Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea - The Complete Series One [DVD] [1964]

Considered by many fans as the BEST season of the show, this DVD collection does not disappoint, the prints are good and the extras interesting, the home movies showing Irwins future wife Sheila and close associate Paul Zastupnevich out on location shooting the Helicopter scenes in the pilot were fascinating.

I was disappointed the next week trailers were missing (even Channel 4 in 1991 showed these)- this is an oversight that the producers of the DVD have made, Voyage is now over 40 years old and most afficianados are likely to be looking for this kind of thing so to missing them off telegraphs a lack of understanding of the potential audience. (Marks off for lack of detail!!)

The decision to run then in production order on the DVD was odd as well- ABC originally moved shows around and on occasions this disguised the reuse of sets and set ups- in this collection if you watch them in DVD order such things are significantly easier to trace as a result to the detriment of the viewer.

{GEEKY DATA WARNING-One such issue is the number of stars on the Admirals collar- it goes from 3 to 4 as the season progresses once it was realised by the production team that it should have been four!}

There are some very good shows in this crop; The Fear Makers (a genuine tense drama) /The Human Computer (completely claustrophobic/atmospheric) / Sky is falling ( a credible very well realised early alien memenace)/ Doomsday (just post Cuban missile crisis-man under total pressure) / The Invaders (with a young Robert Duval discussing the merits of...aloominum!) / Hot line (cold war at its absolute coldest) to name but a few.

Two issues that have always slightly spoiled season one are the effects- while well above the general quality around at the time (64/65) the use of the two foot seaview model in some scenes would appear contrived (poor depth of field- model was too small) and yet some aspects would still stand close scrutiny today (surface shots/Matte work and 8ft model underwater) bettering the effects that todays CGI can muster and the music, some is excellent, Morton Stevens (pre Hawaii 5-O) contributes a wonderfully suitably tense score for the Human Computer and Alexander Courage likewise for the Fear makers- but some of the scores are old fashioned and appear unconnected with the action.

There are minor niggles, the show is overall great fun to watch and is a little a time capsule of its age, the fears of the US at the time were of "the other side" (Soviets) and this theme is interwoven at every corner.
Subtle it isn't but enjoyable it definately is.

{GEEKY DATA WARNING- Amazing looking back but in 1991 current (at the time) political troubles of a different type caused Channel 4 to hold back two of these shows for several weeks as we entered the gulf war as they were "very sensitive"- The Magnus beam which had a middle eastern dictator using a device to bring down US spyplanes and the "Blizzard makers" incredibly as it mentioned the term "gulf stream". All true-Crazy days were not just in the 1960's!}

Irwin was onto a winner here, the show was well made, fresh and exciting...one wondered what would follow if it had a second season....how could he top this? Well...until it comes out later this year...you had better
go and buy this season-you are guaranteed a great watch- best viewed with an appreciation/understanding of the times it was made in of course :)

At last we finally get the DVD release in the UK of this iconic series created and produced by Irwin Allen. This was the first of the Irwin Allen produced science fiction action series and it dates from 1964. After the success of the 1961 film of the same name, (also created and produced by Irwin Allen) this series made in black and white, brought a big budget film feel to a TV series.
This series is great fun. It`s full of escapist novelty. You cannot take it too seriously, its just meant to be fun.
Some film footage from the movie and even the model of the submarine were used in this TV version that had a slightly different cast. This first series gets off to a good start with some interesting plots, good scripts and good acting.
The production style gave an originality to the small screen and it was well received both in America and the UK. Here in the UK the first series was screened in its original year of release on TV unlike later series.
However every episode from the first series to the last series of Voyage to the bottom of the sea was screened on ITV during a slot around 4.40pm on Thursday afternoons during the early 1970s. Voyage to the bottom of the sea was later repeated on channel four on Sunday mornings during the 1990s.

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.
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 DVD set has the complete series one which is very exciting and interesting. The Picture quality is very good. This first series is in Black and white. It comes in a compact plastic DVD container that has rounded spines rather than the more familiar straight edged square type. Inside there are nine discs with eight having the complete 32 episodes and the ninth being the special features. The special features are not too bad. There is an interview with David Hedison, some blooper out takes, some still photos, some silent home movie footage from Irwin Allen and a never before aired version of the pilot episode. (which is only slightly different to the aired version) There is no booklet inside. The outside of the cover sleeve is reasonably well presented and the inside just has some black and white pictures on it. 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 two. This is highly recommended.

i am so glad i bought voyage to the bottom of the sea series one on dvd and also pleased it has been released in the UK. Revelation films have done a fine job of restoring the episodes. the sound and picture quality are great. one of my friends got me into watching this series and i'm glad he did. he showed me some episdoes as he had them all on video. he showed me the pilot episode, the price of doom(brilliant), the sky is falling (another good episode)Submarine Sunk Here and The Traitor and i really liked them all and he warned me before he put them on that the episodes were in black and white and i said fine. now that i have watched all the episodes on the boxset i do like Doomsday,The Human Computer and the saboteur and Hot Line. so Revelation films roll on series 2 in June