Medusa

Medusa is a minor character in the Land of the Lost She was played by Marian Thompson.
==Personality and Appearance==
Medusa is a very cruel and narcissistic woman obsessed with her appearance and her garden. She can also be very manipulative, feigning unselfish desires to fulfill her whims while using her power to turn others to stone. Not much is known about her motivations, other than acquiring statues for her garden. A clue as to her origins is that she is seen wearing a peplos of Ancient Greece.
Medusa, in her human form, is exceedingly vain. When her autonomous reflection becomes angry with Medusa and disappears, Medusa is distraught at the thought of not being able to admire her beautiful reflection. Her vanity is further underscored by her distress once she realizes that Jack has taken her mirror.
Given her extraordinary vanity, self-absorption and malevolence, it is unsurprising that her attempts (in human form) to appear as a kind person are often inept. She is given to excessive flattery (probably due to an insatiable desire to be flattered herself) and overbearing solicitude which often approaches condescension. Even Holly, who tends to be very trusting, soon becomes suspicious of Medusa's motives.
Nowhere is her social ineptitude more effectively illustrated when she tries to invite the Marshals to join her in a picnic, when moments earlier, she was informing Will and Holly as to where she would place them once she turned them into lifeless statues.
As a shape-changer, Medusa has two known forms. One is a strikingly beautiful blond woman. In her Gorgon form, her face and eyes are deep green and, in place of hair, she has snakes growing from her scalp, each approximately a foot long. The green pallor of her skin extends only to her head; the rest of her body remains unaffected.
Medusa has not been observed to assume any other forms but these two. In both forms, she wears a peplos, the most common garment worn by women of ancient Greece.
===Abilities===
* Shape shifting: Medusa can shape shift between the form of a woman and into a Gorgon, but it is unrevealed which is her true form. It is unknown if she can assume any other forms. Her transformations appear to be accomplished by a mystical process, which she consciously initiates by crossing her arms.
* Petrification: As a Gorgon, she can turn things to stone, an ability she does not have in human form. This ability applies to living things, and whatever clothing they are wearing or objects they are carrying. The range of her ability to turn objects to stone is never established, but she did turn a triceratops to stone at a range of several yards. Further, her power to petrify apparently extends to all living things, even those with no apparent visual organs, such as her animated vines.
*Possible superhuman strength: Medusa was quite open about her plans for the the placement of the Marshalls once she turned them into lifeless statues. Unless Medusa has machines to assist her with the placement of her petrified victims, she must have great strength. As a marble statue of a human figure 5' 10" tall would weigh in excess of 900 pounds, Medusa must either leave the statues where she creates them, or she has the means to move them by herself. But we never actually see her employ superhuman strength, so this is only conjecture. Moreover, if she does have superhuman strength, it would also be a question as to whether she can use this in her human form, or just her Gorgon form.
* Pets: Medusa owns animated plant vines which are trained to keep animals and people inside the garden. After Will, Holly and Cha-Ka manage to escape, the plants were turned to stone as punishment.
* Mirror: Medusa has a mirror, in which her reflection is an autonomous entity, able to speak on its own and move independently of Medusa. Since Medusa is vulnerable to her own reflected gaze while in Gorgon form, Medusa only talks to it in her human form. The reflection, while every bit as vain and malicious as Medusa, appears to represent Medusa's more rational side. It offers sound advice, even if Medusa fails to heed it. It can also become frustrated at Medusa's stubborn refusal to follow its advice. Like Medusa herself, the reflection is also manipulative. She is able to persuade Medusa into giving Holly her favorite pink robe. When angered by Medusa, the reflection disappears from the mirror, leaving Medusa distraught, begging for the reflection to come back. When the reflection returns, she vehemently demands Medusa follow her instructions and transform Holly to stone at once, rather than waiting for the rest Holly's family to arrive. Although Medusa had previously refused, she now prepares to comply. The reflection is also capable of ire at Medusa's poor judgment. When Medusa is transformed into stone by Jack, who used the mirror to reflect Medusa's petrifying gaze back at her, the reflection appears one last time and contemptuously remarks, "You never could do anything right." The mirror then breaks into shards.
==Background==
Not much is known about Medusa, but her knowledge about the Roman god Neptune and her clothing would imply she once lived in ancient Greece during the Roman Empire and was trapped in the Land of the Lost at some point. Somehow knowing about the Marshall Family, she broke a barrier across a small part of the river and caused a raft carrying Holly Marshall to float toward her garden. She then assumed her human form to save her.
Calling herself "Meddie," she took Holly to her Garden of Eternity, where there were many statues in the garden. When Holly calls Medusa's attention to a triceratops threatening the garden, Medusa assumes her Gorgon form (out of Holly's sight) and petrifies it. Holly discovered the triceratops later, still holding the stick she had thrown at it, and realized it had been turned to stone. Holly also noticed a statue that resembled Jefferson Davis Collie III, an old man who lived in the Sleestak caves that Holly once knew. 
Against the advice of her reflection, who wanted Medusa to transform Holly to stone right away, Medusa wished to wait for the rest of the Marshall family to come and rescue Holly so that she could have more new statues. Jack, Will and Cha-Ka soon came to rescue Holly. Jack instructed Will and Cha-ka to rescue Holly and that he would distract Medusa. Although Will and Cha-Ka find Holly, the three are prevented from leaving the garden by Medusa's pets. When Medusa becomes distracted, Will produces his knife and cuts through the vines, allowing the three to escape. Blaming her animated vines, Medusa assumes her Gorgon form and turns her own pets to stone. Jack tricked her into looking into her own reflection and she turned herself to stone.
==Episode(s)==
* Medusa
==Trivia==
* Medusa was played by actress Marian Thompson.
* In Greek and Roman Mythology, Medusa was one of the three Gorgons, daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. Accounts vary as to what prompted Athena to transform Medusa into a Gorgon, either for daring to compare her beauty to Athena's or allowing herself to be seduced by Poseidon in the temple of Athena. Medusa was later slain by the Greek demigod Perseus. It is unknown how much of this applies to the LOTL Medusa. It is entirely possible she is a regular woman cursed in a manner similar to Medusa, but this isn't confirmed.
* It is unknown what relations Medusa had with the Sleestak. Although she seems to have lived in the LOTL longer than the Marshalls, it is possible she lived beyond the purview of their influence, but it is also just as likely they feared her and learned to avoid her entirely.
* Since Medusa seems to be living in exile, it is unrevealed how she learned about the Marshalls. If she learned about them from Collie, she seems to have waited a long time to set up the consequences of encountering them.
* Medusa recognizes Cha-Ka as a "Pakuni" (actually Paku, as Pakuni is plural), so she seems to have some familiarity with the denizens of the Land of the Lost.
Category:Characters
Category:Aliens
Category:Villains
Category:Land of the Lost (1974-1976)