| For those of you who don't know, Irwin Allen was a | | | | the Spindrift. Other characters included rich society girl |
| clever man. He devised a movie and tv series called | | | | Valerie Ames Scott, played by Deanna Lund and a |
| Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, other tv shows | | | | Spindrift's stewardess, played by Heather Young. Kurt |
| that followed included Lost in Space and a time travel | | | | Kasznar played lovable rogue Commander Alexander |
| adventure called Time Tunnel. Having tackled every | | | | B. Fitzhugh. The show used giant props such as a |
| dimension in space-time you would have thought that | | | | giant stool or a giant camera (which was kept on |
| Allen would have quit while he was ahead. No chance. | | | | display at Universal Studios for many years). These |
| By a stroke of genius, in 1967, he came up with Land | | | | props needed to be constructed, moved and stored |
| of the Giants, a tv series where the main characters | | | | and this made production expensive. Throughout its |
| found themselves on a planet just like Earth where the | | | | run, the show maintained thought provoking storylines. |
| human were just like us - except that they were 12 | | | | Ostensibly it was an adventure series characterized |
| times bigger.Irwin Allen knew that the screenwriters | | | | by the almost constant battle for survival as the "little |
| would have great fun with the almost limitless | | | | people" tried get by in a giant's world. The problem |
| possibilities of the situation he had conjured. At first he | | | | was that the writers were inevitably drawn by the |
| played with various potential scenes using sketch | | | | fascinating possibilities that were opened by the |
| storyboards. He imagined a giant foot coming down | | | | existence of a parallel Earth. What were the |
| with the an actor just scurrying out of the way and a | | | | differences between the giant's Earth and our Earth? |
| pursuit by a giant cat and a giant spider. Many more | | | | What kind of society did they live in? Whereas Irwin |
| scenes were sketched until he was ready to take his | | | | Allen's earlier tv creation Lost in Space had become |
| idea to the television networks. He produced an 8 | | | | more frivolous as each season went by, there |
| minute presentation movie reel and took a tour of | | | | seemed to be a determined effort to maintain some |
| networks chiefs and production houses. The ABC | | | | serious content and depth to Land of the the Giants.In |
| network soon realised the show's potential and gave | | | | a show like this one, a tightrope is always being |
| Allen the go ahead for a pilot and a 26 episode | | | | walked. On the one hand a show needs some glitz |
| season.Long time collaborator Tony Wilson helped | | | | and action to maintain audience share especially |
| Allen write the pilot. This laid down a template for the | | | | amongst youngsters. Although this can achieve its aim |
| show so that writers such as William Welch and | | | | in the short term it has the tendency to cheapen the |
| husband and wife team Bob and Esther Mitchell could | | | | whole project over time with each story needing to |
| pen other episodes. The cast included Gary Conway | | | | out-glitz the previous one, leading to falling off of |
| who played captain Steve Burton and Don Marshall | | | | appeal and the show's eventual demise. On the other |
| who played his co-pilot, Dan Erickson.The pilot show | | | | hand, keeping some integrity and keeping gimmicks and |
| sets the scene: it is the 1980's and Captain Burton and | | | | glitz under control will maintain a loyal, albeit limited, |
| Dan Erickson pilot a routine flight from New York | | | | following. This approach may result in a slow audience |
| (changed to Los Angeles in later shows) to London. In | | | | build which is fine until the tv network and advertisers |
| order to escape the drag of the atmosphere, aircraft | | | | lose patience and pull the plug prematurely. This is |
| travel such distances through the edges of the | | | | what happened to Land of the Giants especially in |
| atmosphere. On this occasion, though, things go wrong. | | | | view of the high production costs. Still. there are very |
| Their craft, the Spindrift is caught up in a space warp | | | | few shows that have managed to walk this tightrope |
| that somehow dumps it on an alien planet that is just | | | | over a length of time. In this case, two seasons may |
| like Earth - except that everything - and everyone - is | | | | seem short, but it was still a great achievement.Vernon |
| 12 times bigger than on the real Earth.Land of the | | | | Stent is the content writer for You can see more |
| Giants started its run on ABC on 22nd September | | | | information about this show by clicking on Land of the |
| 1968 and lasted for two seasons. The underlying plot | | | | Giants. What happened to Gary Conway and Deanna |
| of the show was that the characters needed to repair | | | | Lund? Find out at Where are they Now? |