in some episodes (e.g. cloning, cybernetics, force fields, magnetic stunners, androids, and teleporters) and are slightly behind in others (no microelectronics, hearing aids, or crewed space flight). The little people's objectives are survival, by obtaining food and avoiding capture by the Giants or attacks from animals, such as cats and dogs, and repair of their spacecraft, so they can attempt to return to Earth. They largely manage to survive by the help of sympathizers and stealth, making the most of their small size, plus their ingenuity in using their technology where it is superior to that of the Giants. They do not achieve the second objective, as the primary systems of the craft are severely damaged, although in some episodes (including "The Flight Plan") Burton implies that only a lack of fuel prevents the ship from lifting off. The secondary systems are insufficient to enable them to achieve the suborbital flight required. They are unable to use Giant technology, as it is bulky and less advanced; in one episode, an experimental nuclear reactor, provided by an engineering student, produces dangerous side effects and is prone to overloading. They also cannot trust the Giants, who in another episode ("Target: Earth") offer the little people a ride home in exchange for technical assistance with their space program, but then double-cross them. They are aided in their first objective, and at least somewhat hindered in the second, by the leadership of Captain Burton. He behaves as a leader and as protector to the passengers and crew, and his leadership has rescued them from some difficulties. Burton, though, also tries to keep the Giants from ever reaching Earth. In the episode "Brainwash", Giant police officer Ashim (Warren Stevens) says, "Maybe we can find the home planet of these little people. It may be a very tiny world, but rich beyond our dreams." In several episodes, Burton puts keeping the Giants away from Earth above the need to get his people home. At the end of those episodes, he destroys devices that would get the Spindrift back to Earth, but which would probably enable the Giants to journey there, too. In several episodes, the Giants capture one of the passengers or crew, and the rest have to rescue them. The Earth people avoid capture most of the time, because their spaceship is hidden in a wood (in several episodes, described by the Giants as a