Saturday morning tv in the 1960s and 1970s was full of teenage boys trapped far from home. From 1974 to 1977, that boy was a hot teenager named Will (Wesley Eure), who was on a "routine expedition" with his hot dad Rick (Spencer Milligan) and kid sister Holly (Kathy Coleman), when they zapped through a time-space portal into a jungle world crowded with dinosaurs, reptilian aliens named Sleestaks, and cute gibbering primates named Pakuni. After a couple of seasons, Rick vanished, replaced by hot Uncle Jack (Ron Harper).There wasn't much bonding, since the only available males were close relatives. Nor much beefcake; you'd think after three years in the humid jungle, the guys would start wearing Tarzan-style loincloths, but no, only one episode featured Will shirtless, in painted-on jeans.
Otherwise gay boys had to make do with shirts unbuttoned to his navel.
But at least there was an utter lack of mentioned or displayed heterosexual interest in any of the characters, ever.
In 2009, he finally made one of the obligatory "coming out" statements, informing the world that he was gay via afterelton.com, but he was never really in. While on Land of the Lost, he was dating Richard Chamberlain.
I remember this show, but I definitely don't remember him shirtless or wearing "daisy dukes". I'll have to dig up the DVDs and see if I can find that episode. Although I was probably the gayest kid you'd ever meet, I actually remember having a crush on the little sister on the show. I had a thing for tomboys (Jodie Foster, Kristy McNichol, etc) and the little sister basically looked and dressed like a boy (with the exception of the braids), so I was kind of into her for a while.
ReplyDeleteFYI, i think he strips down to those jean shorts in the very last episode...
DeleteI think those sneaky jerks had him in those "dukes" to keep us watching. Worked on me. Never saw him in them again. Disappointing.
ReplyDeleteSame here--kept me watching! It was years later I figured out the actor was actually gay -- I really would have been "in love"!
DeleteAnother one my generation saw on Nick at Nite.
ReplyDeleteYeah, between the heat and humidity of jungle living, and just clothes naturally tearing from natural hazards, you'd think they'd start wearing loincloths, or something.
The Uncle, season 3, was a total stud. I preferred season 1 & 2 except for his studly-ness in 3. He later went on to be one of the stars of the TV version of "Planet of The Apes." They changed the theme song for season 3 and dropped the closing song and lyrics. The real spacey episodes with the Pylons and Skylons and inter-dimensional gateways were my favorites. My absolute favorite....Pylon Express.
ReplyDeleteGinactic My Friends (That's Altrusian...ask Enik.)
I'm with you, Jimmy Woo: Uncle Jack arriving in LOTL was oganza bisassa (that's Pakuni: ask Cha-ka). The "hotness" of Spencer Mulligan was lost as me as much as the Marshalls where lost. Ron Harper was the best part of Season 3. I often enjoyed thinking that Will would talk his hunky Uncle into bonding of their own...
DeleteLove the show when I was kid because of the dinosaurs. Will was cute I think the Uncle was hotter than the Dad- today in his 70th birthday and he has aged well
ReplyDeleteThose jorts should have been his only costume for the whole series. I never would have missed an episode.
ReplyDeleteThere is some resemblance to Christopher Knight in the first picture.
ReplyDeleteIt's all Wesley Eure
DeleteI had such a crush on this guy when I was a kid! I loved him as Wil Marshall and as Mike Horton. (That pic from LOTL is my current smartphone wallpaper!) I was also a fan of Patty Weaver who played the part of Trish Clayton; his roommate and "love interest" for quite a while on DOOL. They really seemed to work well together and were always one of my favorite TV couples. Getting to hear Trish sing sometimes was icing on the beefcake!
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