In
“Kevin vs. the Volcano,” the Porters watch in horror as a volcano in the
distance erupts and begins to send green (!) lava in the direction of their
tree house.
Mr. Porter (Timothy Bottoms)
and Christa (Shannon Day) attempt to divert the lava flow by moving a huge
boulder into its path through a narrow valley, but the lava seems unstoppable.
When
Kevin (Robert Gavin) falls into a hole while battling Scarface, however, he
finds what could be the answer.
In an
ancient subterranean cave, he finds forgotten Sleestak technology: a glowing
crystal structure that can reverse the lava flow, and undo the eruption entirely!
Last
week, I wrote a bit about how the 1990s version of Land of the Lost was taking
the old story concepts of the original series, and updating them for the new
series. Last week’s episode “Day for
Knight,” was a “guest-star in the land of the lost” story.
This week, we get a re-boot of another
original series staple: the "regulating of the environment" story.
In the original
series, the Marshalls had to prove themselves careful and good shepherds of
Altrusia, and they did so in stories such as “One of Our Pylons is Missing,” “The
Longest Day,” “Black Out” and “The Orb.”
In basically all those tales, some force (either the Sleestaks or a
malfunctioning pylon) managed to get the environment out-of-whack, causing a
cascade of danger in the land. The instability threatened everyone. Thus the
Marshalls had to repair the damage and regulate the environment to so. They had their pylons, crystals, and matrix
tables to help them do so.
“Kevin vs. the
Volcano” sees Kevin finding a similar mechanism: an ancient crystal device in a
cave.
The mechanism is Sleestak
technology, and Mr. Porter speculates that it is an energy generator, perhaps
one in a network of such devices. How
precisely, this crystal device regulates the volcano is not made entirely
clear, but that’s okay. If the Sleestak
were sufficiently advanced once, perhaps they placed these devices as volcano
guards to keep them from erupting.
On
some vague level, it makes at least a modicum of sense.
What differs now is that the Porters solve the
problem almost entirely by accident, and don’t show much interest in pursuing
their discovery of ancient Sleestak technology though, conceivably, it could
provide a way for them to return home.
Where Rick Marshall mapped the Pylons, learned their functions, and felt
a responsibility to shepherd the environment, the approach by the Porters is
much more scatter-shot. Thus, one of the
key thematic aspects of the original series -- responsibility to nature -- is relatively
absent here.
Still, “Kevin vs. the Volcano” is an exciting
episode of Land of the Lost for a few reasons. It not only introduces the
ancient Sleestak technology, it features some very strong special effects moments
involving Scarface, the resident T-Rex.
My favorite such moment shows the imposing dinosaur in front of Vasquez Rocks – the very
place where Captain Kirk battled the Gorn on the original Star Trek.
Next week: “Mind Games.”
John nice review of “Kevin vs. the Volcano”. I think that Rick Marshall was written smarter than Mr. Porter due to the fact that the 1974 series was not written down to children.
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