1968’s Land of the Giants delivers plenty of the trademark Irwin Allen cheesiness, but it stands out as one of his better sci fi shows and a guilty pleasure in the genre.
What Is It?
A sub-orbital shuttle transport named the Spindrift passes through a dimension portal that sends seven Earth-people to another planet where the human-like inhabitants are twelve times their size. The ship crashes in a country that is under authoritarian rule and a reward is offered for the capture of the “little people” because they are seen as a threat. The survivors must avoid the many dangers of this giant world while they also attempt to find a way to return home.
Aired: ABC, 1968-70, 2 Seasons Totaling 51 Episodes
Starring: Gary Conway, Don Matheson, Deanna Lund, Heather Young, Don Marshall
Created By: Irwin Allen
Legacy:
This was the last of Irwin Allen’s 1960s TV shows and one of the better ones, and while it did veer into camp on a regular basis, it stands out as a sci fi guilty pleasure from that era.
A Closer Look:
Of the four 1960’s sci fi series that Irwin Allen is best known for (the others being Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and The Time Tunnel), this is one of his better-regarded entries. It has the cheesiness expected from an Irwin Allen entry, but it rarely slipped to the levels of camp absurdity achieved by Lost in Space and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea at their low points (though some of the second-season episodes came close). It was pretty much just a straightforward sci fi romp with our heroes trying to escape from the predicaments presented by the giants each week with little in the way of character development. But the actors did well enough with the scripts they received, and the show scores well on the action-adventure scale.
The setting offered a very interesting world that was controlled by a totalitarian government wanting to exploit the advanced science of Earth (the giants knew about our world even though we did not know about theirs). But Irwin Allen was not interested in making grand statements as here steered the show away from any social or political storylines. Still, it was a fun show for what it was, and the idea of little people trying to survive on a world populated by giants was pretty cool at the time and presented plenty of story opportunities (even if the show did tend to get repetitive at times).
The actors all did their part to keep the show interesting with Gary Conway and Don Matheson delivering the standard 60s leads, while Don Marshall matched them and proved that an African-American co-star could hold his own in an action series during that decade. Neither Deanna Lund nor Heather Young were relegated to the damsel-in-distress role, but they typically did not get as much screen time as the male leads. Kurt Kasznar played the Dr. Smith stand-in Fitzhugh well enough, though thankfully he never took it to the bombastic levels of Jonathan Harris’ performance in Lost in Space. And Stefan Arngrim played the expected cute kid role, but not to the point that he became an annoyance in most episodes. The show is definitely worth revisiting for those who may have seen it when they were young or for curious onlookers wanting to see one of the better examples of Allen’s output. But approach it more as a guilty pleasure than a great sci fi TV series.
Cancelled Too Soon?
Yes. This was actually the most expensive show on television at the time it aired (those big people props cost money) and the ratings, while not terrible, did not justify the cost. ABC decided not to continue the series for a third season and thus ended the Irwin Allen sci fi TV era when the show was cancelled in the Spring of 1970 (more on that below).
Should It Be Rebooted?
Absolutely. This was a cool show when it first aired and could be again with a reboot/revival. The premise is pretty much timeless and the reboot could tap into the potential of the original dystopian setting, coming up with plenty of good storylines for the human characters and their interactions with the giants. In fact, a revival that carries on from the original series would work quite well. A new ship could pass through the dimensional rift with a new group of humans and maybe they could encounter some of the original characters as older versions of themselves. Or a complete reboot could work as well, just keep the setting because of the possibilities it offers. Land of the Giants does not quite have the name recognition that the television networks might prefer because the show is considered a relic from an earlier age, but a reboot of this one could work if done properly.
The Story Continues:
Science fiction author Murray Leinster wrote three Land of the Giants novels and those were among the last of his books. The first novel adapted the pilot while also fleshing out that story. The other two–The Hot Spot and Unknown Danger–were original stories not based on television episodes. All three have since gone out of print but you can track them down from third-party sellers. In the United Kingdom, World Distributors published two original Land of the Giants books: Slingshot for a David and The Mean City. In 1968, Gold Key Comics put out a series based on the show that lasted for five issues. Series co-star Deanna Lund (who played Valerie Scott) would later go on to write a series of short stories that took place ten years after the events of the series. Those have since been collected together in the novel Valerie in Giantland: Valerie Ames Scott’s Diary which is regarded as a good continuation of the show.
Interesting Facts:
When this show was cancelled after the 1969-70 season, it marked the end of Irwin Allen’s reign as the godfather of cheesy 60s sci fi TV which began with Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea in 1964. Allen would try the underwater pilot City Beneath the Sea in 1971 and take another sci fi stab with The Return of Captain Nemo in 1978, but neither would carry on into an ongoing series.
One of the reasons that the giants want to capture the little people is that Earth’s technology is more advanced (allegedly “fifty years ahead”) and they want to gather more knowledge about that. But when the plot called for it, the giants had advanced technology of their own such as teleportation, cybernetics, androids, and more
Where Can You Watch It?
The entire series was released on DVD but it is out of print now and fetching pretty high prices. There is another DVD set that shows up on Amazon, but it appears to be PAL format, and the show has not received the Blu-ray treatment yet. You can also buy the seasons VOD from sellers like Amazon.com or you may be able to find them on YouTube from time to time.
Read More About the Show:
Wikipedia
IMDb.com
Also of Interest: Irwin Allen Television Productions, 1964-1970: A Critical History of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants
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