still, GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI

A Quick Look at TV: LAND OF THE LOST

   Though UFO may have an ever-so-slight edge with me, it remains true that the coolest boss neato keen TV series of all time may well have to be Land of the Lost. This early 70's offering from Sid and Marty Krofft was basically a space-age redo of the old Turok comic books. The Marshall family (father Rick, son Will, and daughter Holly) run across a warp in time and space and awake to find themselves trapped in a contained universe where dwells living dinosaurs, monstrous lizard-men called Sleestak, and futuristic technologies scattered about ancient ruins. Existing outside of time and space, the Land of the Lost seems to be a sort of depository for everything that has no other place to be. Enik, a scientist from a futuristic race known as the Altrusians, has found himself trapped as well. Believing the Sleestak to be an ancestor race, Enik discovers them to actually be the descendants of his people, mutated and made savage over countless centuries. Thus, Enik too is trying to escape the Land of the Lost in order to warn his people, and he becomes an occasionally-antagonistic ally. Spencer Milligan starred in the first two seasons, but decided to split and was replaced by Ron Harper as Uncle Jack -himself fallen into the Land of the Lost when an earthquake causes an accident that returns Rick to the real world. The third season episodes changed up a lot of elements, but it remained a fine series. It was cancelled before a fourth season could come about. I dream of making a movie that follows up on the series. A newer version of the property was brought to television in 1991, but it's the original version that people remember.

A Quick Look at TV: JOHNNY SOKKO AND HIS FLYING ROBOT

   In the mid-to-late 60's, Japan saw a boom of giant monster movies. Near every studio with the size to attempt it released their own giant monster epic to cash in on Toho's massive success in the science fiction adventure genre. The small screen was subject to this as well, as special effects icon Eiji Tsuburya branched into television with Ultra Q, and then the wildly successful Ultraman. Ultraman created a template that could be copied and other sci-fi superhero programs were short in coming. A handful of these even made it to the States, including Ultraman and The Space Giants. Possibly the most visible on our shores was Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot. Basically presented as a live-action version of Gigantor pressed through the Ultraman mold, the series told of a small boy who becomes the controller of a giant robot. "Robot" was built to destroy mankind, but when our young Johnny became the first to address the machine through a control-box/microphone, a special and unbreakable bond was established. Robot and Johnny were recruited into the spy organization UNICORN, where they had all sorts of adventures while confronting the evil Emperor Guillotine from outer space! Guillotine would whip up a new giant monster each week, UNICORN would swing into action, and ultimately Robot would have to be called in to tussle with the monster. As these shows go, this one was fairly crude. It featured some of the most toy-like effects and props (with scale changing frequently, such as when Robot carried in his hand a single-man jet fighter being about the same size as a 200-crew submarine held in the other hand), but it did fire the imagination. Few shows so perfectly captured the aesthetic of a small boy playing with his toys. AIP-TV imported the series to good response. AIP-TV also edited the series into a feature film, VOYAGE INTO SPACE. This was further edited down into a popular 200' 8mm digest!

George Barrows, gorilla!

A Quick Look: TOBOR THE GREAT (1954)

   Robots were popular in the science-happy 50's, and a few of the cinematic ones even became stars. The most obvious was Robby from FORBIDDEN PLANET and THE INVISIBLE BOY. Pictured here is the titular star of TOBOR THE GREAT, from Republic Pictures early in the decade. In the film, Tobor is the invention of a scientist looking to create an artificial astronaut. Tobor has the ability to mentally link with human beings, nobody so strongly as Gadget, the scientist's grandson. When the kid and his Grandfather are snatched by enemy spies, Tobor charges to the rescue! Quite a bit of work obviously went into the Tobor suit, and I can only imagine it was a very expensive prop to a small studio like Republic. A potential series was built around the cumbersome costume, to be called Here Comes Tobor. It failed to go to series, however, and the pilot film was never aired (to my knowledge). It has recently surfaced on DVD with a handful of other unsold pilots. I sometimes wonder whatever happened to Tobor, and why he didn't pop up on The Twilight Zone and other shows as Robby did. I always found him rather impressive.

THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, a pictorial

When dinosaurs were cool...