Land of the Giants (TV Series) The Secret City of Limbo (1970) User Reviews

Mysterious Underground Society of the Land of the Giants

[mgmstar128 · 8/10 · 23 October 2016]

It is fun to see so many 1960s actors from Star Trek and Lost in Space popping up in Land of the Giants episodes. Malachi Throne, who appeared in "The Menagerie" on Star Trek and "The Thief from Outer Space" on Lost in Space, is seen here as an underground survivor running in an election to rule the underground society. I also recognized General Aza as Joseph Ruskin from his voice; he appeared as Galt in the Star Trek episode "Gamesters of Triskelion."

Interesting episode with one surprising scene. At one point, Captain Steve Burton, in an out of character moment, decides to give up rescuing Fitzhugh and Valerie due to a possible war on the surface that may commence. It just doesn't jive with his usual behavior.

At least, it is nice to see Betty back again as a series regular!

The Secret...Room...Of Limbo Is Cool

[StuOz · 18 May 2007]

An underground city of giants - Limbo - exists and "the little people" get trapped in the city's election issues and murder both above and below the surface.

I read that Irwin Allen demanded the script be changed to keep the episode in line with Irwin's "It must look good" method of film-making. The writers wanted the underground giants to be "mole like people living in the dark" but I am guessing Irwin responded with something like "What the hell do you think this is, The Outer Limits? Keep it flashy! Where is Malachi Throne?" It is these kind of quirks that make Irwin TV what it is. These shows belonged to Irwin. They were his.

The underground city of giants is more interesting than the surface city of giants, partly due to the acting talents of Malachi Throne and Joseph Ruskin, I wish the series spent a dozen episodes in Limbo as it would have been a hell of a lot more interesting than half the stuff dished out in year two of this series! The election talk rocks - "As somebody once said, may the better man win" - and this is Ruskin's best role ever, which is really saying something considering his body of work.

The city has a theatre feeling about it as we only see one room, a higher budget would have helped make more rooms. Other minor problems include Whit Bissell being miscast and why was a transporter created just for the "little people"? But I refuse to put down the hour as the music score is so well matched to what we see on the screen and Limbo is just a knockout place to visit.

Added note: Steve is mildly amusing in the closing frames.

Arrack of the Mole People

[fcabanski · 5/10 · 6 November 2016]

Oddly, there's a little person (human) sized teleporter to an underground city of giants. It's never explained why the tiny teleporter exists. But in the end, the leader of Limbo destroys it to protect the humans. He sends a message with Fitzhugh telling them Limbo is too dangerous for them.

For some reason the evil general attacks some archaeologists by blowing up a rock just above them. It's never made clear why he did it. He wants the archaeologists to blast, so he can start a war with the surface dwellers. Exploding the rock makes no sense.

The leader of Limbo has an office with a very complex communications device and a desk that contains his chemistry set. It's hinted that he's a chemist. In reality, his office is designed to keep down the budget. It's a pretty simple set up, and only a few underground giants are ever shown walking around the pretty empty chamber.

The evil general tries to kill the leader in the midst of an election - they're the two candidates. Later, the general returns to get a book he wants to read. The rules of lending library in the City of Limbo must be strict. Rather than toss out the general who just tried to kill the leader, he promises to send the book after he has finished reading it.

When the leader calls for a guard to stop the evil general from leaving the office/chamber to start a war, the guard doesn't use the secret weapon to freeze the general. Instead, the guard does an awkward tackle. He jumps past the general, the guard barely hitting the general. Then they proceed to punch each other in the kidneys.

LotG is good for coming up with good ideas but then poorly executing those ideas. An underground city is an interesting concept. But this episode doesn't do much with it.