# What if: Sleestaks had actually existed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [September 20, 2021, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967 "2021-09-20T01:29:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967/1 "2021-09-20T01:29:24Z")
Would they have picked off early hominids and prevented humans from evolving? Or would these ancestors just spent their time in trees? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967/2 "2021-09-20T01:37:58Z")
All depends on what “early hominids” we’re talking about. It’s my understanding that while descended from intelligent beings, the Sleestak themselves have devolved to a quite primitive state. The are physically larger and stronger than humans, but so are a lot of other creatures that have not wiped out humanity. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967/3 "2021-09-20T01:40:44Z")
This thread makes @sleestak sad. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967/4 "2021-09-20T01:48:28Z")
Primitive, yes, but didn’t they use weapons? Seems like they used nets as well. Chaka and his ilk were certainly afraid of them. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967/5 "2021-09-20T01:56:28Z")
Close. Sleestak are intelligent but no longer have an advanced civilization. They were the ones who built the Pylons, after all. In the show they had crossbows and nets. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967/6 "2021-09-20T02:22:16Z")
I thought of this thread after seeing a GEICO ad. I think the critter we’re told is a gecko is actually a baby sleestak. He’ll lose his tail and ability to talk as he grows up. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967/7 "2021-09-20T02:41:53Z")
Word. I don’t pretend to be an expert, just drawing on some 40-year-old memories. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967/8 "2021-09-20T05:11:43Z")
Humans don’t have to evolve, they are simply replenished with modern humans via the plunging rapids. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967/9 "2021-09-20T10:12:31Z")
Timely thread. I was just thinking a grown up version of LOTL would be awesome. Make it more about Sleestaks vs Humans. And perhaps the Sleestaks could be smarter to make it more interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967/10 "2021-09-20T11:01:56Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > they are simply replenished with modern humans via the plunging rapids. You make that sound way too much fun. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967/11 "2021-09-20T11:59:16Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Timely thread. I was just thinking a grown up version of LOTL would be awesome. Make it more about Sleestaks vs Humans. > > And perhaps the Sleestaks could be smarter to make it more interesting. I mean… > **[Land of the Lost (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_the_Lost_(film))** > > Land of the Lost is a 2009 American science fiction adventure comedy film directed by Brad Silberling, written by Chris Henchy and Dennis McNicholas and starring Will Ferrell, Danny McBride and Anna Friel, loosely based on the 1974 Sid and Marty Krofft television series of the same name. The film was theatrically released on June 5, 2009 by Universal Pictures. > The film received generally negative reviews from critics and was a box-office bomb, grossing just $68.8 million against its $100 mill... Although if by “grown up” you mean “dark and gritty”, then I guess that hasn’t been done. But I for one am thoroughly tired of “dark and gritty” reboots of cheesy properties. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967/12 "2021-09-20T12:56:27Z")
Have a look at Harry Harrison’s trilogy **West of Eden** (1984), **Winter in Eden** (1986), and **Return to Eden** (1988), in which humans co-exist with dinosaurs, including intelligent ones who have themselves developed a non-industrial civilization that uses selective breeding and gene manipulation to create their effective tools. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967/13 "2021-09-20T16:54:39Z")
They hate bright light, and have to hibernate - I don’t think they’d have remained a threat. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967/14 "2021-09-20T17:00:43Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > I think the critter we’re told is a gecko is actually a baby sleestak. He’ll lose his tail and ability to talk as he grows up. That is a vicious rumor begun by Allstate. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967/15 "2021-09-20T17:05:35Z")
I think that they were the “humans” of whatever dimension they came from. Or had been before their decline. My fanwank is that their world had a similar history as Earth, and they were the survivors of whatever wiped out their Age of Reptiles. Instead of becoming birds, they became hominid-like. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967/16 "2021-09-20T17:45:39Z")
We are actually still working on the plot to take over the world, It is taking longer than we thought. Slee ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2021, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-sleestaks-had-actually-existed/950967/17 "2021-09-20T18:35:42Z")
How would Sleestaks have gotten along with Meeseeks?