All About Sleestaks!

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Tags : Humor, Land of the Lost, Movies, Sid and Marty Kroft, TV

Posted on 31 May 2009 by Brent Hartinger, Editor

Sleestak are, of course, the curiously slow-moving reptilian humanoid inhabitants of the lost dimension where Rick Marshall and his children Will and Holly found themselves trapped in the 1970s Saturday morning children’s show Land of the Lost (now adapted as a feature film starring Will Farrell, opening this Friday).

But who are they? Where did they come from?

The Sleekstak actually descended from a much more advanced race, the Altrusians, who were also trapped in the Land of the Lost, but whose civilization fell a millennium prior to the Marshall’s arrival. The Altrusians built the Lost City, the vast complex of surprisingly similar-looking underground tunnels in which the Sleestak now reside. The Altrusians looked similar to Sleestak, except they were yellow, not green, and possessed an extra finger on each hand; the Altrusians also wore clothing.

Two different theories exist to explain the transformation of the thoughtful, if emotionless Altrusians into the evil, unspeaking Sleestak:

According to Enik, a time-traveling survivor of the Altrusian civilization, the species fell due to their inability to contain their hate and anger.

But according to Land of the Lost’s resident know-it-all Rick Marshall, it wasn’t the Altrusian’s hate and anger that led to their turning into Sleestak, but rather their absence of compassion.

See? Two completely different theories.

The Sleestak enjoy sacrificing the Land of the Lost’s semi-frequent human visitors to their mysterious god, a beast of some sort that lives in a pit filled with what looks to be dry ice. But the Sleestak are not mere animals themselves; they have a system of government that includes both a Sleestak council and an overall leader — which is pretty impressive given not just that they are incapable of speech, but that they seem to have difficulty even moving their mouths.

Sleestak also wield crude weapons such as nets and crossbows, though their aim usually leaves something seriously to be desired.

According to the Library of Skulls, a collection of talking part-Atrusian heads located in the Lost City, the Sleestak currently number about 7000, though they are rarely seen in numbers greater than three. Explanations vary as to why this is, though one outlandish theory posits that the Sleestak are actually human actors in costumes, and only three such costumes existed at the time the television series was filmed.

While Sleestak are a violent, angry race, they are, in many ways, as much victims of the Land of the Lost as are its human visitors. For example, they aren’t just nocturnal; they seem to be caused physical pain by the harsh Land of the Lost sun and rarely, if ever, venture beyond the chasm that separates the Lost City from the rest of the Land.

How a colony of 7000 subsists in an underground cavern with no obvious food source is unknown, but it’s possible that Sleestak eat rocks.

There is no explanation as to why the Sleestak are so curiously slow-moving, capable of being out-run even by a young girl, although a combination of an inner ear imbalance and a species-wide prevalence of early-onset osteoporosis is thought to be one explanation.

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Hel says:

June 1, 2009 at 2:37 AM

Brilliant. You are awesome.

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Harris says:

June 1, 2009 at 8:00 AM

Ha!

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Joe says:

June 5, 2009 at 7:44 AM

“The Sleekstak are actually the ancestors of a much more advanced race, the Altrusians”

No, the Sleekstak are the DESCENDANTS of a much more advanced race, the Altrusians.

I wouldn’t mind, but the article clearly states this, and they STILL got it wrong.

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pfft says:

June 5, 2009 at 5:51 PM

There is no proof that they are reptiles! Stop saying that in articles. They are called “lizard” on the show on one occation, but they are also called “insect” on the show. Nocturnal subterranian creatures that need a species of MOTH to breed? More likely some type of transitional insect species don’t you agree?
also Altursians wernt trapped in land of the lost. It was their HOME. this dumb article also questions how the sleestak sustain their food supply. If the writer of this article had seen the show he would know they trap gigantic 400 pound pigs.

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Frank says:

June 5, 2009 at 9:41 PM

Also, Will and Holly were not Rick Marshall’s sons. Holly was a girl. How does one become an editor with so many obvious mistakes in such a short article?

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- Brent Hartinger, Editor says:
  
  June 6, 2009 at 12:23 AM
  
  Thanks, corrected.
  
  I know it’s very satisfying to find a typo on a website or in a newspaper, and trust me, I would love more than anything to be able to hire a copy-editor (every writer, no matter how meticulous, makes errors on their own copy). But we do what we can on extremely limited resources, in an even more limited amount of time.
  
  As always, I will resolve to try to read things even more closely before they go “live.”
  
  Reply
Mary Ann says:

June 6, 2009 at 8:40 PM

I am just amazed at how the same Sleestak that scared me sh*tless in the 70s are so laughable now. I have been watching the LOTL marathon today and still LOVE this show.

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