Land of the Giants

Recently,I got a chance to see some of the episodes on a local cable channel,and this was my favorite Irwin Allen series of them all. Several people including the dog,have crash-landed on earth,but its not the same planet that their ship was from. The special effects here are unforgettable which involved the characters to find themselves in some odd situation after another (especially in one episode where they are in a little girl's room where they take refuge in a doll house,only to be stalked by a giant cat!) Basically everything went just right with this series which didn't last long when it ran on ABC from 1968-1970,but it was a classic worth seeing.

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)

As a child growing up in England in the late 60s, my favourite TV show was "Lost in Space", but "Land of the Giants", which replaced it from time to time in the schedules, was only slightly less intriguing. It didn't boast a character quite so camply magnificent as Dr Zachary Smith (my lifelong hero!), but its parallel-world scenario struck me as deeply haunting and thought-provoking. All of the reviewers who berate LIS and LOTG for their creaky plots and primitive special effects are missing the point; these shows relied on a willing suspension of disbelief, and the imaginative collaboration of their audience (for the most part, children). I pity rather than envy the present generation of children, whose dreams are delivered to them ready made.

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!