"The Sky Is Falling"  Serious science fiction in Season One.

After generally strong first seasons, Irwin Allen's series tended to unravel. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was Allen's first TV series and has the distinction of having held together the longest.  Voyage's first season in particular, was serious, well written and acted, thoughtful, and certainly, gritty.  The writing, after stumbling in the first two episodes of season one, kicked into high gear with Anthony Wilson's "The Fear Makers."  Other first season episodes were  written by the likes of Harlan Ellison (Star Trek , numerous other sf credits), Robert Hamner (Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, Cannon ), William Read Woodfield (Mission Impossible, Sea Hunt, Ironside) and Don Brinkley (Trapper John, M.D., Perry Mason, The Invaders).

Similarly interesting is the fact that many of Voyage's first season directors were the same talents who had several years earlier       turned out first season episodes of the classic The Outer Limits, another 60s science fiction series, considered to be one of the best sf shows ever made.  The Outer Limits is held, almost in reverence for its brilliant first season.  And although it went to hell in a hand basket in season two, there were several exceptions, including Harlan Ellison's outstanding "Demon with a Glass Hand."

Classic Season One Outer Limits, "O.B.I.T."

     Following is a cross-reference listing of directors who worked on first seasons of both Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and The Outer Limits .

     If you go back and examine the quality and texture of many of the early episodes of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, you will see how in conjunction with good (and sometimes great) first-season writing, it's line-up of talented directors controlled the horizontal and the vertical of all that you saw and heard.

    Subsequent to reading the above,  site visitor Anne Auwaerter submitted an insightful email, which has been edited slightly and include as follows:

Pilot episode's Dr. Gamma, bent on world domination -- cold war paranoia.

Whether it was the temper of the times or the discretion of the directors themselves, the look and feel of both shows (Voyage and The Outer Limits) in their first seasons are remarkably similar.      There's little question that cold war paranoia gripped Hollywood and it showed in the programming of the time.  Both shows were post-Bay-of-Pigs-incident, which I'm just old enough to remember.  We lived just outside of New York City back then, and my parents were scared to death about what the future might have held for all of us. It was not a good time.  We came to the brink of annihilation and nearly crossed it.      Cold war paranoia aside, every director brings his or her personality on to a set and therefore affects everything we see in the finished product: the actors, the dialogue, the lighting, the camera

movement and angles, etc. plus, there's no question that black and white film always skews what we see as well - gives it a more realistic, grittier feeling of reality.      "The Price of Doom" was much more effective in black and white (than it could possibly have been in color.).  Remember Kowalski's (Del Monroe's) performance in the control room right after his pal gets eaten by the killer plankton?  There was a quick take of Monroe relating to the others what happened, but his acting, coupled with some great lighting, resulted in an absolutely sterling moment.       Now think of 'The Price Of Doom' in color. Yuck!!  It wouldn't have been the same, would it?    Season One grit -"The Price of Doom" ---Anne Auwaerter In answer to Anne's last question, no, if "The Price of Doom" had been filmed in color, it would not have had the same gritty, realistic look and feel that it has in black and white. --Mike B

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