Voyage
to the Bottom of the Sea
Production
information and
and notes by Mark Phillips.
Story synopsis, Mike Bailey
| Voyage
to the Bottom of the Sea |
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Trivia: ABC’s censors warned Irwin Allen about creating the inside of the whale’s stomach. "There must not be an overly strong visceral effect. Please use caution and discretion with the depiction of giant membranes and stomach veins." |
Jonah and the Whale |
| Mark Says: When you see an episode like this, you realize how drab adventure programs had been up to this point in television. Here’s a show about a giant whale swallowing a diving bell, with divers crawling through its stomach, and pulling off a thrilling rescue. Not exactly The Lawrence Welk Show! The sheer ability of Irwin Allen and his crew to pull this one off is admirable. In addition to a good script and Jerry Goldsmith’s thrilling score, is the believable conflict of ideologies between Nelson and Dr. Markhova. The passage of time has taken a slight |  |
| toll on some special effects - for instance, the whale’s stomach membranes are clearly comprised of plastic bags. On the other hand, the monstrous jaws and the whale’s spiny throat canal still look creepy. A definite classic. |
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Mike Says: Jonah was a quantitative leap forward in the production of adventure for television. The scope of the story/visuals was, simply put, something new. In spite of the fact that a number of the effects shots (tinted blue) were reused from season one, there were a TON of new effects for the episode, all very well done and now in color. Jerry Goldsmith, a top writer of A-movie quality soundtracks, was called in to score the episode. Writer Shimon Wincelberg, Allen's detail man, inserted particulars into the episode that seldom reappeared again in the series, such as the fact that the diving |
| bell had a name -- Apple One. In addition to all that nifty action, the script had some thoughtful elements which hinted that perhaps a breach was forming in Voyage's cold-war edge. Jonah equals movie-quality production for the small screen. Like the whale, Director Sobey Martin actually rose to the occasion. Too bad this level wasn't maintained. |
| Time Bomb Airdate: September 26, 1965 |
| Nelson is surreptitiously injected with a radioactive material designed to explode big-time when it comes in proximity with a nuclear device -- this by certain Oriental forces who have designs on starting a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the US so that they alone will be left standing after the dust of war clears. Nelson, you see, is on his way to do some undercover work in the Soviet Union disguised as a Soviet Sailor. There he meets up with double-agent Litchka, and has a one-night fling with her before the actual story resumes and he heads straight for a secret nuclear plant near Gorov. |
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Nelson
meets the seductive Litchka. |
Crane sites Nelson
for the kill. |
Admiral in Crane's
sites. |
| When US intelligence finds out that Nelson is a walking time bomb, Crane and the Admiral's assistant Katie, are sent in to either neutralize the active agent in Nelson and get him out, or failing that, kill him to prevent a nuclear incident intended to start World War III. They trail the Admiral to a boat race Nelson's competing in as cover to access the secret nuclear plant. Luckily for Basehart fans, Crane can't pull the trigger, but by frontal assault is able to get to Nelson and administer the neutralizing agent. He then helps Nelson inspect the plant and they escape along with Katie by jumping into the Black Sea for a rendezvous with the Flying Sub. |  Crane administer's the neutralizer. |
| Time Bomb |
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| Mark Says: A cold-war story that misses the mark. Ina Balin’s Litchka is dull and the other villains are stereotypical. The few action scenes are routine, making this a tedious adventure. There are some bright spots, including Nelson’s singing with drunken sailors and his surprisingly passionate encounter with Litchka. There was talk of adding Susan Flannery to the cast as a regular but while she’s a good actress, her character is too remote to care about here. |
| Mike Says: Writer William Read Woodfield finally blows it. That is probably being unfair, in that, after story sessions with Irwin and the production team, the writers were obviously coached on the new, lighter direction the shows were to take in this new season. Just the same, not a particularly good script. Nelson's shallow romance with the spy Litchka is gratuitous and lends a smarmy gloss to the story. Not at all my favorite and a big letdown from the season opener, Jonah. |
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