Land
of the Lost,
Season Three, continues its transition -- some
might call it descent -- from science fiction to out-and-out fantasy in
this outing, “Abominable Snowman.” Here,
a yeti-like creature comes down from the mountains in pursuit of its prey, a unicorn
that Holly (Kathy Coleman) adopts as a pet and names Corny.
When
the Abominable Snowman takes Corny back to its snow den, Holly and Chaka
pursue, hoping to rescue the innocent animal from the carnivorous yeti. They meet the yeti face-to-face in its cave
and are able to escape in time for a quick rendezvous with Jack (Ron Harper)
and Will (Wesley Eure).
All
throughout The Land of the Lost’s television run, the snow-capped
mountains in the distance of Altrusia, on the horizon, have been visible, so I
don’t have a problem believing that a creature like the Yeti (or Thapa, as Enik
calls it) inhabits them. Although it is
strange that he hasn’t come down from the mountains until now, I can
nonetheless accept him as a new denizen.
My only wish would be for a better or more convincing, more frightening
costume.
Also,
the Abominable Snowman as seen here seems gentle, dimwitted and not very
fast-moving, so the Sleestak’s fear of it doesn’t make a whole lot of
sense. There seems to be a pattern in these
Season Three shows that goes like this: The Sleestak send a messenger -- always
Enik (Walker Edmiston) -- to the Marshalls to demand that the humans solve some
problem in Altrusia. Enik complies, and
so do the Marshalls, and then the threat is mitigated. This is how things have gone with Malak (“Survival
Kit”), Torchy (“Cornered”) and now the Abominable Snowman.
Between
the bad costume for the yeti and a blooper moment in which a boom mike dips
perilously into camera frame, “Abominable Snowman” isn’t the most
visually-accomplished or exciting Land of the Lost episode.
That
fact established, I am glad to see that Holly is again showing her independence
and courage. Too often recently she has
been shown simply sweeping up the temple, essentially sidelined as a “house
wife” while Jack and Will do the adventuring.
But here Holy takes a big risk to save her pet, and again reveals
composure and grace in the presence of a monster.
I’ve
written here before how, from a certain perspective, Holly is really the main
character of Land of the Lost, in some way, and indeed would have been
featured in the 1990s series (along with Chaka) had things gone just a little
differently. Early on in the original
series, we learned of her destiny to be separated from her family, and the
tests Holly faces in Altrusia all seem to concern establishing her maturity and
competency…in preparation for the day she joins the futuristic (human) community
we learn about from her grown self in Dorothy Fontana’s brilliant “Elsewhen.”
Next
week: an episode of imaginative highs and frustrating lows: “Timestop.”
The bad costume looked like it was borrowed from Sid & Marty Krofft's Far Out Space Nuts. However, as a boy in the '70s, I never really cared about these obvious flaws in any series because it was always about the story first.
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