Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - The Complete Second Series [DVD] [1961]

At last we finally get the DVD release in the UK of this iconic second series created and produced by Irwin Allen. This was the second of the Irwin Allen produced science fiction action series and it dates from 1965. After the success of the 1961 film of the same name, (also created and produced by Irwin Allen), and the success of the first series to TV made in Black and white, this second series is now in glorious colour. This series, like all the Irwin Allen productions, brought a big budget film feel to a TV series.
This series is great fun. It is full of escapist novelty. You cannot take it too seriously, it is just meant to be fun.

The seaview is the worlds most advanced nuclear submarine, created by its commander, retired Admiral Haarriman Nelson, and housed in a pen at his Nelson Institute of Marine Research, Santa Barbara, California. It is six hundred feet long. It can dive to and travel faster than any of its rivals and is equipped with all the latest devices including atomic torpedoes. It carries a separate mini sub, a diving bell, a snowcat, and an innovative flying fish, a vessel capable of water and air travel.
The series is set 13 years into the future. Nelson and his crew are meant to be doing research but usually end up maintaining peace below the waves by fighting fiendish humans, fish and aliens. This first series tends to be more serious and generally more sensible. Later series see the story lines becoming more far fetched. The addition of colour film gives the show an extra dimension and it truly is full of colour. I feel that it also showed up the limitations of the special effects of the time. For example sea monsters are less than convincing. But in the same way that you might forget about strings in the Gerry Anderson productions, you soon get lost in the pure escapism of the stories and enjoy the adventure.
Assisting Nelson is Captain Crane, Chip Morton, Francis Sharkey and Curley Jones.

Irwin Allen went on to produce other great shows, Lost in Space, Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants. All were produced in the 1960s before he went onto produce many feature films such as Towering Inferno.
This new series has some interesting plots, good scripts and good acting.

Here in the UK the series was originally screened on ITV in some regions only. However I was lucky since every episode from the first series to the last series of Voyage to the bottom of the sea was screened on ITV in my area during a slot around 4.40pm on Thursday afternoons during the early 1970s. This screening time became the Irwin Allen slot for a few years as they also screened the other Irwin Allen shows as well. I loved these shows and looking at this great DVD set it is still entertaining all these years later. Voyage to the bottom of the sea was later repeated on channel four on Sunday mornings during the 1990 and for a lot of people this was the era that they remember most since it was a national screening to all areas.

This DVD set has the complete series two, which is very exciting and interesting. The Picture quality is very good. Unlike the release of the first series on DVD with the plastic DVD container that had rounded spines rather than the more familiar straight edged square type, this release has the standard sort of container with straight edges. Inside there are seven discs. Everything is familiar after seeing series one. Each disc has the same sort of menu page as those on series one but its in colour. And the intro credits to each episode are the same except they are in colour. There are 26 episodes and some special features including an interview with David Hedison, Special Effects footage, stills gallery and American broadcast information. There are subtitles for the deaf, There is no booklet inside. The outside of the cover sleeve is reasonably well presented. All of this is housed inside a cardboard sleeve. Generally it is a good presentation.

It is an interesting series of action and adventure and I look forward to the release of series three. This is highly recommended.

Excellent to see the show on DVD, still think it was a bizarre decision to run them in production order on the dvd but what the hey..it merely shows up a chronology of set useage (i.e. things created for show X appear again in Show Y straight after it) and it is obvious to see why ABC did mix them up initially.

There are minor sound issues on two episodes, "Sky's on Fire" is distorted and "The Mechanincal Man" is a fraction out of synch (and I MEAN a fraction- only those with mega thick glasses and yet to kiss a girl/boy would be overly upset by it) but the overall production and presentation is first class.

Some of Voyage's best shows are in here, the two "Phantom" shows with the superb Alfred Ryder are enjoyable and the totally crackers "Dead Mens Doubloons" is pure glorious pantomime..and I loved it! The best guest performance though goes to Kevin Hagen in "Shape of Doom" -mad as a box of frogs and convincingly so.

The extras are ok but look bolted on, the effects footage is fascinating, clearly LB Abbott is seen experimenting with the best lighting in the underwater seaview shots with the added issue of colour to contend with now. The early shots look like a goldfish tank it is good to see just how far they came so rapidly and ending up with Emmy winning effects that hold up perfectly today in terms of composition and delivery.

Season 3 is next up from Revelation in Sept...we need better extras on there please and the next week teasers...hmmm not a chance methinks- shame opportunity missed!

Go buy it, the colour is deep and vibrant and many music cues outstanding.

Fun for all- very highly recommended.

Season 2 of 'Voyage' is the best of the lot in my humble view. It was the first to be made in colour, and features the Flying Sub - F.S.-1 - in action for the first time. The shot of it emerging from the sea is one of the most vivid television memories from my childhood! With Henry Kulky having sadly passed away, a new C.P.O. was needed - enter Terry Becker as 'Francis Ethelbert Sharkey' - and he went on to become one of the most popular supporting characters.

The James Bond movie 'Thunderball' was imminent, hence 'Voyage' pre-empted it with a series of aquatic spy stories - 'Time Bomb' has Nelson turned into a living bomb, 'The X Factor' ( no relation! ) casts John McGiver as a toy manufacturer who is turning kidnapped scientists into life-size dolls, and 'The Silent Saboteurs' involves a threat to U.S. space capsules. These were very entertaining and stylish, but midway through the run, they were dropped as the show chose to focus on sci-fi. Typical of the bunch was 'The Monster From Outer Space' in which Seaview was invaded by...well, I'm sure you can guess. Victor Buono hams it up splendidly in 'The Cyborg' as a mad scientist who replaces Nelson with a robot double, 'Leviathan' has our heroes menaced by a horrifically ugly giant ( which freaked me out when I first saw it ) and 'Terror On Dinosaur Island' provides a neat excuse to run yet more 'Lost World' footage. We also get David Hedison's favourite episode 'The Phantom Strikes!' which has Alfred Ryder as a U-Boat Captain returning from the dead. It went down so well there was a sequel later that season.

For me the best episode has to be 'The Mechanical Man', guest starring James Darren of 'Time Tunnel' fame. He plays 'Omir', an android who is conducting an undersea drilling project that will, unless stopped, destroy the world. At one point, he takes off his shirt and turns round, exposing a mass of flashing circuitry on his back! Another scary ( for the time ) moment.

I really wish they'd stopped the show here because the next two seasons - though not without their good points - would be mostly inferior, dispensing with female characters ( save for 'The Mermaid' ), rehashing old plots ad nauseaum and bringing in new ones about werewolves, leprechauns and lobster men. The Region 2 D.V.D. release is great news, particularly if you lived in Wales in the early '90's and were mystified when S4C - the Welsh fourth channel - messed up the repeats, jumping from the middle of Season 1 into the middle of Season 2.