The Lost World

This movie was bad, and I was disappointed, because I enjoyed reading stories like this when I was a kid. The special effects were not good. True, there were no rubber models, but they were certainly not up to the standard set by "Jurassic Park." Watching a 4-ton T-rex leaping over a huge log at 20 mph without breaking both its legs will make anyone who has even read the current literature about dinosaurs blanch. And the current explanation of the fossil record holds that large sauropods (Brontosaurs, Brachiosaurs, eg) did not drag their tails. The Apemen were poorly done, to the point of being silly. I haven't seen such bad costumes/makeup since the old Saturday morning "Land of the Lost" series. Now to the characters. The story is a typical late Victorian adventure plot of adventurers wandering into an as-yet uncharted region of the world, where creatures from several different geological eras coexist. At the time it was written, it was cutting-edge adventure literature. But today, somehow, these stories all seem like "Land that Time Forgot" with Doug McClure. The actors were competent, even if their characters border on caricatures at times. The only thing that kept me watching was the actress playing Veronica, a young woman the explorers find living in the Lost World, in a setup that would make the Professor from "Gilligan's Island" drool. Of course, her parents were proper Victorian naturalists who took her along as a child but have since disappeared. She maintains their home as a research station, until they return. Why the daughter of British scientists had a modern California accent is not explained, but she displayed her obvious assets proudly throughout the movie. Hardly worth watching, except for laughs.

Anyone born before 1980 has probably seen Doug McClure's movie which sent a modern man to a prehistoric world where above-ground dwellers were civilized and underground dwellers were ape-ish, poor-sighted creatures that preyed on the above-ground dwellers. And then there was a smattering of dinosaurs, too.

There were several different variations of this theme, such as the Saturday morning show "Land of The Lost". This movie is just as cheesy and fun to watch and the actors are much more attractive. The actress that plays the native princess reminds me of Sonia Braga, the actress who plays Dr. Cruz reminds me of a brunette Kathleen Turner from "Romancing the Stone", and the actress who plays "Veronica", a Jane-like blonde jungle girl, is particularly striking. The 4 male leads are stereotypical as well - the dapper older gentleman professor, the adventurous scientist, the big game hunter, and the dashing young balloon pilot who strikes up a romance with Veronica. And as can be expected, the plot moves along pretty quickly, not delving too deeply into the philosophical aspects of disrupting a native culture (one of the things a true scientist would avoid) or removing animal species from their natural habitat (a concept which probably didn't exist during the Victorian era, when this story was developed by the man who wrote "Sherlock Holmes").

Some blood (gunshot wounds to the Missing Link ape-like creatures who kidnap the native princess and attack the adventurers), no harsh language, no nudity, no sex, nothing risque, nothing particularly frightening.

The special effects are good enough, though some artistic license is used in the dinosaur chase scene and in the scene where the pterodactyl attacks the scientist who steals the dinosaur egg, but this can be forgiven as this movie really wasn't intended to be very realistic anyway (we all know that a bullet does a bit more damage to human tissue than just leave a spot the size of a dab of ketchup).

I would expect a sequel to be written and hopefully it will be light-hearted fun, too. Although I do wish the costumer would re-do Veronica's outfits - I prefer the outfit Maureen O'Sullivan wore in "Tarzan And His Mate" - more hip, less fabric. And the intrepid explorers were terribly overdressed for a steamy jungle climate - long pants, high boots, and long coats must be terribly uncomfortable. But, then again this is a Victorian-era tale and that's probably what proper English gentlefolk wore when traipsing through the bush.

Worth a watch if you don't mind technical inaccuracies.

So far THE LOST WORLD is into its third season and awaiting a fourth. The characters have grown and so much has been developed by the wonderful actors involved it'll be tough when we eventually DO have to say goodbye.

Particularly interesting is the relationship between Lord John Roxton (Snow) and Marguerite Krux (Blakely) which started out rather rocky; a sort of steamy love-hate relationship into something very tender and sweeping. We know these two belong together even if they don't see it!

We've also seen depth develop in the other characters, pretty Veronica (O'Dell) the jungle-girl who eventually learned what happened to her parents, Ned Malone (Devry-Orth), the journalist who became more of a doer than a watcher and Professor Challenger (McCauley), who has learned by experience that science is not always the answer to all the questions in THE LOST WORLD.

Sadly, Professor Summerlee disappeared after the first season but his memory is kept alive in the show and if the watcher keeps close attention we get the idea that we may see him again some day. We also have a new character called Finn from the twenty first century. She's cute and perky but the jury is still out on her. She has to serve a purpose but what that is we just don't know yet.

All and all, a terrific show!!

There is only one reason to stare at this: JO. And the character is appealing: she is "nice". Good lesson for dreadful TV producers like Rick Berman. More good points: great sense of humour in the writing and directing. Good casting. Good production values technically. Bad points: Far too violent, and in the non self-reflective way. Our heroes slice and dice all manner of life forms and this feels very good to them, which is a very bad example to set for children from the ages of 2 to...(how old are Cheney and the Bushboy?)...99. Storylines? Apart from the aforementioned humour they are irrelevant. As I say, just get on your exercise bike/treadmill for an hour and stare at JO, who is "cheekily" photographed from every possible angle, in every possible bodily position, and often with fluids applied, like water whenever possible, bee honey, or green slime which she gently massages into her cleavage. What can you do, really?

The Lost World is by no means a breath taking, heart pounding Adventure Drama, but it is a pretty good show. It only ran three seasons and under went constant cast changes (one of he shows great flaws). I personally like the show, it's quaint, fun and the chemistry between the actors is great, especially Lord Roxton (Will Snow) and Marguerite (Rachel Blakely).

However as the show progressed the acting got better and plots got worse. In the first season the adventures spent the majority of their time trying to get off the plateau. All the while there attempts were thwarted by dinosaurs, strange tribes (most of whom speak fluent English) as well people who were completely misplaced, but some how when you watch the show enough you expect a Norse God to spring up in the South American jungles. In this season the sub-plot about the plateau being the centre of energy for the whole planet didn't really come into play. Also there wasn't a whole lot of people coming in from the outside world. The romance between Marguerite and Roxton was still shaky, as were the details about her past. Also there are a lot of personal conflicts that get sorted out before the next season. Veronica starts to come to grips with the fact that her parents are probably dead. Ned has to grow a pair and take charge (when no one more qualified is around). Challenger and Summerlee make personal attacks for the first few episodes but finally realize neither of them are perfect. Roxton has a brother that a accidentally murdered to cope with and Marguerite's just causing trouble with everyone.

Then came season two, Margeurite and Roxton start making out every chance they but never get into it because someone gets shot stabbed, attacked or falls into a pit. Also the plateau becomes the place responsible for everything weird and wild in the world. People are jumping the time barrier. Lizards are controlling people, we find the fountain of youth and also what happens to ships from the Bermuda triangle. However the show lacks the paternal warmth that Dr. Summerlee lent as we was killed off at the end of the first season. Note: All season finales are open ended because the producers never new if it would make back on the air.

And finally we hit season three, and all hell breaks loose. Ned (Canadian David Orth) and Veronica (American Jennifer O'Dell) have to be put in as guest stars due to Australian tax laws. This leaves us with the strongest characters/actors, the Aussies. Now things get weird and/or corny. Everyone seems to be involved in a Buddha style reincarnation were everybody's has some past life both on and off the plateau. They jump the time barrier and find this girl from 2033 named Finn. She's a punky little pain in the neck who comes from a war torn future, something the Adventures have to and can prevent. Ned gets jerked in and out of the Netherworld, Veronica runs off on a journey of self discovery and everybody else is left to man the fort. Finally the whole plateau goes down in flame and glory in a nuclear holocaust style energy break down that's kind of like a TV with it's wires crossed. As trees are ripped from the ground... Fade to black. I wish they'd have made a fourth season if for no other reason than to get some closure. If I were writing the script I'd of let the poor buggers off the plateau.