- On June 12, 1983, a sub-orbital aircraft named the Spindrift flying from Los Angeles is pulled into a space warp which transports its crew and passengers into another dimension. The ship eventually lands on a planet where everything is 12 times larger than normal. In their first night on the planet they are attacked by a giant cat and two of their party, Captain Steve Burton and jet set heiress Valerie Scott, are captured by a pair of giant scientists but are eventually rescued by the rest of the castaways. Unfortunately, they soon realize that for the time being they are stuck on this strange world.—Brian Washington <Sargebri@att.net>
- June 12, 1983
The Spindrift, Sub-Orbital Transport Flight 612 out of New York, is flying to London in a trajectory orbit. Pilot Steve Burton and co-pilot Dan Erickson discover that they have lost control of the ship. In the passenger section, young Barry Lockridge and his dog Chipper, Commander Alexander B. Fitzhugh, heiress Valerie Scott, and engineer Mark Wilson brace themselves in their chairs while stewardess Betty Hamilton tells everyone to remain calm. They see a glowing green disturbance hovering in space ahead of them.
Steve is unable to maintain control of the Spindrift, which plummets into the green wormhole. As they rocket through the void, Betty comes forward to see what is happening. Steve finally regains control of the ship and they compute a re-entry as they descend through a fog bank. There's no response on the radio from London Control but they spot a city below. With the power cells fading, the pilots bring Spindrift down for a rough landing on what they assume is the London airfield.
When they get no response from London Control and no one comes out to check on them, Steve and Dan go out to search the area. Meanwhile, Betty tells them the passengers that they've made an emergency landing and are waiting for help. Barry worries that his cousins won't find him when they come to the London airport, while Fitzhugh, claiming that he's a military courier, insists that he has to leave right away. Betty refuses and offers to take his suitcase, but he angrily snatches it back. Valerie wants to call her chauffeur, while Mark insists that he has to make a $50 million dollar deal in London by morning. When he demands to see Steve, Betty tells him that the captain is out getting help.
As Steve and Dan explore the flat concrete area, they hear a huge roaring noise coming toward them. It's a car... twelve times as large as a normal car. It passes over them without the driver noticing, and the two pilots hear someone walking toward them in the darkness. They run back to Spindrift, order everyone to strap in, and prepare for emergency liftoff. As the nuclear engines come online, the ship is lifted up into the air. A giant boy peers in through the cockpit window, and Steve activates the thrusters. They blast out of the boy's hands and lift off to 5,000 feet, only to discover that they are surrounded by impossibly large buildings.
With reserve power running out, Steve is forced to land Spindrift back into a forest. They grind to a halt and Steve tells the passengers that there will be a 24-hour delay. When the pilots go back to tell the passengers what is happening, Mark doesn't believe them and insists that he has to be to London when the banks open. He figures that someone is paying Steve to create a hoax to delay him and offers to counter-bid, but Steve shrugs him off and orders everyone back into their seats.
Later, Steve and Dan are in the cockpit discussing a radio report they received when they left New York. Fitzhugh listens in as they discuss how the police are waiting for Fitzhugh in London to recover the million dollars that he stole. The commander goes outside and Barry follows him, holding onto Chipper. When Barry approaches him, Fitzhugh claims that he's on a top-secret mission as a courier, and that enemy agents are after the suitcase. Fitzhugh sends him back to the ship but Barry ignores the order and follows him into the fog. When Barry reveals his presence, Fitzhugh starts to argue but a giant lizard emerges from the woods and chases them.
Betty discovers that the two passengers have let and the pilots send her to check on the others. Steve turns on the landing lights to full power, setting back their efforts to recharge the engines, but they don't see the missing passengers. When Steve tells Dan to stay with the ship while he looks for their missing charges, Valerie overhears them and offers to go with Steve. The captain refuses and goes out into the forest, keeping in contact with Spindrift via hand radio. Dan checks the radar and tells his friend that there are lots of objects moving in the forest.
When Steve hears something approaching, he grabs a branch as a makeshift weapon. It's a giant spider, and Steve retreats. Once he gets away, Steve tells Dan to stay where he is. The captain keeps moving and discovers that Valerie is following him. She refuses to go back on her own and Steve admits that it's too dangerous to send her away.
Fitzhugh takes in the giant landscape and realizes that Steve was telling the truth. He decides to head back to the ship, but a giant cat attacks them and swipes at the suitcase. It bursts open, spilling out Fitzhugh's stolen money. Fitzhugh and Barry make it back to the ship and tell Dan that the cat is following them. He refuses to leave without Steve, and the cat attacks the ship, damaging the engines. When gas leaks out of the engine room, Mark goes back and closes the emergency valve. Dan fires off the stabilizing retros, scaring off the cat.
Steve and Valerie find an enormous box with a sliding door propped open. Steve calls Spindrift but gets no response, and Valerie climbs into the box. When Steve goes in to get her out, the door slams shut, trapping them. Before Steve can cut the wiring loose, a giant entomologist arrives to pick up his specimen box. Steve and Valerie hide in a corner of the box and the giant picks it up and carries it away without noticing them.
Dan tracks the giant on the radar, and figures that he's captured Steve and Valerie. He suggests that Mark fix the engines so they can depart, but Dan refuses to leave without Steve and Valerie. Fitzhugh goes to the cloak room and recovers his revolver from his coat pocket. Barry notices and Fitzhugh says that it's part of his "survival kit".
The entomologist returns to his lab and meets with his assistant. Once they go into the next room, Steve pries the screening loose and they hide behind the box when the giant comes back to get a beaker. Once he goes back to his lab, Valerie suggests that they ask the giants for help. Steve refuses, figuring that the giant would consider them oddities and imprison them.
The two Earthlings find a spool of thread but hide to descend from the table, and the entomologist comes back. They hide and once he leaves, Steve anchors the thread with a needle and climbs down. However, Valerie knocks over a test tube and the giants come in to investigate. They spot Steve, grab him, put him in a specimen jar, and then easily capture Valerie when she tries to run and places her with her fellow Earthling.
The stranded Earthlings create a grappling hook and a hatchet out of discarded junk, while Fitzhugh insists that it's all pointless. Barry informs everyone that Fitzhugh has a gun, and the military man draws it and orders Dan to leave. The co-pilot refuses, pointing out that if Fitzhugh kills him then they're stranded for good with no one to pilot Spindrift. Fitzhugh caves in and Dan and Mark leave to find their comrades. Barry looks pityingly at the older man, who admits that he's no military man. The boy hands Fitzhugh his gun and says that he could fight now, and Fitzhugh takes the gun and contemplates it.
The giants tape Steve and Valerie down and poke and prod at them. When Valerie screams, Dan and Mark hear her and follow the noise. They move past a drain pipe in the sidewalk and go inside. Mark cuts through a gas hose and use a match to set the leaking gas on fire. The assistant retreats, choking, and Mark uses the grappling hook to climb up and free the others using a scalpel while the entomologist tends to his assistant and chokes himself
When the entomologist comes back in, he discovers that the Earthlings have fled. He grabs a butterfly net and runs outside, just as Fitzhugh, Betty, and Barry arrive. Everyone runs to the drainpipe but the giant snares Dan. Fitzhugh panics but Barry grabs his hand, holds it steady, and helps him pull the trigger to shoot the entomologist in the leg. The giant collapses in pain and the others free Dan and run into the drainpipe. The entomologist giant reaches in, but they run beyond his reach and tumble down the sloped pipe into a ditch filled with refuse.
Barry discovers that Chipper has wandered off and goes to get him. A giant dog emerges from the forest and barks at them, and Steve has Barry, Valerie, Fitzhugh, and Betty hide in an egg carton. The captain then throws a discarded light bulb at the dog, startling the animal. When it starts pawing at the egg carton, Steve makes a torch out of cleaning fluid and a discarded cloth, and drives the dog off. The others emerge from hiding and Fitzhugh insists that he can't go on without knowing what danger to expect. Steve tells him that they're trapped in the Land of Giants and that is their lives from now on, and they head back to Spindrift.
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What is the broadcast (satellite or terrestrial TV) release date of The Crash (1968) in Australia?
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