Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Episode Guide, Year One, shows 9 & 10.
Production information and notes by Mark Phillips
Story synopses, Mike Bailey

Go To
Hot Line
Submarine Sunk Here


Hot Line.    (Airdate: November 9, 1964)
STORYLINE:
A soviet rocket is out of control, the victim of sabotage, and on its way to crashing off the California coast.  The President receives the news via the Hot Line and two Soviet specialists are dispatched to meet up with Seaview, so they can intercept the satellite upon entry and disarm its nuclear power plant before it goes critical, explodes, and starts World War Three.  Unknown to either power, one of the Soviets (Gronski) has been intercepted and replaced by a Russian turncoat.  As word of their mission spreads through the sub, the volatile seaman Clark (God bless him) is desperate to warn his family, who live in California.  After engaging Kowalski  
Malinoff and Gronski, not two of a kind.
Malinoff & Gronski in the nose.
in a fight, he attacks Sparks in an attempt to get out a message.  Curly collars Clark and Crane threatens to toss the man in the brig. 

Bad news....San Francisco could be toast. Along with Seaview. That about-to-explode Clark look. Great shot of Clark trapped by a ticking clock.
When Crane announces the true nature of their mission, who else but Clark would start to build up steam?

Diving to supposedly stop the impending explosion.
Gronski & Malinoff in the capsule.

   Meanwhile, as the two Russians dive for the satellite, no one aware is that one of them is an imposter.  Upon "completion" of their mission, Nelson notifies the President that the satellite is disarmed, and the President notifies Nelson that, au contraire, he's got an imposter on his hands.  With precious little time left, Nelson announces that Seaview has been ordered to remain by the satellite until the following day.  "Gronski," well aware that the device has not been disarmed, starts to come apart and reveals his identity. Nelson must head out and try to deactivate the missile himself, which he does successfully, much to the relief of both countries.


Brawl anyone. Oops....Curly says no. You don't argue with Curly.
When there's a scuffle, who ya gonna blame?  Seaman Clark!
 

Written: Berne Giler
Directed: John Brahm
Guest Cast
Gregory Malinoff.................Michael Ansara
Gronski...................................Everett Sloane
President.....................................Ford Rainey
Larry Tobin.............................James Doohan
Clark................................................Paul Carr
Chairman....................................John Banner
George...............................Robert C. Carson
U.S. Official......................... Arthur Peterson
Russian Field Marshall.....Maurice Manson
Russian man..............................Gene Benton
Airline pilot..............................Alfred George
Russian greeter..........................Paul Kremin

Serious business for the President.
Ford Rainey very credibly essays the President. 		  Mark says: An intelligent storyline, but ho-hum dialog hampers the proceedings.   A good guest cast and a suspenseful climax help to bring this slightly above average.  Ford Rainey as the President (left) has a striking resemblance to the real President of 1973, Richard Nixon!

Mike says: Not one, but two future Starship Enterprise crew members in one Voyage episode!  Paul Carr (Clark) went on to play Lieutenant Kelso in Trek's "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and James Doohan, of course, became Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott, chief engineer of the Enterprise.  This is Paul Carr's first appearance as the volatile seaman Clark, and he does a wonderful  job, as always, of playing a man on the verge of explosion.  The fact that such behavior would not be tolerated on a real submarine for more than a nano-second does not diminish his tension generating contribution.

 

James essayed the Presidents assistant with no Scottish brogue.
Aye Captain, beam me up now!  These
crazies are playing with nukes down here.

Special note: On June 20, 1963 in Geneva, the spokesmen for the Soviet and American foreign ministries signed the Memorandum of Understanding Regarding the Establishment of a Direct Communications Line, soon to be known simply as the Hot Line.  This episode of Voyage was certainly timely when first broadcast in 1964.

Submarine Sunk Here
(Airdate: November 16, 1964)
STORYLINE:
This story deals with tragic events, the product of an emotionally charged confrontation which brings about the distraction of Seaview's sonar operator. During a control room tussle, the sub encounters a derelict mine field and winds up on the bottom, air revitalization wrecked beyond repair. Several of the crew have been killed in the accident and those remaining must fight for their lives.  Nelson figures they have ten hours of air left. The rush is on at New London to finish repairs on the Diving Bell and get it two-hundred miles to sea where Seaview lies helpless, a seething cauldron of fear, and for some, resentment.

    Santa Barbara Star Dispatch bears the bad news.

Go to special extended photo-synopsis of
"Submarine Sunk Here"
A Voyage Classic

Read the other side of this episode from Chip's point of view
"Detached"


Basehart and Hedison really working hard in season one, as did all the cast.
Nelson rescued but in pain.  Seaview is on the bottom
and suffering and death are everywhere. 

    
 

Written: William Tunberg
Directed: Leonard Horn
Guest Cast
Evans.......................Carl Reindel
Harker.....................Eddie Ryder
Bishop..........................Paul Comi
Dr. Baines................Wright King
Blake.....................Robert Doyle
Collins................George Lindsay
O’Brien...................Derrik Lewis
Navy Officer.........Wesley Liston
Crewmen...............Hal Needham
                               Mark Russell
                                  Peter Dixon
                            Richard Elmore
                             Frank Graham


Mark says: A desperate and realistic struggle for survival at the bottom of the sea.  Sudden death is everywhere and the claustrophobia is omnipresent.  One of the best episodes.  My only gripe is that while Blake was clearly derelict for not paying attention to sonar, it was Evans who set the tragedy in motion by creating a disturbance in the control room and striking a superior officer.  Yet Evans never expresses any remorse over his subordinate behavior and he is never made accountable for his part in the sub’s devastating sinking.

Mike says:  This is one of those Voyage episodes where you can lift virtually any frame from the film, and you've got a terrific still shot, so finely executed is the camera work.  It was perhaps Voyage's reputation as a kid's show based on critical reaction to the pilot, that kept this episode and/or Richard Basehart from being nominated for an Emmy.  I don't believe it's too far off the beam to suggest that it and he are that good.  The entire cast shines.

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