Back when this show was on television, I remember tuning in on the anticipated night and wondering why the show didn't come on. The rest of my family wanted to watch a different television program, so I went into my parents' room and tried to find "The Land of the Giants." I kept turning the channel to find the show, but none of the four channels had anything remotely like it. I probably cried. I'm not sure if it was the end of the season, a break, or the end of the it altogether, but I couldn't find the show, even though I kept checking for it every night for at least a couple of weeks. I never saw it again.Until last week.
That's right. Netflix has "The Land of the Giants" on DVD. I put it on the list and explained the whole story to Wendy so she wouldn't think we got the wrong DVD when it arrived. When the Netflix video finally arrived, I wasn't sure what to expect. My tastes as a 6-year-old TV critic probably weren't that refined, but who knows? Maybe it really was good television. Maybe it'd warm my heart cockles the way old AM radio songs do.
Not really. I actually remembered some of the scenes from the first episode, like when a couple of the time-warp earthlings were captured by a giant scientist and had to escape by descending a thread. The biggest problem with the show now (and most likely back then) is the cast. If it had a cast that even closely resembled Star Trek or Lost in Space, two of its contemporary shows, it might have held up. But all the actors in the show are either wooden or creepy.
Right now, I'm afraid it's only interesting as camp. Still, if they can make a successful remake of Battlestar Galactica, couldn't they remake Land of the Giants? I might just submit a screenplay to one of my Hollywood buddies.
You have Hollywood buddies? Since when?
ReplyDeleteDave Veloz! He wrote and directed Permanent Midnight, which was a crappy, self-involved fare, but we're talking about a Land of the Giants remake. It's not like we're redoing Gone with the Wind.
ReplyDeleteDave's much more important contribution to cinema, of course, was taking over for Tarantino when he abandoned Natural Born Killers. But anyway, you last spoke to Veloz....when exactly?
ReplyDelete1996. But we have the kind of relationship that can withstand more than a decade of silence. And it doesn't hurt that I'd have a killer screenplay for Land of the Giants as an icebreaker. Besides, I don't think Dave has been up to much since that war movie with Owen Wilson. This screenplay idea may be the perfect thing for both of us. You can be a key grip, Robert, or maybe a gaffer. It's all about who you know.
ReplyDelete