The Land of the Giants television show from 1969 was pure visual candy. It had to be, since the plots were thin and often ridiculous, even by the standards of this outlandish world. Episodes each cost a reported $250,000 to produce. Giant props were built that simulated an oversized world that the travelers in the spacecraft Spindrift encountered. In one episode, the crew devise a plot to steal a revolver–a prop that, according to producer Irwin Allen, cost $9,200 to create. No CGI here, everything was accomplished with mattes, wide angle lenses, camera angles, and those giant props. Liberal use was made of the giant telephone, books, beaker, safety pin (which the crew used as a grappling hook), pencil, sardine can, bottle caps, and fire hydrant. It’s interesting to note, too, that so many of those items are quaint antiques today.
Irwin Allen told reporters that he conceived of Land of the Giants after having a nightmare where he was chased around by giants. This unnamed world was supposed to be twelve times larger than Earth, with cars 60 feet long and pencils 8 feet long. When Clay Gowran, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, visited Allen at 20th Century Fox in August 1968, he had to use a 14-foot stepladder to reach the top of the 35 mm camera prop.
