Bob May and Dick Tufeld in 1997

The Voice of the iconic Lost in Space Robot, Dick Tufeld, passed away on Sunday 22nd January 2012. A truly remarkable gentleman has been lost from the worlds of Irwin Allen.

Not only did he provide the voice, and indeed the soul, for the Robot, but also voiceovers for several other Irwin Allen productions including Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and The Time Tunnel. He also lent his voice to the Land of the Giants presentation reel which you can see on both the US and UK DVD releases.

The Robot spoke again in the guise of the cinematic release of Lost in Space in 1998, with a new look, but the voice was exactly the same. Dick also recorded robot voice clips for the benefit of the full scale B-9 Robot replica owners so his voice will continue to live on through the Robot in homes around the globe.

“Danger Will Robinson!”

Not only does the Land of the Giants theme feature in the Boxing Day airing of the new Stephen Fry and Christopher Eccleston version of The Borrowers, but we’ve also spotted recent television commercials using the giant and little people concept.

Alan Carr’s New Year Spectacular for Channel 4 this year is being promoted in advance with a giant Alan Carr standing by Big Ben.

You can also see the little people theme being used in quit smoking campaign commercials.

Land of the Giants just got a mention on the BBC Breakfast Show during a discussion on the new adaptation of The Borrowers, 7.30pm on Monday 26 December on BBC1.  The 90 minute movie stars Stephen Fry and the effects look excellent and the little people proportions and ideas are very reminiscent of Land of the Giants.

The Borrowers

They have definitely “borrowed” some ideas from Land of the Giants, see picture in following article:

Daily Telegraph Review

Issue 24 of Sci-Fi Fantasy Modeler is due out in January 2012 and features MarkM‘s superb Year One Jupiter Two (Pilot episode “The Reluctant Stowaway” conversion) as well as an article on the Seaview model.

Sci-Fi Fantasy Modeler

FabGearUSA have very kindly donated six prizes for the IANN Christmas 2011 competition. Click here or on the image below to enter the competition. Entries must reach us by Sunday 11th December 2011.

We’re having great fun trying to put names to faces for all of the non-credited performers in the Irwin Allen’s productions.  What a challenging task.  Does anyone recognize the man playing the President of the United States in The Return of Captain Nemo?

TV and Satellite Week are running another competition, this time with the opportunity to win the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Season 4 DVD Box Set (UK Region 2 version) courtesy of Revelation Films.  Click here or on the image below for details on how to enter.

As we head towards December and the shops are full of Christmas themes, we’re all getting regular reminders that we need to start thinking about Christmas gifts for friends and family.  So, as we’ve done before, we’ll have a look around for ideas for presents suitable for Irwin Allen fans.  We start here with a stocking filler idea for Land of the Giants.  FabGearUSA are selling the Spindrift Patch and Keyring set that first came out with the US DVD box set in 2007.  You can now purchase this item on its own and it is a perfect stocking filler.

The cast of The Poseidon Adventure (Ernest Borgnine, Stella Stevens, Carol Lynley, Eric Shea, and Pamela Sue Martin) will be joining the Land of the Giants cast at the Hollywood Show Vegas on Saturday 19 November 2011. Also attending are Land of the Giants guest stars Celeste Yarnall (The Golden Cage) and Bruce Dern (Wild Journey), plus Voyage Movie star Barbara Eden, Mike Lookinland (The Towering Inferno), Lawrence Montaigne (guest in The Time Tunnel), Felix Silla (stuntman on The Towering Inferno), Barbara Luna (Five Weeks in a Balloon), and Vitina Marcus (The Lost World and Lost in Space).

IANN is running a new Irwin Allen competition. Competition closes on 10th November 2011:

Click here for details on how to enter the Irwin Allen Competition

First Prize: UK DVD for Season Two of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

Second Prize: Promotional Time Tunnel T Shirt (size XL)

Third Prize: 8 Irwin Allen movie photos including 2 from Towering Inferno, 2 from The Swarm, 2 from When Time Ran Out, 1 from The Story of Mankind (of Chico Marx) and 1 from The Big Circus

Fourth Prize: Fan produced Giants patch, 2 Giants photos, 1960′s Stefan Arngrim photo, and a Stefan Arngrim postcard from his appearance in Switch

Fifth Prize: British 1998 Lost in Space postcard, Colour 10×8 of Mark and Marta, and 3 small photos

Sixth Prize: Original publicity photo from The Night the Bridge Fell Down and Alice in Wonderland, plus a 10×8 of Desi Arnaz Jr. (star of The Night the Bridge Fell Down)