Land of The Lost (1974 TV Series) Geography and Technology - Cosmography

Cosmography

The Land of the Lost is a very small, closed pocket universe that consists of a valley surrounded by mountains. A traveler attempting to pass over the mountains will find himself reentering the valley from the other side; at one point the Marshalls climb a mountain peak and using binoculars are able to see far enough across the valley to observe themselves from behind. There is one major river flowing through the Land, forming a similarly closed loop; it flows into a cave at one end of the valley and comes back out again in a waterfall at the other end. The Marshalls discover this when they attempt to raft down river in search of an exit from the Land in the episode "Downstream".

The climate of the Land is tropical, and the valley is filled almost entirely with dense jungle. Other major landmarks include a tar pit, a misty swamp filled with dead trees that appears to be locked in darkness even during the day, some high bluffs containing natural caves, and a narrow canyon or chasm that extends into the mountains. The Land lacks a nickel-iron core (or at least a magnetic field), rendering compasses useless.

The Land appears to have three moons. The smallest is also the fastest, moving visibly through the sky; the Marshalls dubbed it "Speedy". Considering the unusual cosmography of the universe in which the Land is located, however, it is possible that the "moons" are artificial or otherwise illusory. On two separate occasions, manipulation of a Pylon's crystal matrix table caused the motion of the sun and moons to halt, suggesting that the entire sky may be an illusion. Conjunctions of the moons appear to trigger the activities of some Pylons, including the elevator Pylon and the possession Pylon.

The Land's sun may also be artificial, as the Sun Pylon is able to control its level of flare activity and possibly other characteristics. An establishing shot in "Stone Soup" features a matte painting depicting two suns in close proximity to each other, one appearing significantly smaller than the other. This is not commented upon by the characters, however, and multiple later episodes show similar shots with only one sun.

The 2009 movie incarnation of the Land resembles that of the original series, but is actually a dimension where timelines converge. Outside an area of dense jungle is a vast desert where various things, ranging from ice cream trucks and limousines to ferris wheels and oil rigs, crash-land upon arrival and attract the attention of hungry dinosaurs within minutes.