Land of the Lost (1991 TV series)

Synopsis

Characters

The Porters

• Thomas "Tom" Porter is the main character, of the series, the widowed father of Kevin and Annie. After his wife, Natasha, died in a car accident, he spent the next few years burying himself in his work as a lawyer. Before his wife's death, Tom would take his family camping most weekends in order to devote more time to them. Continuing the tradition, he arranged to take his children on the camping trip which ultimately led to their arrival in the Land of the Lost. As a result, he feels enormous guilt for trapping his family in this dangerous place and strives to find a way back home to San Francisco at every opportunity. He is a compassionate man with a deep sense of morality and fairplay even when dealing with those who would threaten him or his family. Tom is a devoted and protective parent but is not above giving his kids "space" when he feels it is acceptable to do so. Back home, he often spent his afternoons jogging, hoping one day to win a marathon race. In the episode, "Flight to Freedom", it is revealed he is approximately 180 pounds.
• Kevin Porter is Tom's 16-year-old son. He is the most laid-back member of the family. Not only does he accept their situation but he actually grows to like it. Unfortunately, his carefree attitude breeds indifference to the dangers around him and he often finds himself in more peril than he expected. He likes to think of himself as an adult and will often disobey his father if he thinks Tom is being unfair. Of all the Porters, Kevin is the one most reliant on the comforts and conveniences of the modern world. In addition to the usual camping gear, Kevin also smuggled in a portable six-inch TV, a camcorder, a boom-box, and a bag of various junk foods which he keeps hidden from the others. His goal is to one day become a world-famous director, and he carries the camcorder with him at all times to capture the sights and wonders of the Land of the Lost. He expects this footage to propel him to stardom once they return to their own world. He is also a capable, self-taught mechanic, and one of his primary responsibilities is taking care of the family truck to ensure that it is running smoothly when they need it. Kevin often prefers to explore alone and dislikes having to "babysit" his sister. He thinks of her as being a complete "nerd" and often trades insults with her. However, deep down he's very much a caring brother and will not hesitate to act if she's in danger. Kevin has a crush on Christa and often goes out of his way to impress her.
• Anamarie "Annie" Porter is Tom's 11-year-old daughter. She is very bright and intuitive for her age and resents her family for treating her like a baby. She has had to grow up rather quickly in a hostile environment and has shown that she is more than capable of taking care of herself on many occasions. Annie is a vegetarian, and one of her responsibilities is maintaining her garden at the base of the treehouse. The sorceress Keela takes her on as an apprentice and entrusts her with her spellbook when she has to leave for extended periods. Annie is extremely protective of the dinosaur Tasha and treats her not as a pet but as a member of the family. She is also a bit of an artist, as shown in the episode, "The Thief", when she draws a picture of Christa to give her as a present for the birthday party they throw her. In, "Annie in Charge", her full name is revealed to be, "Anamarie".

  Visitors to the Land

• Christa like the Porters, the beautiful cave-girl Christa is from San Francisco back on Earth but was born in Chicago. Her family was trapped in the Land of the Lost through similar circumstances to the Porters. At one point, Christa's family built a raft to try to sail to the other side of the ocean, hoping to find signs of civilization. In a subsequent storm, Christa was washed overboard but found refuge on a floating tree trunk where after several days of drifting she found her way to a far away beach. Separated from her parents, Christa grew up practically alone, and by the time the Porters met her, had repressed almost everything about her previous life. She is fiercely independent and feels safe and at home in the jungle. However, she's not oblivious to its many dangers and uses her knowledge of its topography, inhabitants, and various medicinal plants to aid the Porters whenever she can. She is fluent in Pakuni often greeting her human friends with "Acuba Ne" to express both "hello" and "goodbye". She is like an older sister to Annie and the object of Kevin's infatuation. Flashbacks of Christa as a child were seen in "Life's a Beach". Young Christa was played by Farrah Emami. She also has a yell similar to Tarzan's that can calm certain animals which she presumably learned from Stink. Christa was originally intended to be Holly from the original Land of the Lost, but casting made this impossible. Though some fans identify Christa with Holly, this is inconsistent with Christa's background, age, and appearance.
• Sir Balen a squire who pretended to be a knight from King Arthur's Court. After "borrowing" his master's armor and sword while he's asleep, Marty Balen sets out into the moors and is enshrouded in a "blue bubbling fog" and winds up in the Land of the Lost just in time to save Christa from the Sleestaks. After Shung hears of this, he sends the Sleestaks after "Ironface"'s "magic blade". Balen's desire to protect "M'lady Christa" causes friction with a jealous Kevin as he sets out to escort her home not aware that she can take care of herself. Kevin is guilted into going after him when they again encounter Scarface. After eluding him, the ground shakes and another doorway appears. Balen offers Kevin his morning star in recognition of his bravery and disappears through the gate.
• Keela a sorceress from another time who was banished to the Land for not using her magic to aid Magas. She arrived through a green dimensional gate located in a desert on the other side of the Land of the Lost. She is gifted in the ways of magic and sorcery but is not powerful enough to send the Porters home. The Porters helped her defeat her enemy, Magas, whom Keela had turned into a one-eyed beast. Keela trusts the Porters entirely, even accepting Annie as an informal apprentice and asking her to guard her spellbook while away. She is a very compassionate person, but admits that even she has times when she abuses her powers although she may have been joking.
• Magas a short, cruel sorcerer and the brother of the late queen whom Keela served. She recognized him as a heartless person and turned him into a Cyclopean dinosaur-like beast, similar to a giant from Jack the Giant Killer and the Cyclops from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, thus sealing his magical powers. Over time, he slowly regained his power and hunted Keela down to the Porters' treehouse. He was defeated by Keela with Tasha's help but not before Keela restored him to his true form.
• Siren she was once a beautiful woman, but her beauty became more important than her family. So she was sentenced to the Land with no hope of ever seeing the ones she loved in the afterlife, and she used her music to bring the Porters to her, and disguised herself as Tom's wife, Natasha. After talking to Tom about her past, she was finally able to ascend to the heavens.
• Simon Cardenas a teenage time-traveler from San Francisco Island in the year 2062. After "borrowing" his father's time-belt, he collides with a Myzarian Cyborg while traveling through the time/space corridor, and his damaged belt drops him off in the Land following a dimensional shift. He wears an "inter-trans" suit that apparently works in conjunction with the belt, possibly protecting the wearer from the forces involved in such travel. He frequently speaks using a form of "futuristic slang" that involves a shortening of modern adjectives. He returns home once the belt's auto-recall device is activated.
• Cy, also known as the Myzarian Cyborg, it is a gigantic rancor-like cyborg from the planet Myzar-3 who became trapped in the Land of the Lost after colliding with another time traveler in the dimensional corridor, damaging his time device. He is exceptionally intelligent, and his strength alone makes him more than an even match for the dinosaur Scarface. Some of his cybernetic enhancements include the ability to see in the infrared spectrum in one eye as well as heightened senses. He lives in a cave in the mountains that he has made into a base of operations and attacks anyone who comes near. The entrance to his lair is booby-trapped with auto-defense mechanisms which include a form of nerve gas that causes temporary memory loss in humans and renders them unconscious. He wears a device on his wrist which can perform a similar function. Because he comes from a world rich in hydrogen and oxygen, he becomes winded easily in the Land due to the thinner air. In addition, this particular model was recalled due to being particularly susceptible to ultraviolet light.

  Native inhabitants

Tasha

Scarface

Pakuni

• Stink : Stink is a Paku, similar to Cha-Ka, whose parents died as slaves in Shung's crystal mine when he was very young. Some time later, he met Christa as a little girl and they helped each other to survive becoming allies and inseparable friends. Despite his animal-like appearance, Stink is very intelligent, with an intense knowledge of plant and animal life. He is also extremely adaptable and quickly picks up modern slang, idioms, and mannerisms from his human friends although sometimes he uses them inappropriately. He is gifted with keen senses, incredible agility, insatiable curiosity, and a wacky sense of humor. Stink is very close to Annie. The two of them often work and play together, even teaming up against her brother and father. Stink has an easy friendship with Kevin as well, and a sometimes rocky friendship with Tasha. Possibly because of his ape-like ancestry, Stink has an affinity for bananas and suinaku fruit, as well as a fear of termites.
• Opah : An elderly grey-haired Paku and Stink's grandfather. Opah taught Stink almost everything he knows about the Land and its native flora and fauna. He carries a flute which allows him to "charm" Scarface and other beasts and passes both the instrument and the knowledge onto his grandson before he leaves to die. He also shows the Porters how to tap certain trees which contain a special sap which they can use to fuel the truck. Some fans consider Opah to be Chacka.

  Sleestaks

• Shung : Self-proclaimed leader of the Sleestak criminal band. He is arrogant, self-absorbed, and contemptuous of anyone but himself. He calls himself the ruler of the Land of the Lost, and he claims all that lives there belong to him. While he possesses great strength and cunning, he is often depicted as lazy, preferring to send his minions, Nim and Keeg, out into the jungle to bring him food and to perform any other task that he feels is beneath him. He enforces his will with a powerful crystal that can perform amazing feats of both telekinetic and telepathic prowess and even gives him the ability to control minds. However, there is a price for this power; it gradually corrupts the mind of its user, as Annie discovers in "The Crystal". As a result, Shung is now addicted to the crystal's unique energy, and, if separated from it, will quickly weaken. His crystal is destroyed by Christa after he forced the Porters to fight each other, but after looking through Keela's spellbook, Shung now knows a few spells. Shung often refers to those he considers inferior by nicknames, such as calling his underlings "Wartsnippers", Christa "Long Hair", and Kevin "Quickmouth".
• Nim and Keeg : Shung's underlings. Nim appears to be the smarter one and was able to recite and use a spell Annie cast after hearing it only once. Keeg appears to be the dumb one as he did not know what a chariot was. However, he is a strong fighter and an excellent tracker. He is the most submissive of the pair. Despite their differences, they both try to please Shung with whatever they catch for him. However, their efforts almost always go unnoticed or unappreciated. "Keeg" is "geek" spelled backwards.

  Others

• Namaki is a strange, piscine-like humanoid who lives in a hut-like shelter on a beach miles from the Porter treehouse. Years ago, he befriended Christa's family and helped them build a raft to cross the ocean. They were reunited many years later when Christa brought the Porters to that very same beach to relax. Despite his aquatic physiology, Namaki has never been to the other side of the ocean, afraid to attempt the crossing because of the frequent storms and the dangerous marine predators. Namaki is unable to hear music possibly due to his aquatic physiology. It is revealed that Namaki has a dislike for dinosaurs, because of a scar he received on his right shoulder years before. But after the incident with the Siren, Namaki comes to like Tasha.

  Unseen characters

• Natasha Porter : Annie and Kevin's deceased mother. It was revealed in Life's a Beach that she died in a car accident two years before the events of the episode. Her name was revealed to be Natasha in the first episode, as Annie decided to name Tasha after her mother. In the episode "Siren's Song", a Siren takes on her form to fool Tom, but Natasha is never physically seen in any episode. Her voice is heard on the telephone in "Dream Maker" when the Porters think they have found their way back home, but such as the house itself, this was merely an illusion to confuse the family.
• Stink's Mother and Father: Sometime before the series, Stink's parents were worked to death by Sleestaks, along with many other Pakuni.

  Features

Crystals

Dimensional Gates

Crew

• Directors: John Carl Buechler, Anthony Bona, Jeff Burr, Len Janson, Frank De Palma, Ernest Farino, John Strysik, Gabe Torres
• Writers: Phil Combest, Jules Dennis, Janis Diamond, Len Janson, Chuck Menville, Richard Mueller, Gary Perconte, Michele Rifkin, Marianne Sellek, Reed Shelly
• Producers: The Chiodo Brothers/Sid and Marty Krofft
• Executive Producer: Jerry Golod
• Music: Kevin Kiner

  Episodes

Season 1 (1991)

Season 2 (1992)