The Lost World.
Having seen this quite a while back, I re-watched it again a shorter while back.
And in fact I am re-re-watching it again at the moment.
Why so many re-watches?
It is easy to watch.
It is very much in the pulp vein, and it is this sort of happy disposable light
entertainment that sometimes you want.
Having recently watched Game of Thrones, I wanted something that was lighter
and did not require prior knowledge of the previous 400 episodes to be able to
follow it or to get bummed out by it.
So how does it compare to the book?
Well it is a different beast, though both are products of their time.
The Lost World story is very much of its time in that it is really very racist,
containing such lines as:
“A gigantic negro named Zambo, who is a black Hercules
and willing as any horse and about as intelligent”
“Gomez and Manuel, two half breeds.”
“..and being observed by our huge negro Zambo who is as
faithful as a dog, and has the hatred which all his race bear to the half breeds,
he was dragged out..."
“Our devoted negro”
“In order to see our negro…”
And many references to the superiority of the European man.
So, not great on the race front.
The only real female is Gladys and she is not looked upon kindly either, she
indulges in emotional blackmail and is quite shallow and unfaithful.
She is a distraction and gets in the way of the men being men.
This and a some other parts of the book make it quite clear that a European white male
is the superior being.
The TV show however has females in it, some strong ones, sexy ones, some both
at the same time ones, females in leadership roles, females as goodies and
baddies.
The show treats females as equals in terms of ability, but at the same time,
objects of desire.
It is quite clear that whilst the female roles are in fact equal to the male
ones in terms of what they are capable of, they are also eye candy for the
viewer, make no mistake about that.
In terms of flirting and being lead by their loins, both are treated the
same.
The male characters lust after new female characters and the females lust after
new male characters.
As for people of colour, I fear that the TV show is also a
product of its time and all the leads are white as are most the roles.
The plot of the TV show draws from the book, but adds a lot.
A bucket load of stuff extra.
It takes the premise of the lost world with dinosaurs, ape men and lost tribes
and runs amok and indeed overboard with new ideas.
You can’t help but feel that each week the producers would pop down to the
studio and see what set was left over from a previous show and write an episode
based around that.
Much like the original Star Trek clearly did and the Holodeck on TNG.
So the show is based upon the book but with added females in lead roles, and
with a lot more over the top pulpy madness.
The characters from the book that are in the show are similar.
Lord John has the same sort of charm and rugged manliness.
Malone however seems to be American rather than Irish. (?) He struck me as a plot
device in the book and this seems to translate to the TV show with him being a
bit of a fifth wheel.
Challenger is changed both physically and mentally, which is good for my money
as in the books he was somewhat of an arrogant and unpleasant twat.
Summerlee seemed fairly much the same, but perhaps a bit wetter and less prone
to arguing with Challenger.
Summary
I like the TV show, it is not faithful to the book, it can't be, it is longer and attempts to reflect a more modern attitude.
It is a good way to pass the time and is light entertainment for nerdy types at it's best.
It has some actually very good episodes and some truly terrible ones, but the thing that keeps you coming back each time, like all good shows, is the characters and watching them develop, you grow to love them.
