Baby Sitter

Land of the Lost
Season 2, Episode 10
Air date	October 11, 1975
Episode Guide
previous A Nice Day	next The Musician

Baby Sitter was the Tenth Episode of the Second Season of the Land of the Lost.

Summary

Holly has an encounter with the Zarn.

Plot

At High Bluff, the Marshalls are preparing to go on an overnight hike to map the area. Holly wishes to be excluded from the hike so can continue to work on a dress she is making, but Rick objects to Holly being left alone.

Rick finally relents, after stipulating that Holly is not to wander far from High Bluff, and that she is to light a smoke fire if there is even a hint of trouble. He also requires Holly to invite Cha-Ka over to stay with her, but that requirement is apparently forgotten, as Rick and Will leave without any further mention of Cha-Ka coming to stay with her.

Will attempts to frighten Holly by suggesting that the Zarn might come for her while Rick and Will are gone. After Rick leaves, Will returns to try to taunt Holly further about the Zarn, but he leaves when Holly flings a pan at him.

In the Mist Marsh, the Zarn has telepathically overheard Will Marshall's remarks to Holly, and takes issue with Will's sarcastic suggestion that the Zarn has probably forgiven Rick and Will for destroying his ship, forever confining the Zarn to the Land of the Lost. The Zarn then leaves the Mist Marsh (though his intended destination is not revealed). He then encounters Grumpy, noting that Grumpy is too stupid to be afraid of him. Before leaving, he induces irritation in Grumpy, causing Grumpy to begin scratching himself.

The scene changes to Cha-Ka, carrying a melon half past a sleeping Ta. Ta demands Cha-Ka feed him some of the fruit and Cha-Ka complies. When Ta demands more fruit, Cha-Ka shoves the entire melon half into Ta's face. Cha-Ka then flees with Ta in pursuit.

At High Bluff, Holly continues to work on her dress when Cha-Ka arrives, still running from Ta. Cha-Ka pleads with Holly to allow him to stay with her, and Holly agrees. At dinner, Holly tries to instruct Cha-Ka on how to eat with utensils, but Cha-Ka has difficulty.

Outside the cave, the Zarn arrives and sits on one of the rocks at the base of High Bluff. Holly hears his signature tingling sound, which she likens to wind chimes. Cha-Ka claims to hear nothing, so Holly dismisses it as her imagination. Outside, the Zarn explains that Cha-Ka's mind is too primitive to detect his sounds.

The following morning, Holly furthers her attempts to civilize Cha-Ka by showing him how to wash dishes. Cha-Ka demonstrates that Pakuni simply discard anything they might use as dishes by flinging a bowl away. When Holly directs Cha-Ka to recover the bowl, the bowl jumps away from him each time he attempts to pick it up, seemingly of its own accord.

Cha-Ka tells Holly of this, and Holly is skeptical at first. Then, upon hearing the familiar tingling of the Zarn, quickly decides to postpone washing dishes and continue working on her dress, using Cha-Ka as a model. As Holly decides on alterations for her dress (which is a perfect fit for the much smaller Cha-Ka), they are interrupted by the raucous laughter of Ta, ridiculing Cha-Ka in Holly's dress.

Ta is still furious with Cha-Ka, but Holly vehemently insists she will not allow Ta to harm Cha-Ka. At that moment, a nearby melon on the vine splits and one half rises. The seeds and pulp are discharged into Ta's face, and the remainder of the melon half lands in Cha-Ka's hands.

Assuming Cha-Ka had intentionally flung the melon into Ta's face, Holly again insists that there will be no fighting and orders Cha-Ka into the cave to remove Holly's dress. Ta attempts to pursue Cha-Ka but is prevented by Holly, who easily knocks him down.

Holly returns to the cave with Cha-Ka, but Ta has not given up. Realizing that she cannot protect Cha-Ka forever, she attempts to teach Cha-Ka to fight. But when she mentions Cha-Ka throwing the melon in Ta's face, Cha-Ka insists that he was not responsible, claiming it was magic.

Again, Holly is dismissive, but at that moment, objects begin falling off a shelf by themselves, and Holly quickly realizes the Zarn is responsible. Holly angrily goes outside the cave to confront the Zarn. While Holly reprimands the Zarn for making Cha-Ka's life difficult, provoking Ta and setting up Cha-Ka to take the blame, the Zarn claims he is only conducting research.

Holly suggests that the Zarn give Cha-Ka the ability to confront Ta and prevail, but the Zarn resists the idea. Disgusted, Holly starts to return to the cave, then demands to know why the Zarn can't do something nice for once.

The following morning, Cha-Ka and Holly awaken to Ta's taunting. Holly urges Cha-Ka to face Ta. Reluctantly, Cha-Ka attempts to do so, but ultimately cowers in fear. At that moment, a nearby bush uproots itself and hurls itself at Ta, knocking him down. Ta then retreats into the jungle and Holly congratulates Cha-Ka for his dubious victory, giving him a hastily-made vine wreath to wear on his head.

With Holly's assurance that Ta will no longer be bullying him, Cha-Ka departs. Holly then meets with the Zarn, thanking him for his intervention. When Holly asks what kind of research he was doing on Cha-Ka, the Zarn reveals that he was researching Holly, not Cha-Ka, then immediately vanishes, apparently teleporting back to Mist Marsh.

Cha-Ka and Ta are then seen sharing a melon, which Ta quickly takes for himself. Cha-Ka attempts to assert himself.

Back at High Bluff, Holly is relating her experience with the Zarn to Rick and Will, when Cha-Ka appears, with his decorative wreath hanging from his head in disarray.

While not explicitly stated, Ta apparently was unimpressed by Cha-Ka's display of bravado and once again resumed his bullying ways.

Message

• "Sometimes it is best not to disturb the natural order of things."

Cast

• Spencer Milligan as Rick Marshall
• Wesley Eure as Will Marshall
• Kathy Coleman as Holly Marshall
• Phillip Paley as Cha-Ka
• Scutter McKay as Ta
• Marvin Miller as The Zarn (voice)
• Van Snowden as The Zarn (physical)

Dinosaurs

• Grumpy

Trivia

• In her conversation with the Zarn, Holly reveals that her family lived in Wyoming before coming to the Land of the Lost, and that her family had a pet myna bird.
• The Zarn is quite informed about the nature of evolution. When confronting Grumpy, he casually mentions that Grumpy's species will eventually evolve into birds.
• This is the Zarn's final appearance in the series. His ultimate fate remains unknown. However, when Jack Marshall visits the Mist Marsh (in the episode Flying Dutchman), he does not encounter the Zarn. It seems highly unlikely that the Zarn would miss an opportunity to meet (and perhaps taunt) Jack Marshall. Possibly, the Zarn managed to engineer his escape from the Land of the Lost.
• Very little is revealed about the nature of the relationship between Ta, Sa and Cha-Ka. Ta and Sa are apparently older siblings rather than parents. Quite possibly, they are all considered children among their own species, Ta and Sa simply being older children. It seems unlikely that any of them are near adulthood if Ta, the largest of the three can be so easily subdued by Holly, as it doesn't seem possible that such a feeble species could survive in such a hostile environment. However, the Zarn describes Ta as an "alpha Pakuni."
• The Zarn is acting in a much less malevolent manner than he has in his two previous appearances. In the episode The Zarn, he draws upon Rick Marshall's memories to create an android with a backstory so convincing that Rick Marshall believes her to be a real person. When the deception is exposed, the Zarn sadistically mocks Rick for believing the the android to be real. During the episode Gravity Drive, the Zarn unleashes Fred to pursue Rick and Will. However, in this last appearance, where he appears only to Holly Marshall, his actions are much less cruel or dangerous.