Review for Land Of The Giants: The Complete Series 2

Irwin Allen seems omni-present again in the UK with the co-ordinated releases of 'The Time Tunnel', the second and final series of 'The Land of the Giants' and the second series of 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea', with final seasons to follow. Rumours abound on vintage TV sites about the possibility of a decent Blu-Ray transfer of 'Lost in Space' which will please fans disappointed at the quality of the R2 release some years ago.


Walking past 'Forbidden Planet' in London yesterday I noticed a complete window display dedicated to the three Revelation releases this week. Who'd have thought, given that this was throw-away TV from over forty years ago that the shows would continue to be so popular today. Surely it can't just be old timers like me re-living their childhood can it? Or have they now attained such cult status that a whole new generation are tuning in?


Allen always gave his shows the kind of treatment that you would expect of a feature film (35mm with some serious production values) which may be partly why they are so enduring today. They still look great! Of course, watching a series like LOTG back to back (rather than weekly as intended) you start to note the repetition of props and set ups, but those were the compromises and economies of scale that allowed Allen to make the series in the first place. Despite these obvious economies, the series were amongst the most expensive ever made and on 'Land of the Giants' in particular, it really shows. (Apparently budgeted at a cool quarter of a million dollars per episode even back then). As a result of their expense they were heavily marketed and had full US syndication as well as releases all over the globe - including good old Blighty.


Anyway - enough of the long winded drum roll and on with the review of the second season; an even better set than the first. (If this review is a little bit north of the release date earlier this week then I blame it entirely on the fact that I've had to view it at the same time as Series 2 of 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea', an eight disc set. More later!)

If you're new to 'Land of the Giants' then (briefly) here it what it's about. The passengers and crew of a 1983 (Yes - I know. Cute isn't it!) intergalactic flight between LA and London crash land on a new and hostile world. (Well, the 'plane' was called 'Spindrift', which was fair warning in my view. I spent most of my youth assuming it was called 'Spendthrift' though I never thought to question why). Every aspect of the new planet is like earth but with one exception. All the inhabitants are giants. A bit 'Gulliver's Travels' maybe, but a conceit that every child will empathise with.




The lantern jawed captain Steve (Gary Conway) leads the survivors in a battle for survival with a whole series worth of treachery ahead.

Season 2 kicks off with a new theme tune, though it's pretty much business as usual for the series, though the plots start to feel more sophisticated with narrative beyond the straight-forward 'capture/rescue' sequences that filled Season 1.


There are 25 'one hour' (minus commercial breaks) episodes on offer here which means 25 attempts to get back to earth and 25 disappointments. That's quite a lot to endure in a few condensed sittings, particularly of you have just finished off Series 1. But if you buy the set and can schedule your viewing across, say, 25 weeks, then you'll see it as intended, and as long as you're OK with the limited sets you'll positively marvel at the wonderful, if slightly kitsch, look of the show and the atmosphere it creates. It's utterly transporting at times and a very pleasant antidote to the frenetic pace of contemporary TV.


Standout episodes for me include 'Wild Journey', where two giants have a 'space time manipulator' that allows them to send the tiny folk back in time, which means they can prevent the accident that has put them in this new land. That means re-running that original trip one more time. Anoraks will note the obvious incongruity of the ship this time leaving from LA rather than New York.


Another really wonderful episode is 'Giants and All that Jazz' where Biff teaches a musician some new chops in a new style ('We call it Jazz') that has never been heard on his planet in exchange for releasing Valerie and Barry. It features a personal friend of Allen's, Sugar Ray Robinson, as a special guest. It's one of the episodes that I remember to this day from its original airing.


The transfer looks great with lots of lovely detail and larger than life saturated colours. The extras are good too. Revelation apparently got the cast together one more time (other than Kurt Kaznar and the dog, both of whom have gone to the giant set in the sky) for a commentary of the first episode of the series, which is great fun. There is also some commentary from Allen himself as well as on-screen interviews with Stefan Arngrim, Don Matheson and Deanna Lund which, presumably, were filmed for the release of the US mega-set a few years back.


The set is very reasonably priced by Revelation and is thoroughly recommended. Just ration your viewing.