Showing posts with label seaview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seaview. Show all posts

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Season One, Vol. 1 (1964) Review

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Season One, Vol. 1 (1964)
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This was my favorite TV series in the 1960s. While sometimes derided by serious Sci-Fi fans, Voyage was very successful in its day, and actually lasted a season longer than Star Trek. The casting of Richard Basehart was a real coup, and David Hedison, who turned down the Captain Crane role in the VTTBOTS movie, came aboard in the TV show. Featuring special effects that still hold up today, VTTBOTS originally started out as serious sci-fi, whose first season episodes still stand tall with the best of TV sci-fi. The second season brought color episodes, a re-designed Seaview, and a new invention, the Flying Sub, to help expand the action. As often happened with Irwin Allen's shows, writing became spotty as time went on. Solid sci-fi stories were often sandwiched between "monster of the week" shows. Even the cast was surprised when the show was picked up for a fourth season. From what I've read, Basehart was anxious to get out of the grind of a TV series, and frankly back into what he considered serious acting. So one will notice an episode or two where he's absent, or obviously being doubled (the episode with the giant sea spider and the hyper fast submarine was one where he was doubled, and he literally duped his lines). There's also another episode where Basehart's son John had a guest part (playing a crewman named "Johnson". Get it? John? Basehart's son?).
I had the pleasure of meeting David Hedison at a convention a few years back. He recounted many fine stories about Voyage, including his relationship with Basehart, working with Irwin Allen, and his years as Captain of the Seaview.
I have waited a long time for this to come out on DVD. I am glad to see it is finally going to hit the DVD shelves!

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Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was the brainchild of Writer/Producer/Director Irwin Allen... the "Master of Disaster."It ran on ABC 1964-1968 and was for its four years of some of the best and most exciting science fiction on TV at the time. The classic adventures aboard the "SSRN Seaview" will captivate you today, as much as they did in the 60s.

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Voyage to the Bottom of Sea: Season 2, Vol. 1 (1964) Review

Voyage to the Bottom of Sea: Season 2, Vol. 1 (1964)
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VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (ABC 1964-68) makes an auspicious primetime network debut in magnificent colour for its landmark second season (1965-66) featuring a completely remodeled Seaview, the introduction of the fantastic Flying Sub in addition to the series casting of new regulars Terry Becker in the role of Chief (CPO) Francis Ethelbert Sharkey and Allan Hunt as Crewman Stuart "Stu" Riley.
The scripts here are invariably on a par with the very best written for the first season (1964-65) similarly encompasing a wide range of storylines innovatively marking early televised references to the term "Cyborg" (in "The Cyborg") and the advanced scientific concept of genetic engineering (in "The Menfish").
The stellar line up of the finest Hollywood celebrity acting talents recruited from the theatrical stage, motion picture screen and television making guest appearances (typically) remains impressively outstanding with the distinguished presences of Victor Buono, Gia Scala, Phillip Pine, Ina Balin, Vincent Gardenia, Brooke Bundy, Regis Toomey, Renzo Cesana, Lloyd Bochner, Susan Flannery, Liam Sullivan, James Anderson, Barbara Bouchet, Richard Loo, Robert F. Simon, Whit Bissell, George Takei, Karen Steele, John McGiver, Charles Dierkop, Irene Tsu, Roger C. Carmel, Jan Merlin, Pilar Seurat, Robert Cornthwaite, John Zaremba, Audrey Dalton, Kent Taylor, Cyril Delavanti, Bert Freed, Robert Doyle and John Cassavettes.
Richard Basehart and David Hedison dependably give their (by now) customary solid performances especially with the strong story material that these two series stars have to work with throughout this banner second year making it a worthy follow up to the gloriously triumphant first season.
Among the more noteworthy efforts present in the VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA - SECOND SEASON, VOLUME ONE 3-disc box set are "Jonah and the Whale," "Time Bomb," "...And Five of Us Are Left," "The Cyborg," "The Left-Handed Man," "The Deadliest Game," "Leviathan," "The Peacemaker," "The Silent Saboteurs" and "The Machines Strike Back."
This extrarordinary DVD set will be comprised of the first 13 colour hour long segments from VOYAGE's second season (1965-66) that includes:
01) "Jonah and the Whale" (19/09/1965)
02) "Time Bomb" (26/09/1965)
03) "...And Five of Us Are Left" (03/10/1965)
04) "The Cyborg" (10/10/1965)
05) "Escape from Venice" (17/10/1965)
06) "The Left-Handed Man" (24/10/1965)
07) "The Deadliest Game" (31/10/1965)
08) "Leviathan" (07/11/1965)
09) "The Peacemaker" (14/11/1965)
10) "The Silent Saboteurs" (21/11/1965)
11) "The X Factor" (05/12/1965)
12) "The Machines Strike Back" (12/12/1965)
13) "The Monster from Outer Space" (19/12/1965)
The supplemental bonus material contains 20 minutes of revealing behind-the-scenes Special Effects test film footage some of which was likely earlier previewed in the VOYAGE segment of the 1995 THE FANTASY WORLDS OF IRWIN ALLEN tv documentary special.
An additional treat is that the new season's premiere episode "Jonah and the Whale" is endowed with a completely different opening and closing titles theme music composed by the late Jerry Goldsmith which was used specifically as such for this segment but further effectively employed as evocative background scoring for subsequent episodes of the second year as well.
As with the previous first season volumes one and two DVD sets the video transfers utilized are also similarily taken from the original vault stored pristine 35mm colour film source elements fully restored and digitally remastered in high definition for optimum picture and sound quality.
For those VOYAGE fans who have been anxiously anticipating these splendidly produced colour presentations from the series' smash hit second season this particular DVD collection should prove to be well worth the wait and a marvellous continuation to the outstanding first season adventures further chronicling the exciting, remarkable underwater exploits (set during the not-too-distant future in the mid to late 1970s) of the Earth's final great frontier with Admiral Harriman Nelson, Captain Lee Crane and the stalwartly intrepid crew of the SSRN Seaview in one of the most popular and best remembered SF tv shows of the 1960s. Primetime network series television has seldom been done better than it was here.
Jeff T.

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JOURNEY TO A BREATHTAKING WORLD OF DANGER AND SUSPENSE.The SSRN Seaview, the world's most technologically advanced submarine, is back and more powerful than ever! Come aboard with Admiral Nelson, Captain Crane, and their crew as they brave hostile waters and explore uncharted depths, keeping the world safe from the enemies of mankind. Season Two is full of innovative series firsts: it's the first season to be shot in color, and the Seaview has been masterfully redesigned to house the spectacular Flying Sub! Filled with espionage, action, sci-fi and suspense, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is a true TV classic!

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