Tar Pit

Land of the Lost
Season 2, Episode 1

Air date	Sept. 6, 1975
Written by	Margaret Armen and Richard Morgan
Directed by	Gordon Wiles
Episode Guide
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Tar Pit is the first episode of the Second Season of "Land of the Lost," and the eighteenth episode overall in the series.

Summary[]

When Dopey gets stuck in a tar pit, the Marshalls and Cha-Ka band together to try to pull him out.

Plot[]

Will arrives outside the entrance of High Bluff, and shares with Rick and Holly that he observed Cha-Ka painting a portrait of Ta and is actually impressed with Cha-Ka's talent. Dopey, according to Will, is also by the tar pits, trying to get a disinterested Spot to play with him.

Over by the tar pits, Cha-Ka continues to paint his portrait of Ta, as Ta poses and Sa assists Cha-Ka by holding a bowl of the pigment that Cha-Ka uses to make his painting. The three Pakuni are then started by the arrival of Spot, and hide behind a rock. Then Cha-Ka emerges and begins to berate Spot, seeking to drive him off. Ta and Sa join him, and Spot departs. And the three Pakuni resume their respective roles in making Ta's portrait.

Spot, however, has run into a tar pit, and his shrieking cries attract the attention of Dopey, who comes to investigate. Dopey also becomes stuck in the tar as the ledge he stands on collapses under his weight. Cha-Ka then becomes concerned as he hears Dopey's distressed cries and seeks to investigate. Ta stops him, however, and demands Cha-Ka continue painting. Cha-Ka protests, but Ta is insistent. Cha-Ka then ends the dispute by intentionally spilling the pigment, thereby making any further work on Ta's portrait impossible until more pigment can be made.

Cha-Ka then discovers both Dopey and Spot in the tar pit and hurries off to alert the Marshalls. The Marshalls return with Cha-Ka to Dopey, as Spot has managed to free himself. Rick is able to eventually lasso Dopey, but their efforts to pull him out prove futile. As Rick and Will leave for some bamboo trunks to improvise a block-and-tackle to increase their pulling power, Cha-Ka sits on the ground and buries his face in despair, blaming himself for Dopey's predicament. After explaining to Holly how the Pakuni caused Spot to flee into the tar pit, which in turn attracted Dopey, Holly assures him that it wasn't his fault and that Dopey's own curiosity had gotten him stuck in the tar pit.

Unfortunately, despite the Marshall's best efforts, Dopey remains stuck. Cha-Ka also enlists the aid of Ta and Sa, who give up after one failed attempt, obviously not concerned in the least over Dopey's fate. The Marshalls seem to have given up and resigned themselves to simply keeping Dopey company while waiting for him to eventually sink into the tar pit.

Cha-Ka, however, has gone to the swamp and somehow managed to lure Emily into following him to the tar pit. Emily, seeing her adopted son in mortal danger, goes to comfort him and nuzzles him. The Marshalls quickly surmise that Cha-Ka lured Emily to pull Dopey from the tar pit. While securing the other end of the vine around Emily's neck is not a difficult task, Emily is unwilling to be separated from her adoptive son. Rick and Will then use torches to force Emily back, thereby pulling Dopey out of the tar pit.

As the Marshalls celebrate their success, Holly is quick to credit Cha-Ka with saving Dopey, as he was the one who had the idea to use Emily and brought her to the tar pit. But Will points out the Marshalls also contributed by tying the vines together which were used to pull Dopey out. Rick, however, avers that they all did it; they all contributed to Dopey's rescue. Holly then kisses Cha-Ka on the cheek, a gesture that confuses him. Cha-Ka responds by shaking Holly's hand, having learned about handshakes in the episode "Cha-Ka."

Message[]

"Sometimes the most simple answer gets results."

Cast[]

Dinosaurs[]

Quotes[]

Coming Up

Trivia[]

This is the first episode with Scutter McKay as Ta.
This episode is one of several which shows Cha-Ka's greater empathy when compared to that of Ta and Sa.