Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Episode Guide, Year Four, shows 1-4
Production information and notes by Mark Phillips
Story synopses, Mike Bailey

  

Go To.
Fires of Death
The Deadly Dolls
Cave of the Dead
Journey with Fear


Fires of Death (Airdate, Sept 17, 1967)
STORYLINE: 
     Vulcanologist Dr. Albert Turner is on board Seaview to quell the impending eruption of an immense Volcano that threatens much of the southern hemisphere.  In truth, Turner's real mission is to amplify the eruption in order to acquire "elixir stones" needed to extend his own life, for in fact, he's an alchemist.  When Nelson discovers the plot, he retires to the lab and tinkers together an implosion bomb which, when set off, counters the eruption.


Written: Arthur Weiss.
Directed: Jerry Hopper
Guest Cast
Dr. Albert Turner...............Victor Jory
Brent.................................Joe E. Tata
Adam............................Chuck Couch
Corpsman.........................Brent Davis

                                                         Victor Jory bluebul.gif - 266 Bytes
    Victor Jory as the over-the-top- Dr. Turner

Trivia: When Daily Variety reviewed this episode in 1967, they were frustrated that Voyage had managed to gain a fourth-year renewal, saying that it was only a matter of time before kids chose between Voyage and Lassie.  However, they were astonished by the acting of Richard Basehart and Victor Jory, noting incredulously, "they went at it as if they were bucking for an Emmy!"

Mark says:  This episode loads the plate with an indestructible sailor, a doomsday volcano, a golden Chip Morton, a immortal scientist and magical elixir stones. The results are entertaining. Famous Monsters magazine did a photo-story on this episode in 1970.

Mike says:  A must-see for Bob Dowdell fans for his "golden" performance.  As noted above, an inane plot carried off with conviction.  Great volcano interior sets.  This episode features particularly fine makeup effects under the direction of Ben Nye and some great shots of the full-scale Flying Sub prop (stern) which appeared in Voyage's final season.



The Deadly Dolls (Airdate:September 24, 1967)
STORYLINE
     Puppeteer Professor Multiple stows away and one by one, replaces Seaview's crew with his dolls which are capable of growing and assuming the men's physical, if not their complete mental characteristics.  Nelson eventually learns that Multiple is but the mouthpiece for a supercomputer, which on an information gathering mission, has inadvertently crashed on Earth, becoming stranded.  The machine, through Multiple and his puppet replacements, seeks to forcibly take Seaview as a new home, as a hermit crab might appropriate a snail shell. 

Written: Charles Bennett
Directed: Harry Harris
Guest Cast
Professor Multiple...........Vincent Price
Burns..............................Tom Anthony
Puppeteers.................Ronald P. Martin
Roy Raymond Etherington
F. Alton Wood

                                Vincent Price
 & company  bluebul.gif - 266 Bytes
   Vincent Price as Professor Multiple.

Behind-the-scenes-shot of puppeteers from Deadly Dolls.     

Del Monroe: "The puppeteers who worked on this episode were wonderful.  They invited us to see a real puppet show after the filming was over.  They used thin wires to make the dolls move and it was fascinating to see them work.  It was a fun episode to do."

fanbar.gif_small.gif - 646 Bytes


Mike says:  The episode is loaded with new effects and is cleverly written, in addition to featuring a delightful performance by Vincent Price as Multiple.  At its core, the story is bona-fide science fiction, something Voyage didn't dabble in much after season one.  All in all, The Deadly Dolls is not too, too bad, at all. 

THe deadliest and funniest doll   Mark says:  The Nelson puppet is one of the greatest guest characters ever seen in a fantasy show. He pops in and out of view and tries to drive Admiral Nelson nuts with one-liners. The doll has no sense of social etiquette or moral responsibility. He’s a "in-your-face" puppet with attitude, a muppet gone amok. This episode also benefits from a bizarre sense of humor, the great Vincent Price, a nice working relationship between Nelson and Crane as they team up to battle the nasty dolls and a rousing special-effects climax. A genuine classic.


Cave of the Dead  (Airdate:October 8, 1967)
STORYLINE
    
My anorexia's getting the best of me.       It's a flying dutchman tale this time out as Nelson, accompanied by Naval Lieutenant Commander Peter Van Wyck, pilots the Flying Sub on a mission to discover the fate of missing Navy ships.  When broadsided by an ancient galleon, the Flying Sub goes down, and crashes, dead in the water, communications out.  Nelson explores a nearby island and within an ancient cave, discovers skeletons, doubloons and a dagger which it turns out Van Wyck must kill the Admiral with, that he might break an ancient Flying Dutchman curse.  Back on Seaview, the two engage in a seesaw encounter.   Finally searching for the Dutchman in the Diving Bell, Nelson
vanquishes Van Wyck by ordering the nearby island destroyed, and along with it, the Cave of the Dead, to which Van Wyck was supernaturally tied. 

Written: William Welch
Directed: Harry Harris
Guest Cast
Peter Van Wyck...........Warren Stevens
Pirate Voice......................Bart La Rue 
         Lee, you've lost weight!    

Warren Stevens  bluebul.gif - 266 Bytes

  Warren Stevens in Cave of the Dead

Mike says:  This episode features one of the rare appearances of the Flying Sub's fourth-year underwater manipulator claws.  If you look closely through the main FS-1 viewports, in some shots, you can see the inner mechanism of the arms where Sharkey and the cockpit would normally be.  Warren Stevens turns in a typically solid performance.

Flying Sub comes tumbling down.   Mark says:  Lots of creepy scenes, including a dead pirate tangled in a moldy cobweb and living skeletons manning the Seaview’s control room (see above).  Most interesting are the fantastic shots of the flying sub being battered around by a thunderstorm.  The effects people took established shots of the flying sub and superimposed them against a storm.  The results are sensational.


Journey With Fear  (Airdate:October 15, 1967)
STORYLINE
     Aliens again.  This time googly-eyed Centaurans snatch astronauts Robert Wilson and (oddly enough) Chip Morton from an experimental space capsule launched from Seaview. The two end up on Venus where alien Centaurans have set up a temporary interrogation base.  The aliens claim they're convinced Earth is on a campaign to invade other planets, citing the new space launch system being tested on Seaview.  Following a hideously convoluted series of additional kidnaps and for Crane, a journey back to Centaur, Nelson figures out the power wielded by the aliens and is able to retrieve Crane and send the aliens packing. 


Written: Arthur Weiss
Directed: Harry Harris
Guest Cast
Centaur One...................Gene Dynarski
Centaur Two.......................James Gosa
Robert Wilson.................Eric Matthews
Space Control Voice______________

                 David Hedison & googly-eyed alien  bluebul.gif - 266 Bytes
     My, what big eyes you have.

Credit Alert: Can anyone with good ears confirm if the space control voice is also Gene Dynarski - sure sounds like him!  

Mark says:  The aliens look impressive, especially those frog eyes (which alas, don’t blink). There’s also some admirable scientific restraint: Chip Morton reveals that man has landed on the moon but has only landed on Mars via remote controlled vehicle.  The aliens, who are not invaders but rather concerned scientists who fear mankind’s aggressiveness, explain that they’ve taken a section of Venus and converted it to an Earth-like atmosphere for interrogation purposes.  Jack and Jill magazine did a photo-story on this episode in 1968.

Click Here  for more googly-eyed aliens!

   Mike says:   Interestingly, the alien costumes, though ultimately silly looking, are better rendered than those of many of the show's later-season creatures.  The Venus and Centauran sets are nicely dressed out and all in all, quite impressive.


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