There are no dinosaurs in this movie. Nor in the book. But
don’t panic-we’ll find something prehistoric!
It’s a real shame that of the three series of pulp novels
that Edgar Rice Burroughs penned, only Tarzan ever took off into other mediums.
The others didn’t have as strong a central character, but made up for it in
worldbuilding. I suspect that it was budget that really made Tarzan the
preferable screen adventure; jungle sets, trained animals, gorilla suits, and
black extras were cheap, while aliens and prehistoric creatures were far too
complicated. It took until 2012 that a Barsoom movie was made. However, when
Burrough’s Land That Time Forgot was made into a film in 1975, it proved to be
successful enough to warrant two sequels and a production of At the Earth’s
Core.
So today, I’ll be taking on the film of the first book of
the Pellucidar series, and I’ll discuss the book while I’m at it.
