|
"There Were Giants in the Earth"
| |
|
| |
|
LiS episode
|
1x04 / 4th of 83 aired
|
|
Production #
|
8504
|
|
First aired
|
|
|
Watch online now
|
|
|
Written by
|
Carey Wilbur, Shimon Wincelberg
|
|
Directed by
|
Leo Penn
|
|
Previous episode
|
|
|
Next episode
|
|
Last week, as you'll remember, Will Robinson slipped away from the spaceship to try to repair the Chariot - unaware that the renegade Robot, programmed to obey only Doctor Smith's voice orders, was loose in the area...
Summary[]
John discovers that the temperature is about take a deep plunge, and decides they must head toward the equatorial regions - south of their landing site - to survive. Smith chooses to stay at the ship, and the Robot, still under Smith's control, stays as well.
As they begin their journey, they encounter a mutant humanoid plant that threatened the men while they were at the weather station, destroy it, and proceed south with haste. A lightning storm drives them into a cave for shelter, and they discover the ruins of an ancient civilization inside the cave. Will, Penny, Don and Judy are trapped inside a crypt, and a quake starts.
Background Information[]
- Having Smith and the Robot stay at the ship allows reuse of the pilot episode footage of the journey south.
- The title of this episode is taken from Genesis 6:4.
- Will plays the guitar and sings "Greensleeves", which was the theme song to the "Lassie" TV show, which starred June Lockhart.
- Penny plays with a turtle, leftover from the unaired pilot, "No Place to Hide".
- Smith reveals the ability to cook.
- Science takes a back seat to adventure here with respect to the giant. Unless the planet's gravity was weaker than Earth's (which is never stated) or the giant's skeleton was made of some super tough alloy, he would fall victim to Galileo's Square Cube Law and collapse.
- This marks the first time that the jetpack is used in the series. The famous music that accompanies it, contrary to belief, was not written by John Williams or any other of the show's composers: it was in fact, the track 'The marker' by Bernard Herrmann, part of the soundtrack for the film 'the Twelve Mile Reef'. The eerie music played in the ancient city is from 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' and was also used in the pilot.
- This is also the first episode that shows the planet Priplanis was once inhabited by humanoids, albeit ones that did not seem to advance beyond the equivalent of Earth's ancient civilizations like Babylon or Egypt.
- Deleted scenes for this episode would have had the Cyclops in a friendly interaction with Penny, who gives the creature a flower. Later, the same Cyclops approaches Smith and the Robot thinking they are also friendly - Smith panics and has the Robot blast the giant, who drops the flower and runs off. Shot for the pilot but similarly unused was a sequence where Professor Robinson, on the jetpack, runs into the giant in flight- after being grabbed he manages to shoot the creature and get away.
- The Robot turns off the force field in order to leave the campsite. But, in "The Raft" we find out that the force field only works one way and only stops objects that are approaching. This means that the robot didn't have to turn off the force field.
- The title card shows the Jupiter 2 has crashed in such a way that the upper deck is a few feet above ground level and the lower deck is somewhat visible. Over the first season the upper deck becomes level with the ground outside, suggesting the ship is settling.
- The Jupiter 2 scene where they are watching the Cyclops on the telescope, appears to be missing the airlock compartment. The door opens directly into the control room of the ship. Also footage from the pilot is reused.
- Will claims that he's using a radio telescope to view the Cyclops, which is impossible since that instrument does not work with visible light.
- The Cyclops was supposed to have a functioning, blinking eye but this was vetoed by Irwin Allen because of the cost.
Production history[]
- Revised shooting final script submitted [1] - August 10, 1965
- The dual writing credit is probably due to additional story work done by Carey Wilbur in order to incorporate the pilot footage which was written by Shimon Wincelberg.
Links and references[]
Cast[]
- Guy Williams as John Robinson
- June Lockhart as Maureen Robinson
- Mark Goddard as Major Don West
- Marta Kristen as Judy Robinson
- Angela Cartwright as Penny Robinson
- Bill Mumy as Will Robinson
- Jonathan Harris as Doctor Smith
- Bob May as the Robot