More Words, Deeper Hole

The TV show replicated the book pretty well. The book had its share of "that's awesome but makes no sense if you think about it too hard". (My favorite was a colossal triped, hundreds of meters long, like a mega-dinosaur with its hind legs replaced by a single ski. Barlowe depicts the thing about to raise one of its front legs from the ground. I don't think he thought about how absurd would look ten seconds later.)

Ruritania was the comparison I was thinking of, too.