Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is a TV show about a submarine where nothing ever works when it should. Despite the hilarity potential of that premise, the show is not a comedy (at least, not intentionally). Instead, it was the first big sci-fi TV epic series from Irwin Allen, who would go on to produce The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space and Land of the Giants.
The series revolves around the super submarine Seaview. It is the world's first privately owned nuclear submarine, designed by not-quite-retired Admiral Nelson (Richard Basehart) for his civilian research institute. Despite this, the sub is crewed by Navy personnel and is still technically under Navy command (at least one episode revolves around the possibility that Seaview would be ordered to start World War III by launching a nuclear missile at the Soviet Union). The series is set in an unspecified "near future" time where the world is exactly the same as the current year, but the "near future" is needed to justify the super-advanced technology in the show, such as a mini-sub stored in the Seaview that can also fly.
The show's nominal commander is Captain Lee Crane (David Hedison) who doesn't get to do much captaining, because there's an admiral aboard who gives most of the orders. There is also a first mate (Robert Dowdell), who has even less to do, since the Captain has been relegated to the role of First Mate, a handful of regular officers and crew, including a communications officer who is never referred to by any name other than his nickname, "Sparks", and a rotating collection of lesser officers and crewmen, many of whom don't make it through an entire episode (this show pioneered the concept of Red Shirts two years before Star Trek first aired).
The first two seasons are a mixture of Cold War-era espionage stories and sci-fi tinted spy/adventure stories. Beginning in the third season, the show's writers started taking some weird drugs or something, and in the final two seasons, the Seaview was imperiled by sea monsters, mermen, aliens, mad scientists, time travelers, living puppets, ghosts, the Flying Dutchman, the Abominable Snowman and a FRICKIN' LEPRECHAUN!
Many of the episodes' plots tended to be very basic, such as "Seaview is threatened by X", "Spies try to trap/steal/destroy the Seaview", or "Scientific experiment threatens to destroy the world". Stories are developed and tension is built by having everything on the Seaview inexplicably fail at the most inappropriate moments (the ballast tanks were particularly troublesome, stranding the sub on the bottom of the ocean roughly once every three episodes or so). A lot of it can be explained away by virtue of the Seaview being an "experimental" sub, but most of the time, it's just an injudicious application of Murphy's Law for the sake of cheap thrills. This is kind of a trademark of Irwin Allen productions.
Nevertheless, the show is great fun, a top-flight example of an action/adventure series done right - even in the goofy later episodes. Much of the enjoyment of the show comes from the cast. Basehart is suitably professorial and commanding as Nelson. Hedison makes up for his lack of proper captaining by being a heroic leading man. The crew is generally presented as being professional, courageous, intelligent calm under pressure and working well together. A particular standout is Terry Becker as Chief Petty Office Francis Sharkey (fun fact: ten years later, Don Rickles would play a CPO named Sharkey in a navy-themed sitcom built around his particular style of comedy). On first impressions, Sharkey comes across as the most insubordinate officer in the entire navy, challenging orders - sometimes openly disobeying them - and usually suspicious of his superior officers and most visitors on the ship. He gets away with it because he is ALWAYS the first person on the Seaview to suspect something is amiss: Whenever Nelson or Crane are replaced by an impostor, Sharkey is always the first to point out that they are acting strangely. Whenever a con man or foreign spy starts scamming Nelson, Sharkey is always the first one to smell a rat. Nelson clearly tolerates Sharkey's insubordination because his instincts are a vital part of Seaview's security.
The series is noteworthy for being an unapologetic sausage-fest. Although there were a number of female characters in the first two seasons, the Seaview never had a female crew member, even temporarily. And beginning with the third season, the female characters practically disappeared. There were only three female characters in the third season - two of whom had no dialogue - and none at all in the fourth!
The special effects are often quite good for the 1960's. The exterior of the Seaview was depicted with a variety of detailed models, one of which was about 9 feet long. The Flying Sub was also an attractive design despite a curious lack of aerodynamics on a vehicle that was a part-time aircraft. Underwater scenes are presented using camera filters and quite of lot of actual underwater filming. Turbulence around the sub was depicted with the actors throwing themselves from side to side as the camera tilts to and fro (another thing Gene Roddenberry would steal for Star Trek). It all looks pretty good if you're not too picky.
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is rightfully regarded as a "classic" TV series, presenting a premise that was unique for its time and imitated by many later series. It has much of the same timeless appeal as shows such as Star Trek, The Wild Wild West and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. It deserves to be seen because it's great TV fun that should not be lost or forgotten.
The series revolves around the super submarine Seaview. It is the world's first privately owned nuclear submarine, designed by not-quite-retired Admiral Nelson (Richard Basehart) for his civilian research institute. Despite this, the sub is crewed by Navy personnel and is still technically under Navy command (at least one episode revolves around the possibility that Seaview would be ordered to start World War III by launching a nuclear missile at the Soviet Union). The series is set in an unspecified "near future" time where the world is exactly the same as the current year, but the "near future" is needed to justify the super-advanced technology in the show, such as a mini-sub stored in the Seaview that can also fly.
The show's nominal commander is Captain Lee Crane (David Hedison) who doesn't get to do much captaining, because there's an admiral aboard who gives most of the orders. There is also a first mate (Robert Dowdell), who has even less to do, since the Captain has been relegated to the role of First Mate, a handful of regular officers and crew, including a communications officer who is never referred to by any name other than his nickname, "Sparks", and a rotating collection of lesser officers and crewmen, many of whom don't make it through an entire episode (this show pioneered the concept of Red Shirts two years before Star Trek first aired).
The first two seasons are a mixture of Cold War-era espionage stories and sci-fi tinted spy/adventure stories. Beginning in the third season, the show's writers started taking some weird drugs or something, and in the final two seasons, the Seaview was imperiled by sea monsters, mermen, aliens, mad scientists, time travelers, living puppets, ghosts, the Flying Dutchman, the Abominable Snowman and a FRICKIN' LEPRECHAUN!
Many of the episodes' plots tended to be very basic, such as "Seaview is threatened by X", "Spies try to trap/steal/destroy the Seaview", or "Scientific experiment threatens to destroy the world". Stories are developed and tension is built by having everything on the Seaview inexplicably fail at the most inappropriate moments (the ballast tanks were particularly troublesome, stranding the sub on the bottom of the ocean roughly once every three episodes or so). A lot of it can be explained away by virtue of the Seaview being an "experimental" sub, but most of the time, it's just an injudicious application of Murphy's Law for the sake of cheap thrills. This is kind of a trademark of Irwin Allen productions.
Nevertheless, the show is great fun, a top-flight example of an action/adventure series done right - even in the goofy later episodes. Much of the enjoyment of the show comes from the cast. Basehart is suitably professorial and commanding as Nelson. Hedison makes up for his lack of proper captaining by being a heroic leading man. The crew is generally presented as being professional, courageous, intelligent calm under pressure and working well together. A particular standout is Terry Becker as Chief Petty Office Francis Sharkey (fun fact: ten years later, Don Rickles would play a CPO named Sharkey in a navy-themed sitcom built around his particular style of comedy). On first impressions, Sharkey comes across as the most insubordinate officer in the entire navy, challenging orders - sometimes openly disobeying them - and usually suspicious of his superior officers and most visitors on the ship. He gets away with it because he is ALWAYS the first person on the Seaview to suspect something is amiss: Whenever Nelson or Crane are replaced by an impostor, Sharkey is always the first to point out that they are acting strangely. Whenever a con man or foreign spy starts scamming Nelson, Sharkey is always the first one to smell a rat. Nelson clearly tolerates Sharkey's insubordination because his instincts are a vital part of Seaview's security.
The series is noteworthy for being an unapologetic sausage-fest. Although there were a number of female characters in the first two seasons, the Seaview never had a female crew member, even temporarily. And beginning with the third season, the female characters practically disappeared. There were only three female characters in the third season - two of whom had no dialogue - and none at all in the fourth!
The special effects are often quite good for the 1960's. The exterior of the Seaview was depicted with a variety of detailed models, one of which was about 9 feet long. The Flying Sub was also an attractive design despite a curious lack of aerodynamics on a vehicle that was a part-time aircraft. Underwater scenes are presented using camera filters and quite of lot of actual underwater filming. Turbulence around the sub was depicted with the actors throwing themselves from side to side as the camera tilts to and fro (another thing Gene Roddenberry would steal for Star Trek). It all looks pretty good if you're not too picky.
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is rightfully regarded as a "classic" TV series, presenting a premise that was unique for its time and imitated by many later series. It has much of the same timeless appeal as shows such as Star Trek, The Wild Wild West and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. It deserves to be seen because it's great TV fun that should not be lost or forgotten.