The Lost Islands (1976) – TV Series

For those growing up in the 70’s and 80’s there were some interesting TV shows for the young inquisitive minds.  I was never one who got into “Hey Hey It’s Saturday” nor really into music video shows like “Countdown” (even though I had the occasional viewing hoping to see my favourite songs at the time – “Wouldn’t it be Good” by Nik Kershaw with his glowing white suit that would reflect images comes to mind).  But we had some fascinating shows like Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century (gotta love the Looney Tunes spinoff “Duck Dodgers in the 24^th and a half Century”), The Goodies, Dr Who and our series in review “The Lost Islands”.  What sets this apart from the others listed is that it was an Australian co-production with the USA studio Paramount and surprisingly it became quite popular overseas even to cult status in some areas.

The opening theme song basically tells the story, so if you missed it on the first episode, you’ll catch it again and again across the whole 26 episodes.  A sailing boat called “United World” holding 40 teenagers from around the world nearly gets sunk by a hurricane.  All of them are rescued except five who remain on the boat which gets battered across a reef and becomes stranded in a lagoon on a small island called Tambu.  The island is ruled by a “200-year-old” called “Q” and the inhabitants live in a community resembling the 18^th Century with basic living standards who all have surnames beginning with the letter “Q”.  Among the five teenagers is one Australian, one from China, one German, One from England and one from the USA and together they try to help some of the town folk with their problems and try to get them to overcome some of the fears relayed down the years by their tyrant leader “Q”.  

Sadly, the show only got one season of 26 episodes (about 25 minutes each) but during this time they get into all sorts of mischief with the island’s leaders and also find ways to use the technology they have to help out the town people.  Mark (England) has a tendency to get into trouble, Anna (German) is the caring helpful one, Su Yin (China) is more hands-on and takes a few more risks, Tony (Australian) is the brave one and David (USA) the man of science.  Naturally the government thinks they are a threat as they know the truth about the “real world” away from the island so the kids build themselves a treehouse in the “forbidden” area of the island which is also where the damaged ship is hidden. 

Surprisingly the show has gathered up a rating of 8.4 on IMDB and 7.8 on TV.com which may sound a bit ambitious for some, but it is a solid 70's show that gives some relaxing fun.  Sometimes the acting is a bit fake but overall its ok considering the kind of show it was for a younger audience.  I remember seeing this show often as a kid and one episode stuck out to me even after all these years (gee I sound old!) is where they fund an army duck discarded from WW2 and they use that to cause havoc with the town leaders.  I couldn’t remember the name of the show for years and every so often I would try to find out what the show was called but I recently tracked it down and found a legit copy to buy.

Unfortunately, one of the reasons this show remains mostly unknown today is because of its availability.  Being an Aussie show, the budgets would not be there to bring it out on DVD as they would likely deem it unprofitable.  However, thanks to the German studio Pidax Film Media, we are able to get a copy of this great show.  You can scrounge around for it on Youtube but the quality isn’t that good however the 4-disc DVD set is really quite good considering the materials and budget used to make the show.  Whilst there may have been a little bit of restoration work done it naturally doesn’t match up to the more popular and expensive shows so expectations need to be toned down a little (after all it would have been recorded initially on video tape).  Having said that though, the quality of the image is really quite good, in fact probably the best its ever been especially when you consider the lower resolution it would have been shown on the old CRT TV’s back in 1976.  The German name of the show is “Die verlorenen Inseln” and you can order it direct from the studio website https://www.pidax-film.de/ for about 22 euro. 

The image is in the original 1.33:1 aspect ratio (4:3 ratio so you will have the black bars to the left and right of the image on our widescreen tv’s) and as stated above is really quite good considering its age.  As seen from the title image this is actually the German print so the title does not display “The Lost Islands” however the audio comes in two flavours German by default and English when selected in the menu.  The menu’s are also in German and each time you pop the disc in you will need to change the language once you hit the menu.  There are no extras.

Overall this is a great show that will bring a smile to the faces of those who remember watching it.  The kids of this generation may find it interesting for a while but would probably get bored after a few episodes compared to the “special effects” rich time we live in which is a shame as the show has some good ideas and is overall a lot of fun even with the occasional dodgy acting.  Recommended for those who remember the show.  Check out the opening sequence below which just may jog your memory!

The Lost Islands Intro

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Stagecoach (1939)

Marshal Curly Wilcox: Come busting in here - you'd think we were being attacked! You can find another wife.
Chris: Sure I can find another wife. But she take my rifle and my horse. Oh, I'll never sell her. I love her so much. I beat her with a whip and she never get tired.
Dr. Josiah Boone: Your wife?
Chris: No, my horse. I can find another wife easy, yes, but not a horse like that!

Director:  John Ford
Producer:  John Ford (uncredited)
Main Cast:  Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell
Runtime:  96 minutes

Usually when the name John Ford is mentioned visions of Monument Valley come to mind (My Darling Clementine, Fort Apache, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon) usually with John Wayne somewhere in the foreground.  John Ford is famous for shooting his movies on location in picturesque Monument Valley and here in Stagecoach is no different.  It’s a movie that set a new standard for the Western genre and even shot John Wayne to major star status.  Interesting to note that this was John Ford’s first sound western and John Wayne’s 80^th movie.  Hard to believe.

In a nutshell, nine people board a stagecoach to travel from Tonto Arizona to Lordsburg New Mexico.  They become aware that the fierce Apache Indian leader Geronimo is in the area which forces them to work together in a hope to get to their destination safely.

Don’t let the year of production put you off.  This is not classed as a landmark Western for nothing and its quality story and acting will likely surprise you, not to mention the beautiful scenery (John Ford’s first movie filmed in Monument Valley).  Local Indians were also hired to play their parts which also adds to the realism of the film (no face painting here folks).

Overall, I really enjoyed the film and if you like Westerns, especially older ones, you’ll love this.  Yes, you can tell that some scenes were shot in a studio but remember this is 1939 and to be honest they would likely do the same these days but with a green screen.  There are also stunts and some sequences that they would not do these days (thankfully in some cases) for various reasons but it’s really the story, acting and location which make me give this the big thumbs up.  It’s just a well-made quality landmark film that is worth watching.

Copies of the film are sadly limited in Australia.  There was a DVD released some time back however I am unsure of its quality.  The Bluray used in the review was imported from Germany as it was on sale and from what I understand it appears to be the same quality transfer as the USA Criterion version (Region A locked, but comes with several extra features) which is excellent news. The image quality varies but overall is very good considering the age of the film and materials used.  There is some film damage right near the end however this is more of an issue with the film source used as opposed to the transfer to disc and I am sure that all efforts were made to correct as many of the issues as possible. Audio is more DVD quality but is sufficient, though an uncompressed audio would have been more ideal.  No extras are included.

Highly recommended for fans of Westerns and/or John Wayne/John Ford.  It was much better than I had anticipated.  There is also a 1966 remake that is good in its own right, though not as good when compared to this version but still worthwhile.

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