Something has always bothered me about this particular tale. No, not the fact that this storyline would never see the light of day in our more paranoid times. The culprit in question is the visual trick performed by Jonathan Harris' "Pied Piper" character. Occurring just after the credits, the visual effect has a hypnotic quality. Where did it come from and where did it go? Perhaps straight to a present day director named Spike.
Spike Lee has a visual signature in his films, not unlike the shooting star Steven Spielberg employs, where he floats his actors in mid-air like a street magician, moving them slowly toward the camera lens as the camera pulls back. This (Elia) Kazanian maneuver turns up here, in all places, on Irwin Allen's darkest science fiction series--Land of the Giants. The "little people" are drawn to a pleasant sound coming from the distance. Four of our wayward travelers are elevated from the alien turf by the piper's soothing flute solo. They rise as if attached to an inclined people-mover, and are deposited into a cage like a quartet of cuckoo birds. This effect strikes me as being very similar to the one Spike utilizes in his movies. Could he have been inspired by the "Master of Disaster?" He would have been the right age. Maybe, I'm out on a limb on this one. But I would like to ask.
Spike Lee has a visual signature in his films, not unlike the shooting star Steven Spielberg employs, where he floats his actors in mid-air like a street magician, moving them slowly toward the camera lens as the camera pulls back. This (Elia) Kazanian maneuver turns up here, in all places, on Irwin Allen's darkest science fiction series--Land of the Giants. The "little people" are drawn to a pleasant sound coming from the distance. Four of our wayward travelers are elevated from the alien turf by the piper's soothing flute solo. They rise as if attached to an inclined people-mover, and are deposited into a cage like a quartet of cuckoo birds. This effect strikes me as being very similar to the one Spike utilizes in his movies. Could he have been inspired by the "Master of Disaster?" He would have been the right age. Maybe, I'm out on a limb on this one. But I would like to ask.