The Lost World TV series

[Squad 51]

To "The Lost World", I remember the series from Australia, I think. My favorite character was Ned Malone, the journalist.

[Tim]

Gilligan's Island with dinosaurs

The show ran three seasons, the first being set in 1919, and the last in 1922.

How big is this smegging plateau. The Challenger group runs into one civilization after another, making the place seem more populated than New York City!

For an isolated plateau, a lot of people sure found their way there. And, of course, they failed to rescue the expedition (granted a lot of those visitors conveniently died).

As the show went on, it got sillier and sillier. They started running into aliens, ghosts, demons, the Grim Reaper, even Jack The Ripper showed up! Of course, a lot of this happened in the third season, where things really went nuts.

In the Jack The Ripper episode, the group encounters Dr. William Gull (played by Space: 1999 alum, Nick Tate). Of course, the real Dr. Gull was one of the Ripper suspects.  However, the events of this episode take place in 1922 (we are told that 34 years have passed since the Ripper murders). William Gull was born in 1816.   He looked pretty good for 106 year old man!

The problem was that this premise was never meant to be an ongoing series. Both the original novel, and the many movie versions of The Lost World, had a beginning, a middle, and an end. Stretching it out into a series only caused the plot problems I described above.

And, to add insult to injury, the show ends on a cliff hanger, then gets cancelled. Apparently, they just....ran out of money. How does that happen? I've never heard of a show ending for that reason, at least not in North America (TLW was made in Australia). No one could spring the cash for at least a TV movie, to wrap up the story? I hate it when a show ends with no resolution.

[Squad 51]

I've got it on my external drive. Haven't watched it in years. Yes, at the end strange things did happen there.

[Tim]

Well, when you're stuck in one place, you can only have so many plot lines. 

[Squad 51]

Yup, and at one time they are told.

[Tim]

Hate that this show never got an ending.  Couldn't they have scrimped enough money for TV movie to wrap things up?

[Squad 51]

Who knows. As said, haven't watched it in years. Also hate when there's an open end. *sighs*

[Tim]

Me too.

After twenty years, getting a resolution is very unlikely.