Devolution

Anyone remember the Sid & Marty Kroft show called "Land Of The Lost"?  I think that the show was at one time on prime time but I would watch it when it was shown in the afternoons after primary school.  It is about this dad, his son and daughter who go rafting when an earthquake sends them to what you think may be a previous time but soon suspect is another reality altogether.  The three get chased by dinosaurs and befriend cave people.  In one episode they find the ruins of an ancient city henceforth refered to as the Lost City.  In this Lost City they encounter these really, really dumb creatures called Sleestaks who shoot Nerf Arrows at them.  The production on this show was so bad it was funny.  The Sleestak are lizard like hominids, though not necessarily mamallian.  What their reason for being is is forgotten by this blogger.  Rick, Will and Holly Marshall, the three rafters who accidentally are sent to this forgotten land, meet one Sleestak who does not chase them or shoot them with Nerf artillery.  This sleestak speaks English and seems to know a lot about where they are.  But he is also there accidentally.  His name is Enik and he is pictured above.  Enik is aware of the fact that he is different from the other Sleestak in that he is intelligent and friendly.  He erroneously speculates that these differences are due to the fact that he thinks that he was sent back in time and the Sleestak he sees are ancestors to his race.  When the Marshalls show him the that the place he inhabits is the ruins of an ancient city, he realizes that it is the city of his home and he has gone into the future not the past.  To his horror he realizes that his species has devolved into the dumb creatures he sees around him. 

So why am I retelling this story?  I watched a film last night called "Idiocracy" which dealt with just that particular theme; Devolution.  Evolution is defined as the reproductive success of the 'winners' in a given species.  The loosers just don't get the opportunity to pass on their genes.  The film supposes that that is no longer the truth.  Those with the poorest genes seem to be the ones reproducing the most.  Hence society, America is society in the film, is dumbing down.  "Idiocracy" is written by Mike Judge of Beavis and Butthead fame and is full of that particular kind of humor that made Beavis and Butthead popular.  But it is worth watching if only to ponder the premise it is based on. 

I have run out of time but if you are interested in more Land Of The Lost info, click here

'Idiocracy' should be available at your renter with the new releases.