ClassicFlix has announced plans to bring obscure sci-fi drama World of Giants to DVD and Blu-ray, although no release date has been set yet. The hour-long series ran for 13 episodes in first-run syndication during the fall of 1959. Marshall Thompson starred as special agent Mel Hunter who happens to be only six inches tall.
From the latest ClassicFlix newsletter:
We’re pleased to report that we have acquired the 1959 science fiction television series World of Giants. Scanned from 16mm prints, the material is sharp and in relatively good shape and we expect to release the complete 13 episode series on both Blu-ray and DVD (as part of our Rare Television line).
Starring Marshall Thompson and Arthur Franz, WOG boasts high production values, numerous top-notch guest stars and has several episodes helmed by luminary sci-fi directors such as Nathan Juran (20 Million Miles to Earth), Jack Arnold (Creature from the Black Lagoon) and Byron Haskin (The War of the Worlds).
We expect to make an official pre-order announcement soon, but check out some clips below in the meantime
Here are the two two clips from World of Giants ClassicFlix uploaded to its YouTube page. The first is a raw scan from the series premiere; the second shows a “restoration in progress” from a different episode.
World of Giants will be the second release under ClassixFlix’s new Rare Television line. The first release, 21 Beacon Street, comes out on June 27th.
Though I was only one year old in 1959 I have a vague childhood memory of watching some type of TV series that had a man about six inches tall living in something similar to a doll house, that was inside of an average-sized home. I wonder if World of Giants was still in syndication years after 1959. I doubt that I’ll buy this DVD set, but I’m pleased that ClassixFlix is putting out obscure old television series.
This is the show you remember, Karen. The lead character was six inches and did live in a miniature house that retracted into a wall, hidden behind a painting.
The show was filmed in late 1958/early 1959 for CBS, but never aired on the network. When CBS couldn’t find a sponsor, the 13 filmed episodes sat on a shelf until they went into syndication in 1961.
Viacom acquired the syndication rights in 1970. The last US transmission that I’ve come across was in Reno back in March of 1967, but that isn’t conclusive. You could easily have seen it as a kid.
Yeah, I’m a nerd.
Thank you Tim. I probably haven’t thought of this series since I was a child, but as soon as I read about it here it seemed familiar.
In 1963, Channel 7, the ABC-owned station in Chicago, ran World Of Giants as part of their daily afternoon movie package:
Monday was Science Fiction Day: there would be a 90-minute movie at 4PM, and at 5:30, World Of Giants would fill out the time til the 6PM news.
The other weekdays were for other genres, but that’s another story …
After the 13 WOG episodes were used up, Ch7 would run the cycle through for two more rounds, then went to longer movies; eventually they brought in ZIV’s Science Fiction Theater to fill the gap – and that’s another story …
In the years since, I haven’t seen World Of Giants at all; it simply vanished.
Consequently, you can bet your butt that I am definitely getting this set – if only to prove to people younger than I (and these days that’s almost everybody) that World Of Giants really happened (sort of).
I wonder if Land of the Giants which came out about a decade later got it’s idea from this show.
oh come on silly….Bert I GORDON sparked the whole genre with ATTACK of the PUPPET people in 1958. the ultimate misfit episode of CHILLER THEATRE syndicated in this nyc metro area.,,,,Gordon bookended it with the inane 1965 VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS,, which mixed beach party with LSD / ronny howard.. johnny crawford and Tommy Kirk… so embarrassingly weak… it needs little further attention..The presence of DIANNA LUND was the sole element for LAND of the GIANTS to ever take off…………UNIVERSAL STUDIOS incorporated the props for its latest attraction that summer of 69.. i was there!
It was a 30 minute programme and although made in the 50s was not run until the 1960s.
I had a write up of it in my book