Episode Guide, Year 1

Joey Tata, David Hedison and Del Monroe.

Farrell, Crane and Kowalski witness the execution of another prisoner and realize one of them could be next.

The president of a foreign country announces his intentions to defect if Nelson and Seaview will meet his boat and escort him to safety in America. Nelson agrees, in spite of the fact that the mission is to be unofficial and the US will not help if trouble crops up, which of course it does--in spades. Investigating the president's ship (found derelict), Crane, Kowalski, Patterson and crewman Farrell are captured by the country's real leader--dictator General Esteban D'Alvarez, who threatens to kill them one by one every hour, until they agree to admit guilt for having kidnapped President Fuentes.

Crane & Kowalski watch helplessly in horror as Farrell is led off to be shot.

In fact, it is D'Alverez who has kidnaped Fuentes. Soon, Farrell is dragged from his cell and shot in cold blood. Meanwhile, aided by Ricardo Galdez and Detta Casone (played to fine effect by the beautiful Rita Gam), Nelson heads for the compound where Crane, crew and Fuentes are being

Another bad day for Patterson.

held captive. Just as Patterson is about to be shot, Nelson, Detta and Ricardo arrive amidst a hale of gunfire and, in the nick of time, save Pat and free Crane, Kowalski and the president. The two freedom fighters stay behind, that the Seaview crew can get the president to safety. Hopefully, they survive to fight another day.

Richard Basehart, Alejandro Rey and Rita Gam.

Written: John McGreevey
Directed: Leonard Horn
Guest Cast:
Detta Casone......................................Rita Gam
Ricardo Galdez...........................Alejandro Rey
General Esteban Dalvarez...............Mike Kellin
President Alejandro Fuentes...Edward Colmans
Chairman...................................Booth Colman
Captain Serra...........................Henry Del Gado
Farrell.................................................Joey Tata
Williams......................................Doug Lambert
Major.................................. Armand Alzamora
Oriental Colonel............................Weaver Levy
Messenger......................................Paul Kremin
M.P..............................................Ray Didsbury

Henry del Gado (Henry Darrow): "It was a fun show to work on and a real treat to work with Richard Basehart. I had seen a lot of his work and he was a fine actor. Rita Gam was rather different, a very exotic lady and Alejandro Rey was fun and energetic. He never changed over the years, he always gave it his all, in any role he played. Mike Kellin was a solid actor. We joked that here he was, a New York-accented actor, playing a Latino dictator. Joey Tata is a great guy. Every now and then we bump into each other and recall those good old days of television."

Mike says: OK--gamey, gritty, graphic, this episode makes you cringe at the evil portrayed. In season one, Voyage was sometimes not a children's show in the same way that the first season of The Adventures of Superman was often not a children's show. The image of the screaming, terrified Farrell being dragged from his cell to be shot in cold blood off-screen, is inescapably chilling. This is a very disturbing episode that tells a story of common, yet brave people pitted against pure evil in the form of Esteban and his henchmen. "The Mist of Silence" still makes me uncomfortable when I view it simpy because it's done so well.

This kind of gritty imagery all but dissappeared from Voyage in later seasons.

Farrell is scared, and he has good reason to be.

Ski watches in horror as Farrell is shot.

Farrell is led off to be shot; Kowalski watches in horror

Mark says: My vote as the best episode of the entire series. Every facet of this segment - from location filming to photography to acting - is top-notch. Leonard Horn does his usual expert job of direction. South American stories usually bore me but this is a complex and interesting script, with unusually well developed characters and one of the nastiest villains ever, General Dalvarez. The scenes in the cell block are especially dramatic, including a scene that was almost cut out by the censors - the very disturbing death of crewman Farrell.

The Price of Doom (Airdate: October 12, 1964)
STORYLINE:

Scientists inadvertently expose a newly discovered deep-ocean plankton to heat and light at their arctic base, and the stuff grows wild, killing them. Alarmed by their unexpected silence, Nelson drives Seaview northward with Dr. Reisner and his associate Dr. Julie Lyle on board. Reisner has high hopes that plankton can help feed the world's starving populations. Opposing Reisner is Phillip Wesley, a representative of the big corporation that laid out the money for the research--he wants results that pay dividends. Angered by the scientist, Wesley reveals Reisner had lived in wartime Germany, and brands him a Nazi.


The talented David Opatoshu as Reisner.	John Milford as Phillip Wesley.	Jill Ireland as the detestable spy.

Wreckage and plankton residue.

In the meantime, we learn there's a foreign agent aboard out to get the secret of the plankton. Arriving at the wrecked Arctic base, Nelson finds no people, and unknowingly brings a sample of the killer plankton onto Seaview, where the dangerous stuff is soon growing like crazy. Nelson, by now aware that there's also a spy on board, has Reisner confined when evidence points to him. In the end, it comes to light that the pretty girl (Lyle) is the bad-guy--er, gal. She pays the appropriate price when she's consumed by the giant plankton just before key bulkheads are flooded with icy sea-water to kill the dangerous growth. Perhaps science can tame it to the benefit of humanity.

Kelp on growth spurt--Harlan Ellison's
" The Price of Doom." An effectively staged horror.

Written: Cord Wainer Bird
(Harlan Ellison)
Directed: James Goldstone
Guest Cast:
Dr. Julie Lyle................Jill Ireland
Dr. Karl Riesner...David Opatoshu
Philip Wesley............John Milford
Robert B. Pennell........Steve Ihnat
Karen Joyce Pennell.......Pat Priest
Chairman.................Ivan Triesault
General.....................Dan Seymour
Smiling Jack............James Frawley
Fox..........................Fred Stromsoe
Corpsman.................Garth Benton
Enemy technician........Paul Kremin
Helmsman.................Jim Goodwin
Crewman........................Phil Barry

James Goldstone: "Irwin Allen was much more interested in special effects and monsters than he was in the characters. I was working with the actors, trying to establish their character relationships, and Irwin kept looking over my shoulder and saying things like, "Jim, where�s the plankton? Remember, this story is about killer plankton." I finally announced that I would not continue directing until he left the set. He did and I finished the show."

Garth Benton (the corpsman who administers a shot to a screaming Jill Ireland): "My main recollection of the single day of shooting my part was, 'Hey, I get a scene with the leading lady! What's more, I get to touch her face and even give her a shot in the arm.' I felt really important the day this episode originally aired on ABC. I remember I viewed my 60-second part and observed myself inserting the syringe into the medicine bottle and drew out the sedative. So far, so good. I depressed the plunger to clear out the air bubble and then called out an order for Ms Ireland to be restrained as she flailed her arms about. But then, at the last moment, as I'm about to inject her with the hypo, I wiped off the needle with the base of my bare fingers!!! I've often wondered why I spontaneously performed such an unsanitary action and why no one noticed during filming. I never saw the seaweed creature until I viewed it on TV. To me, well...it looked horrible fake. Special effects have really taken a leap in the last 40 years. For the past 48 years, I have devoted myself to painting decorative murals and I've had shows all over the country."

Mark says: The doomed husband desperately trying to save his screaming wife from the plankton in the teaser is still strong stuff today. Despite the wild premise of plankton loose aboard Seaview, this "monster" is effectively staged and the death of crewman Fox is especially harrowing. One of the classics.

Kowalski struggles to save crewman Fox.

Mike says: Rivetingly directed by James Goldstone, some consider this to be the first official "monster episode." Regardless, it is well written by Harlan Ellison (under the pen-name Cord Wainer Bird because he wasn't satisfied with the end result--picky, picky.) Similar to an episode of The Outer Limits in that, although the episode is framed around a monster (runaway plankton), the real essence of the story has to to with "people" problems such as race hatred, greed, guilt and the balance of science versus humanity. These are the kind of human story insights that would all but vanish by the wrapping of Voyage's second season.

More from Mike at IMDB.

Also posted here so as not to lose the comments...Stephanie Kellerman: "Arctic scientists inadvertently expose a newly discovered deep-ocean plankton to heat and light at their arctic base, and the stuff grows wild, killing them. Alarmed by the unexpected silence, Nelson drives Seaview toward the Arctic base with Dr. Reisner and his associate Dr. Julie Lyle on board. Reisner has high hopes that plankton can help feed the world's starving populations. Opposing Reisner is Phillip Wesley, a representative of the big corporation that laid out the money for the research--he wants results that pay dividends. When things go amiss, Nelson concludes there's a spy on board and it has to be one of the three.

Harlan Ellison was dissatisfied with the treatment of his script for "The Price of Doom," so it was credited under his pen name Cordwainer Bird. Picky, picky! As with this episode, Voyage's first season produced numerous thoughtful, well written and acted hours that resonated similarly to first-season classic Outer Limits episodes. There might be a bear (monster) on the loose, as in this episode, but it wasn't the point of the show. The human story was the essence of things. Not only had writer Ellison scripted for "Limits," but this episode's director, James Goldstone, helmed several "Limits" outings. As science fiction chronicler Mark Phillips has pointed out, "The Price of Doom is classic Voyage.