Sci Fi TV Obscurities: A look at sci fi and fantasy TV shows that made it to the air only briefly before getting cast to the television wasteland.
What Is It? This series follows secret agent Mel Hunter who has been shrunk to the size of six inches due to a scientific accident. He is teamed up with fellow agent Bill Winters who carries Hunter around in a special briefcase. Together, they investigate espionage cases where Hunter’s unique size can be used to their advantage.
Aired: Syndication, 1959, 1 Season Totaling 13 Episodes
Starring: Marshall Thompson, Arthur Franz
Is It Must-Watch Sci Fi? No. This show is a curio from its era and interesting as the first TV series to depict a person living in a world of giants, but it does not count as an essential genre entry.
The Skinny: Coming from Ziv Productions, the same company that gave us Science Fiction Theatre and Men Into Space, World of Giants was an interesting entry on the schedule at the end of the 1950s. Science fiction was still considered mostly for kids at that point (though The Twilight Zone would start airing on CBS that year and would begin to dispel that view), but World of Giants played up more of the spy and procedural angle and introduced little in the way of genre elements. It was essentially just a spy/espionage series with the twist that the lead character was only six inches tall. It did not deliver much in the way of sci fi plots and it focused mostly on the action-adventure elements of its stories.
Still, this one could be fun when at its best, and it did a good job of depicting a tiny person living in a world of giants. There are many obstacles that a person of that size would face, and while Mel Hunter had his full-sized partner Bill Winters working with him, the diminutive hero would often find himself in predicaments where he had to rely on his wits and overcome the limitations of his size. This was all played pretty straight-forward as the agents deal with various foreign spies, and despite the obstacles, they would triumph in the end. (Spoiler alert?) And the special effects were actually quite good for that time. While this was definitely not cutting-edge television, it at least delivered a serious take on the genre, and the show is still worth a look for curiosity’s sake.
Cancelled Too Soon? Yes. World of Giants was originally set to air on CBS, but it could not find a sponsor. It ended up going into syndication but did not find much of an audience, and since it was relatively expensive to produce, it did not continue past its initial thirteen-episode order.
Should It Be Rebooted? A reboot of this show or a similar concept could actually be interesting. I would actually rather see Irwin Allen’s The Land of the Giants get the reboot treatment, but World of Giants would be a good second choice. It could focus more on the science fiction elements, and the current technology would make it easier to handle the special effects. But since this is a completely forgotten TV series, the chances of it getting revived are pretty slim.
Interesting Fact: The acronym WOG (World of Giants) was prominently featured in the opening sequence, even pronouncing it as “Wog” for some reason. It seemed like an odd way to refer to the show, but maybe the producers thought it would be catchy and turn into a meme of sorts.
Where Can You Watch It? The entire series has been released on DVD and Blu-ray. It is not currently streaming on any of the major services, but you can find episodes on YouTube.
Read More About the Show: Wikipedia | IMDb.com
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