For the Adherent of Pop Culture
Adventures of Jack Burton ] Back to the Future ] Battlestar Galactica ] Buckaroo Banzai ] Cliffhangers! ] Earth 2 ] The Expendables ] Firefly/Serenity ] The Fly ] Galaxy Quest ] Indiana Jones ] Jurassic Park ] Land of the Lost ] Lost in Space ] The Matrix ] The Mummy/The Scorpion King ] The Prisoner ] Sapphire & Steel ] Snake Plissken Chronicles ] Star Trek ] Terminator ] The Thing ] Total Recall ] Tron ] Twin Peaks ] UFO ] V the series ] Valley of the Dinosaurs ] Waterworld ] PopApostle Home ] Links ] Privacy ]

Land of the Lost links:
Pylon Express | The Portal | Library of Skulls | Fan Fiction | LOTL Movie News
Episode Studies by Clayton Barr
enik1138-at-popapostle-dot-com

Land of the Lost: The Sorceress "The Sorceress"
Written by Len Janson and Chuck Menville
Directed by Ernest Farino
Original airdate: September
12, 1992

A sorcerer and sorceress from another world battle against each other with the Porters caught in the middle.

Didja Know?

Magas' human form and voice was portrayed by Ed Gale, the actor who's also in the Tasha suit!

Didja Notice?

It 's a bit odd that the Magas' beast form was designed (by the Chiodos) with nipples. The beast looks like a mix of Ray Harryhausen's Cyclops from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, his Medusa from Clash of the Titans and a T. rex.
Magas Ray Harryhausen's Cyclops
(the X-Plus action figure, photo from Little Plastic Man)
Ray Harryhausen's Medusa
(the Gentle Giant action figure, photo from R. Sanque's collection on flickr)


At 5:22 in the episode, after Annie runs out of the jungle and yells "boo!", Stink jumps into Kevin's arms!

While introducing herself to the Porters, Keela says she comes "from a distant land in another time" and was "banished to this primitive world" by an evil king. This sounds as if she was deliberately banished to the Land of the Lost. How did the king know about the Land and how to reach it? Later she comments that, because her spell caused Magas to lose his magic powers, he was also banished here and that, over the years, his powers have slowly started to return. So, Keela and Magas have been in the Land for years. What kind of knowledge must Keela have learned of the Land?

Keela comments that she arrived via a green portal while the Porters arrived through a blue one. Balen also entered and left through a blue portal in "Day for Knight". What do the different colors signify? Does a blue portal always lead to Earth? A green one to Keela's world?

Keela mentions she arrived in the Land very far from the Porters' jungle, in a great desert. Arriving in a desert sounds similar to the arrival of Marshall, Will, and Holly in the later LOTL movie of 2009.

At 7:56 in the episode, Big Guy is hanging out right in the Porters' front yard! They don't seem to be concerned about it, but you'd think they'd be worried about him eating up the garden or bumping into the tree-house.

One of the themes of this episode is that Annie misses having another female around (I guess Christa isn't around enough). As such, at 8:00 in the episode, Annie is making-up herself and Tasha with mascara and lipstick and the make-up she has applied looks to be in imitation of that worn by Keela.

At 10:08 in the episode, we get another indication (as mentioned in "Heat Wave") that Tom likes to run for fitness. Here he returns from a 10-mile run and beats his personal best by 2 minutes.

When Keela uses her magic to grant Tasha the ability to talk, she must also have increased the dinosaur's intelligence. And given her knowledge of things she shouldn't otherwise know about. Tasha brings up such topics as: bubble baths, boys, and an anecdote of how she was once all dressed up with no dino to dance with. (I know, I know. Tasha was already the worst aspect of this show and talking Tasha is enough to make you puke!)

At 16:51 in the episode, Kevin is listening to music on the boom box while watering the garden. One of the lyrics in the song that is playing is the phrase "she's a witch", obviously an allusion to Keela in the episode. The lyrics are hard to make out due to Tasha's annoying voice singing along with it. The best I can make out, the lyrics heard are:
Ooo, ooo
She's a witch
What a wild child
But I follow you

(Near the end of the episode, Tasha seems to sing more of the song a capella but her voice is so high-pitched and ear-splitting that the words are virtually unintelligible.)

At 17:37 in the episode, Tasha has made up some impromptu lyrics of her own to the same meter as "She's a Witch."
I'm so bored
I'm bored, I'm bored
(My version of the lyrics is:
I'm gon' puke
I've puked, I've puked)

At 18:08, Annie is caught in a "stasis beam" by Magas, similar to that used by Keela on Annie and Tasha at the beginning of the episode. But Magas' beam is red, while Keela's was blue. Like the color of the lightsabers used by Jedi and Sith in the Star Wars saga, the red color of Magas' beam signifies the malevolence in his soul. The two magicians also later fire bolts of force from their hands; again, Keela's are blue, Magas' red.

Keela states, "You are a needle in my eye, Magas," to which Magas responds, "As you are in mine, sorceress." Ironically, Magas has only one eye (at least in his bestial form)!



Pakuni translations
Time in episode Pakuni English
7:03 Stink says, "Malu." "Bad."
12:34 Stink says, "Binaca!" This word is unknown. Stink uses it as an insult towards Tasha.
12:36 Stink says, "Boobio!" This word is unknown. Stink uses it as an insult towards Tasha.


Magic Spells
9:30 Keela chants, "Neeta obazula. Drulukai. Pandai, Tasha." This spell teleports Tasha to Keela in a puff of smoke and gold shimmering with a tinkling sound.
18:58 Keela chants, "Abba canaa." This spell returns Magas back from his bestial form to human. The spoken words are accompanied by a blue beam from Keela's medallion which strikes Magas. Blue swirls, shimmering and smoke accompany the transformation.
19:26 Magas says, "Nataymos." This spell releases Annie from Magas' stasis beam. Unlike Keela's beam, the release causes Annie pain and weakness as it disperses.
20:44 Magas says, "Yolokai!" Magas shouts this before he fires some red force bolts at Tasha which send her flying back into the ground. Afterwards, the speech spell cast on her by Keela is also gone; this may have been an unintentional side-effect of the blast or may have been done purposefully by Magas to end Tasha's ear-splitting attempts to sing.
21:32 Magas gasps, "Moosie baka." It is unclear whether this is a spell-word or just a profanity in his native language, though it is probably an attempt to strike at Keela after she has removed his powers.

Unanswered Questions

Being from a world other than Earth, how is it that Keela and Magas speak English? Possibly they simply use a translation spell in all dealings with other beings.

As in "Opah", the appearance of new dwellers in this part of the Land begs the question "Where is Christa during all this?"

Memorable Dialog

different_stuff.wav
flattery_will_get_you_nowhere.wav
not_one_of_your_strong_points.wav
if_I_could_help_you_return_to_your_world.wav
Tasha_the_talking_Parasauralophus.wav
six_brothers.wav
what_do_you_want_to_talk_about.wav
cute_Stegosaurus.wav
too_much_yak-yak.wav
trading_insults.wav
a_good_side_and_a_bad_side.wav
shut_up_Tasha.wav

Back to Episode Studies