Land of the Lost is a half-hour Saturday-morning children's television series that debuted on ABC in the fall of 1991, a remake of the original series of the same name which ran from 1974 to 1976. Re-runs were later picked up by Nickelodeon from 1995 to 1997. Tiger Toys received the license to produce a toyline based on the series, which included regular and "talking" action figures, several dinosaurs and playsets, an electronic "Crystal Sword", as well as an electronic LCD game and a board game.
Synopsis Motivated by the success in syndication of the cult 1974 series Land of the Lost, Sid and Marty Krofft created a new version of it. The new Land of the Lost had advanced special effects and a lighter, less survivalist-oriented tone. Frequent writers Len Janson and Chuck Menville had previously crafted numerous scripts for assorted Filmation series, while producer Jerry Golod had earlier collaborated with George A. Romero on Tales from the Darkside.
The series ran for 26 episodes spread over two seasons, with each season consisting of 13 episodes. It featured the Porter family - teenager Kevin, his young sister Annie, and their widowed father Tom - trapped in a parallel universe after their Jeep Cherokee fell through a time portal while exploring the back country. They soon meet another human, a beautiful jungle girl named Christa who came from 1960s San Francisco. Christa became trapped in the Land of the Lost when she was very young and grew up alone (an earlier concept would have featured an adult Holly Marshall as the "mystery girl", along with Cha-Ka, but, due to casting, the characters were re-visualized as Christa and Stink).
The Porters live in a large "treehouse" (although it is actually built between a series of large logs and not rooted trees) that the family built after they realized their tents provided little safety from dangerous dinosaurs. After their first encounter with the dinosaur Scarface, they devised an alarm system by stringing up a series of empty tin cans surrounding the treehouse perimeter that would shake and make noise if Scarface were to show up again.
Intelligent natives of the Land of the Lost include the chimpanzee-like Pakuni and the lizard-like Sleestaks. Also, many species of dinosaurs fill the jungle. A Paku named Stink and a baby dinosaur named Tasha were befriended by the Porters. Acting as antagonists were a trio of exiled Sleestak criminals named Shung, Keeg and Nim. Shung is their leader and possesses a powerful Crystal Sword. Another major obstacle faced by the Porters was a one-eyed Tyrannosaurus rex named Scarface, who lived near the area where the family made their home and frequently chased after them in an attempt to eat them.
A sorceress named Keela with genuine magical powers was introduced in the second season and appeared in two episodes. Another character added in the second season was Namaki, a strange fish-like humanoid who befriended Christa when she was just a little girl.
12 episodes of Season 1 were released onto videocassette at two episodes per video. As of 2024, the series has yet to be released on DVD or Blu-ray. However, as of February 2025, it is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Characters The Porters Thomas "Tom" Porter (portrayed by Timothy Bottoms) 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 an architect. 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 (He says to Scarface that he is, "180 pounds of raw meat"). Kevin Porter (portrayed by Robert Gavin) 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 (portrayed by Jennifer Drugan) is Tom's 11-year-old daughter. She is very bright and intuitive for her age and resents her family (especially Kevin whom she considers a "dork") 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 (portrayed by Shannon Day as an adult, Farrah Emami as a child) is a lovely jungle girl. Like the Porters, she is from on Earth where she was born in Chicago. Her family was trapped in the Land of the Lost through circumstances similar 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, to the point where she no longer remembers most of the English language, which she slowly recovers over the course of the series. 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. Christa 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". She has curly brown hair and wears a fur bikini along with fur boots. In addition, Christa also has a yell similar to Tarzan's that can calm certain animals which she presumably learned from Stink. Sir Balen (portrayed by Bobby Jacoby) 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" (his sword). 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 ("The king of all dragons"). 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 (portrayed by Adilah Barnes) is 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. Keela is gifted in the ways of magic and sorcery but is not powerful enough to send the Porters (or herself) home. The Porters helped her defeat her enemy Magas whom Keela had turned into a one-eyed dinosaur-like 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 (i.e. turning her older brothers into toads) although she may have been joking. Magas (portrayed by Ed Gale) is 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 (portrayed by Marta DuBois) was once a beautiful woman, but her beauty became more important than her family. 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. The Siren 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 (portrayed by Danny Gonzalez) s 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 (for example, "pendous" for "stupendous" or "morb" for "morbid"). He returns home once the belt's auto-recall device is activated.