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Voyage
to the Bottom of the Sea |
| Leviathan Airdate: November 14, 1965 |
| Nelson and Seaview are lured by Dr. Anthony Sterling to his underwater research station with the carrot that Sterling has tapped a fissure that leads to the earth's core. The doctor's assistant, Cara Sloane is aboard, and soon has Seaview's salt supply peppered with a hallucinogenic compound that has the crew seeing monsters and giant fish. Nelson correctly guesses the visions are hallucinations. Sloane suggests they may have something to do with the fissure that Seaview is rapidly approaching. Unknown to the crew however, the creatures they soon sight are real, giant mutations caused by eruptions from the pit. Via radio, Sterling urges Nelson and Sloane to get to him as soon as they can; Nelson agrees to come ahead via Flying Sub. |
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Undersea photography at Marineland
of Seaview with "giant" fish really worked well. |
| Upon arrival, Nelson is flabbergasted to find Sterling is now 12 feet tall, due, Sterling says, to exposure to emanations from the fissure. On Seaview, Crane gets the drift when the sub is rammed by one of those "hallucinations." When Nelson tries to contact Seaview to order that Crane seal the fissure, Sterling knocks him out with a chair and exits the facility. Again exposed to the fissure's emanations, he grows to tremendous size and attacks Seaview on the sub's arrival at the site. Before he can destroy Seaview, Sterling is killed by a timely eruption from the fissure and falls onto his own research facility, destroying it and the woman (Cara Sloane) who loved him. |
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Leviathan |
| Mark Says: This episode begins with true horror, as a luckless diver frantically tries to outswim a giant fish before being chomped to death in its jaws. From there, we follow the Seaview’s perilous journey to an undersea lab. Some of the giant menaces are questionable, including stock footage of a manta ray and a studio-made octopus that looks too sluggish to be dangerous, but the schools of giant fish surrounding Seaview are extraordinary and Sterling’s battle with Seaview is superbly filmed. A very good script, and well acted by |  |
| everyone. My favorite year-two segment. |
 A man with giant dental problems. |
Mike
Says: A darn good show. Not only is the
luckless diver seen chomped to death by a giant fish as Mark points
out above, but we see this happen from the perspective of inside
the fish's gullet. Truly terrifying! The effects of Seaview
steaming along amidst the giant fish were accomplished by shooting the
four foot model among the denizens of Marineland of the Pacific.
The script rings true, and there is an appropriate sense of tragedy
about the tale. As Voyage fan Ray Westafer reminded me, the music
for this episode is just about perfect. My only beef is with
the goofy looking "wax teeth" stuck in the giant Sterling's
mouth to make him look "scary." Oh Well. |
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