Land of the Giants - I don't remember it being this dumb! Still cool nonetheless!

[Overmind One]

I used to watch Land of the Giants as a kid. I have just watched three episodes back to back, and the writing in them is bordering on silly. The show was not supposed to be silly or comedic at all, and it even lacked some of the lighthearted humor we saw in the original Lost In Space and Star Trek. It was an Irwin Allen production, and was supposed to be taken seriously as a scifi action/adventure

Anyway, if you have not seen it you probably won't want to. The special effects were very impressive for it's time, with the "little people" given appropriate giant props which were later on display at Universal Studios for years. There was lots of compositing with film.

But these episodes, the things the little people do are just mind-numbingly stupid. They stand there whilst a giant reaches down to grab them. They linger by escape holes and get captured, even though they would just have to duck into the hole. They run across the floor or "lurk" right next to the leg of a giant, and the giants don't see them. I think it was the fact that the separate scenes with the little people acting against non-existent giants (because they were shot separately and then composited into the scenes.

Still, this show is fun to watch if you are already familiar with it. I'm surprised they have not rebooted this yet!

 

[Joelist]

It was fun that is true. Still all of Irwin Allen's science fiction shows had a similar issue with plots that were kind of naff and characters doing really silly things. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and The Time Tunnel were notorious for it as was Lost in Space. It didn't reduce their being entertaining, it was just a fact about them.

 

[Tripler]

But at the time you have to give them credit for the shots that were setup to give the viewer the impression that they were little . I watched it as often as I could and even had there space craft model as I did with the SeaView which we spoke of before on another thread . And yes it was hoaky as hell . Silly beyond words sometimes as OM1 has stated . But as a young kid , it was kinda cool to watch and get fooled by the camera .

 

[Overmind One]

It was fun that is true. Still all of Irwin Allen's science fiction shows had a similar issue with plots that were kind of naff and characters doing really silly things. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and The Time Tunnel were notorious for it as was Lost in Space. It didn't reduce their being entertaining, it was just a fact about them.

They were in my top 5 favorites. But #1 was Star Trek. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea came out before Star Trek by 2 years, and I was hooked to that before Star Trek.

But at the time you have to give them credit for the shots that were setup to give the viewer the impression that they were little . I watched it as often as I could and even had there space craft model as I did with the SeaView which we spoke of before on another thread . And yes it was hoaky as hell . Silly beyond words sometimes as OM1 has stated . But as a young kid , it was kinda cool to watch and get fooled by the camera .

All of the bolded. And because there was no high end digital stuff and no green screen, what they achieved was nothing short of amazing for the time. TV was the cash cow, not movies. I got so much joy out of these shows. And with Kodi, I can watch them again along with some of the cheesiest TV series ever to air, like Automan

 

[Tripler]

Holy Poop ! I never saw Automan ...Neet !!!
Will google and find out about this dude .

 

[Overmind One]

Holy Poop ! I never saw Automan ...Neet !!!
Will google and find out about this dude .

Watching today is hilarious. Automan and his sidekick Cursor are a hoot to watch. I am surprised there was not a cult following lol.