Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Land of the Lost (1992): "The Gladiators" (October 3, 1992)

In “The Gladiators” the Sleestak leader, Shung, utilizes his crystal sword to hypnotize dinosaurs into fighting for him as gladiators in his make-shift jungle arena.  When Christa (Shannon Day) interferes to rescue her triceratops friend, Shung decides that she would make the perfect gladiator, and exerts his mind control over her, instead.

With Christa’s unwitting help, the Sleestak capture the Porters, and make them fight in the arena.  When Kevin -- who has been training with his dad in the art of karate -- defeats a Sleestak in battle, Shung decides it is time for a new challenge.

Kevin shall have to fight his father…to the death.

There’s a cliché in science fiction/cult television I call “fight club.”  In stories of this type, peaceful protagonists are forced to fight in an arena or other venue for personal combat.  Sometimes, this fight pits friend against friend, ally against ally.

On Star Trek (1966 – 1969), “Amok Time” saw Spock and Kirk engage in ritualistic combat on Vulcan’s arid surface.  In The Starlost (1973), Devon (Keir Dullea) had to fight the Governor (John Colicos) in the town square to win the hand of Rachel (Gay Rowan) in marriage, and so forth.

This trope has recurred elsewhere as well, in series including Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century (“Escape from Wedded Bliss”), and more recently, Angel (“The Ring”) and Smallville.

“The Gladiators” is the Land of the Lost’s version of similar material, with Shung the Sleestak capturing the Porters and forcing them to fight one another for his amusement in a make-shift arena…apparently simply for his own pleasure.

The story of “The Gladiators” is familiar, and yet the episode is still a lot of fun, in part because Christa must overcome her brainwashing to rescue her friends.  Christa is my favorite character on the new series, and we haven’t seen her at all in the second season yet.  But here, she gets to hiss and spit at the Porters as if she is a wild animal, which is fun.

In addition, Land of the Lost pushes its story-arc forward a bit in “The Gladiators.” At the end of the tale, Christa destroys Shung’s crystal sword, a Sleestak weapon that has proven vexing for the Porters since nearly the beginning of the program.  Here, Christa grabs the weapon, and snaps it, leaving Shung without the capacity to pull this brainwashing trick again.

Vis-à-vis believability, “The Gladiators” stretches belief a tiny bit by having Kevin defeat a Sleestak in hand-to-hand combat.  The Sleestak (conveniently) has a weak left eye, a vulnerability that Kevin exploits…but it still doesn’t feel particularly honest. 

It’s also convenient for Kevin that his father has begun teaching him self-defense techniques at the very time that Sleestaks are capturing people to be used as gladiators.

Next week: “Life’s a Beach.”