episode #21 - Genius at Work

GENIUS AT WORK episode #21 / prod. #18 / Air Date: 3/9/69
written by Bob and Esther Mitchell; Directed by Sobey Martin

The genius of the title is a giant teen (played by Ron Howard) who has developed a growth formula (hey, what is this - a sequel to Village of the Giants from 1965?). Chipper the dog is the first to sample a bite and grows to giant size. Fitzhugh is next - he tells off the rest of the little people and walks to the giants' city with plans on a leisurely life from now on. But, this is Fitzhugh - he quickly calls attention to himself by being pushy, indulging in a little payback for all the times giants have mistreated him, and gets the attention of the police. Soon enuff, he's in jail.

This was the first appearance (going by production number) of Inspector Kobeck (Kevin Hagen), the giant who would return in several more episodes, always on the trail of the little people. There's also mention of stuff like "The Supreme Council" here, which I guess is the governing body on the giants' planet. I don't get how this jibes with there also being giant senators (in Sabotage), but maybe this is similar to the way the Roman Empire was run.
The plot involves some of the littles growing to giant size briefly, then shrinking to effect an escape. It's better paced than most episodes. But, it also ignores the possibility of the little people using this growth formula in the future to infiltrate the giants when they had to. This was also the rare episode where Capt Steve was seen out of his familiar red suit; normally, it wouldn't be a big deal, but we were so accustomed to seeing him in red, seeing him in a business suit was startling. BoG's Score: 6 out of 10
Giants Trivia: Ron Howard, of course, after a long run of playing a role on the Happy Days show, went on to become a big time film director. Star Trek TOS actor alert - Vic Perrin has a one scene role in this episode as a short giant pushed around by Fitzhugh; he had a small role in Mirror, Mirror and also provided his voice for a couple of TOS episodes.