User Reviews

OK... What can I say about Guest star Alfred Ryder that hasn't been written. Nothing,except that his feigned Norwegian accent alone rates this episode a strong 5...But with the additional fine acting from the entire cast and the always anticipated multiple explosions and electronics failures aboard the Seaview... A definite 8.

Kowalski appears to be the ship's designated "red shirt," except that, unlike Star Trek red shirts, he doesn't get killed every episode, just brutally beaten and bruised. Probably the toughest crewman on the Seaview.

I could be wrong, but this may be the first episode to feature a burning flame as the antagonist. That said, its elocution was magnificent.

After this episode, I'm certain the Seaview was in the shipyard at least a week being overhauled....Exactly how many Co2 bottles do they go through every week? Staggering.

An obsessed Norweigian scientist inadvertendly brings an alien fire creature to Earth, convinced it must be friendly. But it kills his assistant, and once onboard the Seaview, threatens to FRY the sub and KILL everyone onboard, if its orders are not followed by a certain deadline. This is not how you make friends.

My first question: did Alfred Ryder ever play any characters who WEREN'T crazy? THE OUTER LIMITS, STAR TREK, BUCK ROGERS... his list of madmen goes on and on.

I found myself thinking there should have been one scene where Nelson told Bergstrom, "Alright, YOU go talk to it first. Now, if it KILLS you, then we'll go to Plan B." Instead, the alien belligerantly DEMANDS the Seaview crew set off an atomic explosion directly under the Arctic research base, "OR ELSE". And sure enough, Crane & Sharkey discover a whole group of fresh-frozen aliens, brought to Earth the same way, waiting to be set free by the intense heat of an atomic blast. So, clearly, this alien is up to NO GOOD.

Unfortunately, it takes most of the episode before the completely-unhinged Bergstrom (is there ever any other kind of scientist on this show?) finally breaks down and tells Nelson HOW to kill the alien-- just before, sure enough, it DOES kill him.

My second question is-- HOW in the hell did Charles Bennett write something THIS stupid? I've been watching "VOYAGE" from the beginning, and this really does have to rank among the worst-written episodes so far. (And that's really saying something.) I mean, my God, this is the guy who wrote the screenplays for THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, THE 39 STEPS, FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, NIGHT OF THE DEMON, and, my personal favorite, the 1954 CLIMAX! TV adaptation of Ian Fleming's "Casino Royale", which I've long liked WAY better than the novel!

On the other hand, he also did THE STORY OF MANKIND, THE BIG CIRCUS, THE LOST WORLD, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (the feature film), FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON, a LAND OF THE GIANTS and 7 episodes of VOYAGE-- all for Irwin Allen. I've said before Irwin Allen needed better writers. But in this case, I must rephrase that, and instead say, he needed better WRITING. This reminds me of what happened on BATMAN when Charles Hoffman took over as story editor, and the quality of everybody's scripts began to go right through the floor.

I'm also reminded that Bennett did WAR-GODS OF THE DEEP. That's one of the few bad films I've seen where, EVEN seeing it in widescreen didn't help.

And to think... I've still got a season-and-a-half of VOYAGE yet to go. OY! When even a really STUPID episode of LOST IN SPACE is far more entertaining to watch... you know you got problems.