Star Trek's Walter Koenig Wrote One Of The Best Episodes Of This Classic '70s Kids Show
The NBC Saturday morning series, "Land of the Lost," was not one of the best shows of the '70s, but this series about a weird alternate dimension inside the Earth's crust had its moments of brilliance. The show's peak came in an episode written by someone better-known for a different, iconic sci-fi show: Pavel Chekov himself, Walter Koenig.
Koenig, who became one of the best cast additions on TV when he started playing the Enterprise's young Russian ensign on "Star Trek: The Original Series," has a handful of screenwriting credits to his name, including the sixth episode of "Land of the Lost." Debuting on October 12, 1974, "The Stranger" had the Marshall family encounter another being who was stranded in the strange realm with them, Enik (Walker Edmiston).
Enik looks like the humanoid-reptilian Sleestak that terrorize the Marshalls, though he believes they're his species' distant ancestors. Enik thinks he traveled backwards in time when he fell through a dimensional doorway, but eventually learns that he went forward in time instead. The Sleestak are actually what his people devolved into — he assumes — because they lost control of their emotions.
When the Marshalls and Enik find themselves at odds, Enik coldly punishes them by subjecting the family to their worst fears. It's not until Rick Marshall (Spencer Milligan) gives Enik a passionate lecture about the danger of this brutal, emotionless logic that he relents. "It is not the absence of hate that will save your people, but it is the presence of compassion and feeling," Rick says, echoing a common "Star Trek" theme.
Enik would return in several other Land of the Lost episodes
"The Stranger" is the only episode of "Land of the Lost" that Walter Koenig wrote, but Enik returned several times across the show's three-season run. Most episodes featuring Enik were morality plays like his debut appearance, and typically the most cerebral stories in "Land of the Lost."
Enik, whose alien relationship to logic and feelings was not too dissimilar from Spock on "Star Trek," ended up being a rich character. Especially when you consider that Walker Edmiston had to convey everything from inside of a not-that-expressive lizard suit. Enik appeared in the Will Ferrell-led 2009 movie reboot of "Land of the Lost," but, in this version, he's a much less complex character. Rather than being the foil who often helped the main characters, the film's Enik is a sinister antagonist who betrays the heroes and wants the Sleestaks to conquer the Earth.
It remains to be seen if Enik will reappear in the "Land of the Lost" reboot Netflix announced back in 2025.