Land of the Lost

[charlie2012]

I've seen a lot of hidden meaning in movies lately and taken them as tools for learning rather than entertainment as i used to, for example the new movie with George Clooney, the men who stare at goats, is about hippies in the army learning that love is the way to fight war, they use astral projection and remote view. It's funny how many people just laugh at these movies when they actually contain a lot of truths. This was the case with "Land of the Lost" with Will Ferrell which i recently saw.

This movie is about doctor Rick Marshall (Will Ferrell) who researches time-warps with tachyon crystals. They get time-warped some 270 million years back in time, to what seems to be the earth. What i found most intriguing about the movie is all the things that they encounter in this ancient world. It seems as if since they are the only conscious beings they completely, and unconsciously, create the world around them (with lizardmen, dinosaurs and a little apeman called chaka who seems to have serious orange-ray overactivity). Since humans have not yet existed on earth, they get to manifest exactly what is in their minds, even though they do it unintentionally and unconsciously.

They never once speak of the possibility that all that they encounter are actually thought-forms, but this seems to have to be the case. So many things happen in that movie that seems to be their own manifestations, based on the characters prior thoughts, fears and experiences.

I recommend viewing it if you are interested in the idea of consciously creating the world around you. And i always love the look on Will Ferrells face, that man makes me laugh just by existing.

Love & Light!

[Questioner]

Charlie, I agree with you that movies and TV shows often have a deeper layer of truth underneath entertainment.

It seems to me that sometimes, the people who make the show are aware of the message and put it in deliberately. This is obvious in the original "Day the Earth Stood Still," "Forbidden Planet," "Babylon 5" and in many "Star Trek" episodes, for instance.

I also think that many times, the people who make the show are inadvertent channels of these messages. Filmmakers are open to new ideas, eagerly seeking new ideas in fact so that they can do their jobs. With this openness, they can unconsciously receive impressions, pictures and concepts that want to reach more people. These ideas are "in the air at a time," and they can "hitch a ride" on the catchy show.

I'm disappointed that the remake film was intentionally corny and had computerized effects. They missed the point!

Let me tell you why I loved the '75 series as a kid. I was 5 to 8 years old in its first run, and I'm pretty sure they reran it throughout my youth. The first year of its run, I was mostly in bed because of a major injury. An escape to a fantasy land was a perfect getaway! Until the clumsy last season, the show was made by people who took the concept seriously. They made the most of a low budget with live-action effects. I was in college when the redone TV series came out and never heard of it!

I loved the idea of a family of adventurers with a cute sister, intrepid brother and determined father. Because of my own family situation, looking back I realize why it was so appealing to my imagination. What if my siblings and I had a confident, resourceful, emotionally mature father and my Mom was out of the picture! I hoped to grow up to be a good parent like that some day!

I loved the ideas of a pet dinosaur, unexplained time travel, a mysterious circular land, and friendly long-haired cavemen. I loved seeing the mysterious lizard creatures with a vengeful god, creatures. I loved that they had co-opted ancient, barely understood magic crystal technology in rooms that are bigger on the inside, which our heroes started to figure out. I loved that the episodes often showed there were no easy answers to ethical dilemmas, but cooperation was our best hope for a solution.

Just as with the original Star Trek, everything was plotted out seriously even if the set was styrofoam and tinfoil. There was attention to detail and great respect for the audience. This bought a lot of goodwill. It was easy to overlook the occasional problems where the effects were too ambitious for the budget. The show went downhill over time. But it started off great and had some good moments all the way through.

Your post inspired me to search for some interviews and articles about the original show. Turns out it was even better done than I thought. One of Star Trek's writers was the original story editor, and he invited respected science fiction authors to propose scripts. The composer mentioned, "the Kroffts had an edict to be obeyed at all times. 'Don't patronize children. We were to take them on a ride, but never talk down to them.'" The crew were mostly enthusiastic, idealistic former flower children.

Here are some of the interviews that show how passionate and how respectful to kids the original team was:
http://reflectionsonfilmandtelevision.bl...-1974.html
http://lotl.popapostle.com/html/dginterview.html
http://www.war-ofthe-worlds.co.uk/cv/lotl.htm

I think it's a real shame that the goodwill of the TV show was pissed away in the movie script. Just a cheap shot at slapstick for adults, without the passion, respect, deep ethical concerns, or family-friendly elements that made the original so deeply loved. All the elements that made the show great were dropped from the film, leaving only an empty shell of superficial glitz.

If they had let Gerrold do his movie story, or at least tried to match that same tone of the first season, the movie would have been a huge hit. Because of the sleazy, trite attitudes behind the movie, I'm pretty sure than any spiritually evolved concepts just "hitched a ride" as I described above. The movie seems far too shallow to deliberately invite deep ideas for a swim.

[charlie2012]

Wow! I didn't even know it was based on an old tv-show, and a good one it seems! I suspect the old show was far more deeper and connecting than the new movie since i believe that the more love you put into something, instead of money, the more it shows. Too bad that they had to ruin an old classic with the new movie though, that's how i felt when they released star wars episode 1,2 and 3.

The new movie wasn't so awesome to me but it made sense to me that the beings and events would be thought-form, since they were all things that they had experienced prior to the time-warp and that usually when one of them thought something, it happened the next instant. The movie itself seems so shallow though that most people wont see through it.

Love!