Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Episode Guide, Year Four, Shows 13-16
Production information and notes by Mark Phillips
Story synopses, Mike Bailey

The Deadly Amphibians  (Airdate: December 17, 1967)
STORYLINE:   
         Seaview and the Flying Sub come under fire from a sonic cannon leveled by amphibious creatures that have emerged from a subterranean lair, intent on taking command of the world's oceans.  They could care less about the humans, but want Seaview and her reactor to power their sonic weapon.  After much see-saw action and a partial conversion of Kowalski into a mind-controlled amphibian, Nelson retires to the lab and concocts a counter-weapon to the amphibian's sonic oscillator.  The invaders are vanquished, their underwater installation blown to smithereens and Kowalksi returned to human form just in time for the end credits.

Written: Arthur Weiss Directed: Jerry Hopper Guest Cast Proto.......................Don Matheson Corpsman.........................Joe Tata Guard.....................Patrick Culliton Amphibian.........Darryl Scott McFadden A Deadly Amphibian

Joe Tata: "Do you remember that little styrofoam ball that would go up and down in the escape chamber?  We always got a laugh out of that.  I once staggered backward and said, "Man, look at that little ball go.  I’m getting rapture of the deep!"

Mark says:  One of my favorites.  It gallops along with new undersea footage, wild costumes (phony looking but so outlandish that they’re actually fascinating) and Don Matheson, later star of Land of the Giants, has the perfect voice for an arrogant amphibian.

Mike says:  There's an outrageous example of a Voyage pet-peeve in this episode.  Early on, Seaview is seen crashing to the bottom, stranded there, her nose jutting out over an undersea rock formation, obviously hundreds of feet below the surface.  The angle of the nose allows the Flying Sub to be launched, and Crane, Sharkey and Kowalski go out to have a look ahead.  When FS1 is launched, the editor cuts to a shot of Seaview seen from below, surface waves breaking in the background  Obviously, the sub was on the surface.  Similar to the way Ed Wood would randomly cut between day and night shots in many of his films, including Plan 9 From Outer Space .  There was really no excuse for this kind of continuity break.   What was the editor thinking when he did this? 
On other fronts, the music in this episode is particularly well matched to the story, pushing it strongly forward, rather than dragging it down with slow, funereal cues, and well, O K, I admit, The Deadly Amphibians is kind of fun to watch. 

The Return Of Blackbeard  (Airdate: December 24, 1967)
STORYLINE
          Seaview guards the yacht of a visiting Shah as the President arrives for an official visit with the Shah.  Kowalski detects suspicious sounds on sonar and an odd mound is noted on the sea bottom just as Seaview comes under attack.  Seaview rocks from an explosion, time stops and a crusty-looking pirate appears, gives Seaview the once-over, pronounces she'll do, and disappears with a slash of his cutlass.  The pirate confronts Nelson and reveals that he's Blackbeard, that he wants Seaview as his own, and that he intends to steal the Shah's golden throne.  In the mean time, Crane learns that the remains of a pirate ship--Blackbeard's ship--lie under the sea mound.  Nelson retires to the lab to devise mechanisms that will counter the force field protecting the mound and the almost magical powers of Blackbeard's cutlass. At the last minute, Nelson rewires a missile the pirate was going to fire at the Shah's yacht so that it blows up the sea mound and beneath it, the source of Blackbeard's power, the ancient pirate ship.

Written: Al Gail Directed: Justus Addiss Guest Cast Blackbeard.............Malachi Throne Crewmen..................Tom Anthony                                  Hubie Kerns           Malachi Throne as Blackbeard

Mark says:   Malachi Throne has fun as Blackbeard but this serio-comical episode runs out of steam and budget by half-time

Mike says:   There are some fine shots of Seaview under torpedo fire in this episode.  Throne is great.  Goofy, but fun.

The Terrible Leprechaun   (Airdate:January 7, 1968)
STORYLINE
          Seaview is in the Irish Sea to check on a possible radiation leak at a subsurface nuclear complex containing state-of-the-art weaponry.  An unarmed warhead goes off followed by the appearance of Leprechaun Mickey; he coughs up an evil chuckle over the explosion he just caused.  He rummages about unseen and unheard by the crew and quickly learns that (yep) there's leprechaun gold under that-there defense complex.  So he's going to blow the place up to get at it.  Things are looking pretty bleak until evil Mickey's kindly brother, Patrick, comes to the aid of Nelson, Sharkey and company, then pops over to help Crane and Patterson in the stricken Flying Sub.  The two Leprechauns eventually confront one another in a battle-royal, but it's a quick Nelson who, as Patrick restrains his evil brother using elfin powers, grabs the evil leprechaun's pipe and smashes it, thus robbing him of his powers.  The evil leprechaun disappears, and Patrick, a twinkle in his Irish eyes, plucks his beard, and disappears too.  The crew return to their normal selves, lucky to have missed much of the adventure.

Written: Charles Bennett Directed: Jerry Hopper Guest Cast Mickey/Patrick O’ Shaughnessy....Walter Burke Corpsman...............Patrick Culliton Jenson...................Seymour Cassell Somers.......................Ralph Garrett Crewman.......................John Bellah Walter Burke as  good leprechaun     Walter Burke as evil leprechaun

The Lobster Man  (Airdate:January 21, 1968)
STORYLINE
        Under orders, Seaview is tracking a UFO, when it crashes into the sea remarkably close by.  The object is retrieved and turns out to be a small rocket-like capsule which Nelson & company cannot cut, melt, or blast open.  Patterson is left to guard the thing and Lobster Man emerges, overpowers Pat, makes his way to the reactor room, starts pulling rods, gets into a fight with the crew, then when Crane shows up, announces he comes in peace.  The farseeing Nelson retires to the lab early-on to concoct an ultrasonic gun, and Crane remains healthily leery of the alien crustation's protests of peace.  

Lobster Man production art.

After being caught fooling again fooling around in the reactor room, Lobster Man is thrown in the brig, but breaks out, successfully steals a reactor rod, places it in his little spaceship and Admiral Nelson, trying to remove the rod so bad things won't happen, is trapped in the ship, which is launched.  Crane is finally able to destroy Lobster Man with Nelson's Ultrasonic weapon and Nelson is returned alive, having short-circuited the rocket.

Written: Al Gail Directed: Justus Addiss Guest Cast Lobster Man...................Vic Lundin General Cook’s Voice...._________                       Francis Ethelbert Sharkey                             meets the Lobster Man

Mark says: High camp, especially as Lobster Man strolls into the control room and Nelson greets him a very bored, "If you come in peace...welcome." A great line of dialog as Lobster Man prepares to destroy humanity: "Not even the monkeys will be around to start over again!"

Mike says: Amusing script, and the costume is not bad, but having all those crustacean arms and antennae converge on a very human face, still seems unlikely to me.  As in so many later-season shows, at the height of crisis, the crew ambles its way down corridors with grim-faced nonchalance, poking around for the invader.  NO SENSE OF INTENSITY!  And many of the music cues lazily add the effect of stupor.  Even just a better choice of music could have perked things up a lot.