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

The DVD issues in the UK of this classic American series finally sees the release of the third series.
It is a great bit of escapist fun and it is great that the whole four seasons of the show is finally going to be available on DVD. Here we are at season three.

The series created and produced by Irwin Allen. This was the second of the Irwin Allen produced science fiction action series after Lost in Space. Series one and two had been very successful, and like Lost in space it made it to a third season. And it dates from 1967. 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 14 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 had been more serious and generally more sensible. Later series gradually saw the story lines becoming more far fetched. This season three is no exception, as the stories become much more far-fetched and silly. However it is always good fun and has strong similarity its predecessor series two. Unlike season one that was in black and white, season two and now this season three are in glorious colour and there is good use of this with very striking and bright colours. The element of colour does show 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.

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.

This DVD set has the complete series three, 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. . Each disc has the same sort of menu page. There are 26 episodes and some special features including an interview with David Hedison, 1966 audio interview with Richard Basehart and David Hedison, stills gallery, and Original US broadcast information. There are subtitles for the deaf, but no Audio description for the blind or partially sighted. 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 final season four. This is highly recommended.

I purchased series 2 & series 3, both in colour, and they did not disappoint. I can remember the series from the 1960's. It was always one of my all time favourite sci-fi series.The picture and sound quality is first rate. The story lines/plots in series 2 are mostly quite believable. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for series 3, with plots involving werewolves, mermaids and fossil men! I'm sure the young audiences at the time thought they were scary and enjoyable, but watching now as an adult I find them a little cringeworthy. I wonder how the actors took to the scripts? However, all this aside, it is a fantasy series after all. The emergence of the flying sub, and the crew in red/blue dungarees sets these series apart from series 1, which I've not purchased yet. But soon will though, together with series 4!

This series was made about 45 years ago, and must have been fabulous at the time, similar but more down to Earth than Star Trek. Today the series is still very good and it is the special effects that let it down more than the drama or characterisation. If only they had slowed down the movements of the submarine when it was in trouble, it might have been more convincing.

There are some genuinely intriguing episodes that are captivating. Some are unbelieveable perhaps, but still gripping such as The Haunted Submarine. I also really liked The Creature and The Plant Man, both with quite similar monsters. It is the crew that really make this series and perhaps one in four episodes really stands out as a good one.

I think this series is for those that have some awareness of the programme, perhaps from Channel Four repeats some two decades ago. It is a product of its time, but a very good one. Watching an episode here and there is a very nice way of spending 50 minutes. Watching all the episodes back to back, like say 24, Heroes or Lost is not recommended.