Irretrievable loss.

Davis, now panicked, makes for the air-revitalizing unit and attempts to retrieve the nerve gas to shut it off.  His efforts merely jostle the unit down into the system, out of sight and irretrievable.  Now beyond panic, Davis is desperate, yet unable to tell anyone about what he's done.  He returns to his cabin and stuffs anything he can find into the air-supply ducts, hoping to cut off the gas.  But it's not going to working, and he knows it.

Dead end on a one-way street.

This episode of Voyage is now cooking on all burners.  The dialogue crackles, and yet, is totally believable.  The direction by Leonard Horn focuses the viewer closer into the action than is comfortable, perfectly reflecting the claustrophobia and paranoia implicit in the story.  The editing is tight.

Naked Fear

The casting is virtually perfect, with each actor fully capable of meeting the demands of this tense drama.  Even those playing secondary roles prove they've got what it takes to believably deliver the goods.  Del Monroe as Kowalski and Paul Trinka as Patterson each have very eerie moments.

As inevitably he must, Davis finally breaks down.  Unaware that they cannot surface due to an hydraulic malfunction, he runs to the control room and announces that Seaview must surface and surface now!Suddenly, the fat's in the fire!

Davis: Captain, you must surface immediately--you must surface now!  That's an order, Captain!     Nelson:  Why must we surface now? Davis: Because if we don't, we'll all die. Crane: Die? Nelson : Why?  Why will we die? Davis: I put a gas devise in the air circulating system.  Nelson: Where is it? Davis: It slipped into the main duct . . . Davis continues: . . . you'll never find it in time.  It's fear gas.  In eight hours it becomes unstable.  The eight hours are up.  It'll break down into a nerve gas at any moment.  Don't you understand? Nelson looks as if he's about to come apart as he asks: Is that what happened to Polidor?   Davis:  Yes. Is that what happened to Polidor?

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Nelson's realization of Davis' guilt produces an explosion of barely-controlled anger.  It is precisely this kind of viscerally powerful performance that defines and embodies what made/makes the best of Voyage so special.  Nelson's reaction is not bluster, it is not method acting, it is simply totally real.  This kind of reality lifts an excellently written, directed and scored episode like The Fear-Makers to the level of superb television.

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