Or
perhaps, “Gone Fishin.’”
It’s
an easy-going half-hour, and nothing of tremendous import happens in it. On one hand, it’s always nice to take a break
from impending disaster and destruction, but on the other hand, one might
question why this Land of the Lost story, by Dick Morgan, was selected for
filming. It’s not a tale that needed to
be told.
In
“Nice Day,” Will (Wesley Eure) builds a fishing pole and goes fishing, while
Marshall (Spencer Milligan) builds and tests a cage for catching pigs. Meanwhile, Holly (Kathy Coleman) gathers the
ingredients for her Smilax cakes, and prepares them for dinner. At one point, Holly falls victim to the
poison of a weird Venus Fly Trap-type plant, but then she recovers on her own,
with no medical intervention.
The
episode, directed by Gordon Wiles, does feature some more ritual humiliation of
Ta (Scutter McKay), an element of “The Test” and “The Pylon Express” as well,
and also showcases once more, alas, the sexist side of the Land of the Lost. In particular, Will doesn’t want Holly to
accompany him fishing.
At
first, you might think he just wants to be alone. Which is fine, of course. Bu then Will goes
out of his way to invite Chaka (Philip Paley) to join him on his excursion.
So,
having a girl around is less preferable to a stinky missing-link creature? It’s best not to consider the thinking there
too closely. Holly is further down the
totem pole than a half-evolved man-beast?
All
in all, “Nice Day” may be nice, but it’s a thoroughly undistinguished entry in
the Land
of the Lost canon. In short,
it’s a waste of a week in a series where anything in the (pocket) universe is
possible.
Next
week: “Baby Sitter“
John your review of LOTL "Nice Day" is correct. Watching this episode as a boy in '75 on that Saturday morning I kept thinking Altrusia is a great place to explore. I wish I could go there. However, by the end of this episode I was still waiting for something to happen and annoyed.
ReplyDeleteSGB