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Voyage
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Voyage
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Production
information and notes by Mark Phillips |
| Return of the Phantom Airdate: March 20, 1966 |
| Nelson thought the ghostly Gerhardt Krueger to be a dead issue, so to speak (see The Phantom Strikes), but not so. Krueger has re-thought things and is back, wanting Captain Crane's body anew, that he might breathe real air and know flesh. In a dream, Nelson is tipped off by a ghostly woman named Lani, that Krueger will return. Nelson awakes shaken and has Doc check him out. He recounts previous events with Krueger to Crane, and tries to convince the captain that the man is in reality, a ghost. He turns his gun over to Crane with orders not to return it and the Captain leaves, worried about his friend's mental condition. |  Nelson consults with Doc. |
| Krueger turns up shortly with orders for Nelson to shoot Crane or the entire crew will die. He proceeds to kill Seaview's power and the sub heads for the bottom. Nelson is forced to agree to Krueger's mad request to save Seaview's hundred-plus men, and, power restored, falls under Krueger's spell. He eventually guns down Crane in the control room. |
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 Krueger, in Crane's body, watches Maria. |
Doc concludes Nelson has gone mad even as he works to save Crane's life. Taken over by Krueger, the captain rises from the near-dead, and commandeers the Flying Sub off to a south sea island to find a female host so he can restore his lost love, Lani. Arriving at the island, Crane/Krueger kidnaps the native dancer Maria, and takes her to the small nearby burial island of Lulayo, intending to kill her so Lani's ghost can inhabit her body. |
Lani,
however, has her ghostly feet planted more firmly in "reality" than
Krueger, and wants no part of his scheme. She again appears
before the confined Nelson and tells him that Krueger and she
are tied to the island, and that if it's destroyed, their spirits
will be freed from this Earth. |
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Nelson convinces Morton to free him and make for the island where he heads ashore to try to free Crane from Krueger's control, even if it kills him. Nelson finds Krueger (in Crane's body) about to kill the kidnapped Maria. |  |
The Admiral threatens
to shoot Crane/Krueger, which will put an end to Krueger's shenanigans.
Draped in Crane's body, Krueger will end up quite dead. Krueger's
spirit flees, allowing Nelson, with Maria's help, to get Crane back
to the Flying Sub, even as he instructs Morton to launch a missile
at the Island. We
last see the ghostly Krueger and Lani reunited as spirits, walking
off into the mist, as the Island is blown to bits.  |
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Mark Says: In some
ways an improvement on the original Phantom, although it’s much
less subtle. Seeing a native girl sitting at the controls of the flying
sub is an incongruous sight indeed, and the island’s spectacular
destruction is exciting. On the human level, Nelson’s attempts to
explain to Chip Morton what has happened to Crane is very well done. Sutton
Roley was one of Voyage’s most imaginative directors and you can
count on him to liven things up. |
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Mike
Says: Director Sutton
Roley could
take crabgrass and turn it into a stunningly verdant lawn. Since the
script for "Return" wasn't that bad to
begin with, Voyage's final outing for it's second
season, turned out just fine. David Hedison cites this as one
of his favorite Voyage episodes.
It is certainly one of my favorite year-two episodes. But
holy moley! Why, when Morton orders a missile launched, do we see
two torpedoes fired. |
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Return