Rick_66
05-28-2009, 02:30 PM
And now we come to our final look at how an uncut Land of the Lost episode compares with the edited version as shown on the Sci-Fi Channel in 1994.
The Sci-Fi Channel version of “Medicine Man” has several cuts. Let’s examine them. The first cut comes after Will tells Lone Wolf, “I’ll find your horse.” The Sci-Fi Channel excised the rest of his sentence: “All I need is a lariat and it’s off to the old west.”
The Sci-Fi Channel also cut a close-up of the horse’s eye, as well as Will’s line: “sure like to know who tied you up like this.”
Odd, by the way, that Will doesn’t look around for the person who tied up the horse. You’d think that’d be one of the first things he’d do. Cutting that line at least eliminates the question from viewers’ minds.
The next cut comes when we return from the commercial break after Captain Diggs had ordered Will to take him to Lone Wolf. In the Sci-Fi Channel version, when the program resumes Captain Diggs is trying to mount the horse. Gone is a bit of conversation between Will and Diggs in which Will says he doesn’t know what Diggs is talking about and Diggs tells Will to walk ahead of him.
The next cut comes after Will helps Diggs onto the horse. In the original broadcast, we cut back to the temple, where Holly says that she wonders what’s taking Will so long, and Jack tells her he’ll go after Will if he’s not back soon. That scene’s gone from the Sci-Fi Channel version.
Also cut are Will’s and Diggs’ near encounter with Torchy (or a look-alike dimetrodon), and Diggs’ belief that the fever is causing him to see things. Instead, the Sci-Fi Channel rejoins the program after Will had helped Diggs onto the horse with the scene following Torchy’s cameo: we’re once again in the temple, and Lone Wolf is standing by the fire.
The Sci-Fi Channel also cut a brief scene of Cha-Ka giving Lu-Lu “the raspberry” after filling a canteen at the river.
Also cut is Diggs’ delirious mumbling just before Jack says “Lone Wolf, Captain Diggs is a very sick man.”
The Sci-Fi Channel also shortened the scene where Lone Wolf asks for the horse in exchange for curing Captain Diggs. The lines, “it is because of the captain I lost my horse. Now his is the only way I have of getting back to my people, to help them.” are gone. Instead, in the Sci-Fi Channel version, we go from Jack saying “the horse isn’t ours to give” to Lone Wolf saying, “seems a small enough price, a horse for a life.”
Also cut are shots of Lone Wolf in the jungle, reacting to the sounds of the dinosaurs, as well as Captain Diggs saying “you should have never let him go. You’ll never see him or that horse again.”; Holly’s assurance that Lone Wolf will come back; Diggs’ reply that “you can’t trust him; you can’t trust any of them.” Instead, in the Sci-Fi Channel version, after Will asks whether Jack thinks Lone Wolf will come back, we cut to Diggs’ saying “all he wanted was the horse.”
By the way, it seems it took Lone Wolf longer to cure Captain Diggs than to cure himself. The only time he could have cured himself is when Will was out looking for the horse and found Captain Diggs. It looks like it took Lone Wolf several hours to cure Captain Diggs, and while Will was gone long enough to worry Holly and Jack, I didn’t get the sense that he was gone that long.
But back to the Sci-Fi Channel edits. How did they affect the episode? I think the most significant cut is the scene where Captain Diggs says “you can’t trust him; you can’t trust any of them.” Even though we already know that Diggs has a low opinion of Lone Wolf as an individual, this scene tells us that Diggs also has a hatred of either all Indians or all Nez Perce. So his willingness to accept Lone Wolf as a partner, not a prisoner, has a slightly stronger resonance in the uncut version.
The other cuts aren’t nearly as significant, though in the original version we understand better why Lone Wolf wanted the horse; it wasn’t just for himself. It was also nice to see Captain Diggs’ reaction to Torchy— and his belief that he’s hallucinating— in the original broadcast. At least the Sci-Fi Channel kept Lone Wolf’s reaction to Grumpy, but in both the original and edited versions, it seemed that neither man expressed much surprise at the environment. It’s interesting that neither showed any surprise at seeing Cha-Ka, much less hearing him speak. If Col. Post did, why wouldn’t they, especially after they’d been cured?
Speaking of Cha-Ka, this episode has some more references to stone soup, one of the very few links to the first two seasons. No one mentions Rick Marshall anymore, but Cha-Ka, at least, remembers stone soup.
Anyone think the twister (or dust storm, as Lone Wolf called it) was meant as a bit of a nod to The Wizard of Oz? Though if so, it’s odd that Jon Kubichan, who wrote both “Medicine Man” and “Hot-Air Artist” didn’t have Col. Post arrive due to a twister. After all, the man who became known as the Wizard came to Oz in a balloon. If it is a Wizard of Oz nod, maybe Kubichan didn’t think of it until after “Hot-Air Artist” had been filmed.
Why does Diggs assume the horse is the only way either he or Lone Wolf will get back? Does he simply believe that wherever they are, it’s too far away to walk back (he’s right about that); or that they’d still be too weak to walk even a relatively short distance?
At any rate, they ride off to an unknown fate, leaving the Marshalls and Cha-Ka to an equally unknown fate— unless you accept the events of Marc’s story, “Exodus.”
All in all, the Sci-Fi Channel’s cuts of the Land of the Lost episodes we’ve examined constitute a bit of a mixed bag, with some cuts being rather significant, while others were less so. But at least the Sci-Fi Channel was restrained, overall, unlike the butchering done to Star Trek episodes in the early 1980s.
I don’t have cable at present, but I understand the Sci-Fi Channel had a Land of the Lost marathon this past weekend, and that they made different edits than the ones they made in 1994. But I’ll leave any such comparisons to someone else.
Hope you’ve all enjoyed these comparisons and found them interesting and/or informative. If not, place the blame squarely where it belongs: on the shoulders of whatever political party you disagree with.
I began this exercise a little over a year ago with a line from Rocky and Bullwinkle, and I'll conclude with a line from Schoolhouse Rock:
"Darn. That's the end."
Rick
The Sci-Fi Channel version of “Medicine Man” has several cuts. Let’s examine them. The first cut comes after Will tells Lone Wolf, “I’ll find your horse.” The Sci-Fi Channel excised the rest of his sentence: “All I need is a lariat and it’s off to the old west.”
The Sci-Fi Channel also cut a close-up of the horse’s eye, as well as Will’s line: “sure like to know who tied you up like this.”
Odd, by the way, that Will doesn’t look around for the person who tied up the horse. You’d think that’d be one of the first things he’d do. Cutting that line at least eliminates the question from viewers’ minds.
The next cut comes when we return from the commercial break after Captain Diggs had ordered Will to take him to Lone Wolf. In the Sci-Fi Channel version, when the program resumes Captain Diggs is trying to mount the horse. Gone is a bit of conversation between Will and Diggs in which Will says he doesn’t know what Diggs is talking about and Diggs tells Will to walk ahead of him.
The next cut comes after Will helps Diggs onto the horse. In the original broadcast, we cut back to the temple, where Holly says that she wonders what’s taking Will so long, and Jack tells her he’ll go after Will if he’s not back soon. That scene’s gone from the Sci-Fi Channel version.
Also cut are Will’s and Diggs’ near encounter with Torchy (or a look-alike dimetrodon), and Diggs’ belief that the fever is causing him to see things. Instead, the Sci-Fi Channel rejoins the program after Will had helped Diggs onto the horse with the scene following Torchy’s cameo: we’re once again in the temple, and Lone Wolf is standing by the fire.
The Sci-Fi Channel also cut a brief scene of Cha-Ka giving Lu-Lu “the raspberry” after filling a canteen at the river.
Also cut is Diggs’ delirious mumbling just before Jack says “Lone Wolf, Captain Diggs is a very sick man.”
The Sci-Fi Channel also shortened the scene where Lone Wolf asks for the horse in exchange for curing Captain Diggs. The lines, “it is because of the captain I lost my horse. Now his is the only way I have of getting back to my people, to help them.” are gone. Instead, in the Sci-Fi Channel version, we go from Jack saying “the horse isn’t ours to give” to Lone Wolf saying, “seems a small enough price, a horse for a life.”
Also cut are shots of Lone Wolf in the jungle, reacting to the sounds of the dinosaurs, as well as Captain Diggs saying “you should have never let him go. You’ll never see him or that horse again.”; Holly’s assurance that Lone Wolf will come back; Diggs’ reply that “you can’t trust him; you can’t trust any of them.” Instead, in the Sci-Fi Channel version, after Will asks whether Jack thinks Lone Wolf will come back, we cut to Diggs’ saying “all he wanted was the horse.”
By the way, it seems it took Lone Wolf longer to cure Captain Diggs than to cure himself. The only time he could have cured himself is when Will was out looking for the horse and found Captain Diggs. It looks like it took Lone Wolf several hours to cure Captain Diggs, and while Will was gone long enough to worry Holly and Jack, I didn’t get the sense that he was gone that long.
But back to the Sci-Fi Channel edits. How did they affect the episode? I think the most significant cut is the scene where Captain Diggs says “you can’t trust him; you can’t trust any of them.” Even though we already know that Diggs has a low opinion of Lone Wolf as an individual, this scene tells us that Diggs also has a hatred of either all Indians or all Nez Perce. So his willingness to accept Lone Wolf as a partner, not a prisoner, has a slightly stronger resonance in the uncut version.
The other cuts aren’t nearly as significant, though in the original version we understand better why Lone Wolf wanted the horse; it wasn’t just for himself. It was also nice to see Captain Diggs’ reaction to Torchy— and his belief that he’s hallucinating— in the original broadcast. At least the Sci-Fi Channel kept Lone Wolf’s reaction to Grumpy, but in both the original and edited versions, it seemed that neither man expressed much surprise at the environment. It’s interesting that neither showed any surprise at seeing Cha-Ka, much less hearing him speak. If Col. Post did, why wouldn’t they, especially after they’d been cured?
Speaking of Cha-Ka, this episode has some more references to stone soup, one of the very few links to the first two seasons. No one mentions Rick Marshall anymore, but Cha-Ka, at least, remembers stone soup.
Anyone think the twister (or dust storm, as Lone Wolf called it) was meant as a bit of a nod to The Wizard of Oz? Though if so, it’s odd that Jon Kubichan, who wrote both “Medicine Man” and “Hot-Air Artist” didn’t have Col. Post arrive due to a twister. After all, the man who became known as the Wizard came to Oz in a balloon. If it is a Wizard of Oz nod, maybe Kubichan didn’t think of it until after “Hot-Air Artist” had been filmed.
Why does Diggs assume the horse is the only way either he or Lone Wolf will get back? Does he simply believe that wherever they are, it’s too far away to walk back (he’s right about that); or that they’d still be too weak to walk even a relatively short distance?
At any rate, they ride off to an unknown fate, leaving the Marshalls and Cha-Ka to an equally unknown fate— unless you accept the events of Marc’s story, “Exodus.”
All in all, the Sci-Fi Channel’s cuts of the Land of the Lost episodes we’ve examined constitute a bit of a mixed bag, with some cuts being rather significant, while others were less so. But at least the Sci-Fi Channel was restrained, overall, unlike the butchering done to Star Trek episodes in the early 1980s.
I don’t have cable at present, but I understand the Sci-Fi Channel had a Land of the Lost marathon this past weekend, and that they made different edits than the ones they made in 1994. But I’ll leave any such comparisons to someone else.
Hope you’ve all enjoyed these comparisons and found them interesting and/or informative. If not, place the blame squarely where it belongs: on the shoulders of whatever political party you disagree with.
I began this exercise a little over a year ago with a line from Rocky and Bullwinkle, and I'll conclude with a line from Schoolhouse Rock:
"Darn. That's the end."
Rick