Land of the Lost
Cha-Ka
TV Flash files “Cha-Ka” as a desk essential hour — Land of the Lost (1974–1976) on NBC, season 1, episode 1, aired 1974-09-07, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 43 in the Land of the Lost guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 1974-09-07 (30 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “The Sleestak God” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “Cha-Ka”. Cha-Ka opens Krofft Saturday sci-fi as creature craft. Ambitious for cereal hour: a family dropped into a handmade prehistoric pocket, the title already a character, not a place-mat.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Cha-Ka sit in the Land of the Lost guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 43 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did Land of the Lost S01E01 air?
Cha-Ka aired 1974-09-07 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Kids' show or real science fiction?
Kids' sci-fi with unusually rich concepts: linguists and SF writers on a Krofft Saturday. Weird as world-building, not as a shrug.
In the series
Why this series still plays
The Marshalls fall into a pocket universe of dinosaurs, Pylons, and Sleestak nightmares that still live in Saturday-morning trauma. Kids' sci-fi with linguists and writers who treated the weird as serious world-building. Foam-and-miniature craft, ambitious for cereal hour, and still stranger than the later joke remake.
The Sleestak arrives before the joke remake. NBC, 1974–1976: a family rafting trip plunges them into a pocket dimension of dinosaurs, primate-like Pakuni, and sinister lizards, and Sid and Marty Krofft — with David Gerrold and Allan Foshko among key contributors — treat the weird as serious world-building. Spencer Milligan's Rick Marshall, Wesley Eure's Will, Kathy Coleman's Holly, Phillip Paley's Cha-Ka in a canyon that never stopped being strange. Linguists and science-fiction writers on a cereal-hour clock.…
Filed against
- Spencer Milligan as Rick Marshall
Spencer Milligan fell into Land of the Lost as Rick Marshall — dad, ranger, a 1970s Saturday-morning pocket universe of dinosaurs, Pylons, and Sleestak nightmares that still live in the trauma drawer. Foam-and-miniature craft, serious…
- Wesley Eure as Will Marshall
Wesley Eure’s Will Marshall fell into Land of the Lost — pocket universe of dinosaurs, Pylons, and Sleestak nightmares that still live in Saturday-morning trauma. Kids’ sci-fi with linguists and writers who treated the weird as serious…
- Kathy Coleman as Holly Marshall
Kathy Coleman's Holly Marshall fell into Land of the Lost, 1970s Saturday-morning sci-fi with dinosaurs, Pylons, and Sleestak nightmares that still qualify as cereal-hour trauma. Foam-and-miniature craft, weird treated as world-building.…
- Phillip Paley as Cha-Ka
Phillip Paley played Cha-Ka on Land of the Lost, 1970s Saturday-morning trauma in a pocket universe of dinosaurs, Pylons, and Sleestak nightmares. Kids’ sci-fi with linguists and writers who treated the weird as serious world-building.…