The Sheila Variations

OH! OH! OH! OH! OH!

I honesrtly thought I was the only human on the planet that ever watched this show. I LOVED this show!!! I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!

Where are those actors?

Remember the cheapy effects? Remember the beginning when the family was on the raft and it went down the fakey waterfall? And where the HELL was the Mother? Did they ever say?????

OHMAGOD Sheila.

Oh.......my.....God.

Alex -

My entire wardrobe choices in 5th grade were determined by Holly's one outfit. She wore wallabies. So I had wallabies. I wore checked shirts, and I wore braids. I LOVED THAT SHOW.

Member Dopey, the sweet baby brontosaurus?

And the repeated attacks of the T-rex at the mouth of their cave? Their cave was so neat and clean and light, wasn't it?

And please. Let's talk about the Sleestaks.

Yeah, where was the mother? The whole thing was so awesome.

If only they'd keep the rubber dinosaurs...I LOVED the Rubber dinosaurs...the ultimate in cheesy stop-motion SPFX....

I'm TOTALLY remembering the dinosaur charging the camera with that sound effect!!! It was like one of the Krofft brothers was in your living room, literally shoving a rubber dinosaur at your face.

Raaarrr!!!

I know - I hope they keep the special effects to a minimum and keep it reaaaallly cheesy.

Member they kept a huge tree branch on hand to fight off the T rex ... they would work together as a family and shove it into his mouth.

Okay, okay, okay, okay......the Sleestaks. I just have to say, they TOTALLY scared the life out of me. Everytime that creepy music played, I remember cringing.

So.....seriously, can ANYone tell me what happened to Mom? I seriously need to knwo now....and E! True Hollywood Story: John Ritter is coming on TV. I can only spend commercial time surfing.

Alex - I have a vague feeling that the mother is dead.

I remember one particular episode when - and this is so ridiculous I'm almost embarrassed to say it - but Holly started experimenting with makeup. In the cave. Billions of years ago. Now ... they wanted to show she was approaching adolescence, but ... uhm .. where did the makeup come from? Did she pack it for the canoe trip, thinking: "Hmm, I might get stuck in the Jurassic Era, so I should have some lip gloss on hand."

Anyway ... somehow the father had to deal with the daughter's burgeoning sexuality (I AM NOT KIDDING - THIS WAS AN ACTUAL EPISODE) ... and i do believe it was mentioned that the mother was dead, in that tender father-daughter conversation.

The Land of the Lost Mom was in the same place as Gidget's Mom, Opie Taylor's Mom, Ellie May Clampett's Mom, Buffy and Jody's Mom, Mrs. Eddie's Father, and all three of the Mrs. Cartwrights. It's a cheap plot device that enables young, swinging bachelors to mix it up with a hot, young lady and still have adorable kids that they can dispense folksy, homespun advice to. Back then, the only normal TV family was The Munsters.

Hahahaha. I saw that headline yesterday and immediately thought of you, Sheila. I mean, instantly. "Land of the Lost"? SHEILA.

Mark

Right on analysis there. You are so correct.

I hated that hissing noise the Sleestaks made. It seriously creeped me out. However, their legs were locked at the knee so they could only sorta hobble after Marshall, Will and Holly. I don't know why the latter wasted their energy running so fast. They needed to save their speed for Alice.

Someone told me Chaka was played by Ron Howard's brother. Is that true? It's not hard to believe what with that protruding forehead of his and Neanderthal-like features. Richie's brother is one scary ass mofo.

Wesley Eure..he played Will..i loved him..he was on Days of Our Lives(one of my mother's "stories")...he was one of my first secret boy crushes..him and Wojo from Barney Miller

But I can't wrap my brain around Will Ferrel starring in it...I just can't.

I'm afraid - so afraid...

http://lasthome.blogspot.com/2005/04/back-to-land-of-lost.html

Barry - really? I think he's perfect - he already looks like a cheesy 70s dad. The type of dad who would wear beads and sandals. We shall see, we shall see.

Barry - I just read your thoughts on the matter, and they are points very well taken. I also don't want them to make it into a farce. The charm of the show was that it kind of took itself seriously, in a goofy way. That's one of the reasons why I loved it.

My favorite thing about the Sleestaks is that their crossbows had a range of about four feet.

These comments are genius. I love that we all remember this show. How the Sleestaks had no knees, and the crossbow detail. Wonderful.

And how there was no way, ever ever ever, that a Sleestak could sit down.

Ouch!

Oh, and Red - you forget, Rick Marshall purposefully *wasn't* a cheesy 70's dad. I mean, he was an outdoorsman, he was practical and knew how to survive. He would never wear beads or sandals.

If Ferrel plays him like Mike Brady in the Grand Canyon, I'll be fine - Robert Reed could do comedy, and he could do drama. But if he plays him like the type you mention: ugh.

I didn't think beads and sandals = impractical. I grew up in the 70s, and many of the fathers in my neighborhood wore beads, sandals, worked at universities - and also were awesome at building treehouses and pointing out the best places to find arrowheads in the dirt. As I recall, the father in the Wilderness Family had long hippie hair, but he certainly could take care of business and chop wood and all that manly stuff. So you're misunderstanding what I meant. Again, though, it's been years since I've seen the series. I like Will Ferrell, so I'm biased towards thinking he can do it.

And sorry - but I think Marhsall's long curly hair is cheesy in a very very 70s way. Like Peter Frampton on a camping trip.