Alien costume was based on a Voit rubber diving suit

Voyage to the
Bottom of
the Sea

Production information and notes by Mark Phillips
Story synopses, Mike Bailey

The Deadly Cloud  Original Airdate: March 12, 1967
  
EXCELLENT volcano miniature, I'm guessing by L.B.Abbott.
Ever seen this World War II footage before?
Looks like Florida storm to me.
Natural Disaster courtesy, as Mark points out, some nifty stock footage which wreaks havoc on the earth.

      Natural disasters sweep Earth; Nelson concludes they're tied to a huge weird cloud which seems to vacuum up aircraft sent to investigate and later, even nuclear weapons fired into it.  While Crane investigates in FS-1, the fate of the planet is laid at Nelson's feet; Earth will perish within 24 hours unless the cloud is stopped, so say computer simulations.  Seaview, manned by a skeleton crew, approaches, as Crane radios he's being drawn into the cloud.  Inside the cloud, Crane is "taken over" by a silvery alien dressed in a Voit wetsuit painted silver.  Seaview soon penetrates the cloud which seems to extend underwater and is soon immobilized.    

     ACK! Deadly cloud is so obviously a nuke blast. A real reality breaker.
The cloud is footage of a nuclear bomb.


Excellent mechanical effect of cloud lit through the nose effects bubbler tanks.
Alien wrapped as Crane address Morton in the nose.

     Nelson suspects the cloud is a force field effect of some kind.  Patterson picks up FS-1 on sonar returning to Seaview, and when "Crane" re boards, he seems a bit off.  He reports that the cloud is just whirling winds and mist. 

Alien Crane wreaks havoc on the sub.

     Crane zips about creating trouble, knocking out equipment and circumventing Nelson's orders to attack the cloud, until it's revealed that Crane is actually an impersonator -- an alien from a fiery-hot world who's race plans to milk earth of her precious metals and in the process, destroy her.  From then on it's a race to see if the men of Seaview can get missiles fired into the cloud in time to destroy the cloud and the alien life it harbors.

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This time, it was Patterson who got shot.
 

Written: Rik Vollaerts
Directed: Jerry Hopper
Guest Cast
Jurgenson..........................Robert C. Carson
Bill..............................................Bill Baldwin
Cloud Invader...........Darryl Scott McFadden

bluebul_reversed.gif - 362 Bytes  Kowalski is lucky.  Neither shot nor beaten senseless in the episode, "Deadly Cloud," he gets off light with a judo chop to the neck.  Patterson on the other hand....er, arm... 		 

Mark Says: A "par for the course" third-seasoner. The opening scene where the flying sub is drawn into the cloud is gripping but it’s basically another tired alien invasion story. The weary budget is helped out by some nifty stock footage of hurricanes and volcanoes.


Mike Says:  A horrible episode.  No budget and terribly written.  The normally workmanlike Jerry Hopper directs leadenly and after taking the money, writer Rik Vollaerts would have been wise to run for the border.  When, in the first reel, altogether too-familiar footage of a nuclear blast was used to represent the cloud, I knew we were  in big trouble on this outing.  The only good news was an animated laser blast or two.      

Mr. Morton lets the Alien Crane have it courstesy a bit of effects animation.

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