Land of the Lost

The series was created (though uncredited) by David Gerrold, who claimed in a 1999 interview that he largely built the show based on photographs of various science-fiction topoi bound together in a book given to him by Sid Krofft and Allan Foshko.

Land of the Lost was a marked departure for the Krofft team, who had previously specialized in extremely stylized puppets and sets like those in H.R. Pufnstuf and Lidsville, whereas this series was considerably more serious in tone, especially in its first season.

Several well-respected science-fiction writers contributed scripts to the series, including Larry Niven, Theodore Sturgeon, Ben Bova, and Norman Spinrad, along with Star Trek contributors D.C. Fontana, Walker Koenig, and David Gerrold; Gerrold, Niven, and Fontana later provided DVD commentaries for the first season.

Spencer Milligan departed the show at the start of the third season for financial reasons, having sought a salary increase and compensation for merchandise use of the cast's likeness; his character was replaced by his brother Jack, played by Ron Harper, with a stand-in wearing a wig and his back to the camera used briefly to depict Rick's departure.

Linguist Victoria Fromkin was commissioned to create a special language for the Pakuni characters, basing it on the sounds of West African speech and designing it so viewers could gradually learn it over the course of many episodes.

Dinosaurs were created using a combination of stop-motion animation miniatures, rear-projection film effects, and occasional hand puppets for close-ups of dinosaur heads; the series was a rare example of matting filmed stop-motion sequences with videotape live action to avoid the telltale blue fringe seen in less precise processes, though lighting differences between video and film sometimes revealed the technique's limitations.

For its first two seasons, the show was shot on a modular indoor soundstage at General Service Studios in Hollywood, economically reusing a small number of sets and props rearranged to suggest vast jungles, ancient cities, and cave systems, with additional locations rendered via scale miniatures and chroma key.

With 43 episodes produced—nearly double the usual 22 episodes expected for a children's program of that era destined for reruns—the show enjoyed a long afterlife in syndication, leading to a 1991 remake and a 2009 feature film starring Will Ferrell.