Land of the Lost

Let me begin by explaining to those that haven't heard of it yet the Scooby Doo effect. This is when, as an adult, you see a television show or movie that you loved as a kid only to realize it is horrible. I first noticed this phenomenon while watching Scooby Doo, hence the name.

What does this have to do with Land of the Lost you ask? Well, after being swept up by a wave of nostalgia, I decided to have Netflix send me the series. Over the past week and a half I have slowly been making my way through the old episodes and find myself struck by a bad case of the Scooby Doo effect. If you haven't seen the show, you can probably deduce that a low budget children's show filmed in 1974 has some spectacularly bad special effects. I'm not even sure they were good for the time, but they look horrific now. I've been trying to get past that and try to enjoy the stories on their own, but honestly, they aren't that good either. And even the brilliant casting of NBA legend Bill Laimbeer as a Sleestak can't save the show. This quote nearly makes it all worth while though:

Laimbeer went from menacing Marshall, Will, and Holly as an
adolescent to menacing the entire
NBA as an adult.

So, I'm now about halfway through season 1 and am intent on finishing this season, but I don't think I can stomach future seasons. I do think that the nostalgia makes it more tolerable and am pretty sure that if you haven't seen it before you won't be able to sit through it. But Scooby Doo effect and all, it still transports me back to a simpler time. A time when I was young enough that even badly animated dinosaurs captivated me. And I should also mention that it was this picture of Posh Spice which initially prompted me to rewatch the series. Not until after laughing until tears came to my eyes though.

And I guess I would be remiss if I didn't mention the upcoming Land of the Lost motion picture, hitting theaters June 5, 2009. I'm not a big Will Ferrell fan so I don't hold out a great deal of hope. You never know though, it might turn out great.