I was fortunate enough to sit down for lunch recently with the screenwriter who is currently penning the Land of the Lost movie for Sony Pictures Family Entertainment, Teddy Tenenbaum.

We met for lunch up at the Cheesecake Factory just a stone's throw from Phillip Paley's place, so Phil joined us and we sat down for a whole lot of talking with some food thrown in for good measure.

Teddy was hired by Sony and Sid and Marty Krofft to put the world of the Land of the Lost onto the big screen, and we talked at length about him, the movie and what we can expect when the Marshalls hit the big screen.

I'll cover some of the main topics we went over.

The Land of the Lost movie is not a sequel to the series, so don't expect to see the Marshalls 25 years older and Enik cruising around with a walker. This is a remake, taking the premise, characters and many aspects of the old TV show and bringing them to two audiences: Fans of the original series and also those who never heard of the original show. The object of course is to please the original fans while bringing the story up to date and making it appealing to as wide an audience as possible.

You will see pylons, crystals, the fly-swatter and other things we as fans have come to know and love. You will also see Sleestak who have evolved into fierce creatures with fangs and sharp claws that can easily outrun almost every creature in the Land of the Lost. They can be best described as sort of anthropomorphic Velociraptors, something you definitely do not want to meet up with after dark. And of course, their sinister hissing will remain true to the original show. Chaka, Enik and a few other reminders of the old show will pop up as well.

There will be lots of new stuff too, but I don't want to get into too much detail or it will ruin the surprise. Suffice it to say that Teddy blew our socks off with his overall plans for the movie, and I guarantee it will draw in Land of the Lost fanatics as well as action adventure lovers in general.

Teddy is the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet, and I can't think of anyone more suited to writing the screenplay than he. He not only brings tremendous screenwriting skills, but he is a huge fan of the show, dating back to its original airing back in the 70's.

In his own words, here is the premise of the Land of the Lost movie:

"Before Mom dies, leaving the Marshall family shattered, she makes one last request that her ashes be brought to a Mayan archaeological site in Mexico, where she was working as an archaeologist to discover how one of the greatest civilizations known to mankind (the Mayans) simply disappeared. Once in Mexico, Rick, Will and Holly Marshall stumble into a wormhole, the same one through which the Mayans left our Earth, and journey to an alternate parallel universe, one in which the dinosaurs never perished 65 million years ago and have continued to evolve all this time. It is there that they are tasked with traveling through this strange world, encountering bizarre creatures along the way (Pakuni and Sleestaks, of course), so that they may find their way back home."

And here are two bios from Teddy himself. I love the first one, but the second one might have a bit more truth to it:

"Teddy Tenenbaum originally played Augustus Gloop in "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." Since that time, he has been trying desperately to repair the image of German children. He spends much of his time at Bavarian fat farms for youngsters, leading the little schnitzels in rousing renditions of "I am Woman" and playing exciting games of chance where the rewards are marzipan Oompah-Loompahs ("How ve love to bite zeir little heads off!") and the punishments are midnight jogs in the wolf-infested Black Forest. He would like to thank his wife for supporting him through the difficult Jenny Craig years and God for not smiting him."

"I've been writing scripts for a living for five years (and writing scripts for punishment for nine). I was not accepted to UCLA Film School, so I majored in Anthropology instead. I worked numerous jobs in the television industry, single-handedly jinxing at least five television series that never lasted more than 22 episodes ("Dudley," "Laurie Hill," "These Friends of Mine," "The Trouble with Larry," "South Central.") Finally I quit a job, and the show went on to be wildly successful ("Ellen.") Since becoming a screenwriter, I've written a script for New Line Pictures (development hell), 20th Century Fox (development hell), Fox 2000 (development hell), yet another division of Fox (a remake of "Fantastic Voyage" -- development hell), Universal (development purgatory), and I sold a pitch to Warner Brothers which is called "The Demonologists" so by its very title was in development hell from day one. I live in Sherman Oaks with my wife (or in West Covina with my attack dog, if you hate the script) and spend my time taking breaks from procrastinating."

So there you have it, the Land of the Lost movie is very much alive, and very much in good hands!