Planet der Giganten

In 1968, when Land of the Giants first aired, I was a 9 year old kid back home in the Philippines. I do not remember much of the episodes by story, only bits and pieces of it. Like the giant gun the little guys used to shoot the giant that was after them. The ax they used made of a match stick and half a razor blade. Air ducts to escape and of course, my personal favorite... the Spindrift! I was most fascinated by the realistic props that were created than the plot of the whole thing. I focused on the small items that we normally see around the house and outside our backyards, transformed into colossal objects that can hardly be moved 5 feet without the help of your friends and a serious workout.

The Spindrift is the reason I became a model maker. I do not know how many times I've made the Spindrift out of cardboard. This was because, in my country at the time, there were no merchandising of any kind for any TV series or movie. And now, thanks to the internet, I just purchased a model of the Spindrift and the entire 51 episodes of the series (as I type this comment out, I'm still waiting for my order to get here). This time I can focus more on the storyline. Of course the impact will not be as great considering there have been tons of Sci-fi movies with way more advanced FX since then like Star Wars. But the memories live on and to me, Land of the Giants will always be the best Sci-fi TV series ever made! I don't care what other people say!

Irwin Allen produced series about a spacecraft crashing on a land of giant people, animals, insects, etc.

The last of Allen's four science fiction TV shows of the 60s. Personally, I liked the other three (Voyage, Time Tunnel, Lost in Space) more but Giants is still one of my favourite TV shows ever.

The Allen directed, John Williams scored opening episode - The Crash - is perhaps 50% of what makes Giants special. Seriously, if the series did not begin with such a knockout opener it is quiet possible I would not rate the series so highly!

I am not bashing the rest of the series but it is true that eight of the 51 episodes were total stinkers. Nearly all those stinkers came from season two when the once deadly serious tone of the series was transformed into something less interesting.

There are two ways to watch the series: in production order and out of production order. Go for the production order on the DVDs (atleast the Australian DVDs). The first seven or so hours begin with the giants being mostly silent (as seen in The Crash) and this is the best of Land of the Giants.

Season two had three very memorable time travel episodes (A Place Called Earth, Home Sweet Home and Wild Journey) written by Time Tunnel's William Welch. These are must see hours with quality guest stars like Warren Steven and Bruce Dern turning up!

This review might come over as a bit confusing as I say this is one of my favourite TV shows ever then I say eight episodes are trash?? Let me just repeat that I have a very special fondness for the opening hour, The Crash. From the way Valerie (Deanna Lund) behaves, to the energetic John Williams score, to the epic Allen direction and even having the giant land covered in mist (no mist in the other episodes) - this is what makes it special.

The Crash is without question one of the very greatest hours of film ever made! Enjoy.

Let me tell you for all the people out there who think the props on LAND OF THE GIANTS was cheap, it coast IRWIN ALLEN 100,0000 an episode, AN EPISODE! So think about it,back then that was not cheap that was a lot of money and the props were pretty good for the 60s.I do however agree about the part about the hand,you can see how fake it was.Also,this was after all a kids television show.I know this for a fact because i met DEANNA LUND and we talked about that very same isue.So don't go selling this series so short,it was a fun and exciting series at the time, and a fun filled show you can watch even today.

Having just read all the comments I had an idea of why this show made such a strong impression on so many.

It seems many of the people that were fans were kids when this first aired (I was six, probably became truly imprinted on my neural circuits in early syndication). I believe this show connected so much with its audience because as young children we all felt in some way that we were living in a Land of the Giants and so we identified very much with all the characters.

Anyway, sorry for the cheesy pop psychiatry, but that's my theory and I'm sticking with it.

Now if I can only figure out why I loved so many other 60's/70's TV sci-fi (Star Trek, Lost In Space, UFO, Space 1999, etc)

If there was a happy-ending episode to conclude the series, it may have been like this: The seven people on the Spindrift didn't travel through time or distant space but were shrunk like the movie "Fantastic Voyage" and landed on Earth in an English speaking place at the present time. That's a similar concept as the movie "Planet of the Apes". That's why we see the same cultures, fashions and technology as Earth of the late '60s. Some familiar products and objects appear but are just twelve times in larger scale except the audio level. The Captain insists he saw Earth in "On a Clear Night You Can See Earth" but it was his wishful thinking or mental distortion.