''Land of the Giants'' is a one-hour American
science fiction television
Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...
series that aired on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
for two seasons, beginning on September 22, 1968 and ending on March 22, 1970. The show was created and produced by
Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen (born Irwin O. Cohen, June 12, 1916 – November 2, 1991) was an American film and television producer and director, known for his work in science fiction, then later as the "Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film gen ...
. ''Land of the Giants'' was Allen's fourth science-fiction TV series. The show was and released by
20th Century Fox Television
20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Compa ...
. The series was filmed entirely in color and ran for 51 episodes. The show starred
Gary Conway
Gary Conway (born February 4, 1936) is an American actor and screenwriter. His notable credits include a co-starring role with Gene Barry in the detective series '' Burke's Law'' from 1963 to 1965. In addition, he starred in the Irwin Allen sci ...
and special guest star
Kurt Kasznar
Kurt Kasznar (born Kurt Servischer; August 13, 1913 – August 6, 1979) was an Austrian-American stage, film and television actor who played roles on Broadway, appearing in the original Broadway productions of '' Waiting for Godot'', ''The ...
.
Five novels based on the television series, including three written by acclaimed science-fiction author
Murray Leinster
Murray Leinster (June 16, 1896 – June 8, 1975) was a pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an American writer of genre fiction, particularly of science fiction. He wrote and published more than 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie ...
, were published in 1968 and 1969.
Series overview
![Land of the giants cast](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Land_of_the_giants_cast.JPG)
Set in 1983 (at that time, 15 years in the future), the series tells the tale of the crew and passengers of a
suborbital
A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital r ...
transport ship named ''Spindrift''. In the pilot episode, the ''Spindrift'' is en route from
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
to
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, on an ultra-fast suborbital flight. Just beyond Earth's boundary with space, the ''Spindrift'' encounters a magnetic space storm, and is dragged through a space warp to a mysterious planet where everything is 12 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 leaves the area where their spaceship crashed in the opening episode. Only two other (unidentified) giant societies are ever seen, in the episodes "The Land of the Lost" and "The Secret City of Limbo".
No name is ever established for the mysterious planet, but the inhabitants 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 near enough to see one from the other. The only established method by which Earth people may reach the giants' planet is high-altitude flight, passing through what one giant calls a "dimension lock".
Although various episodes establish that at least six other flights have landed on the planet, no episode confirms anyone ever returning to Earth. The first mention of other visitors from Earth was in episode two, "Ghost Town", in which another ship was said to have crashed long ago without any survivors. In episode four, "Underground", another Earth ship is described as crashing three years previously, again with no survivors.
Several episodes show crews surviving their initial crashes, 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 after that. The episodes "Golden Cage" and "The Lost Ones" show a few survivors from 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 that tolerates full 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, and even a racetrack; the Giants speak English, drive American cars, attend vaudeville-style theatres, and 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 small Earth people (whom the Giants call "the little people").
In spite of the authoritarianism, several dissident movements are 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 a special-investigations department (SID) to deal with assorted dissidents, but it also takes the lead in dealing with the Earth people. For an extended period from the middle of the first season to the middle of the second, the primary local SID officer is Inspector Kobick.
The Giant technologies mostly resemble mid-20th century Earth, but inconsistently: Some are significantly more advanced in some episodes (e.g. cloning, cybernetics, force fields, magnetic stunners, androids, and teleporters) and are slightly behind in others (no microelectronics, hearing aids, or crewed space flight).
The little people's objectives are survival, by obtaining food and avoiding capture by the Giants or attacks from animals, such as cats and dogs, and repair of their spacecraft, so they can attempt to return to Earth. They largely manage to survive by the help of sympathizers and stealth, making the most of their small size, plus their ingenuity in using their technology where it is superior to that of the Giants.
They do not achieve the second objective, as the primary systems of the craft are severely damaged, although in some episodes (including "The Flight Plan") Burton implies that only a lack of fuel prevents the ship from lifting off. The secondary systems are insufficient to enable them to achieve the suborbital 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 double-cross them.
They are aided in their first objective, and at least somewhat hindered in the second, by the leadership of Captain Burton. He behaves as a leader and as protector to the passengers and crew, and his leadership has rescued them from some difficulties. Burton, though, 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 world, 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.
In several episodes, the Giants capture one of the passengers or crew, and the rest have to rescue them. 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 about the humans' attempts to return to Earth. The final episode, "Graveyard of Fools", was a universal tale that could have taken place any time in the second season. The penultimate episode, "Wild Journey" (guest-starring
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has often played supporting villainous characters of unstable natures. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver B ...
), 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
''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series, created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. The series was inspired by the 1812 novel ''The Swiss Family Robinson.'' The series fo ...
'' episode
"The Time Merchant", they attempt to alter the timeline, but succeed only 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.
The first season comprised a regular 26 episodes, but season two was left one episode short. The show thus comprises only 51 episodes (or 52 episodes including the unaired pilot).
Episodes
Cast
*
Gary Conway
Gary Conway (born February 4, 1936) is an American actor and screenwriter. His notable credits include a co-starring role with Gene Barry in the detective series '' Burke's Law'' from 1963 to 1965. In addition, he starred in the Irwin Allen sci ...
as Captain Steve Burton
*
Don Matheson as Mark Wilson
*
Stefan Arngrim as Barry Lockridge
*
Don Marshall
Donald Robert Marshall (born March 23, 1932) is a Canadian former ice hockey forward.
Don played in the National Hockey League from 1951 to 1972. During this time, he played for the New York Rangers, Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs and Mon ...
as Dan Erickson
*
Deanna Lund
Deanna Lund (May 30, 1937 – June 22, 2018) was an American film and television actress best known for her role in the Irwin Allen television series ''Land of the Giants'', in which she played the character of Valerie Ames Scott.
Early years
Lu ...
as Valerie Scott
*
Heather Young as Betty Hamilton
*
Kurt Kasznar
Kurt Kasznar (born Kurt Servischer; August 13, 1913 – August 6, 1979) was an Austrian-American stage, film and television actor who played roles on Broadway, appearing in the original Broadway productions of '' Waiting for Godot'', ''The ...
as Alexander Fitzhugh
*
Kevin Hagen
Kevin Hagen (April 3, 1928 – July 9, 2005) was an American actor best known for his role as Dr. Hiram Baker on NBC's ''Little House on the Prairie (TV series), Little House on the Prairie.''
Early life
Hagen was born in Chicago, Illinois, t ...
as Inspector Kobick (recurring character)
''Land of the Giants'' guest stars included many familiar faces from other 1950s and 1960s sci-fi/fantasy and adventure series, including
Jack Albertson
Harold Albertson (June 16, 1907 – November 25, 1981), known professionally as Jack Albertson, was an American actor, comedian, dancer and singer who also performed in variety. Albertson was a Tony, Oscar, and Emmy winning actor. For his perfo ...
,
Michael Ansara
Michael George Ansara (April 15, 1922 – July 31, 2013) was an American actor. He portrayed Cochise in the television series '' Broken Arrow'', Kane in the 1979–1981 series '' Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'', Commander Kang in '' Star Tr ...
,
John Carradine
John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later Jo ...
,
Yvonne Craig
Yvonne Joyce Craig (May 16, 1937 – August 17, 2015) was an American actress and ballerina, who was renowned for her role as Batgirl in the 1960s television series '' Batman''. Other notable roles in her career include Dorothy Johnson in the 196 ...
,
Charles Drake,
Alan Hale Jr
Alan Hale Jr. (born Alan Hale MacKahan; (March 8, 1921 - January 2, 1990) was an American actor and restaurateur. He was the son of actor Alan Hale Sr. His television career spanned four decades, but he was best known for his secondary lead role ...
,
Jonathan Harris
Jonathan Harris (born Jonathan Daniel Charasuchin, November 6, 1914 – November 3, 2002) was an American character actor whose career included more than 500 television and film appearances, as well as voiceovers. Two of his best-known roles we ...
,
Lee Meriwether
Lee Ann Meriwether (born May 27, 1935) is an American actress, former model, and the winner of the Miss America 1955 pageant. She has appeared in many films and television shows, notably as Betty Jones, the title character's secretary and daught ...
,
Larry Pennell
Lawrence Kenneth "Larry" Pennell (February 21, 1928 – August 28, 2013) was an American television and film actor, often remembered for his role as "Dash Riprock" in the television series ''The Beverly Hillbillies''. His career spanned ha ...
,
Warren Stevens
Warren Albert Stevens (November 2, 1919 – March 27, 2012) was an American stage, screen, and television actor.
Early life and career
Born in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, Stevens entered the United States Naval Academy in 1937 but was medical ...
, and
Ron Howard
Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of ''The Twilight Zone''. He ...
.
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.
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.
Elements of Allen's ''Lost in Space'' series recur in ''Land of the Giants'', notably the relationship between foolish, greedy, on-the-run bank robber Alexander B. Fitzhugh (
Kurt Kasznar
Kurt Kasznar (born Kurt Servischer; August 13, 1913 – August 6, 1979) was an Austrian-American stage, film and television actor who played roles on Broadway, appearing in the original Broadway productions of '' Waiting for Godot'', ''The ...
) and the young boy Barry Lockridge (
Stefan Arngrim), paralleling the relationship on ''Lost in Space'' between Doctor 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" (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 originally intended to premiere as a midseason 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 from the production sequence. This caused disconcerting lapses in continuity, since in the first 12 episodes filmed (but not in later episodes) 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.
![Land of the Giants Stefan Arngrim 1969](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Land_of_the_Giants_Stefan_Arngrim_1969.jpg)
The cost of production was immense, partly because of the special optical effects needed to matte 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 in which they find themselves, and the futuristic spacecraft sets that were needed to represent the ''Spindrift''. Because of the enormous cost, filming episodes in pairs using the same sets was more efficient and cost-effective, so writers were informed about what giant-sized props were available, which they could incorporate into their storylines. These episodes were filmed back-to-back.
To save on production costs, Allen was not above using the same device he had employed on ''
The Time Tunnel
''The Time Tunnel'' is an American color science fiction TV series written around a theme of time travel adventure starring James Darren and Robert Colbert. The show was creator-producer Irwin Allen's third science-fiction television series and ...
'' – reusing stock footage from
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
's film library. For instance, in the episode "Collector's Item", footage of Wayne Manor from ''
Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
'' is recycled as the luxury mansion home of a rich giant.
In the unaired pilot of ''The Crash'', no end scene has the giant dog in the garbage dump. Once receiving confirmation that ''Land of the Giants'' had been picked up by the network, the pilot was reworked, and production began on succeeding episodes. A break in production, though, occurred after 12 episodes were in the can (enough for a short run as a midseason replacement), until the show received the green light on the decision to launch it as a full season the following fall.
Music
Like Allen's previous series ''Lost in Space'' and ''The Time Tunnel'', the theme music was composed by
John Williams
John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...
. 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. Mullendore later scored five episodes and Courage did one, with other episodes scored by
Richard LaSalle
Richard LaSalle (January 18, 1918 – April 5, 2015) was an American film score composer.
LaSalle was born in Louisville, Colorado. He began as a performer for local hotels as a pianist and orchestra leader between the 1940s and 1950s. In 1958 he ...
(seven episodes),
Leith Stevens
Leith Stevens (September 13, 1909 – July 23, 1970) was an American music composer and conductor of radio and film scores.
Early life and education
Leith Stevens was born in Mount Moriah, Missouri,DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An ...
(five), Harry Geller (four),
Irving Gertz
Irving Gertz (May 19, 1915 – November 14, 2008) was an American composer recognized for his compositions for many fantasy and horror B-movies and TV series of the 1950s and 1960s.
Biography
Gertz was born on May 19, 1915, in Providence, Rhode I ...
,
Paul Sawtell
Paul Sawtell (3 February 1906 – 1 August 1971) was a Polish-born film score composer in the United States.
Sawtell began his career with RKO, and eventually joined Universal Pictures. Sawtell worked on many western and horror films, and also s ...
, and
Robert Prince (one each).
Soundtrack
GNP Crescendo
The gross national income (GNI), previously known as gross national product (GNP), is the total domestic and foreign output claimed by residents of a country, consisting of gross domestic product (GDP), plus factor incomes earned by foreign ...
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".
# ''Land Of The Giants'' Main Title – Season 1 (1:02)
# Off Course/The Landing/Dense Fog (6:01)
# Giant Eyes/Hidden Gun/The Big Cat/Bug Box (8:45)
# Fitzhugh's Gun/Hiding Place (6:57)
# Giants Probing/The Rescue (3:35) (note: most copies are actually missing most of Giants Probing)
# Water Drain/More Garbage (2:44)
# ''Land Of The Giants'' End Title – Season 1 (:31)
# ''Land Of The Giants'' Main Title – Season 2 (1:01)
# Space Storm/Through The Thing/Crash Landing/Giant Ford (6:08)
# The Sniveling Sneak (6:45)
# ''Land Of The Giants'' End Title – Season 2 (:30
LaLaLand Recordssubsequently released
Land of the Giants - 50th Anniversary Soundtrack Collection: Limited Edition a deluxe 4-CD box set of original music from the classic Irwin Allen '60s sci-fi/fantasy television series!". Highly recommended. Music by "John Williams, Alexander Courage, Leith Stevens, Harry Geller, Artie Kane, Joseph Mullendore, Richard LaSalle, Robert Prince, Irving Gertz, and Paul Sawtell."
Home media
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
20th Century Studios Home Entertainment (commonly referred to as 20th Home Video, or 20th Home Entertainment, formerly known as 20th Century-Fox Video, CBS/Fox Video, Fox Video, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) is a home video label of Wa ...
. This includes the unaired 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.
In Region 2,
Revelation Films
Revelation Films is a British film and television production and distribution company delivering visual entertainment via cinema, television and digital platforms.
Tony Carne founded Revelation Films in 1992 as a video and television production ...
has released the entire series on DVD in the UK. Season one was released on March 28, 2011, and season two on June 13, 2011. They also released a complete series set on March 12, 2012.
In Region 4,
Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatr ...
released season one on DVD in Australia on August 20, 2014. They released season two on November 12, 2014.
Merchandise and licensing
The pilot episode was the subject of a
View-Master
View-Master is the trademark name of a line of special-format stereoscopes and corresponding View-Master "reels", which are thin cardboard disks containing seven stereoscopy, Stereoscopic 3-D pairs of small transparent color photographs on film.M ...
reel and booklet set in 1968 (GAF Packet # B494). 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 setup for the View Master photographers.
In 1968, Pyramid Books published an extended novel adaptation of the pilot (''Land of the Giants'',
Pyramid Books
Jove Books, formerly known as Pyramid Books, is an American paperback and eBook publishing imprint, founded as an independent paperback house in 1949 by Almat Magazine Publishers (Alfred R. Plaine and Matthew Huttner). The company was sold to ...
, X-1846), written by famed author
Murray Leinster
Murray Leinster (June 16, 1896 – June 8, 1975) was a pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an American writer of genre fiction, particularly of science fiction. He wrote and published more than 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie ...
. 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 by the same mysterious phenomenon that 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 television series featured three 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.
Two further novels were penned by Leinster — ''The Hot Spot'' and ''Unknown Danger'' (Pyramid, 1969). The first two Leinster books were reprinted in 1969 in the United Kingdom by
World Distributors
World Distributors (known colloquially as "Pembertons") was a British publisher and distributor of magazines and comic books. The company was known for repackaging American comics and producing comic book annuals based on licensed properties. For ...
, the eponymous novel retitled ''The Trap.'' Unknown Danger was not published in the UK, but World Distributors also published two United Kingdom-only novels the same year, ''Slingshot for a David'' and ''The Mean City''; both were credited to James Bradwell, a pseudonym for Arthur William Charles Kent.
A hardback novel for children, ''Flight of Fear'' by Carl Henry Rathjen (1969), was published in the United States by Whitman.
Also in 1968,
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was originally an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated this way from 1962 to 1984. Currently, Gold Key Comics is owned b ...
published a comic-book version of ''Land of the Giants'', which ran to five issues. In 2010, all five issues were reprinted together as a hardcover book by Hermes Press.
In 1968,
Aurora Plastics Corporation
The Aurora Plastics Corporation was an American toy and hobby manufacturing company. It is known primarily for its production of plastic scale models of cars, airplanes, and TV and movie figures in the 1960s. Its principal competition in modelin ...
produced two plastic model kits based on the series: ''Land of the Giants'' was the title of a diorama depicting a giant snake attacking characters Steve Burton, Betty Hamilton, and Dan Erickson, who uses a giant safety pin as a spear. The second kit was a model of the ''Spindrift'', released as ''Land of the Giants Space Ship'', instead of using the proper name for the vehicle.
In 1975, Aurora reissued the kit (now renamed Rocket Transport ''Spindrift''), with new box art and photos of the assembled kit. It had a front, top section that could be lifted off, revealing a full interior that had to be constructed by the builder, as well as a working 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, which could be painted.
In 1969,
Aladdin Industries
Aladdin is a brand notable for its line of character lunchboxes including Hopalong Cassady, Superman, Mickey Mouse and The Jetsons. Today, Aladdin continues to be a food and beverage products brand and is owned by Pacific Market International, ...
released a metal, embossed
lunch box
A lunch box (alt. spelling lunchbox) refers to a hand-held container used to transport food, usually to work or to school. It is commonly made of metal or plastic, is reasonably airtight and often has a handle for carrying.
In the United ...
based on the series. The artist, Elmer Lenhardt, used his own likeness for a giant scientist taunting the little people. A reproduction of the lunch box was later released by Fab Gear USA in a limited edition of 5000.
Deanna Lund (Valerie Scott) co-wrote a series of short stories based on the series, under the collective title "Valerie in Giant Land".
MeTV
MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television program ...
began airing ''Land of the Giants'' in September 2016 to complement 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 aired the series in full from September 19, 2016,
showing one episode a day on weekdays, for 10 weeks.
References
External links
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{{Irwin Allen
American Broadcasting Company original programming
English-language television shows
Fiction about giants
Television series about size change
Television series by 20th Century Fox Television
Television series by Irwin Allen Television Productions
Television series created by Irwin Allen
Television series set in the future
Television series set on fictional planets
1960s American science fiction television series
1968 American television series debuts
1970 American television series endings
1970s American science fiction television series
Television series set in 1983