|
"Siren's Song"
Written by Phil Combest
Directed by Earnest Farino
Original airdate: October 24, 1992 |
While visiting with Namaki, the
Porters are confronted with visions of Natasha Porter.
Didja Know?
This episode gives us our first "live" glimpses of Natasha
Porter, portrayed by
Marta DuBois (we also saw a photograph of her in
"Dreammaker"). We see her in Tom's nightmare of Natasha
being menaced first by Shung, then by Scarface. Then, shortly
after waking up, Tom sees a vision of his wife walking up the
beach, which turns out to be Christa. And we meet a siren, known from
mythology, wearing the guise of the late Porter matriarch.
Star Trek fans may recognize Marta DuBois as the
villainous Ardra in the Star Trek: The Next Generation
episode "Devil's Due."
This episode is reminiscent of the
LOTL70 episode
"Album" in
which Will and Holly are entranced by a strange sound and led to
the Lost City where they see an image of their dead mother.
Didja Notice?
While speaking with Tom at the beach, Christa comments that she
is going to the next valley and won't be back until the next
sun. This fits in with Christa's frequent absences in many
episodes. It would seem that, although she has a permanent home
in the valley, she also has a wanderlust and explorer mentality
that keeps her away for days at a time. If not for her
friendship (guardianship?) with Stink, would she have wandered
off permanently long ago?
At 5:33 in the episode, Kevin puts the earphones of his Walkman
on Namaki so he can sample some rock and roll. Amusingly, just
like many people, Namaki starts shouting to hear himself over
the music. We also learn that Namaki is not able to hear the
actual music; to him it sounds like the roar of the ocean and Tom
remarks that he should consider himself lucky, a poke at Kevin's
taste in music from a typical parent's perspective.
In these second season episodes, the Porters have adopted
Stink's phrase of "funny hoo-ha" in (often sarcastic) reference
to jokes they make to each other.
At 5:55 in the episode, Tasha is about to bury the Porters'
volleyball in the sand and Kevin comments to her that it's a
ball, not a bone. But why would an herbivorous dinosaur have the
instinct to bury a bone? Possibly she could have an urge to bury
nuts the way a squirrel does and Kevin should have remarked
"it's a ball, not an acorn." (However, in the
later episode, "Make My Day", Tasha does seem to enjoy chewing
on a bone that Kevin gives her.)
Namaki must be tone-deaf. Not only can he not hear the music on
Kevin's Walkman, he does not hear the music of the siren either.
When Annie disappears after running behind the rock outcrop on
the beach, Tom goes looking for her. We later learn she was
enticed by the siren's music and led to her cave. But how did
Annie's footprints in the sand also disappear? They are not
visible while we watch Tom as he calls out for her. When Tasha
later finds some Annie footprints on the beach, they would seem
to be heading the wrong way, towards the ocean rather than
towards the rocky cliffside where we later see the siren's cave;
I suppose Annie may have been wandering along the contours of
the cliff and outcroppings, taking her alternately towards and
away from the ocean until the music led her to the cave.
At 12:15 in the episode, a scene from the first season episode
"Something's Watching" is borrowed, depicting a pterodactyl
flying over
Vasquez Rocks. Here, I suppose it is intended to be
flying over the rocks near the beach.
For some reason, there is a large stick leaning against the
cliff outside the entrance of the siren's cave as Kevin enters
at 12:49 in the episode. It is still there when Tom enters
later. But it is gone at 17:56 when Namaki, Stink, and Tasha
approach to rescue the Porters. However, Namaki is suddenly
depicted with a large stick in his hand at 18:19 (it appears to
be the same one) which he uses to fend off the serpent of the
cave.
Although the traditional sirens of mythology are usually
depicted as half woman and half-bird (or sometimes as
mermaid-like), the siren presented here appears more as a
deformed human with sagging skin. Like the visions of Natasha
Porter, she is portrayed by Marta DuBois, now disguised with
fright makeup.
The lyre played by the siren has some symbols on it, but they
are not very distinguishable in the video image.
It is interesting to note that Namaki speaks some Pakuni. At one
point he says "anu" (no) to Stink.
At 15:22 in the episode, Namaki says something unintelligible to
Stink before saying "this way." Possibly he is saying something
in Pakuni, but it sort of sounds like he says "To help, this
way," which makes some sense in that Namaki is trying to lead
Stink and Tasha in a certain direction in their search for the
missing Porters.
With the kids already present, Tom finally arrives in the
siren's cave and she says "The children and I have been waiting
for you, Tom." This is similar to the dialog "I've been waiting for
you" delivered by the image of Mrs. Marshall to Will and Holly
in "Album". Listen:
Mrs. Porter
Mrs. Marshall
Is it just me, or does the cave serpent guarding the
siren look like a modified version of the sea serpent
seen in "Life's a Beach"? Notice the placement of the
jagged teeth (though the cave serpent has more of them)
and the ridge above the eyes. |
|
|
Cave serpent from "Siren's Song" |
Sea serpent from
"Life's a Beach" |
The siren seemingly destroys the serpent guarding her simply by
throwing her (magic?) lyre at it. If it were that easy, why
didn't she do so before?
The siren says she was given her ugly form and exiled to this
world when her beauty became more important to her than her own
family.
Tom remarks to the siren that he understands what she is saying
because he once considered his work to be the most important
thing in his life. Although Tom's career on Earth is never
mentioned in the series, other sources have conflictingly
described him as either a lawyer or an architect. The design of
the tree-house may argue for his being an architect. As there is
little chance to practice jurisprudence in the Land of the Lost,
there are no significant arguments for the lawyer position!
For the first time, Tom reveals that he and Natasha argued about
his career-oriented mentality the day she died (in a car
accident).
Pakuni translations |
Time in
episode |
Pakuni |
English |
4:11 |
Christa says,
"Anu, Tom Porter." |
"No, Tom Porter." |
4:43 |
Christa says, "Daiyay,
Tom Porter." |
"Thank you, Tom
Porter." |
15:15 |
Namaki says,
"Anu, Stink." |
"No, Stink." |
15:24 |
Stink says, "Musica." |
"Music." |
Unanswered Questions |
|
The siren says that she was
sentenced to this world (the Land) when her beauty
became more important to her than her own family. Who
sentenced her? What world was she from? Could it be the
same world that sentenced Keela and Magus to the Land?
At the end of the episode, the siren seems to escape her
captivity, emerging from the cave as a yellowish wisp of
energy to rise up and disappear into the sky. Where did
she go? Did she return to her own world? Is she on her
way to the "next world" as she called it (presumably the
afterlife) to join her family?
Tom reveals in this episode that he and Natasha argued
about his career-oriented mentality the day she died (in
a car accident). Might it also be that they actually argued
in the car while he was driving and his own anger during
the argument caused him to drive recklessly or without
closely watching the road, causing the accident that
killed her?
|
Memorable Dialog
|
Back to
Episode Studies
|