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"The Pylon Express"
Written by Theodore Sturgeon
Directed by
Gordon Wiles
Original airdate: October 25, 1975
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A
conjunction of the triple moons opens a pylon with a doorway to
Earth.
Read the complete story summary by Nels Olsen
Didja Know?
The sound effect of the Moongiver pylon
transporting a person inside to another dimension is a sound
effect previously heard in a couple episodes of the 1965-1968 TV
series Lost in Space ("The Derelict" and "Invaders from
the Fifth Dimension").
Didja Notice?
This is the first time the Marshalls
appear to be sleeping without their shoes on. They are still fully clothed otherwise
(although they do make the concession of sleeping with their
shirts untucked).
When they are awoken by chanting in the
middle of the night, Rick and Will comment that it sounds like
the Paku. They should have said "Pakuni", the plural of Paku.
At 4:22 on the DVD, we see that the sun
seems to rise instantly. Is this always the case in the Land of
the Lost?
Ta throws one squash into the
pylon/time-doorway and gets several grocery bags worth of
packaged Earth food back. But how does that conform to the
Land's law of conservation of matter as stated by Enik in
"Circle", that for one object to enter the Land an object of
equal mass must leave?
Ta throws a second squash in and the
pylon door closes immediately after. But the door doesn't close
when first Rick walks inside and then Will.
Ta does it again later when
Holly walks inside. Did Ta just know
precisely when it would close again and wanted it to appear as
if he
had done it? If so, Ta makes himself look like a real jerk,
trapping the humans inside! He even seems to congratulate
himself after sealing Holly in.
During Ta and Cha-ka's argument outside the pylon, Sa seems to
be playfully rolling a squash around on the ground! I guess
she's easily entertained!
It's an amusing scene, the one with the Pakuni laboriously carrying
the shopping cart full of goods. But, the Pakuni seem to be
intelligent enough to be able to use/recognize
wheels, don't you think? Of course, Ta does figure it out
eventually (and uses it as a chariot!), but it seems like it
would happen sooner.
What kind of food companies serve the Land of the Lost? Well,
from the screen grabs below, we can see Family Pride Potato
Chips (looks like a Laura Scudder's bag of the '70s), Nobility
brand cookie assortment, some Oyster Crackerettes (no brand
visible, possibly Sunshine brand), a can of powdered mix of some
type (Hershey's Cocoa?), a box of tea bags that is obviously
Lipton but with the name covered up with a red strip (you can
still read through the strip though in the picture), a "Candy"
bar (looks like a disguised Mounds bar by the Peter Paul
company), a box of rice (no brand visible but it appears that
the brand name was covered up with a green strip; Rice-A-Roni?).
Notice also that the two potato chip bags are already torn open!
Will also mentions a can-opener, soap, raisins, and cheese.
The lights and sound as Holly is transported on her journey are
very similar to those seen and heard when Builder arrives in the
Temple in "Musician". Does this indicate that the Builders are
responsible for the pylons? And yet, the Marshalls see and hear
an Altrusian as the Possessor in the episode
"The Possession".
The images of the Lost City when it was still at the height of
Altrusian splendor are nothing more than colored drawings! (See
Images from the Time Doorway below.) I
guess it would have been awfully expensive to build an entire
miniature of the intact city.
At 20:41 on the DVD, as the bouncing box is, uh, bouncing, you
can see the shadow of the puppeteering device that holds the
strings bouncing up and down as well.
The giant vacuum cleaner device that Holly sees on her journey
is even bigger than I ever noticed. At 21:18 on the DVD, you can
see that the hose-like body of it snakes into the distance
behind the head, disappearing into the boulders beyond. On that
same world it also appears there may be buildings in the
background; some rectangular features stick up past the
boulders.
Odd how the people in the park don't seem to notice that a pylon
has suddenly appeared in their midst! Perhaps it was invisible
to them, like the pylon in the third season episode
"The Orb"?
Is this the first time we've heard Rick
Marshall threaten violence against another sentient being? I think so! Listen:
It better be now.
Unanswered Questions
This is the first time we see the smallest of the triple moons,
the one Rick calls Speedy in this episode, orbiting at its one
minute interval; it was always shown in a slow, stable orbit in
previous episodes. What happened to change it? And actually, if
you watch closely, you can see that the middle-sized moon is
also moving at an accelerated rate, though not as fast as
Speedy.
Is the pylon in this episode the same one Will and Holly
discovered in LOTL's very first episode, "Cha-ka"? The pylon in
this episode has no key; the one in "Cha-ka" did not appear to
have one either.
Why is there no key on the time-doorway pylon? Did someone take
it? In "Elsewhen" the Marshalls see two triangular objects that
look just like the pylon keys stuck on the walls in the Lost
City; could one of those have been the key to this pylon? For
that matter are the keys each specific to one pylon? Have the
Marshalls ever tried interchanging the keys?
Who wrote the warning message to Holly in the anti-matter Land
of the Lost? Holly says it looks like Rick's writing. How did
the anti-matter Rick know that a positive-matter Holly would
arrive? Did he already lose his Holly on the Pylon Express? (I
explored this idea in my fanfic "The
End of the Matter".)
Images from the Time Doorway
Here are screen grabs of
the five worlds/times Holly sees during her journey on
the Pylon Express.
Click on the thumbnails to see a larger
image.
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Unknown world |
Height of Altrusia |
Unknown world |
Anti-matter
Land of the Lost? |
Unknown world |
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Earth c. 1970s |
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Pakuni translations |
Time on DVD |
Pakuni |
English |
1:20-4:31 |
The Pakuni chant, "...ani ma. Ema misa meni re. Ema bisa
ometa eram, ometa eram meni ma." |
ma=give,
meni=us, bisa=big, ometa=time, eram=moon. The
other words are not in any known glossary. The Pakuni
seem to be asking the moon to give them something
(presumably to open the pylon.) |
4:32 |
Ta says, "Chiri." |
"Quiet." |
5:50 |
Cha-ka says,
"Wirra! Anu! Anu!" |
"Will! No!
No!" |
6:04 |
Cha-ka says, "Anu! Anu! Ee Paku yumani! Ego aguga?" |
"No! No! (Ee) Paku humans! Where (aguga)?"
"Ee" and "aguga" are not in any
known glossary. |
6:09 |
Ta says, "Anu." |
"No." |
6:10 |
Cha-ka says,
"Ta! Ta! Ee Paku yumani ego aguga? Ye dong. Ye...ye
dong." |
"Ta! Ta! (Ee)
Paku humans where (aguga)? You (dong). You...you
(dong)."
"Ee", "aguga" and
"dong" are not in any known glossary. (But, yes, Ta is a
real dong in this episode.) |
6:19 |
Ta says, "Anu.
Ta fo. Yeni fa onami." |
"No. Ta (fo).
You take food." "Fo" is not in any known glossary. |
6:27 |
Ta says, "Anu!
Anu!" |
"No! No!" |
7:04 |
Cha-ka says, "Bimisasa." |
"Very mannish." |
7:07 |
Ta says,
"Cha-ka abunisa." |
"Cha-ka very
childish." |
7:09 |
Cha-ka says,
"Cha-ka de Wirra, Ari." |
"Cha-ka do
Will, Holly." Gulp. |
7:15 |
Cha-ka says, "Bimisasa." |
"Very mannish." |
7:40 |
Ta says,
"Fusachi." |
"Quickly." |
7:50 |
Ta says, "Sa!
Cha-ka! Yeni ba ego aguga!" |
"Sa! Cha-ka!
You come (here?)!" |
8:32 |
Ta says, "Yeni
bako onami." |
"You bring
food." |
8:36 |
Ta says, "Yeni
ku! Ku! Ku! Yeni ku!" |
"You go! Go!
Go! You go!" |
8:40 |
Ta says, "Anu
Ari. Yeni ku, yeni ku." |
"No Holly. You
go, you go." |
8:46 |
Ta says, "Ye
ku." |
"You go." |
8:48 |
Sa says,
"Cha-ka ku..." |
"Cha-ka go..." |
9:42 |
Sa says, "Ani
me (muffled words)." |
me=I, "ani" is
unknown. These and some other
words are muffled by the stack of groceries she holds in
front of her. |
9:45 |
Cha-ka says, "Etoda.
Etoda." |
"Etoda" is not
in any known glossary. |
10:50 |
Holly says, "Me
tobi ye, amura." |
"I greet you,
friend." |
10:53 |
Cha-ka says,
"Me tobi ye, amura." |
"I greet you, friend." |
10:58 |
Holly says, "Wu
ye Rica o Wirra?" |
"You see Rick
or Will?" |
11:00 |
Cha-ka says,
"Me nanda." |
"I'm sorry." |
11:05 |
Holly says, "Wu
ye wani?" |
"You saw them?" |
11:07 |
Cha-ka says,
"Yooo." |
"Yes." |
11:11 |
Holly says, "Sa
ego wani?" |
"Where are
they?" |
11:13 |
Cha-ka says,
"Yooo, eram shi me. Yooo, eram shi ma." |
"Yes, moon that
gives. Yes, moon that gives." |
11:31 |
Cha-ka says, "Yooo,
eram sha ma." |
"Yes,
Moon-Giver" |
11:37 |
Holly says, "Sa
efi eram sha ma?" |
"What is
Moon-Giver?" |
11:50 |
Holly says, "Weni
ku oo eram sha ma? Eh?" |
"They go inside
Moon-Giver? (Eh)?" "Eh" is
unknown, but presumably a superlative to enhance the
implicit answer to the question (yes, they did go inside
Moon-Giver). |
11:55 |
Holly says, "Sa
ego?" |
"Where?" |
12:08 |
Holly says,
"Yooo, ego aguga?" |
"Yes, in here?" |
12:10 |
Cha-ka says, "Yooo,
yooo." |
"Yes, yes." |
12:25 |
Cha-ka says,
"Ta bu kai eram sha wa." |
"Ta can open
Moon-giver." |
12:31 |
Holly says, "Ta
bu?" |
"Ta can?" |
12:31 |
Cha-ka says, "Yooo." |
"Yes." |
12:53 |
Ta says, "Ye
ku!" |
"You go!" |
13:02 |
Ta says, "Ye
ku." |
"You go." |
13:43 |
Cha-ka says, "Eram
sha wa." |
"Moon-Giver." |
13:46 |
Holly says,
"Wirra o Rica?" |
"Will and
Rick?" |
13:49 |
Cha-ka says, "Yooo,
eram sha wa." |
"Yes,
Moon-Giver." |
14:04 |
Holly says, "Mechi.
Ta ko chi eram sha wa?" |
"Please. Will
Ta open Moon-Giver?" |
14:12-14:31 |
Ta says, "Anu." |
"No." |
14:36 |
Ta says, "Anu.
Un eno aguga." |
"No. Not
today." Holly translates the
second phrase for us. Un=not, Aguga=here, "eno" is
unknown. Presumably "eno aguga" somehow means "today". |
14:38 |
Holly says, "Un
eno aguga?" |
"Not today?" |
14:43 |
Holly says, "Sa
ometa?" |
"When?" |
14:46 |
Ta says, "Ta ko
nira ye sa ometa." |
"Ta will tell
you when." Holly translates this
phrase for us. |
14:53 |
Ta says, "Ye ku
ye banda." |
"You go to your
cave." |
14:57 |
Holly says, "Sa
ometa?" |
"How long?" |
14:58 |
Ta says, "Sa
ometa ne ko te ba ima misa bisa." |
"When I come
for my big gift." Holly translates
this for us as "when I know what gift I want". Sa
ometa=when, ko=will, ba=come, ma=gift, misa=my,
bisa=big. "Ne" and "te" are unknown. |
15:08 |
Ta says, "Ye
ku." |
"You go." |
15:16 |
Cha-ka says,
"Cha-ka ko ku yan ye." |
"Cha-ka go with
you." |
15:27 |
Cha-ka says, "Yooo.
Yooo." |
"Yes. Yes." |
15:41 |
Holly says, "Ye
chi toye." |
"Thank you." |
15:45 |
Cha-ka says,
"Cha-ka amura Ari." |
"Cha-ka friend
Ari." |
15:52 |
Holly says, "Ye
mika dinda ego aguga?" |
"Do you want to
eat here?" |
15:56 |
Cha-ka says, "Yooo." |
"Yes." |
16:34 |
Cha-ka says,
"Ta te lo ashi ima." |
ima=gift.
The other words are not in any
known glossary. |
16:44 |
Ta says, "Odoo
mani." |
"Everything." |
16:48 |
Ta says, "Yooo." |
"Yes." |
16:58 |
Ta says, "Meni
da ku wachi." |
"We (da) go
now." "Da" is unknown. |
17:10 |
Ta says, "Meni
ko ye oganza." |
"We will do
your chant." |
17:17 |
Ta says, "Sa
ometa edobe ko koji ye ko ku wu." |
"When the door
opens you will go see." |
17:26 |
Holly says,
"Holly pu." |
"I understand." |
17:29 |
The Pakuni
chant, "Ometa eram, ometa eram
meni ma. Ema risa meni re. Ema bisa, ometa eram,
ometa..." |
ma=give,
meni=us, bisa=big, ometa=time, eram=moon.
The other words are not in any known glossary. |
17:44 |
Ta says, "Ye
ku, ye ku!" |
"You go, you
go!" |
22:21 |
The Pakuni
chant, "...eram meni ma.
Ema bisa meni re. Ema bisa, ometa eram
meni ma. Ema risa meni re. Ema bisa, ometa eram..." |
ma=give,
meni=us, bisa=big, ometa=time, eram=moon.
The other words are not in any known glossary. |
Memorable Dialog
all those groceries.wav
supermarket.wav
a time doorway inside the pylon.wav
can opener etc.wav
potato chips.wav
then they'd go looking for me.wav
what Daddy'd do.wav
Holly's first note.wav
don't do that.wav
out of my socks.wav
Moon-Giver.wav
candy.wav
what a trip.wav
it better be now.wav
another mystery.wav
we can go home.wav
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Episode Studies
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