Enik

"That is illogical..." - Enik
Enik is a major recurring character in the Land of the Lost. He was played by Walker Edmiston.
==Personality and Appearance==
Enik resembles a Sleestak, but he is more orange/brown in color with a broader mouth, and doesn't make the hissing breathing sound that is associated with the Sleestak. He does have claws, but they are small and rather blunt in comparison to those of the Sleestak, and Enik's smallest claw is positioned on his hand adjacent to the other two, similar to the disposition of fingers on a human hand, unlike that of the regular Sleestaks, whose smallest claw is vestigial and projects from what would be the wrist on a human being. He is also significantly shorter than the average Sleestak (about the height of an average human male). Unlike the other Sleestak, he is not at all bothered by light and can even venture into daylight (which might suggest that the Sleestak had devolved a bit after living underground since the collapse of their civilization). Because of the height difference, the Sleestak often refer to him as "The Dwarf," but being more enlightened than they are, this type of disparagement doesn't bother him. Despite this, Sleestak do hold him some regard as far as leadership and guidance are involved, but they still have a tense relationship and do not always respect his advice.
Enik is also fiercely logical and rational (unlike his Sleestak descendants), often seeming to be completely without emotion or empathy. Enik is always seen wearing an orange tunic with a belt, which has some importance in Sleestak culture. At the point in time Enik comes from, the Sleestak call themselves Altrusians.
==Background==
Enik is an Altrusian, the intelligent predecessors to the Sleestak that live throughout the Land of the Lost. He was pushed into the Land of the Lost by some unknown force long before the Marshalls. He has constantly been trying to find a way to get back to his time.
Enik is an ancestor of the Sleestak, and he was once determined to return to his time to prevent their converting to a barbarian civilization. However, he has since changed his motives into leading them away from barbarism and back to a more civilized race. He is highly intelligent and can speak English and thus understand the Marshalls with whom he has become an ally, although several times his conclusions are not to the best benefit of the Marshalls. In trying to return home, he has discovered he was responsible for bringing the Marshalls to the Land of the Lost in order to send them home, but in the revised timeline, the Marshalls had many more adventures and even devastated the land with one of the Pylons in trying to get back home. Enik has several times acted as a mediator between the two even if his own motivations conflict with those of the Marshalls.
===2009 incarnation===
In the film, Enik is changed as well as the other characters; he is the primary antagonist, as he has committed the act of genocide against his people.
Enik was imprisoned for 10 millennia, but escaped their custody. He then murders the Zarn, dictator of the Land of the Lost, and takes control of the Sleestak army. Enik resides in the pylon where he controls the Sleestak with tachyon crystals. He manipulates Rick, Holly, and Will (who were not related in the movie) into finding the tachyon amplifier. Eventually Holly is captured for assisting Enik. Shortly after Rick and Will save her, they learn Enik's true intentions - to lead his Sleestak army across time and space. As Enik's plan nears completion, with assistance from Grumpy, Rick, and Enik engage in an anti-climactic battle. The tachyon crystals suffer a glitch, cutting Enik off from Earth forever. Enik is last mentioned to have lost control over the Sleestak as they chase him off and attack him.
==Episode(s)==
* The Stranger
* The Search
* Circle
* Fair Trade
* The Longest Day
* Blackout
* Survival Kit
* The Orb
* Repairman
* Cornered
* Hot Air Artist
* Abominable Snowman
* Timestop
* Abominable Snowman
* Scarab
==Notes and Trivia==
* Enik was played by veteran character actor, voice actor and ventriloquist Walker Edmiston, who also played prospector Jefferson Davis Collie III in the episode Downstream and the voice of Wisdom in Hot Air Artist.
* Edmiston reprised the role of Enik in the ensemble show The Krofft Superstar Hour, which starred the Scottish rock band The Bay City Rollers. One of the features of the series was "Lost Island," a serial which brought together several Krofft characters, including H.R. Pufnstuf, Sigmund the Sea Monster, Weenie the Genie and mad scientist Dr. Shrinker and his lackey Hugo, who were renamed Dr. Deathray and Otto. Enik and the Sleestak appeared in one episode which showed the now-peaceful and intelligent Sleestak being ruled by Enik, styling himself as their king. At one point, he darkly hinted that the Altrusians had been all but wiped out by human beings, a fact he must have recently learned, given his new distrust of our species. He also displayed control over Grumpy and Alice.
* In the 1974 TV series, Enik was a more distant and analytical character, comparative to Spock on "Star Trek." While stand-offish at first and coldly rational, he often helped the Marshalls, albeit begrudgingly or at the logic of Rick Marshall. However, as the series went on, his relationship with them changed a bit where he alternated between being an ally and friend and being torn to side with the Sleestak.
* Enik was depicted as a telepath in his first appearance. However, after The Stranger, he never again interacts with the Marshalls' as if he could read their minds and intentions. This is because during his interaction with the Marshall family, Holly asks him if they could finish their sentences as it is, quote, "Good manners."
* In the original Walter Koenig script, Enik was named Eneg which is Gene backwards, a nod to Gene Rodenberry the creator of Star Trek, on which program Koenig played navigator Pavel Andreievich Chekov. In the special features of Rhino's DVD release of the entire Land of the Lost series (these features are absent on the Universal release), series writer David Gerrold (who worked with Koenig on Star Trek) stated that he had changed the name to Enik as that is the backward-spelling of the german Kine (cinema) as in Kinescope. Apparently, Walter Koenig hadn't been present when Gerrold stated this as, in Koenig's episode-commentary in that same series, he thought Gerrold had changed it to Enek, and commented that he didn't know anyone name Kene (which he pronounced Kenny). 
Category:Characters
Category:Sleestak
Category:Villains
Category:Land of the Lost (1974-1976)
Category:Land of the Lost (film)