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

Although it is supposed to be another planet, nameplates visible on cars and trucks on the show clearly indicate they were manufactured by Chrysler Corporation (the automaker contracted with the series' studio at that time).

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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 Boom! Hollywood's Greatest Disaster Movies (2000)

User Reviews

A memorable show.....

At a cost of over $250,000 per episode, "Land of the Giants" was the most expensive show of its time.(As well as the highest rated

when it premiered in October of 1968). That money was well spent on impressive visual effects, camera tricks, and enormous realistic props that had the audience believing they were watching 7 space travellers accidentally stranded on a world where everything was twelve times the size of the equivalent things on earth. This show remains visually quite impressive and is well remembered by those of us old enough to have seen it during its first run. Gary Conway and Don Marshall lead the cast as the pilot and co-pilot of the ill-fated 'Spindrift' spacecraft and

and Kevin Hagen is extremely effective in several episodes as the government agent of the giant world with the assigned task of hunting the earthmen down.