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Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: ...And Five of Us Are Left (1965)
Letters from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
An interesting episode from the point of view that five seaman have survived for 28 years and one of them is a Japanese commander. The four U.S. submariners wouldn't be in the situation if it wasn't for them saving the Japanese commander. A clever ironic point that isn't fully explored but instead the show concentrates on the honor of Nakamura who wants to get back into the war and save face. The story tumbles along and there is a nice moment where the son of one of the lost seamen gets to confront his father after an almost thirty year gap. But again a lot of character play is thrown out the window and the story which could have had some very interesting drama steams towards it's unimaginative end. It's nice to see Robert Doyle here returning for his second 'Voyage' episode and even though the flying sub was introduced only one episode before it is destroyed here by a volcano. We would find out that Nelson must have quite a few of them because they kept turning up. Hard to keep a good flying sub down I guess.
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: The Left-Handed Man (1965)
Left-Handed Almost gets it Right
The Left- Handed Man continues from Escape from Venice with a spy-related theme even down to the fact that the villain looks as if he's just stepped out of a James Bond movie. The mysterious left-handed man is in fact an assassin and is out to get Nelson who is trying to ascertain whether a senator is under the control of a communistic wealthy American played by Cyril Delevanti who would chalk up roles in most sixties TV shows. The flying sub is shown off to good effect in this episode and the idea of an assassin with a gun for a hand is great but the plot stumbles towards the end as we ask ourselves why didn't Nelson go to Washington in the flying sub. It would have solved a lot of problems. Still, we get to see where Nelson lives for the first time and Regis Toomey who plays Penfield in the show was in the original 'Voyage' movie. All in all great entertainment with the very attractive Barbera Bouchet as Penfield's daughter.
The Wild Wild West: The Night of the Eccentrics (1966)
The West explodes into color
The Wild Wild West explodes into it's second season in color and boy does it look great. The sets in the episode look magnificent and wouldn't be out of place in an episode of the sixties's Batman show. The opening credits also have the animated West punching the woman's lights out as opposed to the first season where he kisses her and she swoons away. Fair enough..after all she was trying to kill him. The Eccentrics led by Victor Buono are a great invention and include Richard Pryor as a venquilotrist. There is a certain amount of mystery and unexplained events in this show and the story and other elements really combine to give us a cracking episode and everything that the Wild Wild West would come to represent. Nine stars out of ten
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: The Cyborg (1965)
Robotic in more ways than one...
This episode is a pedestrian affair which operates on the level of a Lost in Space episode but without the added attraction of a Dr Smith. Sure it's fun to watch Victor Buono, I mean it's always fun to watch Victor Buono, and Brooke Bundy is the most beautiful robot you'll ever lay your eyes on but the episode shuffles down the path of A to B to C without any interesting drama really happening. The cyborg 'Nelson' having his face blown off at the end is fun and Crane relating to the same cyborg is interesting but overall there is a real sense of ordinariness about the show even though millions of lives are at stake. The cyborg machine is interesting for the fact that it appeared in 'Time Tunnel' and 'Lost in Space' but overall a disappointing episode.
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Escape from Venice (1965)
A Return To Spys on 'Voyage'.
Escape From Venice is a welcome return to the spy-themed shows of the first season with an exciting story involving the rescuing of Lee Crane from the beautiful city of Venice. The only city that can be shut off from the rest of the world or so the show tells us. It's great to watch the cast creep around the scenic, if sometimes, creepy city of Venice visiting coffee shops and casinos and if it wasn't for the limits of the budget you would swear that you were involved in a James Bond story. The episode comes alive thanks to Bennett's writing and shows that it wasn't necessary to keep the show involved in the ocean to make it exciting. A great episode but unfortunately the series would soon return to silliness
The Twilight Zone: Young Man's Fancy (1962)
Worth Watching for Phyllis Thaxter
Young Man's Fancy is Rod Serlings take on letting go of your childhood and moving on with life. The story has been done many times before but the difference in this episode is that instead of the mother trying to hang on to her son ,it's the son who wants to stay with his mother. The show is worth watching for Phillis Thaxter's performance. Her presence adds pathos to a run-of-the-mill plot and is interesting to see the actress years before she would become Superman's mom in ,'Superman the Movie.' The third season of the 'Zone' had some clunkers in it and only because it's the 'Zone' do I rate it an eight but the twist in the tail is predictable as would happen from now on to different varying degrees. Still even in the most average 'Zones' there is still something that stands out and in this case it's Thaxter's performance.
The Twilight Zone: Still Valley (1961)
Well acted but light entry
Yet another civil war entry from the Twilight Zone in which a confederate soldier enters a town to report on union troop activity but finds all of the troops are frozen in time. We find out that it's sorcery that has led to this and the warlock that has cast the spell is now wanting to pass on his 'witchcraft' book to the confederate soldier. The episode works to a degree and is helped by a strong performance by Gary Merill but the ending is a little weak as with a lot of the third season episodes. Serling by this time had written a lot of episodes but one can see that some of the scripts that were sneaking through were in need of more work. Not a great 'Zone' but still a 'Zone' and if only for this reason worth watching. A nice bookend to watch with 'The Passerby'.