The Seaview cruises onto DVD again, this time Fox completes the second half of the second season. This time the cheese factor overwhelmed me.
Commander Crane (David Hedison) is the captain of the futuristic submarine the Seaview, named such because of the glass windows on the front no doubt. The creator of this marvelous craft is Admiral Nelson (Richard Basehart) who is also aboard (well until ulcer surgery had him replaced halfway through and episode and for the next two). They cruise beneath the waves in the futuristic time of 1978(!), well it was futuristic in the 1960s when kiddies huddled round the television to watch the show.
The Seaview is confronted by a haunted German U-boat
Disc 1: Side A – “Terror on Dinosaur Island” - Commander Crane leads the rescue mission as Admiral Nelson and Chief Sharkey (Terry Becker) struggle to survive on a mysterious island inhabited by deadly prehistoric beasts. “Killers of the Deep” - With Crane being held hostage, Nelson leads the fight against a sinister foreign power intent on stealing undersea defense missiles. “Deadly Creature Below!” - As two escaped convicts plot to hijack the Flying Sub, the Seaview is menaced by a monster from the deep. “The Phantom Strikes” - The crew of the Seaview is haunted by a phantom U-boat and her ghostly Captain Krueger (Alfred Ryder).
Disc 1: Side B – “The Sky’s on Fire” - When the Van Allen radiation belt catches fire, Nelson’s plan to extinguish the blaze is thwarted by a misguided U.N. official. “Graveyard of Fear” - It’s a race against time as the Seaview is imperiled by a scientist (Robert Loggia) desperate to retrieve data pertaining to a miraculous youth serum from his sunken ship.
Disc 2: Side A – “The Shape of Doom” - The President’s life is endangered by the subject of a bizarre experiment, a gigantic whale that has swallowed an atomic bomb. “Dead Men’s Doubloons” - Crane is held captive on the Isle of Death as the Flying Sub is attacked by a mysterious underwater pirate ship (captained by Albert Salmi).
Disc 2: Side B – “The Death Ship” - The body count aboard the Seaview mounts as the damaged ship becomes part of a sinister plot to sabotage a seven nation peace conference. Think Ten Little Indians on a submarine. “The Monster’s Web” - While on a mission to recover dangerous fuel cylinders from a wrecked submarine, the Seaview is attacked by an enormous sea spider and with Nelson gravely injured, it’s up to Riley to help save the day.
Disc 3: Side A – “The Menfish” - In the absence of Admiral Nelson, Admiral Park (Gary Merrill) takes his place as a crazed scientist (John Dehner) creates a giant, menacing creature that is half-man and half-fish. “The Mechanical Man” - Peter Omir (James Darren), a super human android, will stop at nothing – even the annihilation of the planet – in his quest to mine a powerful element from the earth’s core.
Disc 3: Side B – “The Return of the Phantom” - The ghostly Captain Krueger returns, still plotting to have Crane killed so that he can take over Crane’s body, but will Nelson succumb to Krueger’s diabolical demands?
This dinosaur is a baby alligator with stuff glued on
The Voyage continues but this time I was struck more by the incredible cheese factor of the show. It doesn’t help that the production uses effects sequences from other episodes instead of shooting new ones. You’ll recognize the “tilting” control room from several episodes back.
Also, Richard Basehart had surgery and drops out for several episodes. In fact, he’s only in about half of The Monster’s Web with a body double wearing bandages taking over the Admiral’s duties. Chief Sharkey also left the show about halfway through this set, but occasionally shows up in the reused footage firing torpedo four for a few episodes after his departure.
It does make me wish that Fox would’ve released the complete second season since this half felt cheesier to me. In other words, I would’ve felt better getting the cheese “free” with my first purchase instead of having to buy it outright. It’s not that there’s not cheese in the other seasons but the seams really show too much to my tastes in this part. The stories don’t seem very compelling as the other seasons did to me (they were cheesy too, but some of them had good enough ideas to overcome that).
In fact, the one that interested me the most was about the U-boat Captain’s ghost. That episode was intriguing and must’ve been highly rating since they use the sequel as the season’s closer. The problem is that they rewrite the opening of “The Return of the Phantom” to negate the ending of “The Phantom Strikes.”
This might not have been noticed by the kids of the 60s but since I was watching them back to back it kinda annoyed me. Although I bet there was a lot of confused looks on those faces in front of the TV in the 60s when it happens, don’t want to underestimate them kiddies.
Voyage is presented in fullscreen as it was originally shown on television. Special features include 6 minutes of David Hedison interviews. He answers several topics in brief fashion. I’m unsure why they just didn’t have him do some commentary on his favorite episodes?
The only other item is an equally brief still gallery that is divided into photos of miniatures, episode photos, and publicity photos. Each one has no more than ten and some as low as five. They’re also not particularly from this season. It makes me think that Fox has spread the extras over the multiple volumes – in other words it would’ve felt substantive in a full season box but here they feel thin.
Alfred Ryder as the ghostly Captain
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is still fun, but this one didn’t float my Seaview [insert rimshot here] as much as the other ones I’ve reviewed for some reason. I’m sure that fans will want to collect them all, but the giant monsters and reused special effects shots started to get to me with this set.
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Season 2, Vol. 2 is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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