My dad was a SFX tech on LOTG(also, Voyage, Lost in Dpace, Time Tunnel). As a ten yr old in 1967, I'd go into work with him, and the Giants set was somewhat my playground. I'd sit at the helm of the Spindrift, lift rocks as nig as I was over my head, and swoon( as much as a ten yr old could) over Deanna Lund. I ended up in the industry (Lighting) for 42 years, nut mever jad as much fun as my summers w/with dad on the 20th Century Fox lot. Great content, Dan. Thanks for all you do?
Oh wow, what a fantastic story. You were so lucky. I was 5 in 1967 and I would watch LOTG and all those other shows you mentioned with my family. Mom wasn't a giant fan of LOTG (no pun intended) but she did enjoy Lost in Space. We always had fun seeing the same monster in all the shows. I have Lost in Space, Land of the Giants and Time Tunnel on DVD and they give me such fond memories. Both of my parents have passed on and watching these shows reminds me of them. Thanks for sharing you childhood with all of us. 😁
I met Kurt Kasznar when I joined the Broadway cast of "The Sound Of Music" in 1960. I was one of the two boys playing "Kurt Von Trapp" and Kurt was playing "Max Detwiler". We developed an Uncle-Nephew kind of relationship that continued to his death in 1979. Along with several other adult actors in the cast, Kurt was one of my earliest acting teachers. Being originally from Vienna, Austria, Kurt used to tutor me when I started learning the German language in high school and later visited me in German when I was stationed there in the U.S. Army, He was a wonderful man and a good friend.
My cousin was on that show. His name is Stefan Arngrim. He played the kid. His sister, Allison Arngrim , also my cousin *(funny how that works)* played Nellie Oleson in “Little House on the Prairie”.
@@Three_Random_Words Yes he does. I can’t imagine being that much of a scumbag. I actually did think twice before posting my comment because he’s actually not the kind of person anyone would be proud to be related to.
@@BanazirGalpsi1968 That’s right. Their mother was my grandmother’s first cousin which I guess makes them my first cousins twice removed or third cousins or something like that. I’m not sure how that works. Their grandfather and my great grandfather were brothers.
This was the darkest show of the four produced by Irwin Allen and that is why I like it so much. Very little humor in it. Fitzhugh wasn't clownish like Dr. Smith and the landing party faced danger at every turn. Great show!!!
I met Don Marshal and Gary Conway at a Chiller Theater convention in New Jersey about 2011. I was surprised when Marshal said that he had written a new screenplay about what happened to the Spinthrift people on the Giant World years later. The Earth people agree to help the giants overthrow their repressive government in exchange to be helped by them to repair their ship and return home. But this was like ten years ago and it looks like a Land of the Giants movie sequel is not going to happen.
Land of the Giants airs on MeTV every Sunday morning at 3 am here in the East coast, it's bookended by three Irwin Allen shows, Lost in Space at 1 am, Voyage to the Bottom of the sea at 2 am and The Time Tunnel at 4 am
I read in the long defunct Starlog magazine years ago that Gary Conway (Steve Burton) had tried to get a revival of the show to be made in Australia where it was hugely popular in the 1980s. He failed but years later Don Marshall (Dan Erikson) wrote a script called "Escape From A Giant World", intended to be a finale the show never got. The surviving cast was apparently excited about doing it but again, it didn't happen. I met all of the cast, except for Kurt Kaznar (Alexander Fitzhugh), who had died in 1979, at a couple different convention events in the 2000s and had seen Stefan Arngrim (Barry Lockridge) at a few events since. All nice people to talk to at the time. Heather Young (Betty Hamilton) was particularly nice to me, calling me 'sweetheart' a few times during our conversation. Sadly, a few of them have passed away since then with only Gary, Heather and Stefan left from the 7 member main cast. I LOVE this show, as I do ALL things Irwin Allen and feel privileged I was able to see all of Irwin's shows in first run in the 1960s. I'm nearly 69 years old and am actually 6 months older than Stefan! Dan, thanks for this glowing tribute to the show, you really brought back some nice memories! By the way, thanks also for mentioning Jonathan Harris in "Pay The Piper"! Although many fans think this episode was TOO ridiculous, I loved it! Jonathan was pitch perfect as the Piper and his classic blend of Ham really worked in it! In addition, the badger attack on the Spindrift in that show was one of the most exciting sequences filmed, similar to the giant cat attack in the pilot. Looking forward to your future follow-up on the Spindrift miniature restoration! 👍
I was a kid in the 1960's & I saw "Land Of The Giants" in 1968 & I loved it instantly. I saw "Lost In Space" in prime time & I enjoyed that show I never missed an episode. The 60's had the best TV shows & was the best time to be a kid. I saw "Batman" when it was new & I had a Munsters lunchbox in 1964.
As a very young man, I went to the Universal Studios with my grandfather and climbed onto a table used to film Land of the Giants. There was a giant salt shaker on the table that was bigger than me and a giant fork, knife, and spoon I may have tried lifting. I was thrilled at the creativity and impressed with the engineers for the pre-CGI methods at achieving the verisimilitude of achieving housecat-level smallness.
As a new subscriber, I really appreciate the amount of research that goes into these videos. Considering the quality of the content, it's amazing how frequently a new vid is released. Much respect.
When I was a kid I had every model kit of all the sci-fi TV shows ships back then. Even the Saturn 5 Apollo rocket with the lem in it. And I had the Batmobile and the Black Beauty. I was so into those model kits.
The special effects were actually pretty good for TV and the time era. This was one of my favorite shows and similar to Lost In Space and Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea.
Land of the Giants was among my favorite TV shows back in the 1960s when I was a little kid. Others were Lost in Space, The Invaders, Night Gallery, Ironside, Mannix, Mission Impossible, Star Trek, et al...
Speaking of Batman. I was born in early 1968 and my mom always told this story about my first word being not mama or dadda but Batman! She used to tell it like it was a bad thing, He didn't even say mama or dadda just Batman! lol I have always been proud my first word on this world was BATMAN!
I was born in '65 in the UK, as a kid in the early 70s I remember watching this, The Time Tunnel, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and also British shows like Thunderbirds, UFO and Joe 90.
Unlike Lost in Space, Land of the Giants never fully fell into the campy silliness. It was a very dark show, and the episode "On a Clear Night You Can See the Earth", the Spindrift's people must contemplate killing a giant scientist who has invented a pair of infrared binoculars that can see the Earth. Another episode had a kindly old man offer to allow the little people to live in a model village scaled to their size, but his granddaughter becomes hateful of them and tries to kill them. So, in a way, this was Lost in Space if it'd stayed more on track as a serious show.
let's not forget that the Spindrift had landed in a *totalitarian police state* on the giants' planet, and we had no idea whether or not that it was like that in all the other nations on that planet or what.
Fun fact, the seats in the Spindrift were lifted from the set of the Icarus, the ship in Planet of the Apes! I have always wondered why LotG never got a big budget movie like Lost in Space. AMAZING VID!
The giants also had trouble seeing in the dark which made it seem ridiculous when they ran around town in broad daylight. Don’t forget they also had a dog on the show named Chipper.
Deanna Lund’s _Valerie in Giant Land_ takes place after the show, but doesn’t have them returning their Earth and time. They’ve adapted to their circumstances.
When Land of the Giants was in production, my parents took our family to Universal Studios and we got to see some of the sets (and the sets for H. R. Puffenstuff). The lunch area had some of the giant props to play with. One of my great memories.
Yes. I remember the spool, phone and needle. Universal Studios hold much more impressionable memories for me when I went as a kid back in the early 70's.
As I recall (being an eleven year old at the time), Tunnel and Giants ran back to back on Friday nights on ABC. I couldn't wait for them to come on. I was into building models at the time but I can't understand how I missed the Spindrift from Aurora.
The Giants show aired ABC Sunday nights around 7pm Eastern/Pacific from 1968 to 1970. Taking over the time slot after the Voyage to the Bottom of The Sea show was cancelled after 4 seasons.
I met Stefan Arngrim (Barry) and his wife at Chiller Theatre on Saturday (4/27/24) and we watched this video together! Another guy sharing a table with Stefan brought a huge Spindrift model and he saw us watching the video. He said "I know Dan" and showed us a B9 robot he built. They were all very nice people and we had a great time. Thanks for this video!
Very nice overview of the show. I think the series did get cancelled due to the cost, but apparently it became the biggest selling series to the international market the studio ever had, which led the execs to regret axing it. The show had a big surge in popularity in the UK in the 1980s when it was rerun. And yes, we loved it here in Australia, along with the rest of Irwin Allen’s shows. Lost in Space was Australia’s most repeated series.
Dan, just wanted to let you know that I just love your program. Just love it! Draws me in every time, you have a great presence on the screen as narrator to take the viewer behind the scenes of the great sci-fi shows of yesteryear as well as props music ... and monsters. Now as the ship Spindrift or what some folks on the set called the Spend thrift : one of the set models I believe is being displayed at the science fiction museum here in Seattle, just a little info I thought I would share.
Oh wow!!! This absolutely shaped my love of science fiction as a child. I would run home from school and watch this - it had to be sometime in the late 70’s here in New Zealand 🇳🇿
When I was 8, we visited the studio and we played on the Checker Set made for the show. Even sat in one of the Land of the Giants Chair. Both were outside where visitors could interact with those props. The checkers were made of Balsa wood.
Remember seeing this in reruns. Some station ran it and lost in space back to back. Found it creepy as a kid, so would just watch Lost in space, after the first couple episodes. May have to track it down and give it another chance. That Deanna Lund is quite the babe.
I heard that they built a raft and decided to leave the dumb dinosaurs and people And decided to take their chances on a new river They were never heard from Again 😢rip 🙏 🪦 😌 ☹️
One of my all time favourite sci-fi TV series. It had some great scripts, and was well acted. I still have my Aurora model kits and all five issues of the comic book.
I loved this show! A big favourite here in Australia. I lived in with my mother at a private nursing home, she was deputy matron there, and the lady who was matron had two kids. Us three terrors would play at being in Land of The Giants. They renovated part of the building and we’d play among the wooden boards and so on, everywhere we were forbidden to go, and it was just bloody marvellous❤️
I always liked this show, I remember watching it as a kid along with lost in space and batman. I used to have the spindrift model but it got lost over the years. I still have my original batmobile, bat boat & yellow submarine from corgi.
Loved the show. I got to meet the cast at their first renion 20 odd years ago at the Chiller Convention, held in Meadowland in NJ. The props were pretty cool for the time
One episode used the Mayberry town set. I think the town was called Midberry. It was always surreal to see Mayberry in Star Trek, Batman and other shows.
I have a 'Land of the Giants' memory that has been burnt into my brain since I was a child. I was at a relative's house and went into the living room to watch the television while the grown-ups talked in the dining area, well 'Land of the Giants' was on and I was watching it when midway through the show my uncle Johnny came in the room and changes the channel to a football game. My heart just sank, I believe it was the episode with that guy with the goatee and glasses and I was mesmerized by the show's production design and its effects. From that day I thought my uncle Johnny was a jerk and also from that day I disliked sports. The funny thing is about ten years ago I was at someone's home, and I really didn't know too many people there so I went into the living room where the television was on showing some cartoon, there was a group of kids in the room and they were in the corner playing with their backs turned away from the T.V., I thought they weren't watching it so I changed the channel. And just at that moment they all turned their little heads in unison and stared at me exactly like the children from the film "' The Village of the Damned', having personally identified with that situation I turned the channel back and they turned away from the T.V. and resumed playing. I felt that it could have been a Larry David moment if "Land of the Giants" was airing a rerun on the other channel when I changed it and then back again. It just goes to show you how much times have changed.
I have always believed that the Spindrift full size mock-up spaceship was originally meant to be the flying sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea in its final season. Irwin allen, and Irwin Allen Productions, was well known for reusing props onto new television shows.
There were so many great scifi shows on TV when I was a young boy growing up in South-East England. We got not only all the American shows like the Irwin Allen classics, but also homegrown stuff like Thunderbirds, Doctor Who, Timeslip.... I could always find some great scifi show to watch. I still happily watch them at the age of 61.
As a serious ship and model car builder, I could NEVER resist buying all those Aurora TV sci-fi models. Good clean fun from a bygone (and better) era. I miss those pre-video game and smart phone/social media days !
Excellent video...thanks for posting it. The one thing I was surprised you didn't mention was that it took place in the futuristic year of 1983 and everyone is wearing 1960's fashion. I heard Don Marshall had a re-union script that never got produced while most of them were still alive. Too bad it would have been good to get a conclusion.
When the series was last broadcast on UK television, channel 4 did an interview with Gary and Deanna. Always going well but, towards the end, there is a huge something noise, like the sound of Matthew footprints. Gary and Deanna look worried and quickly exit the frame. That was fun! 🙂
In the US there's an over the air channel MEtv. Every Saturday night they air Batman, Star Trek, Kolchak the Nightstalker, Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants, Time Tunnel, The Invaders and Thunderbirds.
I got the DVD set of Land of the Giants that came in a box that looks like one of the cages that was used to capture the little people. It came with some postcards, key chain, a Golden Key comic book. I keep that and the metal lunch box close together. I wish they would do a remake or a new series. I would watch it.
As a young boy growing up in California my parents took me to Universal Studios in the early70s. They had several props from Land of the giants one being a giant phone which I climbed on. I was about 7yrs old.
Land of the Giants, Lost in Space, Voyage, Time Tunnel I can watch these over n over n over again. Even back then we were aware of the inconsistencies and a stretch of the imagination Still beats anything on today! Of course I have a prejudiced connection as I was around back then so I have the nostalgic memory thing going.
Was born in 68 so I had no clue this series (also Time Tunnel, VTTBOTS and The Invaders) ever existed till a few years ago on Me TV. What great historical shows! Can't wait for part two with some character background and other info. Great work Dan and keep Invaders in mind !!!
When I was 5 Don came to my home town on a promotional tour and I got to meet him. Was my favorite show of the time. They had over twice the buget of star trek. Amazing!
@@MoviesMusicMonsters no, nothing like that. Offered him a small powdered donut, but he said he was on a diet. Did get a picture with James doohan, scotty from star trek in the late 80s . He lived in sarnia, a small town in Canada. Very nice guy. Would do anything for a fan.
Thanks for the look back into the past. LOTG was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid. I used to try and figure out how big objects were and how much they weighed. I was so disappointed when I learned that the show was being canceled.
Great Dan! I remember seeing the show during original broadcast, the one thing I couldn’t understand why they just didn’t just go with a concept of just going through the storm just made them smaller, instead of pretending they were on an alien planet
I can remember watching this show in it's prime time slot as a very young kid. I loved, loved this show as a small kid you empathized with the crew in the show as all the adults around you looked like the Giants they had to deal with. The part that intrigued me was the Giant world was ruled by an totalitarian government and the little people would help the resistance like it was a WW2 movie. After the show ended I felt bad they were stuck there forever with no escape.
Great information about these classics! I don't remember watching them back when they were new, but I have been watching them every Saturday night on MeTV. I was in Vietnam in '66-'67 so that might be why I didn't see them. The whole line up of shows is on MeTv every Saturday starting with Lost in Space and going through to Invaders. Dr Smith was the most despicable character I have ever seen. Keep doing what you do. Really great to see the actors and their stories.
The SFX were very crude, but for kids we filled in the gaps with our imaginations. Psychology-wise, think that kids liked it because the small people represented them in a 'big world". I remember being terrified when the cast were in physical danger of being squashed, or eaten by a house cat. Great show for kids!!!
@@MoviesMusicMonsters The SFX were quite good for the time. It was the most expensive show on TV back then, averaging $250k per episode. But this I don't understand. Lost in Space, Star Trek and Land of the Giants were all known to be the hardest shows to produce at the time: shooting schedules were very tight and grueling. Yet all of those shows got by with an executive producer, a line producer, and one or two associate producers: four at the most. 30 years later, half-hour sitcoms like Friends or The Nanny were a lot easier, no SFX; yet those shows listed almost a DOZEN people as "producers"! Get real! Why should it take that many "producers" to crank out one measly half-hour sitcom?
I remember seeing some of the giant props at a studio tour. I echo the calls for the one show I loved as a kid but not so much as an adult - The TIme Tunnel!
Dark Shadows came on in the late afternoon as one of the last Soaps of the programming day. Land of the Giants came on sometime after the 5 o.'clock evening news.
Thanks, Dan for another wonderful video… I’m rather late getting into Land of the Giants, even though I was old enough to watch it during its first run on tv… I now watch it every Saturday late night… Fun show to watch I appreciate your deep dive into this classic Erwin Allen show…. Thanks!
Another great episode...thanks Dan...but then all your uploads are really nostalgic and exciting...thanks for all the trivia and knowledge you bring to us every time of the wonderful shows we grew up with. ❤
Interesting to note that that shows are still often cancelled without a story arc being completed or the protagonists 'getting home'. Today, as in the past, the studio execs don't give a damn about the fans of a show, but are only interested in how much money they are making.
I just found your channel the other day. It is awesome! I watched these old shows as a kid. Your videos are really bringing back a lot of great memories.
I have fond memories of watching all of the Irwin Allen TV shows with my father. We loved Science fiction and western shows. I miss those simpler times. Love your RUclips channel. 😊
I remember seeing it in the UK as a kid. I always liked the premise of how the spaceship was on a suborbital flight that made it goes back in time or so.
You asked about the giant hand. It went to Universal and was located at an outdoor tram tour stopover,Standing straight up,with a giant lipstick in it's hand !!! Other props there were the giant phone,I think the camera was there,Next to a sign about the props was a set of keys,the paint had started chipping off them ,exposing the fact that they were made of wood.This was about 1973/74 or thereabouts. I'm sure being outside took it's toll on the props.
Dan I remember watching the show in it's original airing on tv back in the 60s. I thought it was the coolest show. I also loved Time Tunnel. I actually loved all of Irwin Allen's shows. Lost In Space became too cheesy for me though. I liked the seriousness in the show. That's the way I wish it would have stayed.
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My dad was a SFX tech on LOTG(also, Voyage, Lost in Dpace, Time Tunnel).
As a ten yr old in 1967, I'd go into work with him, and the Giants set was somewhat my playground.
I'd sit at the helm of the Spindrift, lift rocks as nig as I was over my head, and swoon( as much as a ten yr old could) over Deanna Lund.
I ended up in the industry (Lighting) for 42 years, nut mever jad as much fun as my summers w/with dad on the 20th Century Fox lot.
Great content, Dan.
Thanks for all you do?
Cool story!!! 😊
Did you ever notice that the Spindrift looked like some kind of fish head?
Oh wow, what a fantastic story. You were so lucky. I was 5 in 1967 and I would watch LOTG and all those other shows you mentioned with my family. Mom wasn't a giant fan of LOTG (no pun intended) but she did enjoy Lost in Space. We always had fun seeing the same monster in all the shows. I have Lost in Space, Land of the Giants and Time Tunnel on DVD and they give me such fond memories. Both of my parents have passed on and watching these shows reminds me of them. Thanks for sharing you childhood with all of us. 😁
I met Kurt Kasznar when I joined the Broadway cast of "The Sound Of Music" in 1960. I was one of the two boys playing "Kurt Von Trapp" and Kurt was playing "Max Detwiler". We developed an Uncle-Nephew kind of relationship that continued to his death in 1979. Along with several other adult actors in the cast, Kurt was one of my earliest acting teachers. Being originally from Vienna, Austria, Kurt used to tutor me when I started learning the German language in high school and later visited me in German when I was stationed there in the U.S. Army, He was a wonderful man and a good friend.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful memory and friendship with Kurt.😊
My cousin was on that show. His name is Stefan Arngrim. He played the kid. His sister, Allison Arngrim , also my cousin *(funny how that works)* played Nellie Oleson in “Little House on the Prairie”.
So he was in Class of 1984 as well
Yeah, he's got a dark history according to Allison. I read her book, it's hilarious, except for the dark stuff.
@@Three_Random_Words
Yes he does. I can’t imagine being that much of a scumbag. I actually did think twice before posting my comment because he’s actually not the kind of person anyone would be proud to be related to.
I read her book too. He doesn't come off well. Btw, Thier mom was the voice of Casper the friendly ghost
@@BanazirGalpsi1968
That’s right. Their mother was my grandmother’s first cousin which I guess makes them my first cousins twice removed or third cousins or something like that. I’m not sure how that works.
Their grandfather and my great grandfather were brothers.
This was the darkest show of the four produced by Irwin Allen and that is why I like it so much. Very little humor in it. Fitzhugh wasn't clownish like Dr. Smith and the landing party faced danger at every turn. Great show!!!
I met Don Marshal and Gary Conway at a Chiller Theater convention in New Jersey about 2011. I was surprised when Marshal said that he had written a new screenplay about what happened to the Spinthrift people on the Giant World years later. The Earth people agree to help the giants overthrow their repressive government in exchange to be helped by them to repair their ship and return home. But this was like ten years ago and it looks like a Land of the Giants movie sequel is not going to happen.
hi Dan, as a kid that was one of my favorite. The internet allowed me to see the first episode that I had missed as a kid. Keep on the good work!
Thank you so much for the support :-)
Series are getting short.😢
Land of the Giants airs on MeTV every Sunday morning at 3 am here in the East coast, it's bookended by three Irwin Allen shows, Lost in Space at 1 am, Voyage to the Bottom of the sea at 2 am and The Time Tunnel at 4 am
Nice :-) I'm glad someone is still running it.
@@MoviesMusicMonsters They call it their "Sci Fi Saturday Nights" but it actually airs on Sunday - but it's Saturday on the west coast
@evancortez2 wish I could stay up that late to watch. Us old folks are in bed early 🙄
@@EdVelez No problem, I DVR it :)
I read in the long defunct Starlog magazine years ago that Gary Conway (Steve Burton) had tried to get a revival of the show to be made in Australia where it was hugely popular in the 1980s. He failed but years later Don Marshall (Dan Erikson) wrote a script called "Escape From A Giant World", intended to be a finale the show never got. The surviving cast was apparently excited about doing it but again, it didn't happen. I met all of the cast, except for Kurt Kaznar (Alexander Fitzhugh), who had died in 1979, at a couple different convention events in the 2000s and had seen Stefan Arngrim (Barry Lockridge) at a few events since. All nice people to talk to at the time. Heather Young (Betty Hamilton) was particularly nice to me, calling me 'sweetheart' a few times during our conversation. Sadly, a few of them have passed away since then with only Gary, Heather and Stefan left from the 7 member main cast. I LOVE this show, as I do ALL things Irwin Allen and feel privileged I was able to see all of Irwin's shows in first run in the 1960s. I'm nearly 69 years old and am actually 6 months older than Stefan! Dan, thanks for this glowing tribute to the show, you really brought back some nice memories! By the way, thanks also for mentioning Jonathan Harris in "Pay The Piper"! Although many fans think this episode was TOO ridiculous, I loved it! Jonathan was pitch perfect as the Piper and his classic blend of Ham really worked in it! In addition, the badger attack on the Spindrift in that show was one of the most exciting sequences filmed, similar to the giant cat attack in the pilot. Looking forward to your future follow-up on the Spindrift miniature restoration! 👍
I was a kid in the 1960's & I saw "Land Of The Giants" in 1968 & I loved it instantly.
I saw "Lost In Space" in prime time & I enjoyed that show I never missed an episode.
The 60's had the best TV shows & was the best time to be a kid.
I saw "Batman" when it was new & I had a Munsters lunchbox in 1964.
As a very young man, I went to the Universal Studios with my grandfather and climbed onto a table used to film Land of the Giants. There was a giant salt shaker on the table that was bigger than me and a giant fork, knife, and spoon I may have tried lifting. I was thrilled at the creativity and impressed with the engineers for the pre-CGI methods at achieving the verisimilitude of achieving housecat-level smallness.
As a new subscriber, I really appreciate the amount of research that goes into these videos. Considering the quality of the content, it's amazing how frequently a new vid is released. Much respect.
I think you really enjoyed making this one Dan! Thanks for all the fun and enthusiasm you communicate. Cheers mate.
Born in 1961- loved this show as a kid.
Ditto!
When I was a kid I had every model kit of all the sci-fi TV shows ships back then. Even the Saturn 5 Apollo rocket with the lem in it. And I had the Batmobile and the Black Beauty. I was so into those model kits.
The special effects were actually pretty good for TV and the time era. This was one of my favorite shows and similar to Lost In Space and Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea.
It was a great time to be alive, be a kid and enjoy great TV shows for sure :-)
Land of the Giants was among my favorite TV shows back in the 1960s when I was a little kid. Others were Lost in Space, The Invaders, Night Gallery, Ironside, Mannix, Mission Impossible, Star Trek, et al...
When I was a lad, I was horribly envious of a friend who had the Spindrift model and he felt the same way about my flying sub.
What a great channel. Love all these retro looks at such classic shows. Thanks for making them!
Another hit. I have fond memories of all the Irwin Allen shows. Like you I grew up watching the the re-runs.
Speaking of Batman. I was born in early 1968 and my mom always told this story about my first word being not mama or dadda but Batman! She used to tell it like it was a bad thing, He didn't even say mama or dadda just Batman! lol I have always been proud my first word on this world was BATMAN!
I was born in '65 in the UK, as a kid in the early 70s I remember watching this, The Time Tunnel, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and also British shows like Thunderbirds, UFO and Joe 90.
Unlike Lost in Space, Land of the Giants never fully fell into the campy silliness. It was a very dark show, and the episode "On a Clear Night You Can See the Earth", the Spindrift's people must contemplate killing a giant scientist who has invented a pair of infrared binoculars that can see the Earth. Another episode had a kindly old man offer to allow the little people to live in a model village scaled to their size, but his granddaughter becomes hateful of them and tries to kill them.
So, in a way, this was Lost in Space if it'd stayed more on track as a serious show.
You're absolutely right. And that's one thing I really appreciate about it.
let's not forget that the Spindrift had landed in a *totalitarian police state* on the giants' planet, and we had no idea whether or not that it was like that in all the other nations on that planet or what.
Spindrift looks a lot like the flying mini-submarine from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea😁
I agree. I wonder if it's the same designer.
Fun fact, the seats in the Spindrift were lifted from the set of the Icarus, the ship in Planet of the Apes! I have always wondered why LotG never got a big budget movie like Lost in Space. AMAZING VID!
The giants also had trouble seeing in the dark which made it seem ridiculous when they ran around town in broad daylight. Don’t forget they also had a dog on the show named Chipper.
It surprises me that with all the nostalgic reunion shows of the late 70s and early 80s, they never did wrap up Lost in Space or Land of the Giants.
Deanna Lund’s _Valerie in Giant Land_ takes place after the show, but doesn’t have them returning their Earth and time. They’ve adapted to their circumstances.
I wish I had the flying sub. I do still have the spindrift model I built when it first came out 😮
When Land of the Giants was in production, my parents took our family to Universal Studios and we got to see some of the sets (and the sets for H. R. Puffenstuff). The lunch area had some of the giant props to play with. One of my great memories.
Yes. I remember the spool, phone and needle. Universal Studios hold much more impressionable memories for me when I went as a kid back in the early 70's.
Great series, and I watched it often. Deanna should have put a poster out. She was a smokeshow.
The Spindrift looked a lot like the Flying Sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
This was great. I remember it. It was a great time. We didn't get them as quickly here in UK. But I still love them all.
As I recall (being an eleven year old at the time), Tunnel and Giants ran back to back on Friday nights on ABC. I couldn't wait for them to come on. I was into building models at the time but I can't understand how I missed the Spindrift from Aurora.
The Giants show aired ABC Sunday nights around 7pm Eastern/Pacific from 1968 to 1970. Taking over the time slot after the Voyage to the Bottom of The Sea show was cancelled after 4 seasons.
I met Stefan Arngrim (Barry) and his wife at Chiller Theatre on Saturday (4/27/24) and we watched this video together! Another guy sharing a table with Stefan brought a huge Spindrift model and he saw us watching the video. He said "I know Dan" and showed us a B9 robot he built. They were all very nice people and we had a great time. Thanks for this video!
Very nice overview of the show. I think the series did get cancelled due to the cost, but apparently it became the biggest selling series to the international market the studio ever had, which led the execs to regret axing it. The show had a big surge in popularity in the UK in the 1980s when it was rerun. And yes, we loved it here in Australia, along with the rest of Irwin Allen’s shows. Lost in Space was Australia’s most repeated series.
Amazing! Another wonderful video. You've got my subscription, Dan. Thanks. Keep 'em coming!
Dan, just wanted to let you know that I just love your program. Just love it! Draws me in every time, you have a great presence on the screen as narrator to take the viewer behind the scenes of the great sci-fi shows of yesteryear as well as props music ... and monsters. Now as the ship Spindrift or what some folks on the set called the Spend thrift : one of the set models I believe is being displayed at the science fiction museum here in Seattle, just a little info I thought I would share.
Oh wow!!! This absolutely shaped my love of science fiction as a child. I would run home from school and watch this - it had to be sometime in the late 70’s here in New Zealand 🇳🇿
When I was 8, we visited the studio and we played on the Checker Set made for the show. Even sat in one of the Land of the Giants Chair. Both were outside where visitors could interact with those props. The checkers were made of Balsa wood.
Remember seeing this in reruns. Some station ran it and lost in space back to back.
Found it creepy as a kid, so would just watch Lost in space, after the first couple episodes.
May have to track it down and give it another chance.
That Deanna Lund is quite the babe.
I so love how you keep us hungering for more, Dan. Keep'em coming!
Side note. When the show ended in 1970 Deanna Lund would marry her co-star Don Matheson before eventually producing one child and a divorce in 1980.
Their daughter Michelle became an actress.
My Favorite show on weekdays afternoons 😅😅 2:02
Good to know.
Use to watch this with my dad on Sunday nights.
I heard that they built a raft and decided to leave the dumb dinosaurs and people
And decided to take their chances on a new river
They were never heard from
Again 😢rip 🙏 🪦 😌 ☹️
One of my all time favourite sci-fi TV series. It had some great scripts, and was well acted. I still have my Aurora model kits and all five issues of the comic book.
The Land of the Giants metal lunchbox was my very first lunchbox!
LOVE YOUR YOU TUBE CHANNEL I GREW UP WATCHING THESE EPISODE AND TILL THIS DAY STILL LOVE THEM.
I loved this show! A big favourite here in Australia. I lived in with my mother at a private nursing home, she was deputy matron there, and the lady who was matron had two kids. Us three terrors would play at being in Land of The Giants. They renovated part of the building and we’d play among the wooden boards and so on, everywhere we were forbidden to go, and it was just bloody marvellous❤️
I always liked this show, I remember watching it as a kid along with lost in space and batman. I used to have the spindrift model but it got lost over the years. I still have my original batmobile, bat boat & yellow submarine from corgi.
Loved the show. I got to meet the cast at their first renion 20 odd years ago at the Chiller Convention, held in Meadowland in NJ. The props were pretty cool for the time
One episode used the Mayberry town set. I think the town was called Midberry. It was always surreal to see Mayberry in Star Trek, Batman and other shows.
Another amazing story !!
Thanks Dan !
I didn't appreciate Diana Lund as five year-old but boy, I do now.
Haha ain't that the truth :-)
How about those Godzilla movies? Yuriko Hoshi was gorgeous in "Godzilla vs. The Thing."
I have a 'Land of the Giants' memory that has been burnt into my brain since I was a child. I was at a relative's house and went into the living room to watch the television while the grown-ups talked in the dining area, well 'Land of the Giants' was on and I was watching it when midway through the show my uncle Johnny came in the room and changes the channel to a football game. My heart just sank, I believe it was the episode with that guy with the goatee and glasses and I was mesmerized by the show's production design and its effects. From that day I thought my uncle Johnny was a jerk and also from that day I disliked sports. The funny thing is about ten years ago I was at someone's home, and I really didn't know too many people there so I went into the living room where the television was on showing some cartoon, there was a group of kids in the room and they were in the corner playing with their backs turned away from the T.V., I thought they weren't watching it so I changed the channel. And just at that moment they all turned their little heads in unison and stared at me exactly like the children from the film "' The Village of the Damned', having personally identified with that situation I turned the channel back and they turned away from the T.V. and resumed playing. I felt that it could have been a Larry David moment if "Land of the Giants" was airing a rerun on the other channel when I changed it and then back again. It just goes to show you how much times have changed.
The psychedelic colour patterns used as effects have never been equalled.
I have always believed that the Spindrift full size mock-up spaceship was originally meant to be the flying sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea in its final season. Irwin allen, and Irwin Allen Productions, was well known for reusing props onto new television shows.
There were so many great scifi shows on TV when I was a young boy growing up in South-East England. We got not only all the American shows like the Irwin Allen classics, but also homegrown stuff like Thunderbirds, Doctor Who, Timeslip.... I could always find some great scifi show to watch. I still happily watch them at the age of 61.
Same here, loved all those shows growing up in the West of England.
I nevah could get into Dr. Who, but cheers 🍻 from Florida 👍🏿
Yep, me too! Kent, age 62!
As a serious ship and model car builder, I could NEVER resist buying all those Aurora TV sci-fi models. Good clean fun from a bygone (and better) era. I miss those pre-video game and smart phone/social media days !
Excellent video...thanks for posting it. The one thing I was surprised you didn't mention was that it took place in the futuristic year of 1983 and everyone is wearing 1960's fashion. I heard Don Marshall had a re-union script that never got produced while most of them were still alive. Too bad it would have been good to get a conclusion.
When the series was last broadcast on UK television, channel 4 did an interview with Gary and Deanna. Always going well but, towards the end, there is a huge something noise, like the sound of Matthew footprints. Gary and Deanna look worried and quickly exit the frame. That was fun! 🙂
In the US there's an over the air channel MEtv. Every Saturday night they air Batman, Star Trek, Kolchak the Nightstalker, Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants, Time Tunnel, The Invaders and Thunderbirds.
I got the DVD set of Land of the Giants that came in a box that looks like one of the cages that was used to capture the little people. It came with some postcards, key chain, a Golden Key comic book. I keep that and the metal lunch box close together. I wish they would do a remake or a new series. I would watch it.
As a young boy growing up in California my parents took me to Universal Studios in the early70s. They had several props from Land of the giants one being a giant phone which I climbed on. I was about 7yrs old.
Land of the Giants, Lost in Space, Voyage, Time Tunnel I can watch these over n over n over again. Even back then we were aware of the inconsistencies and a stretch of the imagination Still beats anything on today! Of course I have a prejudiced connection as I was around back then so I have the nostalgic memory thing going.
Was born in 68 so I had no clue this series (also Time Tunnel, VTTBOTS and The Invaders) ever existed till a few years ago on Me TV. What great historical shows! Can't wait for part two with some character background and other info. Great work Dan and keep Invaders in mind !!!
Another great one Dan - thank-you! (and OMG Deanna Lund was GEORGEOUS !!!!!) [I was WAY too young to appreciate her at the time]
look her up now she ROCKS in a BIKINI That's when women were real looking women Todays women are far too gone to be called a real looking women
@@rogerstlaurent8704 I did - and you are correct! 😇
I loved this show back in the 1960s and wat he'd manybof the reruns when it went into syndication.
Especially loved Deanna Lund. What a beauty.
I watched all these as a 10 year old. Great exciting television!
I had the pleasure of meeting and having dinner with Don Marshall. Great guy. Very personable.
When I was 5 Don came to my home town on a promotional tour and I got to meet him. Was my favorite show of the time. They had over twice the buget of star trek. Amazing!
That is such a cool story. Did you get any pictures?
@@MoviesMusicMonsters no, nothing like that. Offered him a small powdered donut, but he said he was on a diet. Did get a picture with James doohan, scotty from star trek in the late 80s . He lived in sarnia, a small town in Canada. Very nice guy. Would do anything for a fan.
I love your videos on these old school tv shows. Having grown up in the 60’s I remember watching these shows!
Thanks for the look back into the past. LOTG was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid. I used to try and figure out how big objects were and how much they weighed. I was so disappointed when I learned that the show was being canceled.
Yeah, a lot of the good stuff got canceled way before it's time :-)
Great Dan! I remember seeing the show during original broadcast, the one thing I couldn’t understand why they just didn’t just go with a concept of just going through the storm just made them smaller, instead of pretending they were on an alien planet
I loved that show when I was a little kid.
I can remember watching this show in it's prime time slot as a very young kid. I loved, loved this show as a small kid you empathized with the crew in the show as all the adults around you looked like the Giants they had to deal with. The part that intrigued me was the Giant world was ruled by an totalitarian government and the little people would help the resistance like it was a WW2 movie. After the show ended I felt bad they were stuck there forever with no escape.
I used to watch Land of the Giants in the early 80s and Time Tunnel in '89. Really was enthralled by them as a teenager.
I remember when Land of the Giants premiered in 1968. For a kid, it was must see TV as Lost in Space had ended its run in early 1968.
When kids TV was worth watching..and of course it had the gorgeous Deanna Lund
Great information about these classics! I don't remember watching them back when they were new, but I have been watching them every Saturday night on MeTV. I was in Vietnam in '66-'67 so that might be why I didn't see them. The whole line up of shows is on MeTv every Saturday starting with Lost in Space and going through to Invaders. Dr Smith was the most despicable character I have ever seen. Keep doing what you do. Really great to see the actors and their stories.
The SFX were very crude, but for kids we filled in the gaps with our imaginations. Psychology-wise, think that kids liked it because the small people represented them in a 'big world". I remember being terrified when the cast were in physical danger of being squashed, or eaten by a house cat. Great show for kids!!!
Absolutely :-)
@@MoviesMusicMonsters The SFX were quite good for the time. It was the most expensive show on TV back then, averaging $250k per episode. But this I don't understand. Lost in Space, Star Trek and Land of the Giants were all known to be the hardest shows to produce at the time: shooting schedules were very tight and grueling. Yet all of those shows got by with an executive producer, a line producer, and one or two associate producers: four at the most. 30 years later, half-hour sitcoms like Friends or The Nanny were a lot easier, no SFX; yet those shows listed almost a DOZEN people as "producers"! Get real! Why should it take that many "producers" to crank out one measly half-hour sitcom?
Wow...64K subscribers. Not too far away from hitting 100K!, keep them coming.
Gary Conway was the title character in I Was a Teenage Frankenstein.
He also played the Teenage Frankenstein again in How To Make A Monster.
One of my favorite classic TV show. I have all the models and the DVD set.
I hope you do some vids about Gerry Anderson shows like UFO and Space:1999
I remember seeing some of the giant props at a studio tour. I echo the calls for the one show I loved as a kid but not so much as an adult - The TIme Tunnel!
Nope. We rushed home to watch Barnabus Collins and Dark Shadows.
LOL Dark Shadows OMG very popular Soap Opera
Absolutely!!! I also used to go to the conventions of Dark Shadows years later❤
Dark Shadows came on in the late afternoon as one of the last Soaps of the programming day. Land of the Giants came on sometime after the 5 o.'clock evening news.
And... If you missed even one half hour episode, you were lost for at least two more episodes....
Thanks, Dan for another wonderful video… I’m rather late getting into Land of the Giants, even though I was old enough to watch it during its first run on tv… I now watch it every Saturday late night… Fun show to watch I appreciate your deep dive into this classic Erwin Allen show…. Thanks!
This was one of my dad's favorite shows, along with Wild Wild West.
Another great episode...thanks Dan...but then all your uploads are really nostalgic and exciting...thanks for all the trivia and knowledge you bring to us every time of the wonderful shows we grew up with. ❤
Interesting to note that that shows are still often cancelled without a story arc being completed or the protagonists 'getting home'. Today, as in the past, the studio execs don't give a damn about the fans of a show, but are only interested in how much money they are making.
Probably has something to do with The Fugitive.They said it hurt the synd run because every one knew how the show would end.
I loved the Irwin Allen shows , this is deffo a favourite, the first episodes had a dark atmosphere I thought .. love your videos 🇬🇧🍸
Great video Don. I’m 60 and used to watch all the Irwin Allen programmes in the 1970’s. Great TV then 😊
That giant with the glasses scared me right away since this wasn't fairyland. My friend with that lunch box haunted me with that image for months.
I just found your channel the other day. It is awesome! I watched these old shows as a kid. Your videos are really bringing back a lot of great memories.
I have fond memories of watching all of the Irwin Allen TV shows with my father. We loved Science fiction and western shows. I miss those simpler times. Love your RUclips channel. 😊
I remember seeing it in the UK as a kid. I always liked the premise of how the spaceship was on a suborbital flight that made it goes back in time or so.
You asked about the giant hand. It went to Universal and was located at an outdoor tram tour stopover,Standing straight up,with a giant lipstick in it's hand !!! Other props there were the giant phone,I think the camera was there,Next to a sign about the props was a set of keys,the paint had started chipping off them ,exposing the fact that they were made of wood.This was about 1973/74 or thereabouts. I'm sure being outside took it's toll on the props.
--> a few of my childhood favorites; Jonny Quest, Dark Shadows, and I Dream of Jeannie.
When I was a kid. The props from that show were at U.V. studios. That was great to see and touch. Fantastic.
Land Of The Giants was a huge hit in England too. My dad loved the show.
1:00 - LAND OF THE GIANTS - I loved this show.
Dan I remember watching the show in it's original airing on tv back in the 60s. I thought it was the coolest show. I also loved Time Tunnel. I actually loved all of Irwin Allen's shows. Lost In Space became too cheesy for me though. I liked the seriousness in the show. That's the way I wish it would have stayed.
one of my fun pastimes is seeing what props I can spot being reused in another Irwin Allen production.