History Literature / TheLostWorld1912

* LongTitle: The book's seldom-printed full title is "''The Lost World: Being an Account of the Recent Amazing Adventures of Professor E. Challenger, Lord John Roxton, Professor Summerlee and Mr. E.D. Malone of'' The Daily Gazette."

Inspired a bunch of films and TV series, including the series ''Series/SirArthurConanDoylesTheLostWorld'', ''Series/TheLostWorld2001'', and a 1925 [[Film/TheLostWorld film adaptation]] that featured groundbreaking stop-motion animation and was a TropeMaker for movies about dinosaurs.

* StockDinosaurs: Pterodactyls feature prominently. ''Iguanodon'', ''Stegosaurus'', ''Plesiosaurus'', and ''Ichthyosaurus'' make appearances as well. The major predator, however, is said to be either a ''Megalosaurus'' or an ''Allosaurus''; nobody can correctly identify them (partially because they [[ScienceMarchesOn don't even remotely resemble dinosaurs]]). That the novel doesn't use ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' as its apex predator can be explained by the fact that the genus had only ''just'' been discovered when Doyle was writing.

* UnbuiltTrope: The heroes discover LostWorld. However, they never get any validation or recognition for their deeds, end up mostly mocked by the outside world and their biggest achievement is [[spoiler: Roxton hauling back a small fortune[[note]]He earns 200 thousand pounds when selling them, which is over 14 ''million'' century after the book's publication[[/note]] in form of a pocketful of diamonds]]. The SequelHook in the end is more about the characters' ''desperation'' to prove they were right than AndTheAdventureContinues - and despite Doyle writing books using the same characters, it is never turned into an actual sequel or the subject even brought up again.

%%* AnachronismStew: Explained in that various species found their way up at different times.

* GreatWhiteHunter: Lord John Roxton is an expert hunter.

%%* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Professor. Challenger. Certainly fear-inducing in how he's first described--and he doesn't disappoint.

%%* AwesomeMcCoolname: Professor. Challenger. Doubles--certainly in how he's first described--as a [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Name To Run Away From Really Fast]]. And he doesn't disappoint.

* SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Roxton certainly thinks so, and makes a hobby out of killing them.

* GeniusBruiser: Professor Challenger is a distinguished scientist, and also an enormously strong, musclebound individual.

* OffTheRecord: Prof. Challenger, who hates the hell out of journalists, tells Malone that nothing Challenger tells him can be printed without Challenger's permission.

* RedHerring: As the gang is trying to figure out how to escape from the plateau, Challenger finds a mudpot that is venting hydrogen. It seems like a ChekhovsGun, and in fact he does later start building a balloon, but they never use it, instead escaping through a secret way in one of the caves.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: When he and Malone first meet, Roxton explains that his flatmate Sir John Ballinger is suffering from delirium and hasn't eaten. He's armed with a gun and will shoot at anyone who comes near him. Roxton asks Malone to help him tackle the guy and "give the old dear the supper of his life" in order to save him from starvation. After some hesitation, Malone agrees, only for Roxton to explain he already did it and he just wanted to see whether Malone would rise to the challenge or back down, in order to see whether he can depend on him on the trip. Malone passed with flying colors.

* SpeciesLostAndFound: Professor Challenger brings a pterodactyl back to civilization to prove the expedition was real. It escapes while it's being shown off, resulting in a case of species lost and found and then lost again.

* StockDinosaurs: Pterodactyls feature prominently. ''Iguanodon'', ''Stegosaurus'', ''Plesiosaurus'', and ''Ichthyosaurus'' make appearances as well. The major predator, however, is said to be either a ''Megalosaurus'' or an ''Allosaurus''; nobody can correctly identify them (partially because they [[ScienceMarchesOn don't even remotely resemble dinosaurs]]). That the novel doesn't use TyrannosaurusRex as its apex predator can be explained by the fact that the genus had only ''just'' been discovered when Doyle was writing.

* AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder: Ned Malone is rejected by the girl he loves because he's never done anything adventurous, so he joins the Challenger expedition to prove himself; subverted in her case when she marries someone else (a solicitor's clerk!) while the expedition is away.

* AdventurerArchaeologist: Professor Challenger, who goes off into the depths of the Amazon jungle to find dinosaurs.

* MisplacedWildlife: None of the dinosaurs encountered (''Stegosaurus'', ''Iguanodon'', ''Megalosaurus''/''Allosaurus'') are species known from South America. At one point, a sighting of a "scaly ant-eater" (another name for pangolins) is mentioned, but those are native to the Old World (''real'' anteaters ''are'' native to South America however).

* HaveAGayOldTime: Describing a semi-inflated hot air balloon as a "flaccid organ" probably falls under this.

* HypocriticalHumor: Challenger sneers at the others' disgust with the blood tick found on Malone, saying "You should cultivate the scientific eye and the detatched scientific mind." Summerlee promptly tells Challenger that a tick has crawled down down Challenger's shirt, whereupon Challenger screams with fear and rips his shirt and coat off.

* {{Jerkass}}: Professor Challenger is vain, egotistical, obnoxious, and condescending. The fact that he's right about the dinosaurs only partially mitigates this.

* MenActWomenAre: This trope is almost described word-for-word in this novel. In the first chapter protagonist Edward proposes to his girlfriend, who rejects it and basically says she is going to dump him. He asks why and she describes that she wants her boyfriend to be a man of action and heroism who is constantly acting, and she then says that women are meant to sit on the sidelines being proud of their pro-active boyfriends, and she says she feels he is not a man of action. This prompts him to undertake the journey which forms the plot. As this novel was written in 1912, it shows this trope is well over a century old.
** That being said, even here this trope is [[{{Main/SubvertedTrope}} somewhat subverted]] as, while the party is away, [[{{Main/Hypocrite}} Gladys ends up marrying a decidedly non-active legal clerk instead.]] Perhaps she was just [[HintDropping trying to let him down gently.]]

* StockDinosaurs: Pterodactyls feature prominently. ''Iguanodon'', ''Stegosaurus'', ''Plesiosaurus'', and ''Ichthyosaurus'' make appearances as well. The major predator, however, is said to be either a ''Megalosaurus'' or an ''Allosaurus''; nobody can correctly identify them (partially because they [[ScienceMarchesOn don't even remotely resemble dinosaurs]]).

* AnachronismStew: Explained in that various species found their way up at different times.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Professor. Challenger. Doubles--certainly in how he's first described--as a [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Name To Run Away From Really Fast]]. And he doesn't disappoint.

* HeroicAlbino: Maple White, who found the plateau first but died after managing to make it off of the plateau.

Inspired a bunch of films and TV series, including the series ''Series/SirArthurConanDoylesTheLostWorld'', Series/''TheLostWorld2001'', and a 1925 [[Film/TheLostWorld film adaptation]] that featured groundbreaking stop-motion animation and was a TropeMaker for movies about dinosaurs.

Inspired a bunch of films and TV series, including the series ''Series/SirArthurConanDoylesTheLostWorld'', and a 1925 [[Film/TheLostWorld film adaptation]] that featured groundbreaking stop-motion animation and was a TropeMaker for movies about dinosaurs.

* DidNotDieThatWay: When recounting their adventure at the conference, Summerlee comes to the point where Gomez and Manuel betrayed the group and were killed. He glosses over the details and simply says they "died faithfully in our service," as opposed to "they doublecrossed us and we killed them," so as to avoid having to give awkard and potentially incriminating questions about how the two died.