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While fans of the series would rarely call it the best season, it is certainly the rarest. By all accounts, Land of the Lost, The Complete Third Season is chock full of episodes that have barely aired since their original air dates. Mind you, even the most diehard fan would warn an agnostic viewer, to not watch this season if they never saw the far superior first and second seasons. It's one of those seasons that wasn't bad, yet wasn't the worst possible, but most importantly, is finally able to be seen, after barely airing at all since the 1970's.

Let's backtrack a little for those who never entered a land of the "lost." Simply put; this is a children's TV show from a bygone era, when child-friendly programming didn't mean to talk down to kids. Don't get me wrong here; I can see why parents like Spongebob, but why is even an alleged "genius" in Dexter's Laboratory such an idiot? Even the so-called "educational" shows these days act like your child is a total moron. 1970's entertainment may have been a bit too preachy at times (Shazam!), and other times it tried to educate while entertaining, with varied results (Schoolhouse Rock). Yet regardless of the successes and failures of Land of the Lost; it never once acted like kids were morons.

Okay; that's a bit too editorialized. Let's put it this way; at its best, this series was children's entertainment for the older kid in all of us. Why else would a Saturday Morning cartoon series enlist such veteran sci-fi authors as David Gerrold to write the scripts? Even Star Trek's Walter Koenig penned an episode or two. Along the way, there were tales of dinosaurs, ancient ruins, a cool yet creepy alien species called the "Sleestack," and a little prehistoric kid named Cha-ka...who, quite frankly, looked like a junior version of the legendary "Bigfoot." It was all in good fun though, so don't take any of it too seriously.

So all this praise being said: why so many long faces for season three? Well, maybe because of how different the series looked at this point. Yet to be fair, many hoops were jumped through to make a third season happen at all. Spencer "Marshall" Milligan left the series, for one. It made no sense to have two teenagers roam around without dad, so in out of nowhere came "Uncle Jack," played by Ron Harper (who, FYI, gives DVD audio commentary for the season premiere). Unfortunately, Uncle Jack is the very least of this season's many changes.

I must admit; they explained Uncle Jack's entrance quite brilliantly. Dear old dad was tinkering with one of those ancient portal-obelisks called the "pylons," and finally discovered the "combination" to make a portal back to Earth...albeit without the kids present. Yet here's how the rule of thumb always was on this series; The Land of the Lost is a constant balance, in that every time one person leaves, another must arrive. Enter Jack, who was searching for his brother's family that exact moment, at the same fateful waterfall that brought them here. That makes sense.

If only the crew changes were as seamless as the casting changes, with newcomers Sam Roeca as story editor, and Jon Kubichan as producer. Now I must say, some of their attempts to bring in "different" scripts worked brilliantly, thanks to a giant earthquake in the season 3 premiere. That earthquake closed off the "old" parts of the land, and opened up many new paths. Again; this makes sense. It also sounds pretty cool.

The problem: new producers always want to go in new directions. The new scripts were almost entirely salutes to classic Earth lore like The Flying Dutchman, Medusa and even a yeti. The problem...? This was not Earth, so why would all of these parts of Earthly legend suddenly appear? This isn't even getting into the temple the Marshall family now lived in. Not that I didn't find it cooler than a ho-hum cave they used to live in, but as temples go this one was pretty boring. They could've made this temple multi-leveled, for example, and had at least a dozen episodes where the Marshall clan would slowly explore the ruins. It's like those episodes of sci-fi shows where they explore a ruined temple on a new planet, only in this case, the ruined temple is their home, which can be freely explored at will. This was one of many missed plot opportunities this season. To have the always curious Will and Holly disinterested to explore their new home home didn't make sense.

What else didn't quite make sense...? That would be Holly, through it's no fault of the actress playing her for three seasons, Kathy Coleman. Simply put Kathleen had a clear growth spurt since season two. However: this is the Land of the Lost, not Gilligan's Island, so it made little sense that she'd still be wearing her exact same kiddie outfit she always wore...and what's more, it would fit her older frame perfectly. Now, I'm not for Holly to suddenly start wearing a loin cloth or anything but, come on. I don't care if brother Will loaned her an outfit or if she got it from the Sleestacks. Try to have some continuity, please.

Not that this season is worthless. It's just so very different. Take the changes with a grain of salt and you'll have fun. If you're a Star Trek fan, then simple view the episode "Medusa" as the "Spock's Brain" of the series; an episode so bad it's actually entertaining to watch. How unintentionally hilarious is this episode? Well, Holly meets a new friend who calls herself "Meddy," and not once does she think that this new friend is Medusa...! This being a woman who has snakes in her hair. This season is sort of like that; a guilty pleasure not to be taken too seriously. Just have fun with it. Enjoy!

So why the high rating with all its faults? Because to fault classic sci-fi for a little camp would be so very...wrong. Fantastic Planet is and always will be classic sci-fi, as well as Flash Gordon serials and so forth. As a fan, I would think this season was woven from the same cloth. It should also be repeated, how it's a major treat to be able to see this season again at all. Fans should be thrilled! As for those who never saw it; you'll want to, but first, admittedly, you may wish to watch the earlier seasons. Not that this season was "worse"; just campier. It's fun, when you just have fun with it. It's as simple as that, really.

	Rating: Large Crater. While some cynics would insist this season was too campy to give a look, come on. It's fun, it's harmless, and what's more; it's the first time it's been able to be seen in years.
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Land of the Lost:

The Complete Third Season

A Review by Techtite