Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

A wonderful TV adaptation of the popular 1961 box office hit. Starring the wonderfully talented Richard Basehart as Admiral Harriman Nelson and a young and very handsome as well as talented David Hedison as Commander Lee Crane and of course the marvelous nuclear powered submarine Seaview of the future. This series was a mix of top notch spy thriller, science fiction at it's best and sometimes not the best but none the less entertaining and pure fantasy with a little bit of levity here and there. This show was produced at the height of the cold war by the master of disaster Irwin Allen who produced epic disaster flicks like The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno. The first 31 episodes are black and white with the remaining 79 in color. This would be a wonderful TV series to release on DVD. It would be a dream come true to see it remastered and in wide screen. The popularity of this show which aired for 4 seasons led to other science fiction TV series like Lost In Space and Star Trek. The show with a wonderful cast led by Richard Basehart is a must see for all science fiction fans old and new.

Richard Basehart is best known for his 4 year stint as Admiral Nelson who is also the creator of the nuclear powered submarine Seaview and head of the Nelson Institute of Marine Research. He also starred in many films such as Moby Dick, La Strada, and He Walked By Night as well as other numerous stage and screen plays from the 1940's to the early 80's. He also starred in the highly acclaimed TV adaptation of The Andersonville Trial which received the Emmy for best outstanding drama.

David Hedison is best known for his role as Captain Lee Crane of the submarine Seaview. He also is known for films like The Fly and Irwin Allens The Lost World among other films and stage performances with other TV guest appearances too numerous to list.

Other cast members include Bob Dowdell as Chip Morton, Terry Becker as Chief Sharkey, Del Monroe as Kowalski, Paul Trinka as Patterson, Henry Kulky as Chief Jones (1st Season)and numerous other regular cast members and note worthy guest stars like Vincent Price, Robert Loggia, Robert Duvall, and Patrick Wayne to name a few.

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.

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.

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.

This was my favorite TV series, growing up in the 1960's. And it still is a fun show for a lazy afternoon, or late at night. Richard Basehart, as Admiral Nelson, was (and still is) like an uncle or grandfather to me. He always knew just what to do in any emergency, and his subtle sense of humor really makes him very likable too. David Hedison, playing Captain Lee Crane, was the person I wanted to be someday. And the relationship between Captain Crane and Admiral Nelson is almost like a father and son - some tension now and then, but they always respect each other in the end. Of course, the real stars of this TV series are the Seaview and the Flying Sub. Even today, many fans of the show collect and build model kits of these two amazingly cool submarines. No matter how silly some of the series plots and monsters look today, the Seaview and Flying Sub are still two of the best designed vehicles in the history of science fiction television. For this alone, Irwin Allen will always have my most heartfelt thanks and appreciation. Hopefully someone will attempt a new feature film of 'Voyage' someday, as was done with 'Lost In Space' in the late 90's.