Loss
of the wonderful sort of composite imagery seen here is the price Voyage paid for its
transition to color in 1965. Apparently, budget constraints made
these more-expensive kinds of sequences impossible. It is this writer's
contention that this was a mistake. The cost of
creating a few such images as key
"story-movers" could have easily been defrayed over a period of
years by reusing the shots, as was done with aerial sequences of the
Flying Sub.
A surface
shot of
Seaview putting to sea from the Institute would have created a sense
of place and movement and could have been reused again and
again. Shots such as this would not have stuck out as
being obviously repetitious as did the sequence of Seaview hitting bottom used week after
week in the third and fourth seasons. I mean, what was the
likelihood she'd crash into the same rock every week? But setting to
sea might easily look the same just about any time of year (as a
seasonal compromise, make the skies partly cloudy). As a kid, I waited for this kind
of atmosphere. It still rings my bells today.
By the way, the image
of Pearl in the background is actually a still
photograph which composited perfectly into footage of the
18-foot miniature Seaview. Projected on the big-screen, this might
have been noticeable. On regular definition TV, even today,
it's undetectable unless you really know what to look for. The
perfect shortcut for the given situation. |
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