Land of the Giants

Land of the Giants
Genre Science fiction
Created by Irwin Allen
Directed by Harry Harris
Sobey Martin
Starring Gary Conway
Don Matheson
Kurt Kasznar
Don Marshall
Stefan Arngrim
Deanna Lund
Heather Young
Theme music composer John Williams
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 51 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Irwin Allen[1]
Running time 60 minutes
Production company(s) Irwin Allen Productions
Kent Productions
Distributor 20th Century Fox Television
20th Television (current)
Release
Original network ABC
Picture format 1.33 : 1
Audio format Mono
Original release September 22, 1968 – September 6, 1970
Chronology
Preceded by local programming
Followed by The F.B.I.
External links
Website

Land of the Giants is an hour-long American science fiction television program lasting two seasons beginning on September 22, 1968, and ending on March 22nd, 1970. The show was created and produced by Irwin Allen. Land of the Giants was the fourth of Allen's science fiction TV series. The show was aired on ABC and released by 20th Century Fox Television. The series was filmed entirely in color and ran for 51 episodes. The show starred Gary Conway and special guest star Kurt Kasznar.

Five novels based on the television series, including three written by acclaimed SF author Murray Leinster, were published in 1968 and 1969.[2]

Show premise

The travelers are trapped in a giant zoo.

Set fifteen years in the future, in the year 1983, the series tells the tale of the crew and passengers of a sub-orbital transport ship named Spindrift. In the pilot episode, the Spindrift is en route from Los Angeles to London, on an ultra fast sub-orbital flight. Just beyond Earth's boundary with space, the Spindrift encounters a magnetic space storm, and is dragged through a spacewarp to a mysterious planet where everything is twelve times larger than on Earth, whose inhabitants the Earthlings nickname The Giants. The Spindrift crash-lands, and the damage renders it inoperable.

Very little is known about the home planet of the Giants. This is partially because the Spindrift crew very seldom leave the city where their spaceship crashes in the opening episode. Only two other (unidentified) giant societies are ever seen, in the episodes The Land of the Lost and Secret City of Limbo.

No name is ever established for the mysterious planet, but the inhabitants seem to know of Earth, Venus and Mars, referring to them by name in one episode. Exactly where the planet is located is also never made clear. In the episode On a Clear Night You Can See Earth, Captain Steve Burton (Gary Conway) claims to have seen Earth through a set of infrared goggles invented by the giants, implying that the two planets are indeed separate worlds, but near enough to be able to see one from the other. The only established method by which Earth people may reach the giants planet is some sort of high-altitude flight, passing through what one giant calls a "dimension lock" (a term whose meaning is obscure).

Although various episodes establish that at least six other flights have landed on the planet, no episode establishes anyone ever returning to Earth. The first mention of other visitors from Earth was in episode 2, Ghost Town, where another ship was said to have crashed long ago without any survivors. In episode 4, Underground, another Earth ship is described as crashing three years previously, again with no survivors.

Several episodes show crews surviving the initial crash, only to be killed later. The episode Brainwash has a crew of little people surviving long enough to build a radio station that can communicate with Earth. They are killed shortly thereafter. The episodes Golden Cage and The Lost Ones show there have been a few survivors of other crashes. Only the Spindrift crew seems to have survived for long with its party intact.

One continent, or hemisphere, is dominated by an authoritarian government which tolerates broad freedoms within a capitalist system, but it does not tolerate any effort to effect political change. Exactly what the political situation is on other continents is not known, although at least one overseas land has a despotic ruler. The Air Traffic Control tells those who venture out to sea that they should turn back, that nothing beyond that sea has been explored nor is there current contact; whether this is an official government line or the truth is not known.

Culturally, the Giant society closely resembles the contemporary United States of 1968 (in various episodes it has a police force, private hospitals, prisons, a State Governor, radio and television services, a zoo, jazz clubs, even a racetrack - and the giants speak English, drive American cars, attend Vaudeville-style theatres, and even play chess). The Earth people find themselves able to cope, and their efforts to get around are facilitated by the ubiquity of large drains leading directly from interior rooms to the pavement, in an outside wall of most buildings. The Giant government has offered a reward for the capture of the tiny Earth people (who the Giants call the little people).

In spite of the authoritarianism, there are several dissident movements at work that either help other dissenters (such as the Earth people) or are actively working to unseat the ruling party. The government has established the SID, Special Investigations Department, to deal with assorted dissidence but it also takes the lead in dealing with the Earth people. The Giant technology largely resembles mid-20th century Earth, but inconsistently: significantly more advanced in some episodes (e.g. cloning, cybernetics, force fields, magnetic stunners, androids and teleporters) and slightly behind in others (no microelectronics, hearing aids, or manned space flight).

The little people's objectives are: (1) survival, by obtaining food and avoiding capture by the Giants or attacks from animals, such as cats and dogs; (2) repair of their spacecraft, so they can attempt to return to Earth. They largely manage to survive with the help of sympathizers and stealth, making the most of their small size, plus ingenuity in using their technology where it is superior to that of the Giants.

They do not achieve the second objective, since the primary systems of the craft are badly damaged. Although in some episodes (including The Flight Plan) Burton implies it is only a lack of fuel which prevents the ship lifting off. The secondary systems are insufficient to enable them to achieve the sub-orbital flight required. They are unable to use Giant technology, as it is bulky and less advanced; in one episode an experimental nuclear reactor, provided by an engineering student, produces dangerous side effects and is prone to overloading. They also cannot trust the Giants, who in another episode (Target: Earth) offer the little people a ride home in exchange for technical assistance with their space program, but then doublecross them.

They are aided in the first goal, and at least somewhat hindered in the second, by the leadership of Captain Burton. He behaves as leader, and as protector to the passengers and crew, and his leadership has rescued them from a number of difficulties. But Burton also tries to keep the Giants from ever reaching Earth. In the episode "Brainwash", Giant police officer Ashim (Warren Stevens) says "Maybe we can find the home planet of these little people. It may be a very tiny planet, but rich beyond our dreams". In several episodes, Burton puts keeping the Giants away from Earth above the need to get his people home. At the end of those episodes, he destroys devices that would get the Spindrift back to Earth but which would probably enable the giants to journey there too.

Episodes often have the Giants capturing one of the passengers or crew, with the rest having to effect a rescue. The Earth people avoid capture most of the time, because their spaceship is hidden in a wood (in several episodes, described by the Giants as a park) outside the city limits. They also occasionally form alliances with individual Giants for some common beneficial purpose.

The show had no proper conclusion with regard to the humans' attempts to return to Earth, and the final episode, Graveyard of Fools, was a general tale that could have taken place any time in the second season. The penultimate episode, Wild Journey (guest starring Bruce Dern), has Steve and Dan using alien technology to travel back in time to Earth just a few hours before their ill-fated flight. In a storyline lifted from the Lost In Space episode The Time Merchant, they attempt to alter the time line but only succeed in ensuring that the events of the first episode, The Crash, take place (footage from the pilot, where Spindrift becomes lost, is included in this episode), creating a Twilight Zone-style twist ending, with the impression of a recurring cycle of inevitable events. This episode would have been more effective as the final episode of the season, mirroring Irwin Allen's earlier series The Time Tunnel, in which the events of the final episode return the characters to their starting point in the pilot episode, Rendezvous With Yesterday; and Land of the Giants makes more sense with Wild Journey switched for Graveyard of Fools in re-runs.

The first season comprised a regular 26 episodes, but season two was left one episode short, having only 25 episodes, giving the impression that neither Graveyard of Fools nor Wild Journey was originally intended as the show's finale, but that ultimately the intended final episode was not produced. The show thus comprises only 51 episodes (or 52 episodes, including the unaired pilot).

Production

The show was created by Irwin Allen. With a budget of US$250,000 per episode, Land of the Giants set a new record.[1] The actors had to be physically fit, as they had to do many stunts, such as climbing giant curbs, phone cords and ropes. Don Marshall, who played the part of Dan Ericson, credited his previous football, track and pole vaulting work for helping him with the stunts required.[3]

Elements of Allen's Lost in Space series recur in Land of the Giants, notably the relationship between the foolish, greedy traitor, an on-the-run bank robber named Alexander B. Fitzhugh (Kurt Kasznar), and the young boy Barry Lockridge (portrayed by Stefan Arngrim); paralleling the relationship on Lost in Space between Doctor Zachary Smith and the young Will Robinson. Also, for main cast billing, Kasznar was treated contractually in the same manner as Jonathan Harris had been on Lost In Space: billed in last place on the opening credit sequence, but billed as Special Guest Star (even though he was a series regular). Apart from this, Gary Conway received solo star billing in the opening credits, with the other regulars all receiving also starring billing.

The show was set to premiere as a mid-season replacement in the spring of 1968, and the first 12 episodes were shot in the fall of 1967. This was changed and Giants premiered in September 1968 for a full season. The network screened the episodes in a significantly different order to the production sequence. This caused a disconcerting lapse in continuity, as at first (in the earliest episodes filmed) the Giants moved slowly and hardly spoke. For example, "Ghost Town" was the 14th episode filmed (i.e. was not one of the original 12 episodes), but was the second episode aired.

Large hand in a scene from the second season, which featured Stefan Arngrim as Barry Lockridge.

The cost of production was immense, partly because of the special optical effects needed to matt the little people into shots also showing the giants; and partly because of the gigantic mechanical props needed, for the little people to interact with, in shots depicting the giant-sized world they find themselves in; plus the futuristic spacecraft sets that were needed to represent the Spindrift. Because of the enormous cost, it was more efficient and cost-effective to film episodes in pairs using the same sets; so writers were informed about what giant-size props there were available, which they could incorporate into their storylines. These episodes were filmed back-to-back.[4]

To save on production costs, Allen was not above using the same device he had employed on The Time Tunnel: re-using stock footage from 20th Century Fox's film library. For instance, in the episode Collector's Item, footage of Wayne Manor from Batman is recycled as the luxury mansion home of a rich giant.

In the unaired pilot of The Crash, there is no end scene with the giant dog in the garbage dump. Once it had been confirmed that Land of the Giants had been picked up by the network, the pilot was reworked and production began on succeeding episodes. However, a break in production occurred after 12 episodes were in the can (enough for a short run as a mid-season replacement), until the show received the green light on the decision to launch it as a full season the following fall.

Cast

Land of the Giants guest stars included many familiar faces from other 1950s and 1960s sci-fi/fantasy and adventure series (e.g. Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, Gilligan's Island, Lost in Space, I Dream of Jeannie). These popular, well-known character actors included Jack Albertson, Chris Alcaide, Michael Ansara, John Carradine, Yvonne Craig, Charles Drake, Alan Hale, Jr, Jonathan Harris, David Opatoshu, Larry Pennell and Warren Stevens.

Episodes

Music

Like Allen's previous series Lost in Space and The Time Tunnel, the theme music was composed by John Williams. As with Lost in Space, Williams composed two different themes (in this case one for each season). Williams also scored the pilot episode "The Crash," and was the third composer to be attached to the project - Williams' work replaced a rejected score and theme by Alexander Courage; Joseph Mullendore composed a second theme that was also thrown out.[5] Mullendore later scored five episodes and Courage did one, with other episodes scored by Richard LaSalle (seven episodes), Leith Stevens (five), Harry Geller (four), Irving Gertz, Paul Sawtell and Robert Prince (one each).

Soundtrack

GNP Crescendo released an album as part of The Fantasy Worlds Of Irwin Allen, featuring both themes, Williams' replacement score (tracks 2-6) and Courage's thrown-out score (tracks 9 and 10) for "The Crash."

  1. Land Of The Giants Main Title - Season 1 (1:02)
  2. Off Course/The Landing/Dense Fog (6:01)
  3. Giant Eyes/Hidden Gun/The Big Cat/Bug Box (8:45)
  4. Fitzhugh's Gun/Hiding Place (6:57)
  5. Giants Probing/The Rescue (3:35)
  6. Water Drain/More Garbage (2:44)
  7. Land Of The Giants End Title - Season 1 (:31)
  8. Land Of The Giants Main Title - Season 2 (1:01)
  9. Space Storm/Through The Thing/Crash Landing/Giant Ford (6:08)
  10. The Sniveling Sneak (6:45)
  11. Land Of The Giants End Title - Season 2 (:30)

DVD releases

All 51 episodes were released on DVD in Region 1 in a limited-edition 9-disc Complete Series on July 24, 2007 from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. This includes the un-aired original pilot, which has some differences (extra scenes but not others later added to the aired version) and score music familiar to Lost In Space fans and interviews with cast members.[6]

In Region 2, Revelation Films has released the entire series on DVD in the UK. Season 1 was released on March 28, 2011 and season 2 on June 13, 2011. They also released a complete series set on March 12, 2012.[7]

In Region 4, Madman Entertainment released season 1 on DVD in Australia on August 20, 2014.[8]

Merchandise & licensing

The pilot episode was the subject of a View-Master reel & booklet set in 1968 (GAF Packet # B494).[9] One notable difference between the aired episode and the reel set is an image of the Spindrift flying through the giant forest in apparent daylight. In the aired episode, the Spindrift arrives on the giants' planet during the night, and its flight through the forest also occurs that same night. Though the following is unconfirmed, either the daylight shot was a special effects sequence cut from the aired pilot, or a special set up for the View Master photographers.

In 1968, Pyramid Books published an extended novel adaptation of the pilot (Land of the Giants, Pyramid Books, X-1846), written by famed author Murray Leinster. Among notable changes or inventions is that the Spindrift is still an operational, flying ship after the initial crash, with enough "atomic power" to last as much as several months. Another invention for the novel is the knowledge that two other ships, the Anne and Marintha, disappeared via (what will turn out to be) the same mysterious phenomena which sends the Spindrift to the giants' planet. The Spindrift castaways encounter a female survivor of the Anne named Marjorie, who joins the castaways in this novel. Although the TV series featured 3 episodes with other on-screen survivors from previously lost earth-flights, the novel's character Marjorie and the ships Anne and Marintha do not appear and are not mentioned in the series.[10]

There were two further novels by Murray Leinster: The Hot Spot[11] and Unknown Danger (Pyramid, 1969).[12] The first two Leinster books were reprinted in the UK by World Distributors, with the first given the new title The Trap.[13] World also published two UK only novels, Slingshot for a David[14] and The Mean City[15] (1969). Both were credited to James Bradwell, but as the style of the two books is so dissimilar the name may have been a shared pen-name for two anonymous authors.

A hardback novel for children, Flight of Fear by Carl Henry Rathjen was published in the US by Whitman (1969).[16]

Also in 1968 Gold Key Comics published a comic book version of Land of the Giants.[17] It lasted for five issues.[18] In 2010 all five issues were reprinted together as a hardcover book by Hermes Press.

In 1968, Aurora Plastics Company produced two plastic model kits based on the series: Land of the Giants was the title of a diorama depicting a giant snake attacking the characters Steve Burton, Dan Erickson (using a giant safety pin as a spear) and Betty Hamilton.[19] The second kit was a model kit of the Spindrift (released as Land of the Giants Space Ship, instead of the proper name for the vehicle).[20]

In 1975, Aurora reissued the kit, now renamed Rocket Transport Spindrift, with new box art and photos of the assembled kit.[21] It had a front top section that could be lifted off to reveal a full interior that had to be constructed by the builder, as well as an opening door. Most of the model kit was molded in the same bright red-orange as the ship itself, while the interior was molded in a light green that could be painted.

Deanna Lund co-wrote a series of fan-fiction short stories based on the series, "Valerie in Giantland".[22]

MeTV began airing Land Of The Giants in September 2016 to compliment its Saturday night Sci-Fi line-up of other Irwin Allen series: Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, Lost In Space and The Time Tunnel. Prior to debuting on MeTV, Land Of The Giants had aired only sporadically in syndication in recent years. The Horror Channel in the UK began airing the series on September 19, 2016.[23]

References

  1. 1 2 Alex McNeil. "Land of the Giants." Total Television. New York: Penguin, 1996. p. 402
  2. ↑ Leinster, Murray (1968). Land of the Giants. New York: Pyramid Books.
  3. ↑ Actor Database Interview with Don Marshall
  4. ↑ Abbott, Jon (2009). 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. McFarland. p. 284.
  5. ↑ Jon Burlingame, pg. 115, TV's Biggest Hits: The Story of Television Themes From "Dragnet" To "Friends", Schirmer Books, 1996, ISBN 0-02-870324-3
  6. ↑ TV Shows on dvd.com Land Of The Giants, Complete Series Press Release
  7. ↑ "Land Of The Giants - The Complete Collection [DVD]". amazon.co.uk.
  8. ↑ "Land of the Giants: The Complete First Season". Madman Entertainment.
  9. ↑ http://www.3dstereo.com/viewmaster/dbarg-b494-g1a.html
  10. ↑ https://www.amazon.com/Land-Giants-Pyramid-SF-X-1846/dp/B00005XLQS
  11. ↑ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Land-Giants-Spot-Murray-Leinster/dp/B000O06QTU
  12. ↑ https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Land-Giants-3/dp/B005OSBOVM
  13. ↑ https://www.amazon.com/Land-Giants-Trap-Murray-Leinster/dp/B0011172YY
  14. ↑ https://www.amazon.com/Giants-SLINGSHOT-DAVID-James-Bradwell/dp/0723544085
  15. ↑ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mean-City-Land-Giants/dp/0723544093
  16. ↑ https://www.amazon.com/Land-Giants-Flight-Fear/dp/B000IL9LQU
  17. ↑ http://www.comics.org/issue/244704/
  18. ↑ http://beachbumcomics.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/whats-happening-to-us-gold-keys-land-of.html
  19. ↑ http://culttvman.com/main/tony-hardys-land-of-the-giants-snake/
  20. ↑ http://culttvman.com/main/tag/spindrift/
  21. ↑ http://www.monstersinmotion.com/cart/spaceships-vehicles-item-listt-c-13_194/land-of-the-giants-spindrift-aurora-re-issue-model-kit-p-15172
  22. ↑ http://www.deannalund.com/valerieingiantland.htm
  23. ↑ http://www.horrorchannel.co.uk/shows.php?title=land+of+the+giants
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