By Joe Puccio

For Gen Xers who came of age in the 1970s, Sid and Marty Krofft are two names lavished with reverence. The Canadian brothers, simultaneously television creators, writers, and puppeteers, produced some of the most enduring small screen offerings of the era, including H.R. Pufnstuf, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, and The Banana Splits. But arguably the most beloved of all was a live-action children’s adventure series that combined stop-motion animated dinosaurs with an alternate universe inhabited by lizard creatures named Sleestaks and miniature simians known as Pakuni.

Land of the Lost, an NBC Saturday morning mainstay from 1974 through 1976, introduced viewers to siblings Will and Holly Marshall, along with family patriarch Rick, and provided a backdrop for their weekly thrilling adventures after the three become trapped in an ominous time warp fille with ape-like humanoids, reptilian beasts, and Mesozoic-inspired stegosauri, tyrannosauruses, and brontosauri.   

“Oh man, it was so much fun,” Wesley Eure, who played teen heartthrob Will, gushed in a chat with Generation X Wire. “The show is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year and it’s still airing on Tubi, Roku, and a bunch of other channels, which is fantastic.”

Although the quantity of shows made during the Silver Age of Television that have managed to endure in popular culture is vast, the number of programs with such a tight-knit cast a half-century later is practically unheard of. Eure and Kathy Coleman, who portrayed his cute, precocious, younger sister Holly, have maintained an offscreen familial bond to this day. It’s a relationship that Eure credits to the Kroffts’ and their keen talent for hiring the right mix of actors for the roles.

“They didn’t just cast my TV family,” Eure explained. “They gave me a real-life family. Kathy and I see each other all the time and Spencer Milligan (Rick Marshall), who played our father, just passed away three months ago and he was truly like a dad to both of us.”

Coleman, in particular, nourished a significant connection with Milligan. “Spencer was a very special man and I have such fond memories of his kindness and all of the laughter that he brought onto the set,” Coleman recounted, in a conversation with Generation X Wire. “He was like a big kid and was so mischievous and he always included Wesley and I in everything. As an adult, he’d call me all the time and we always had such nice, interesting conversations.”

Phillip Paley, who brought the memorable character Cha-Ka to life, is another cherished colleague who continues to be in the pair’s lives. “At the time of the show, Phil was the youngest black belt in karate,” Eure shared. “He was about eight years old and was taught by Chuck Norris.”

While the chemistry and success the group shared on Land of the Lost is undeniable, the science fiction cult classic doesn’t tell the entire story.

Eure impressively held down two concurrent roles, playing Michael Horton on long-running soap opera Days of Our Lives from 1974 until 1981, in addition to hosting the popular children’s game show Finders Keepers in the late 1980s. “I got Days first and then Land of the Lost and since both were on NBC, they let me do both,” Eure reasoned. “I’d film my scenes for one of them in the morning and then I’d get in my car and race over to another lot and film the other one,” he laughed. “I was so lucky.”

Coleman’s path was notably different, as the actor’s prowess for singing was showcased during her stint in the Mike Curb Congregation, a musical group formed by the one-time politician and record executive. “I went on two national tours and we traveled all over the country,” she recalled. “I performed with some of the biggest stars of that period of time – people like Bob Hope, Joel Grey, George Burns, Burt Bacharach, Sammy Davis, Telly Savalas, and Dionne Warwick. I was the youngest member and had a blast. It was such a fun time in my life.”

In a sense, Eure himself had his own brush with a career in music. Towards the latter days of the ABC sitcom The Partridge Family’s run, David Cassidy threatened to depart the series for greener, meatier, pastures. The LOTL/DOOL star was quickly contacted to replace the teen idol with an idea floated where Eure would move in next door to the remaining Partridge clan. When Cassidy had a change of heart, however, the offer was rescinded. If that isn’t enough of a “what if” tale, the actor was also considered for the iconic role of Gopher in the romantic comedy-drama The Love Boat before the part eventually went to Fred Grandy. “Both roles came down to the wire,” Eure exclaimed, before jokingly adding “Just more of my dreams shattered.”

Writing is yet another foray that the pair have embraced. Eure has published children’s novels such as The Red Wings of Christmas (called “the new American classic” by CNN and optioned by Disney for a full-length animated feature) and A Fish Out of Water (tackling racial tolerance), while Coleman wrote Lost Girl: The Truth and Nothing But the Truth, So Help Me Kathleen, a now out-of-print memoir, as well as her second, the more notable Run Holly Run, which details her experiences on Land of the Lost.

These days, in addition to being active on the prominent convention circuit, Eure and Coleman are involved with an array of philanthropic endeavors, including the March of Dimes, the Special Olympics, and Project Angel Food, as well as causes such as HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, and homeless animals.

A forgettable Land of the Lost movie, starring Will Ferrell, was released in theaters in 2009 and while both Eure and Coleman filmed cameos, the final cut, unfortunately, did not include their scenes.

As for the original series’ longevity, the combination of the stellar cast, the impressive writing led by Star Trek scribe David Gerrold, and the bewitching sets, clearly resulted in its success.

“David didn’t write a science fiction show for children; he wrote a science fiction show. He never talked down to kids with it; instead, he managed to have kids rise to the intellect level of the story,” Coleman articulated. “There’s a reason it has stood the test of time.”