Land of the Giants (1968–1970)

A space flight crashes on earth, but it is not the same earth the ship was from. They have arrived to a land of giants.

Creator:

Irwin Allen

Stars:

Gary Conway, Don Matheson, Stefan Arngrim

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Gary Conway	...	Capt. Steve Burton (51 episodes, 1968-1970)
Don Matheson	...	Mark Wilson (51 episodes, 1968-1970)
Stefan Arngrim	...	Barry Lockridge (51 episodes, 1968-1970)
Don Marshall	...	Dan Erickson (51 episodes, 1968-1970)
Deanna Lund	...	Valerie Scott (51 episodes, 1968-1970)
Heather Young	...	Betty Hamilton (51 episodes, 1968-1970)
Kurt Kasznar	...	Alexander B. Fitzhugh (51 episodes, 1968-1970)

Storyline

The Spindrift, a commercial spaceship on a flight from New York City to London, became lost when it passed through a strange cloud in the ship's orbit around Earth. It landed on an alternate Earth-type planet, where the inhabitants were roughly twelve times the size of the Spindrift's passengers. Our heroes include the ship's captain (Steve Burton), co-pilot (Dan) and stewardess (Betty); an arrogant engineer (Mark); a sexy jet-setter (Valerie); a young boy (Barry) and his dog Chipper; and a mysterious rogue known as Commander Fitzhugh. Together they battle the planet's totalitarian government, try to avoid capture, and attempt to repair the Spindrift so they can get back home.

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Plot Keywords:

giant | repair | advanced technology | miniature people | rescue | 

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Taglines:

Mini-people - playthings in a world of giant tormentors!

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Genres:

Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 September 1968 (USA)

Also Known As:

Tierra de gigantes

Filming Locations:

Stage 21, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

20th Century Fox Television, Irwin Allen Productions, Kent Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 60 min (51 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The flight number for the Spindrift was 612.

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Goofs

In the first several episodes of the series, during daylight hours at the spaceship campsite, the sound of tropical birds can be heard. This was an obvious mistake on the part of the sound editor - on seeing the abundant foliage around the campsite, he probably assumed that the ship had crashed in a jungle setting (as per the series it was established as a giant city park). This sound track was removed in later first season episodes.

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Connections

Referenced in The Celebrity Apprentice Australia: BMW 3 Series Print Advert (2012)

User Reviews

We were all in a Land of Giants

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)