The intrepid crew of the Seaview returns for more undersea adventures and encounters aliens, giant underwater plants, and ghosts. You know, just the average sea voyage for our submariners.
What the back of the box says:
The brainchild of producer/writer/director Irwin Allen, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea was years ahead of its time, reflecting the key social and political issues of its day, and captivating audiences with its unique hybrid of science fiction spectacle and espionage thriller. Step aboard a futuristic atomic submarine, and see what danger lurks just below the surface in this innovative and exciting TV classic!”
Disc One, Side A:
Werewolf: A radioactive virus transforms a scientist (Charles Aidman) into a werewolf, and when Admiral Nelson is infected, Crane leads a race against time to find a vaccine.
The Day the World Ended: With a U.S. Senator (Skip Homeier) aboard for a visit, the crew of the Seaview suddenly in inexplicably appears to be the only life left on the planet.
Night of Terror: Admiral Nelson, Chief Sharkey, and geologist Dr. Sprague (Henry Jones) are plagued by bizarre hallucinations when their diving bell is shipwrecked on a mysterious island.
Disc One, Side B:
Day of Evil: An extraterrestrial posing as Nelson imperils Patterson, Crane, and all mankind with his plans to launch a nuclear missile and tripper a devastating chain reaction.
Disc Two: Side A:
Thing from Inner Space: When a world-famous adventurer (Hugh Marlow) boards the ship to search for the creature that killed his camera crew, Patterson is determined to discover the truth behind the tragedy.
Disc Two, Side B:
Deadly Invasion: The ship is infiltrated by aliens – one of whom assumes the guise of Nelson’s long-lost friend (Warren Stevens) – intent on taking over an undersea atomic base.
Disc Three, Side A:
The Plant Man: A deranged scientist (William Smithers) telepathically manipulates his twin brother and creates an army of deadly plant monsters.
Disc Three, Side B:
Although it still has a certain charm and a delightful dollop of cheese, the Seaview storylines seem to be wearing thin (well, it really didn’t just start happening with this season truth be told). In fact, while typing up some of the episode descriptions I wondered if I hadn’t seen them before since they seemed so similar to some episodes from previous seasons.
Chief Sharkey is back so he must’ve just been on vacation during the last section of season two, volume two (which necessitated reusing footage of him from previous episodes and seasons, which was extremely obvious). I think that my overdose on the cheese that I’m still suffering from might be more from the fact that I’m digesting these all at once - although I can imagine that a kid sitting in front of the television when these originally aired looked forward to them with baited breath.
The cast seems to be having fun and Richard Basehart even gets to put on some fake sideburns, an Irish accent, and gets to play his own ancestor with some relish. However, just how many giant irradiated plants can one submarine encounter?
The special features seem rather thing, like they’ve been stretched out over the unfortunate volumes that Fox keeps on doing and it shows. The interviews appear to have been done during the last set (or before) and are very short and really not very informative.
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is presented in fullscreen as it was originally aired on television. Special features include three still galleries. Episode photos and Publicity Photos contain eight photos apiece and Comic Book presents a Voyage comic. David Hedison has 5 minutes of interviews.
Half of the time is devoted to “Visitors on the set,” “Letters from fans,” and “The rock and roll [every time the sub is hit by a missile, etc.].” The remainder is an audio only 1966 interview with Hedison that plays under some more stills from the show.
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is pure cheese and fans of the show will want to continue their collections. However, Fox has decided to split them up into volumes and stretch out the special features and it makes them feel thin.
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - Season 3, Vol. 1 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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