to present a community of hundreds just 3 at a time.
The concepts / ideas in Land of the Lost have never sucked. (Well, the "goodbye Rick, hello Uncle Jack" transition could have been handled better - but that was a problem of lawyers and agents, not screenwriters and directors.) The vast majority of the plots and concepts were and remain awesome. They were written by scifi luminaries such as Larry Niven, David Gerrold, DC Fontana, Norman Spinrad, Ben Bova, and Theodore Sturgeon.
Land of the Lost is also one of the seminal works of genre-crossing fiction, drawing on numerous disparate sources for reference and blending them into a single coherent universe. It was a product of the same thought-space that where Lucas dreamt up Star Wars and Scott discovered Aliens. Without Land of the Lost (and the "influence stew" style it embodied) we might not have Firefly or Lost. Sure, it was a lot less subtle (and less polished) than most of what followed it, but that's to be expected as time and technology progress and the state of the art improves with it.
In closing: To each their own - Brad will likely disagree with most of what I've said. :) To that, I offer one final defense: Whatever else you can say about Land of the Lost, at least the Sleestack's spines don't glow inexplicably when they get some. To me, that's important.
For that statement, as well as what follows, I'm only talking about the 70's classic Land of the Lost, not the 90s (?) remake version (of which I've only seen one episode). The classic is just that: a classic. The newer versions, I haven't seen enough of to judge.Dissing Land of the Lost is like dissing Metropolis or Citizen Kane or Wizard Of Oz or Gone With The Wind or Casablanca or BladeRunner.
They all have faults, and seem almost cliche because of how often they've been aped. There's even one on that list that I don't personally care for. But if you're focusing on those faults, you're missing the point (as I no doubt did the one time I saw Gone With The Wind).
It's like dissing Warhol because the internet and the latest Photoshop filter lets us crank out similar work in under 5 minutes. (No, I've never met the people in the photo to the left, they came up in a google search. Presumably, it's not really a long-lost Warhol original like they sarcastically claim. No offense intended.)Dissing Land of the Lost is like dissing Rocky Horror because Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon are capable of much more believable and emotionally gripping performances.
I will admit, the child actors in Land of the Lost do suck from time to time. But considering that they were frequently acting in front of a bluescreen, reacting to monsters that didn't exist (in an era where that was no yet the norm for TV or movies), they actually didn't do as badly as they could have. It was the 70s, after all, complete with bad hairdos, cheesy slang, and social dynamics that no longer resonate - the performances could have been much worse, all things considered. When's the last time a 12-year old convinced you they had a broken leg while limping around for two whole episodes? Despite 30+ years of progress, child actors still suck in most movies and TV shows.Compared to modern technical expectations, the effects leave something to be desired. But the effects were revolutionary in their day, and pretty damn good for a weekly half-hour kids show in the 70s. Remember, this was before the era of CGI, motion capture, and digital color timing. It was all puppets, clay, and bluescreen superimposing.
On a related note - they only had three Sleestack suits. There's some incredible editing where they give you the feeling that the Marshalls are fighting off dozens of Sleestacks. I had to read it online to catch it - if it weren't for wikipedia, I'd still be assuming they must have made at least a dozen Sleestack suits. But if you watch carefully, it's all done with never more than 3 on screen. It's genius that they managed to present a community of hundreds just 3 at a time.
The concepts / ideas in Land of the Lost have never sucked. (Well, the "goodbye Rick, hello Uncle Jack" transition could have been handled better - but that was a problem of lawyers and agents, not screenwriters and directors.) The vast majority of the plots and concepts were and remain awesome. They were written by scifi luminaries such as Larry Niven, David Gerrold, DC Fontana, Norman Spinrad, Ben Bova, and Theodore Sturgeon.
Bonus: Here's a very thorough review of the DVD release by someone else who finds much to love about it.
Land of the Lost is also one of the seminal works of genre-crossing fiction, drawing on numerous disparate sources for reference and blending them into a single coherent universe. It was a product of the same thought-space that where Lucas dreamt up Star Wars and Scott discovered Aliens. Without Land of the Lost (and the "influence stew" style it embodied) we might not have Firefly or Lost. Sure, it was a lot less subtle (and less polished) than most of what followed it, but that's to be expected as time and technology progress and the state of the art improves with it.In closing: To each their own - Brad will likely disagree with most of what I've said. :) To that, I offer one final defense: Whatever else you can say about Land of the Lost, at least the Sleestack's spines don't glow inexplicably when they get some. To me, that's important.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)