Land of the Giants
1 9 6 8 - 1 9 7 0 (USA)
51 x 60 minute episodes
This was the last of Irwin Allen's 1960 fantasy quartet following
on from Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, Time Tunnel
and Lost In Space.
Basically a space age version of Gulliver's Travels with
the commercial rocket ship Spindrift entering a space warp en
route to London in 1983 and coming out in a land where everything
mirrored Earth but was twelve times normal size.
The crew and the passengers trapped in the Land of the Giants
were: Captain Steve Burton (an arrogant macho bugger in a
body-hugging red jump suit), Co-Pilot Dan Erickson, Engineer-Tycoon
Mark Wilson, Stewardess Betty Hamilton, Heiress Valerie Scott,
Mystery passenger Alexander Fitzhugh and orphaned boy Barry
Lockridge, travelling with his dog Chipper
 The
gang were regularly menaced by gigantic cats, insects, scientists
who tried to experiment on them (and this is where my pre-pubescent
fantasies about a 1:12th scale Betty or Valerie kicked in, and I'll
say no more).
They were also imprisoned in dolls houses and hunted by Inspector
Kobick of the Nazi-esque police force.
The castaways constantly battled to repair their craft and bugger
off from their own little Brobdingnag. One bizarre episode, Pay
the Piper, featured Jonathon Harris (Doctor Smith from Lost
in Space) as a pied piper who lured children away.
 The
biggest thing about the series was the effects budget. Costing
$250,000 per episode, Land of the Giants was the most
expensive TV series made to date.
The effects (such as a slice of bread made from a four foot slab
of rubber) were truly impressive, even though a viewing of the show
today will reveal a few inconsistencies in scale from scene to
scene.
There were many other inconsistencies, such as the fact that the
little people could carry a giant D Cell battery but could not break
out of a spider web!
But Valerie and Betty hey? I mean phwoooar! No wonder this show
figured very large in my pre-pubescent fantasies.
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