| Land of the Lost | |
| Season 1, Episode 9 | |
| Air date | November 2, 1974 |
| Written by | Wina Sturgeon |
| Directed by | Dennis Steinmetz |
| Episode Guide | |
| previous Original Series, Season 1, Episode 8: "Skylons" |
next Original Series, Season 1, Episode 10: "The Paku Who Came to Dinner" |
The Hole was written by Wina Sturgeon.
Summary
The Marshalls meet an intelligent "throwback" Sleestak S'latch, who was born with the knowledge of the ancient Altrusian people, but unfortunately does not know how to manipulate Dimensional gateways.
Plot
Rick and Will enter The Lost City, nervous about Big Alice and the Sleestak. Alice appears but does not attack. "Do you think we'll be able to open the time doorway this time?" asks Will. "I don't know -- we're just going to have to keep trying until we do," replies his father.
Rick Marshall and S'latch.
In High Bluff, Holly Marshall is sweeping and muses that she misses Comanche, her horse. Dopey calls to her from the jungle and she descends from the cave to greet him. "You're gonna get yourself in a lot of trouble wandering around the jungle alone," she tells him.
In the tunnels of the Lost City, Rick wants to investigate the cavern of the Sleestak God to confirm that there are no Sleestak around. Behind them, a Sleestak enters. Rick tells Will to run, and grapples with the Sleestak. In the struggle, Rick is thrown into the pit.
In the mist-filled pit, Rick is uninjured, and is approached by a Sleestak named S'latch, who is able to speak to him. "Put down your weapons, Rick Marshall," the Sleestak tells him. Hearing a bestial roaring, the Sleestak tells him that when their God gets hungry, they will both be devoured. The Sleestak reveals that the Marshalls are not the first humans to come to the Land of the Lost. While Will insists that there is hope for escape, the fatalistic S'latch tells him that escape from the pit has happened only once, but he does not know how it was done.
In the cavern above, Will is seeking his father, and realizes that he must have been thrown into the pit. Rick updates Will about his dire situation. "Go back to the cave and get that long rope," Rick tells him. The Sleestak God begins roaring. The Sleestak tells Rick that "he will not make it in time -- the God is already growing hungry."
Out in the courtyard of the Lost City, Will evades Big Alice by hiding in a broken dinosaur eggshell, then heads back into the jungle.
In the pit, S'latch informs Rick that the dinosaur protects Sleestak eggs. He tells him the sad story of the fall of the Sleestak into barbarism. They now have only the ruined city. "Those of our people that have ventured across the split in the earth have never returned," he says. "And so we are doomed to live the existence we have inherited." S'latch explains that most of the Sleestak are unintelligent, but he is a rare mutation who has the intelligence of his ancestors, and was born with "the knowledge of the universe." His people consider him a freak and so he has been left in the pit to die.
Meanwhile, Will is on his way back to High Bluff where Holly is trying to teach Dopey to play fetch. We see recycled animated footage of Dopey eating a stick.
In the pit, Rick wishes aloud for pitons so that he could climb out of the pit, explaining to S'latch how these are spikes used by mountain-climbers. S'latch offers Rick the bolts from his crossbow, and the two of them begin hammering them into the walls of the pit with a rock.
Will is menaced by Grumpy. Holly says goodbye to Dopey, as Grumpy chases Will back to High Bluff. Holly sends Dopey away and flees into the cave. Will hides behind the rock at the base of the High Bluff, telling Holly to get the "flyswatter" to drive away Grumpy. Holly is unable to lift it by herself. Instead, she throws red and yellow crystals towards the cave entrance, which produce a blinding explosion that drives off the dinosaur. Will quickly enters the cave to retrieve the rope, explaining the situation rapidly. Holly insists that Will take her with him. He refuses. Holly ignores his order and sets out after him.
Rick and S'latch have succeeded in embedding a number of pitons in the pit wall, and Rick has climbed partway up the wall, as he and S'latch talk about friendship and brotherhood. Rick asks for another bolt, S'latch cries out, and Rick descends the wall back into the fog. S'latch has fallen and injured his leg, and says that he is unable to climb, telling Rick to leave him behind. Rick insists on helping him out of the pit. "You are a true friend, Rick Marshall," says S'latch.
Just past the crevasse, Holly catches up with Will, who is angry that she has followed him. He agrees that she can come, but tells her that he will not wait for her and she will have to keep up.
Having climbed partway up the pit wall, S'latch believes he cannot go any further and tells Rick that "it is better if I perish here and now. My people have rejected me and I have no place to go once I am free." Rick tells S'latch that he must teach the Sleestak to improve themselves, and this is why S'latch was born wit his knowledge. S'latch agrees to continue, telling Rick that he is a very wise man.
At courtyard of the Lost City, Alice is feeding, and the children have to approach the children by circling around.
Meanwhile, both S'latch and Rick exit the pit. S'latch tells Rick that he has given him new inspiration, and they part, saying "until we meet again."
Leaving the cave of the Sleestak God, Rick is reunited with his children, but as they attempt to leave the tunnels, they are menaced by a group of Sleestak. Rick leads them back to the room of the pit. S'latch is gone. They head down a dark secondary tunnel and the Sleestak do not follow. The path is misty. They find a crossbow bolt embedded in the wall and realize they are at the bottom of the pit. Unable to find their way back through the tunnel in the mist, they will attempt to climb out as Rick has just done with S'latch. But as the Sleestak God bellows, Holly comes upon a rope hanging from the pit wall and the family is able to climb out. S'latch is holding the rope. He tells the children "do not be frightened, Will and Holly Marshall." All three Marshalls escape from the pit.
S'latch tells the Marshalls that they must leave, because the God is still hungry, and that he will remain there. As Sleestak enter the chamber, S'latch tells them to stop. They do not obey him, and Rick grapples with a Sleestak, throwing him into the pit.
S'latch follows the Marshalls out of the Lost City, where they stop to rest. Holly guesses that S'latch "must be from Enik's time." S'latch asks "what is an Enik?" Rick explains Enik to S'latch. "If you're not from Enik's time," asks Will, "how come you know so much about us?"
Rick and S'latch explain how S'latch was born intelligent. Will wonders if S'latch might be able to help them open a time doorway. S'latch tells him that sadly, "the operation of the Pylons and the matrix are not part of that knowledge" and then tells the Marshalls "I must be going now." Rick tells S'latch that they will meet again, and shakes his clawed hand. S'latch tells Rick to "have a long life."
Will muses that "maybe the Sleestak have some good in them after all." Rick tells him that "everything has some good in it -- all you have to do is look for it."