| Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea | |
|---|---|
|
File:Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.jpg Cover art from the 2006 DVD release of the 1st season of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea showing stars Richard Basehart (l) and David Hedison, with the submarine, Seaview (center) | |
| Format | Science fiction |
| Created by | Irwin Allen |
| Starring |
Richard Basehart David Hedison Bob Dowdell Henry Kulky Terry Becker Del Monroe Arch Whiting Paul Trinka Allan Hunt Richard Bull Paul Carr |
| Composer(s) |
Paul Sawtell Hugo Friedhofer Alexander Courage Morton Stevens Michael Hennagin (one episode) Jerry Goldsmith (one episode) Leith Stevens Lennie Hayton Nelson Riddle (one episode) Herman Stein (one episode) Robert Drasnin (one episode) Harry Geller Joseph Mullendore Irving Gertz (one episode) |
| Country of origin | Template:USA |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 110 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes (including commercials) |
| Production company(s) |
Cambridge 20th Century Fox Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Original run | September 14, 1964 – March 31, 1968 |
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is a 1960s American science fiction television series based on the 1961 film of the same name. Both were created by Irwin Allen, which enabled the movie's sets, costumes, props, special effects models, and sometimes footage, to be used in the production of the television series. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was the first of Irwin Allen's four science fiction]television series as well as the longest running. The show's main theme was underwater adventure.
Voyage was broadcast on ABC from September 14, 1964 to March 31, 1968, and was the decade's longest-running American science fiction television series with continuing characters. The 110 episodes produced included 32 shot in black and white (1964–65), and 78 filmed in color (1965–68). The first two seasons took place in the then future of the 1970s. The final two seasons took place in the 1980s. The show starred Richard Basehart and David Hedison.
Show History[]
Pilot Episode[]
The pilot episode "Eleven Days to Zero" was filmed in color but shown in black and white. It introduces the audience to the futuristic nuclear submarine S.S.R.N. Seaview and the lead members of her crew, including the designer and builder of the submarine Admiral Harriman Nelson (Richard Basehart), and Commander Lee Crane (David Hedison), who becomes the Seaview's Captain after the murder of her original commanding officer. The submarine is based at the Nelson Institute of Marine Research (NIMR) in Santa Barbara, California, and is often moored some 500 feet below NIMR in a secret underground submarine pen carved out of solid rock. The Seaview is officially for undersea marine research and visits many exotic locations in the seven seas, but its secret mission is to defend the planet from all world and extraterrestrial threatsTemplate:R in the then-future of the 1980s.
Season One[]
Adm. Nelson and Capt. Phillips are attacked after leaving the Nelson Institute of Marine Research.
The first season of 32 episodes began with Admiral Nelson and the crew of the Seaview fighting against a foreign government in order to prevent a world-threatening earthquake, continuing with a foreign government destroying American submarines with new technologies in The Fear Makers and The Enemies. The season also had several ocean peril stories in which the Seaview crew spent the episode dealing with the normal perils of the sea. Two examples are "Submarine Sunk Here" and "The Ghost of Moby Dick".[1] The season introduced the diving bell and a mini-submarine, as well as the first alien story and the first sea monsters. The season ended with the Seaview crew fighting a foreign government to save a defense weapon.
In the first season, the gritty, atmospheric, and intense series featured story lines devoted to Cold War themes, as well as excursions into near-future speculative fiction. Many episodes involved espionage and sci-fi elements. While aliens and sea monsters, not to mention dinosaurs, did become the subject of episodes, the primary villains were hostile foreign governments. While fantastic, there was a semblance of reality in the scripts.
Season Two[]
DVD cover art of the 2nd season (Vol. 2) of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea featuring depictions of Seaview and the Flying Sub (bottom)
The second season began with a trip inside a whale, a trip inside a volcano, and a few Cold War intrigue and nuclear war-themed episodes, and saw several brushes with world disaster. The season ended with a ghost story, one of the show's few sequels.
Due to ABC's demands for a somewhat "lighter" tone to the series,Template:Citation needed the second season saw an increase in monster-of-the-week type plots, yet there were still some episodes that harkened back to the tone of the first season. The second season also saw a change from black and white to color. The beginning of the second season saw the permanent replacement of Chief "Curly" Jones with Chief Sharkey, due to the death of Henry Kulky, who portrayed Chief Jones.
The most important change in the series occurred during this season when a slightly redesigned Seaview was introduced, along with the Flying Sub. The Flying Sub was a yellow, two-man mini-submarine with passenger capacity, that could leave the ocean and function as an airplane. The Flying Sub was referred to by the initials FS-1. The futuristic craft greatly increased Seaview crews' travel options. The Flying Sub was launched from a bay in the lower part of Seaview that was apparently built between Seasons One and Two. The Seaview’s private observation deck from the first season was never seen again. The Seaview’s eight observation windows became four. The Seaview’s enlisted men were also given more colorful uniforms (red or light blue jumpsuits), evidently to take advantage of the changeover from black and white to color. The officers and petty officers, however, retained their khaki works from the first season. The traditional sailor uniforms worn in the first season were only seen in stock footage from the first season and on characters who were newly filmed to match up with that footage. All these changes occurred between seasons. The Flying Sub was showcased in the show's closing credits for the entire season.
The "Flying Sub" also made an appearance in the 1971 Irwin Allen film, City Beneath the Sea (1971 film) (as did the Seaview itself during the evacuation scene).
A second season episode, "The Sky's On Fire", was a remake of Irwin Allen's 1961 film Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
Season Three[]
The third season of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea ran simultaneously with two other Allen-produced television series: the second season of Lost in Space and the premiere (and only) season of The Time Tunnel.
The third season began with Dick Tufeld of Lost in Space playing an evil disembodied brain from outer space. The season continued with a werewolf story that is one of the few episodes to inspire a sequel. In one episode, the Seaview’s officers and crew encountered Nazis who believed World War II was still ongoing. The third season only had two espionage stories and one ocean peril story that were reminiscent of the first season. One of those three stories was about a hostile foreign government trying to steal a strange new mineral with the aid of a brainwashed Admiral Nelson. This espionage story was the end of the third season.
The final two seasons continued the shift towards paranormal storylines that were popular in the late 1960s.[2] Mummies, werewolves, talking puppets, and an evil leprechaun all walked the corridors of the Seaview. There were also fossil men, flame men, frost men, and lobster men.
Fourth and final season[]
Nelson and Sharkey fight an alien spy, 1968.
The fourth and final season of Voyage began with Victor Jory playing a five century old alchemist. After a few episodes there were revamped opening credits. Near the end of the fourth season, there were three unrelated stories of extraterrestrial invasion in three weeks. There were two time travel stories in two weeks. The second of the two had the Seaview going back in time to the American Revolution. The episode ended with the Seaview returning to the present and sailing into television history.
In March 1968 it was announced that Voyage would not be back for a fifth season.[3]
Music[]
The series' main theme, "The Seaview Theme", was written by Paul Sawtell. A new darker, more serious theme was introduced at the beginning of the second season (in the episode "Jonah and the Whale", composed by Jerry Goldsmith), but this was quickly replaced by the original version. (However, a version of the Goldsmith suite re-orchestrated by Nelson Riddle was heard as incidental music in the episode "Escape From Venice", and the original Goldsmith suite was used as incidental music throughout the rest of the series.) The series' main composer, supervisor and conductor was Lionel Newman. Other guest composers included Lennie Hayton, Hugo Friedhofer, Star Trek: The Original Series composer Alexander Courage, Morton Stevens, Leith Stevens - no relation - who wrote the music to seven episodes, and Sawtell himself (who worked on the show for a while in the first season).
GNP Crescendo issued a soundtrack album in 1997 as part of its series tying into the documentary The Fantasy Worlds Of Irwin Allen, featuring Sawtell's theme from the series and his score for the pilot episode "Eleven Days To Zero" (tracks 2-6) and Goldsmith's work for "Jonah and the Whale."
- Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Main Title (:29)
- Murderous Pursuit (2:54)
- Ocean Floor Search/Squid Fight (5:34)
- Solid Ice (1:48)
- Lost/Job Well Done (3:35)
- End Title (The Seaview Theme) (:40)
- Jonah and the Whale (Main Title) (:30)
- A Whale of a Whale/Thar She Blows/A Whale of a Time/The Second Dive (4:23)
- A Meal Fit for a Whale/Crash Dice/Sub Narcotics (4:18)
- Collision Course I/Collision Course II/Diving Party/Going Down (4:44)
- Home Free Part I/Home Free Part II (3:58)
- Jonah and the Whale (End Credit) (:50)
Cast[]
David Hedison as Lee Crane in the episode "Time Lock", 1967.
- Richard Basehart as Admiral Harriman Nelson
- David Hedison as Commander Lee Crane
- Bob Dowdell as Lieutenant Commander Chip Morton
- Derrik Lewis as Lieutenant Commander O'Brien (pilot episode)
- Henry Kulky as Chief "Curly" Jones (1st Season)
- Terry Becker as Chief Francis Ethelbert Sharkey (2nd–4th Seasons)
- Del Monroe as Kowalski
- Arch Whiting as Sparks
- Paul Trinka as Patterson
- Brent Davis as Peters (crew member - 1 episode)
- Lew Gallo as Kruger (crew member - 1 episode)
- Ralph Garrett as Somers (crew member - 1 épisode)
- Allan Hunt as Riley (2nd Season)
- Richard Bull as the Doctor
- Wayne Heffley as Seaview Doctor (2nd Season 1965-66, 3 episodes)
- Paul Carr as Casey Clark (1st Season, Recurring afterwards only in stock footage scenes)
Scott McFadden, Ray Didsbury, Marco Lopez, and Ron Stein provided additional crewman in non-speaking roles often requiring stunt work.
Episode list[]
Template:Small
Season One (1964–1965)[]
| Ep # | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | "Eleven Days to Zero" | September 14, 1964 |
| 02 | "The City Beneath the Sea"(Guest Starring Hurd Hatfield) | September 21, 1964 |
| 03 | "The Fear Makers" (Guest Starring Lloyd Bochner, Special Guest Starring Edgar Bergen) | September 28, 1964 |
| 04 | "The Mist of Silence" (Guest Starring Rita Gam, Alejandro Rey) | October 5, 1964 |
| 05 | "The Price of Doom" (Guest Starring David Opatoshu, John Milford and Jill Ireland) | October 12, 1964 |
| 06 | "The Sky is Falling" (Guest Starring Charles McGraw) | October 19, 1964 |
| 07 | "Turn Back the Clock"(Guest Starring Yvonne Craig) | October 26, 1964 |
| 08 | "The Village of Guilt"(Guest Starring Richard Carlson, Anna-Lisa) | November 2, 1964 |
| 09 | "Hot Line" (Guest Starring Everett Sloane, Special Guest Starring: Michael Ansara) | November 9, 1964 |
| 10 | "Submarine Sunk Here" | November 16, 1964 |
| 11 | "The Magnus Beam" | November 23, 1964 |
| 12 | "No Way Out" | November 30, 1964 |
| 13 | "The Blizzard Makers" | December 7, 1964 |
| 14 | "The Ghost of Moby Dick" | December 14, 1964 |
| 15 | "Long Live the King" | December 21, 1964 |
| 16 | "Hail to the Chief" | December 28, 1964 |
| 17 | "The Last Battle" | January 4, 1965 |
| 18 | "Mutiny" | January 11, 1965 |
| 19 | "Doomsday" | January 18, 1965 |
| 20 | "The Invaders" | January 25, 1965 |
| 21 | "The Indestructible Man" | February 1, 1965 |
| 22 | "The Buccaneer" | February 8, 1965 |
| 23 | "The Human Computer" | February 15, 1965 |
| 24 | "The Saboteur" | February 22, 1965 |
| 25 | "Cradle of the Deep" | March 1, 1965 |
| 26 | "The Amphibians" | March 8, 1965 |
| 27 | "The Exile" | March 15, 1965 |
| 28 | "The Creature" | March 22, 1965 |
| 29 | "The Enemies" | March 29, 1965 |
| 30 | "Secret of the Loch" | April 5, 1965 |
| 31 | "The Condemned" | April 12, 1965 |
| 32 | "The Traitor" | April 19, 1965 |
Season Two (1965–1966)[]
| Ep # | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 33/ 01 | "Jonah and the Whale" | September 19, 1965 |
| 34/02 | "Time Bomb" | September 26, 1965 |
| 35/03 | "And Five of Us Are Left " | October 3, 1965 |
| 36/04 | "The Cyborg" | October 17, 1965 |
| 37/05 | "Escape From Venice" | October 24, 1965 |
| 38/06 | "The Left-Handed Man" | October 31, 1965 |
| 39/07 | "The Deadliest Game" | November 7, 1965 |
| 40/08 | "Leviathan" | November 14, 1965 |
| 41/09 | "The Peacemaker" | November 21, 1965 |
| 42/10 | "The Silent Saboteurs" | November 28, 1965 |
| 43/11 | "The X Factor" | December 5, 1965 |
| 44/12 | "The Machines Strike Back" | December 12, 1965 |
| 45/13 | "The Monster From Outer Space" | December 19, 1965 |
| 46/14 | "Terror On Dinosaur Island" | December 26, 1965 |
| 47/15 | "Killers of the Deep" | January 2, 1966 |
| 48/16 | "Deadly Creature Below!" | January 9, 1966 |
| 49/17 | "The Phantom Strikes" | January 16, 1966 |
| 50/18 | "The Sky's On Fire" | January 23, 1966 |
| 51/19 | "Graveyard of Fear" | January 30, 1966 |
| 52/20 | "The Shape of Doom" | February 6, 1966 |
| 53/21 | "Dead Man's Doubloons" | February 13, 1966 |
| 54/22 | "The Death Ship" | February 20, 1966 |
| 55/23 | "The Monster's Web" | February 27, 1966 |
| 56/24 | "The Menfish" | March 6, 1966 |
| 57/25 | "The Mechanical Man" | March 13, 1966 |
| 58/26 | "The Return of the Phantom" | March 20, 1966 |
Season Three (1966–1967)[]
| Ep # | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 59/01 | "Monster From the Inferno" | September 18, 1966 |
| 60/02 | "Werewolf" | September 25, 1966 |
| 61/03 | "The Day The World Ended" | October 2, 1966 |
| 62/04 | "Night of Terror" | October 9, 1966 |
| 63/05 | "The Terrible Toys" | October 16, 1966 |
| 64/06 | "Day of Evil" | October 23, 1966 |
| 65/07 | "Deadly Waters" | October 30, 1966 |
| 66/08 | "Thing From Inner Space" | November 6, 1966 |
| 67/09 | "The Death Watch" | November 13, 1966 |
| 68/10 | "Deadly Invasion" | November 20, 1966 |
| 69/11 | "The Haunted Submarine" | November 27, 1966 |
| 70/12 | "The Plant Man" | December 4, 1966 |
| 71/13 | "The Lost Bomb" | December 11, 1966 |
| 72/14 | "The Brand of the Beast" | December 18, 1966 |
| 73/15 | "The Creature" | January 1, 1967 |
| 74/16 | "Death From The Past" | January 8, 1967 |
| 75/17 | "The Heat Monster" | January 15, 1967 |
| 76/18 | "The Fossil Men" | January 22, 1967 |
| 77/19 | "The Mermaid" | January 29, 1967 |
| 78/20 | "The Mummy" | February 5, 1967 |
| 79/21 | "The Shadowman" | February 12, 1967 |
| 80/22 | "No Escape From Death" | February 19, 1967 |
| 81/23 | "Doomsday Island" | February 26, 1967 |
| 82/24 | "The Wax Men" | March 5, 1967 |
| 83/25 | "Deadly Cloud" | March 12, 1967 |
| 84/26 | "Destroy Seaview!" | March 19, 1967 |
Season Four (1967–1968)[]
| Ep # | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 085/01 | "Fires of Death" | September 17, 1967 |
| 086/02 | "The Deadly Dolls" | October 1, 1967 |
| 087/03 | "Cave of the Dead" | October 8, 1967 |
| 088/04 | "Journey With Fear" | October 15, 1967 |
| 089/05 | "Sealed Orders" | October 22, 1967 |
| 090/06 | "Man of Many Faces" | October 29, 1967 |
| 091/07 | "Fatal Cargo"(Guest Starring Woodrow Parfrey) | November 5, 1967 |
| 092/08 | "Time Lock" (Guest Starring John Crawford) | November 12, 1967 |
| 093/09 | "Rescue" (Guest Starring Don Dubbins) | November 19, 1967 |
| 094/10 | "Terror" | November 26, 1967 |
| 095/11 | "A Time To Die" (Guest Starring Henry Jones) | December 3, 1967 |
| 096/12 | "Blow Up" | December 10, 1967 |
| 097/13 | "The Deadly Amphibians" (Guest Starring Don Matheson) | December 17, 1967 |
| 098/14 | "The Return of Blackbeard" (Guest Starring Malachi Throne) | December 31, 1967 |
| 099/15 | "The Terrible Leprechaun" (Guest Starring Walter Burke) | January 7, 1968 |
| 100/16 | "The Lobster Man" (Guest Starring Victor Lundin) | January 21, 1968 |
| 101/17 | "Nightmare" (Guest Starring Paul Mantee) | January 28, 1968 |
| 102/18 | "The Abominable Snowman" | February 4, 1968 |
| 103/19 | "Secret of the Deep" (Guest Starring Peter Mark Richman) | February 11, 1968 |
| 104/20 | "Man-Beast" (Guest Starring Lawrence Montaigne) | February 18, 1968 |
| 105/21 | "Savage Jungle" (Guest Starring Perry López) | February 25, 1968 |
| 106/22 | "Flaming Ice" | March 3, 1968 |
| 107/23 | "Attack!" | March 10, 1968 |
| 108/24 | "The Edge of Doom" | March 17, 1968 |
| 109/25 | "The Death Clock" | March 24, 1968 |
| 110/26 | "No Way Back" | March 31, 1968 |
Other media[]
- A paperback novel, City Under the Sea, authored by Paul W. Fairman, was published in 1965, to tie into the series. It had a different storyline than the episode of the same name. The book should also not be confused with the later Irwin Allen film of nearly the same name, which was about the attempts of the world's first under-sea city to prevent the earth from being hit by a rogue asteroid. It is not about "A wealthy family attempting to move the Earth's oceans to another planet for resettlement" as has occasionally been stated. [1]
- Western Publishing published a comic book based on the series. Western's comic company, Gold Key Comics put out a series that ran 16 issues from 1964–1970. Most covers were painted, and most had a photo of either Richard Basehart or David Hedison on them. The first issue of the Gold Key comic was a story called "The Last Survivor". The story bought back Dr. Gamma, the villain from the pilot episode, "Eleven Days to Zero". Gold Key's story was the only sequel to the pilot episode. Hermes Press will reprint the entire run in 2 hardback volumes; the first was released in 2009.
- In 1966, World Distributors, a British publishing company in Manchester, England, published a hardback book called the Annual. The British-made book used the series characters in all new stories. The book contained a reprint of a story from Gold Key Comics. Both books were mostly prose stories with some illustrations.
- Aurora Plastics Corporation released a plastic model kit of Seaview as well as the Flying Sub during the original run of the series. Both kits were recently re-released by Polar Lights. The Flying Sub model sold more than the Seaview model.Template:Citation needed
- Other collectables from the show include a Milton Bradley board game with a drawing based on the pilot episode, and a school lunch box with depictions of Admiral Nelson and Captain Crane trying to save the Flying Sub from an evil looking octopus. There was also a View-Master slide reel based on the episode "Deadly Creature Below."
- In 1964, a 66 Card Set of Black and White Trading Cards was released by Donruss. Selling for 5 cents a pack, the set consisted of stills from the first season. Today, a set in mint condition can sell for several hundred dollars.
Popular culture[]
- The popularity of the TV show inspired Mad Magazine (March, 1966) to spoof the show, their version being called Voyage to See What's on the Bottom, featuring a submarine called the Seapew.
- Australian TV show Fast Forward sent-up the series as Voyage to the Bottom of the Harbour.
- Stock footage of Seaview was used in the Wonder Woman episode "The Bermuda Triangle Crisis."
- An often referenced running joke is that in many episodes of the series, characters lurch to camera movements on the visibly static set, to give the illusion that Seaview had sustained impact. This was an old movie trick, and was commonly used by other television shows of the period, including Star Trek, but none did it so frequently, nor with such relish as Voyage.[5] Hence, the technique is still commonly known as "Seaview Rock and Roll." British television sitcom Red Dwarf frequently utilized parodies of this gimmick, including an extended outtake of the cast lurching from side to side of the Starbug set at the insistence of Craig Charles. On the SciFi Channel's 1995 documentary tribute to Irwin Allen, The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen, series co-star June Lockhart recalled this technique being used also on Lost In Space, where the cast also knew it as "the rock-and-roll".
- The Disney Channel animated series Phineas and Ferb has an episode with a pun on the title called Voyage to the Bottom of Buford.
DVD releases[]
20th Century Fox has released all 4 seasons on DVD in Region 1 in two volume sets.
In Region 2, Revelation Films has released the entire series on DVD in the UK in four complete season sets.[6][7][8][9] On March 26, 2012, they released Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea: The Complete Collection, a 31-disc set featuring all 110 episodes of the series as well as bonus features.[10]
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 Vol. 1 | 16 | February 21, 2006 |
|
| Season 1 Vol. 2 | 16 | July 11, 2006 |
|
| Season 2 Vol. 1 | 13 | October 24, 2006 |
|
| Season 2 Vol. 2 | 13 | February 20, 2007 |
|
| Season 3 Vol. 1 | 13 | June 19, 2007 |
|
| Season 3 Vol. 2 | 13 | October 23, 2007 |
|
| Season 4 Vol. 1 | 13 | March 31, 2009 |
|
| Season 4 Vol. 2 | 13 | January 11, 2011 |
|
Notes[]
- ↑ Richard Basehart also starred in Moby Dick (1956 film), directed by John Huston.
- ↑ King, Susan (2011-01-30). "‘Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea’: David Hedison looks back on periscope days". Los Angeles Times. http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/01/30/voyage-to-the-bottom-of-the-sea-david-hedison-looks-back-on-periscope-days/. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
- ↑ TV winter season getting shorter
- ↑ tv.com
- ↑ Season 3 Vol 1 DVD extra feature "The Rock and Roll"
- ↑ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Voyage-To-The-Bottom-Sea/dp/B004BFZA5U/
- ↑ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Voyage-Bottom-Sea-Complete-Second/dp/B004BFZA8C
- ↑ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Voyage-To-The-Bottom-Sea/dp/B004FS27OU
- ↑ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Voyage-To-The-Bottom-Sea/dp/B004FS27RC
- ↑ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Voyage-The-Bottom-Complete-Collection/dp/B006UF2688
References[]
- 'SEAVIEW: The making of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea by Tim Colliver, copyright 1992, published by Alpha Control Press.
- Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea DVD sets
- The Irwin Allen Scrapbook Volume One Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Edited by William E. Anchors, Jr.; copyright 1992 by Alpha Control Press.
- Irwin Allen Television Productions 1964-1970, Jon Abbot, McFarland and Company, 1996
- Voyage au fond des mers : guide pour la série d'Irwin Allen, Max Philippe Morel, Lulu.com, 2012
- TV.Com
External links[]
- Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea at the Internet Movie Database
- Template:Tv.com
Template:Irwin Allen
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