Land of the Giants will always hold great memories of the 1980s re-runs which I saw as a child.
I remember asking my Dad to record the first episode "The Crash" onto VHS for me. It was being broadcast on a Sunday morning on Channel 4 in the UK.
I was hooked, and loved the concept of the Giant world, it utterly fascinated me, and made my imagination soar.
So, for the next year or more I had my Dad record every last episode (51 in total) of Land of the giants, every Sunday as it was broadcast. In fact I did miss one episode (Shell Game) as we went on holiday to Devon, and my Dad messed up the timer on the video recorder. Heartbroken.
What caught my attention, was the wonderful acting from all the cast, and their plight of living on this strange world, and having to hunt and fight for survival.
I always enjoyed watching the group at camp, cooking up some stew on the fire, or having a discussion under the tree that they had turned into an outside den of sorts. Most episodes would involve them being caught by a giant and put into a cage, and the others mounting a rescue, which would always end up being successful, but this didn't matter.
The enjoyment of Land of the Giants is of course the peril the group find themselves in each time, giant cats, crossing the road, or getting caught up in a terrorist plot (Doomsday).
As most will remember, the group are desperately trying to fix their damaged ship and fly back home to earth. The show never really came to a conclusion as it was cancelled after two seasons due to the huge budget. This of course does not matter, as it still holds up surprisingly well as a great bit of escapism.
My only criticism, would be that not enough about the character's backgrounds was explored. In the 51 episodes we never find out if any of the 7 crew is married, or has children, or if any of them has plans if they ever make it out of this dreadful planet. We do know that young Barry is an orphan and was supposed to meet cousins in London who would have taken him under their wing, had the Spindrift spaceship not crashed on the Giant land.
Perhaps had a 3rd season been commissioned this would have been developed somewhat, but I doubt it.
Review of Land of the Giants
