"The Musician" Written by Dick Morgan and Tom Swale Directed by Gordon Wiles Original airdate: November 15, 1975 This page last updated 5/29/2020

The Marshalls and Cha-ka investigate the newly discovered old temple.

Read the complete story summary by Nels Olsen

Notes from the Marshall Timeline

I moved "The Musician" to a position significantly sooner in the chronology because it seems logical to say that the Marshalls would investigate the temple almost immediately after it was found by Will and Holly in "The Test".

Didja Notice?

At the beginning of the episode, Holly is trying to teach Cha-ka to play the old lullaby "Rock-a-bye Baby" on a bamboo flute. He fails miserably, seemingly tone deaf.

Will remarks that one thing Cha-ka is not is a child prodigy and Rick agrees. Will then queries, "Wasn't it Mozart who could play the piano at the age of four?" This is a reference to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1971), considered one of the greatest music composers in history. He was, in fact, a child prodigy.

Rick speculates that the Old Temple was not built by the Sleestak. Will then says, "...if this place wasn't built by the Sleestak, it was built by a basketball team. Look how tall everything is." I wonder if that line was written as sort of an in-joke about the fact that the Sleestak were portrayed by UCLA basketball players.

At 8:39 on the DVD, you can see that there is a plant growing inside the temple. I suppose there are cracks in the ruin inside as well as out, although it seems unlikely a real plant could grow in a closed room with no light.

The matrix table found in the Old Temple is sort of a larger, streamlined version of the ones found in the pylons and the Lost City. Is this matrix table an "improved" version of the Altruisan ones seen previously? Or are the Altrusian matrix tables a primitive, redactive version of the streamlined type found here in the Old Temple? The pedestals the matrix table and other objects rest upon in the Old Temple are the same shape as the ones later seen in the Library of Skulls in the Lost City. Another example of the one civilization copying another? But which civilization came first, the seemingly human one of the Old Temple or the Altrusians/Sleestak of the Lost City?

As Phillip Paley points out in the audio commentary, at 9:30 on the DVD, Will blows the dust off the matrix table right into Cha-ka's face!

At 10:03 on the DVD, there is a pinpoint of blue light behind Will's head. What is it?

Holly comments that the ring they find in the temple is "pretty". It doesn't look so pretty to me...it looks like one of those cheap plastic rings you used to get in the 25-cent vending machines at the supermarket!

At 12:36 on the DVD, the matrix table starts lighting up and making noise before Cha-ka even walks off screen, yet he acts like he doesn't notice. Also, notice the sounds from the matrix table sound like a push-button phone of the 1970's!

At 12:58 on the DVD, for a split second Holly almost looks like she is going to run out and visit with Junior even though Big Alice is with him. Notice how her father grabs her and pulls her behind the stone column as they all run for cover from the large carnivore.

At 13:36 on the DVD, notice how Big Alice protects Junior from the the red Builder figure by curling her tail around him. Junior ducks down out-of-sight within the coil, but then can't resist peaking back up as the Builder walks on past.

This is the first episode in which Ta and Sa seem to acknowledge that the Marshalls are superior in dealing with the more mysterious aspects of the Land. They go to High Bluff to tell the humans about the voice they heard calling their names and the strange light in the sky.

At 21:02-21:08 on the DVD, as Ta and Sa flee the voice telling them they have failed, you can follow their shadows and see that after disappearing off the right side of the screen, they just circle around behind the camera!

At the end of the episode, Cha-ka successfully plays "Rock-a-bye Baby" quite nicely on the bamboo flute, seemingly a gift of evolution from Builder.

Unanswered Questions

Who built the old temple? Humans? Pakuni? The door and the matrix table seem to respond to Cha-ka's touch but not the Marshalls'.

What is the significance of the letters written on the stone block in the courtyard of the temple? The Marshalls comment that some of them look like characters from the their own Latin alphabet such as A, M and R.

What was the red light that appeared in the sky after Cha-ka touched the matrix table? Was it a portal that admitted the red being?

Who is Builder? In her entranced state, Holly indicates that Builder built the Land. If so, what was the Altrusians' role in the creation of the Land, since Builder appears to be of human relation?

Why does Builder's voice switch from boy to man and back again?

What happens to the ring after this episode? We never see it again even though Cha-ka is still wearing it as he plays the flute at the very end.