World of Giants (1959) User Reviews

It was real--and surreal

[jeff-2013 · 8/10 · 28 November 2015]

Back in Chicago circa 1965, I'm pretty sure Channel 7 (ABC) would run World of Giants episodes in the half-hour before they ran some sort of (heavily chopped-up) SF flick. My recall is that this was on Thursday afternoons at either 3:30 or 4, and the SF flick would be over by 5:30, in time for all the kids out there to have supper.

As a series it was pretty well done, especially the opticals, and looked good in comparison to other series running at the time (like The Outer Limits) that depended on hokey-looking monsters.

As others have mentioned, there was something surreal and a little bit disturbing about it, possibly because it was so well done compared to other screen SF of that era.

Little man in the big city

[allegra11 · 9 April 2004]

For years, I remembered my father and I watching episodes of this series when I was very young. The main titles opened on a blotchy gray and white screen when suddenly something rapidly came out of the distance, and then shattered across the screen. At this point you realized that your POV was looking up and a glass vessel filled with water had fallen down and broken over a sheet of glass. The words:"World of Giants" one at a time, appeared on the screen accompanied by a voiceover saying each word out loud as it appeared. Marshall Thompson was a six inch tall man that apparently took on special jobs for the government, when a full sized man couldn't do the job. Thompson lived in the home of a full sized couple. Their job was to be liaison between the government and Thompson, and also to keep his existance a secret and provide him with a safe place to live between missions. Thompson lived in an appropriately small single story house that existed behind a painting in the couple's home. The painting was hinged at the bottom edge and could fold down to form a shelf, and Thompson's house would slide out of the wall and rest on the back of the painting/shelf. He could then interact with his full sized friends and learn about his next mission. I don't remember much about any specific missions that Thompson went on, but I recall once when a villian discovered Thompson's home and by reaching inside the tiny house, tried to grab Thompson. I seem to remember very convincing effects scenes of the giant hand upsetting furniture and even the bathtub inside Thompson's doll-sized house before the evil doer was waylaid by Thompson's full-sized compatriots. That is about all I remembered about the show. As a teenager, I tried to find referance to this show in any publication on TV or science fiction, but with no luck. I was sure that I remembered the series' title, "World of Giants" and I was also pretty sure that Marshall Thompson, whom I was very familiar with from his later show "Daktari", was the star. I asked my father about the show but he thought I was talking about Irwin Allen's "Land of the Giants", and he proved to have absolutely no recollection of "World of Giants". Over the years I talked to many people interested in science fiction films and TV but not once did I find anyone who remembered this show. Finally in a book called "Fantastic Television", I discovered a single paragraph that mentioned the show. Finally, I knew I had not imagined it, it had existed, and better yet, I had been correct in my memory of the show's title and star! Rather impressive considering I had been about five years old when I had seen the show. To this day, I have never been able to locate any episodes of "World of Giants" either in rerun, video, or DVD. Outside of the "Fantastic Television" book and this very website, I still have never found another person who remembers "World of Giants!" Mike Walters

I remember this show!

[shemp47-1 · 10/10 · 17 April 2008]

I remember this show! I grew up near Chicago and WGN, Ch 9, reran this show after school. It was known as "WOG". Most memorable was the opening in which the letters W...O...G would appear large on the screen zooming up at you. then the announcer would shout, "W.O.G, World Of Giants!". Even as kids we all laughed at the ridiculous premise Surely there must be some episodes on tape somewhere. I remember one episode where the bad guys steal the briefcase that Mel lives in. They find little toy furniture inside and think he's a doll salesman. I wish I could find a copy of this show somewhere. Does anyone know of any copies anywhere?

hello little man

[jwhelan-3 · 10/10 · 20 January 2007]

From a child's point of view, I loved this show. I have very few memories of the actual episodes but instead, like other reviewers, have little memory flashes of individual scenes. I recall one of the opening credit scenes being an iron falling off of an ironing board. I too recall the falling pitcher of water. If I am not mistaken, the chair that Mel Hunter sat in when he was carried to his mission inside a briefcase was actually a jet fighter seat. If anyone questioned his partner on why there was this seat in the briefcase, the cover story was that he was a military contractor and this seat was a sample display of his company's product. I recall an episode where Mel was under a roulette table that was wired to cheat people out of their money. He took a piece of metal (a paper clip, I think) and shorted out a wire in order to foil the criminals. There was another episode where he was outside in the bushes and in order to signal his full sized partner he used a bottle cap to reflect the sunlight into his partner's eyes. Ha, that's all I have!! 2 memories. I thought I had a third, but because of the other comments, I now feel I was mistaken. I had remembered that he lived inside a record player, not behind a painting. When the lid of the record player was lifted, the view looking down was of an entire apartment without a ceiling. I have a feeling that I am mixing up memories of reenacting story lines with my toy soldiers with the actual show itself.

Thanks for the post

[watiki · 10/10 · 24 July 2019]

Remember this show and was glued to the TV every week it came on. If it was on in1959 I was 5 so a lot of specifics have escaped me. But I do remember some scenes; cat, being transported in a brief case, stuck in a high place with no way down, ect. Kept searching for this show as (The Six inch Man). Again thanks for the enlightening me

Remembering World Of Giants

[RFishermax · 6 December 2004]

I do remember this series. Mel traveled in a briefcase with a special chair (and later a door built into the same briefcase so he could come and go without the case being left open). I also remember his house being hidden behind a painting in the wall. I can also recall the episode where the villain attacked Mel in his house....I seem to remember that this particular story ends with Mel insisting that his fellow cast exercise as part of a fitness program. Sorry if this seems fragmented; I'm writing as I recall a series shown when I was 7 years old.

Thanks...I hope we can someday unearth this short lived (but really interesting) series.

Yes, I do recall...........

[Bookwus · 26 July 2004]

World of Giants.

The scenes which are most vivid for me are the ones in which Arthur Franz carried Marshall Thompson around in a briefcase. Thompson was seated in a little chair inside the case. I remember thinking at the time that was a pretty cool set-up. Thompson could then hop out of the briefcase and do his espionage type work and hop back in before Franz returned to pick him (and the briefcase) up.

Seems that most of the plots had something to do with spying on the deadly red menace (although it was never named as such). But then, this program followed the all-too-real Red Scare of the fifties.

Yeah, Mike, I remember this one. However, I have never seen reference to this show in any form, except here at IMDb. Looks like at least two people saw this show.

Long gone but not forgotten

[annarmijo · 7 June 2005]

This is great fun, finding all these comments about a show that, for all of my adult life, I could never find a single person who actually remembered it. Not even any of my own siblings remembered it, and we grew up in the same household, watching television shows at the same time! For years, I asked friends and family if they remembered seeing a show about a miniature government agent (didn't he get that way from a scientific experiment gone awry?) who was carried to his various missions in strapped in a chair in a briefcase. It drove me nuts to never be able to find even one single person who knew of it. I knew that it was impossible for me to have dreamt it up. I was only 4 years old, but there was something about giants that intrigued me as a child, and I'm quite sure it all started with this show. I was absolutely fixated on it, and could hardly wait for the next episode.

I'm amazed at how much detail in the episodes some of the others have relayed here. It was such a long time ago, and there were never any reruns. I really enjoyed how reading those comments jogged the memories. The scenes that always stood out in my mind, start with the very dramatic beginning as the huge letters W ....... O ....... G ....... hit the screen as the powerful voice of the announcer says, "WORLD OF GIANTS", with ever-so dramatic pauses between the words. A couple of scenes that I vividly remember come from being terrified for his life as he was chased by a bumble bee, even inside his miniature house where he ran trying to escape, it chased down the hallways. I don't remember how it resolved, but it seems to me that his friends (the husband and wife team that looked after him, right?) got there in the nick of time. Another scene I remember well is one in which his mission involves swimming up to a round, underwater swimming pool light, and somehow getting inside it to either retrieve a message in a tube-like carrier or to leave one. I'd forgotten about how his house was hidden behind the painting.

I loved this show and it's just been swell, reading the all the comments that have verified what I've wondered about for most of my life, which is whether I'd ever find anyone who could verify that this show really did exist!

I remember it too

[mjtgough-1 · 14 October 2006]

Like the rest of you, I'm happy to know that I didn't hallucinate seeing this show. I don't know if it was during the show opening or maybe during promos for the show, but I distinctly remember and eerie, echo-y voice saying "WOG" (vocalizing the W.O.G. abbreviation of "World Of Giants"). I also remember as part of the show opening, a pov shot of the bottom of a giant shoe coming down--as if you were being stepped on. I can't recall many specifics or details of episodes but I have a vivid sense-memory of being weirdly affected by this show--so much so that to this day, just the title makes me feel a little odd. It was a great show that was really kind of disturbing and off center, and it definitely gave me the creeps (in a good way) as a kid. I haven't seen of heard of any episodes being available anywhere, but if something ever turns up, I'd be really excited (and a little nervous) about seeing it again.

Great short-lived series

[sentra14 · 17 April 2004]

I was very young when this series was on television but still remember it. I think that very few people actually saw it since it only lasted for 13 episodes and it was in the days when many areas only had a tiny handful of channels to choose from. I am very fortunate to have one surviving episode of the show on tape. It is "Look Up At a Giant" and I believe it is the pilot episode. I can't say for sure, but I am certain that Irwin Allen got his inspiration for 'Land of the Giants' from this series. It is true early science fiction at its best and would be more well remembered today if it had lasted two seasons instead of just one. I hope it resurface on disc someday but I doubt it will happen.

I Remember This!!

[orme · 16 April 2007]

GOOD NEWS!! SOMEONE HAS SUBMITTED A PORTION OF AN EPISODE ON YOUTUBE!!! SEARCH WORLD OF GIANTS AND YOU WILL SEE IT!

I have vague memories of this show, but I do remember it. I, too, had searched for information on it and was beginning to question my own memory, until I found something that validated the fact that this show did, in fact, exist.

I distinctly remember Marshall Thompson as the main character, because my dad was always a big Marshall Thompson fan. (He always enjoyed the Daktari series, which I didn't much care for.) It's funny reading what others have to say about this series. My memories, too, are vague but vivid. I remember outdoor scenes from this show, but not what the action entailed. I remembered the suitcase, of course, but forgot about the house behind the painting.

I must be having a mid-life crisis, because I've been searching out things I saw as a small kid. "King of the Rocket Men" and "Cat Women of the Moon" are two other sci-fi curiosities that I have vivid memories of as a kid.

Isn't getting older weird?

I vaguely remember this

[tranzmuse · 5 September 2009]

In Chicago, I remember this show when I was very young, but I don't remember the station. I think they had a triple after school sci-fi marathon. One show was The Invisible Man, then this show WOG, which I only remember as "The Little Man", and Science Fiction theater. CBS and ABC also had after school movies, which were often horror or sci-fi flicks. I can't remember if this triple marathon came after one of those movies or were on a different channel. Does anyone else remember this?

As far as WOG, I remember the doll-like house, and his getting chased by a cat or dog?

I really hope they release all the episodes on DVD, if possible. It would also be great if they made a mini series, if they could maintain the great quality of writing and acting of the original.