Last week, Sci-Fi aired a Land of the Lost marathon on Memorial Day.
(Here's the first episode from Hulu, in case you don't remember it, or weren't born yet, and want to see what you missed.)
Remembering it fondly from my childhood, I flipped by and nostalgia got the better of me. Sure, it was cheesy as hell, with special effects that seem archaic by contemporary standards, and the acting was melodramatic as hell. However, the story had something that, in its own way, had bits of mythology and metaphysics that reminded me of the appeal of Lost.
Of course, from a name standpoint, the latter is the former, just with the first three words excised. Coincidence?
Both have people who crash into a land where the usual rules don't quite apply, and they're trying to get back home. Both have indigenous people who don't care for the newcomers (the sleestak and the Others).
Both make a bit more sense when... chemically enhanced.
Most important: Both are way better than I get the feeling will be the upcoming Will Ferrell wacky-fest--that, for some reason, is also called Land of the Lost. That Sci-Fi was showing episodes of the '70s Saturday morning program must have been coincidence; the pending movie certainly doesn't appear to be based on the show.
~
For every step forward in technology over the last 35 years, it seems there's been several steps back in regarding the audience's intelligence.
There used to be arcade games in the lobby outside the entrance to the movie theatre. After watching a typical Hollywood long-on-explosions and short-on-charaterization blockbuster, I decided I should've spent my money on the aracade games because they had more plot and dramatic value.
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