Review for Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea: The Complete Series 1 (9 Discs)

Irwin Allen's 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea' seemed to be a permanent feature in my younger years. It held on for a full four seasons and over 100 one hour (minus ads) episodes and there can't have been a kid either side of the Atlantic who didn't run from side to side of the sitting room pretending they were being rocked aboard the 'Seaview', or who didn't at least once get a clip round the ear for making that repetitive high-pitched depth gauge sound that permeated the soundtrack.


But, despite its epic run, and the endless repeats on TV, I remember the series with great fondness. Back then, a show was a show and it never bothered me whether it came from the same stable as previous or consequent ones so the idea that this was an 'Irwin Allen' production meant nothing back then, though much more to me now. Viewing the series again after all these years, it's noticeably similar in style and plot to his many other fantastic series.


It was, in fact, a TV spin-off of a rather successful movie by Allen (of the same name) and was his very first TV show. Here you get all 32 episodes of the first season, as well as a barrel full of extras on the 9th disc.


The top secret nuclear submarine, 'The Seaview' is the creation of Admiral Harriman Nelson (what a fine seafarin' name!) and is captained by Captain Lee Crane sometime in the not too distant future (well, the 1970's).


Ostensibly a research vessel, it's actually a spy ship set up to foil enemies of the USA, and to be available for missions of international importance. Often event the crew were unaware of their mission until they were on their way.


It was a pretty 'manly' show. No room on board for females - though plenty of variety amongst the cast of regulars including Richard Basehart as Admiral Harriman Nelson, David Hedison as Commander Lee Crane, Bob Dowdell as Lieutenant Commander Chip Morton and Henry Kulky as Chief "Curly" Jones.


There are some amazing adventures along the way including a near mega-tsunami, a city beneath the sea (run by a madman hell-bent on world domination - they're everywhere!), a 'fear-gas' attack, a hostage crisis, an attack of giant creepy sea plankton (very HP Lovecraft), a UFO attack, an island full of dinosaurs, a sea monster, mine-fields, snow in Florida, an orphaned child prince, a stranded whale, and loads more. Never a dull moment aboard the Seaview!



The extra features are fairly decent too - with the original and unaired pilot, (Eleven Days To Zero), some really great 8mm home movie footage from Irwin Allen as well as extensive stills gallery. The David Hedison interview is intriguing, though low on production value and there is the obligatory blooper reel which is good fun, albeit brief.


Picture quality if really excellent throughout with a decent, high contrast transfer with deep blacks and no signs of obvious artefacting, even on my rather cruel 42" plasma, for which such a series was never intended. This set contains the first 32 episodes which were all black and white. I can't wait for Season 2 when the series went colour and continued that way for the remaining 78 episodes. Hurrah!


Here's a complete episode listing for this set, including original air-dates.

01 "Eleven Days to Zero" September 14, 1964

02 "The City Beneath the Sea" September 21, 1964

03 "The Fear Makers" September 28, 1964

04 "The Mist of Silence" October 5, 1964

05 "The Price of Doom" October 12, 1964

06 "The Sky is Falling" October 19, 1964

07 "Turn Back the Clock" October 26, 1964

08 "The Village of Guilt" November 2, 1964

09 "Hot Line" 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