Voyage au fond des mers

The Seaview is confronted by a giant seaweed monster with two eyeballs. "I've never seen anything like it!" Exclaims Nelson. Yes, you have, it was on three episodes previously. In fact that eyeball monster was a regular fixture on the show. Whenever they ran out of ideas (which was all too frequent) out would come Mr Eye balls. In one episode they couldn't be bothered to show some rogue scientists so they just had someone relay the information that there were a bunch of rogue scientists on the seabed controlling Mr Eyeballs. They had a villain on board who kept talking to them through a walkie-talkie. Spare no expense!

But you gotta love those titles, usually self explanatory such as 'Terror on dinosaur island' or my personal favourite, 'The monster from outer space.' Highlights include a scientist who took a drug that expanded him in size. It also expanded his clothes and he sprouted fangs ('Behemoth', God, why do I remember that?) Also the under-sea spider. Well cool. Every week Kowalski would be chewed out by the chief or the crew would fling themselves from side to side of the sub. Getting bored with this they introduced a flying sub that would fly around endlessly for little reason and inevitably crash land.

On and on the series went. Eventually they dispensed with all the monsters and had the crew just walking up and down the corridors with the odd lobster man dropping in to break the monotony. Richard Basehart, seeing a once promising career disappearing under the beach break, became increasingly irritable as the series staggered on. In one episode the Seaview was taken over by seaweed for the umpteenth time and he was hilariously indifferent and short-tempered. Grabbing a laser gun with a 'don't-bother-me-with-this' shrug he flatly said "We'll burn it with this" and proceeded to do so with all the urgency of a man filling in a tax bill. Eventually the writers ran out of final scenes so the cast would just stand there looking at each other uncomfortably waiting for Nelson to ad lib something like "er, let's get under way."

It's missed. Sort of.

Irwin Allen became known as a special effects wizard because of this series which was the most successful. The photography in it was always great, & Allen knows how to create effects. The SeaView - the main sub in the show would still be futuristic today. Of course the ideas for this series was spawned by the movie that preceded it with the same name.

Richard Basehart & David Hedison were great choices to be in command. They carried the dialog real well & there were plenty of good name guest stars in episodes too. Once in a while a pretty woman would stop in for an episode but most of the time the male cast carried this show to the top for ABC.

Later in the series, they introduced a flying submarine, something which in reality has still never been created. This show can really fire the imagination with how it worked. Now that it is on DVD, it might get some more new fans. As for Irwin Allen Productions, while they have done more recent work, since 1982's Code Red, there has not been as much success as this & the 60's & 70's stuff they did.

I watched Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea on TV when Channel 4 screened it on Sunday afternoons in the early 1990's.

The first series was black and white and the remaining episodes were in colour. It is about the Seaview nuclear powered submarine and each episode had a different story, including aliens, monsters and espionage.

The series starred Richard Basehart and David Hedison and was directed by the great Irwin Allen. The flying sub used in this series was to appear in Allen's 1971 movie City Beneath the Sea.

It would be nice to see this series again and for it to be released on Video/DVD.

I watched "Voyage..."as a kid in the 60's. I still love it. My favorite episode is "Menfish". This episode also is the only one were I've seen obvious goofs. Capt.Crane actually pulls off a piece of the set as the Seaview rocks back & forth. Great TV! Great Sci-fi! Always entertaining. Mr.Allen will be missed.

This was great stuff for the time. I remember that my family rarely missed this show! Richard Basehart as Adm. Harriman Nelson and David Hedison as Capt. Lee Crane were always searching for new undersea discoveries. These, of course, very often led to adventure and drama. We never knew when the Seaview was on her last voyage. There were often giant undersea monsters to deal with. And, of course, even though they haven't been spotted by man in all of written history, they were THE biggest danger of our time. They obviously had to be dealt with, now didn't they? By today's standards, the special effects were quite laughable but for their day, they did their job. I recall some of these shows even today, decades later.