If you grew up in the ’70s, chances are you remember Sid & Marty Krofft’s Land of the Lost. Unlike most Saturday morning kids’ shows, it didn’t talk down to its audience. Instead, it challenged young minds and fueled a generation’s creativity. The series followed widowed forest ranger Rick Marshall, played by Spencer Milligan, and his kids, Will (Wesley Eure) and Holly (Kathy Coleman), who took a routine rafting trip and ended up trapped in an alternate, prehistoric dimension.
Sharing their incredible adventures was Chaka, a young member of the Pakuni tribe played by actor Phillip Paley. Paley had come to the attention of the producers of the show when he accompanied Chuck Norris onto The Tonight Show. That video can be found on the official Johnny Carson YouTube channel, and it is certainly fun to see young Mr. Paley manhandling the then-King of late-night talk shows.