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Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964 - 1968)
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Krel
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 07, 2021 5:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
And our awesome looking Flying Sub makes a cameo appearance in Irwin Allen's 1971 TV movie/pilot "City Beneath the Sea."

More than a cameo, it was the most used vehicle in the TVM. The Flying Sub, uh that is Aqafoil has the two reactor walls that were originally intended for the FS. If you look at the scenes looking through the Aquafoil ports, the exterior set is painted white with red trim around the ports. This is because the FS miniatures were suppose to be repainted white with red trim for the movie. This never happened and the models kept their FS livery. By keeping the yellow and blue colors, they didn't have to film new flying and plunging scenes. Most of the underwater effects were filmed dry.

The FS flight control grips were taken from a WWII bomber automatic pilot (B-29?). The throat microphones were also taken from WWII aircraft. I once had an argument at a convention, where the guy I was talking to refused to believe that the throat mics were not made up for the show. Laughing The FS jackets, which were said in the show to have underwater escape devices (which were never shown) were cut-down WWII German submarine coats. The light-up floor panels were from the "Fantastic Voyage" miniaturizer machine.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 2:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I've had trouble with several of the Netflix disc for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. They're badly scratched, and they frequently freeze up. Sad

Even more disappointing is the fact that Netflix only has three discs from season 2, and they contain only 11 episodes from season 2, out a total of 26! That's it. Rolling Eyes

None of the rest of season 2's episodes — and absolutely nothing from seasons 1, 3, or 4.

I can't for the life of me figure out why Netflix doesn't offer everything as streaming videos for all the customers who can watch them that way. It would make it much easier for all concerned — both the customers AND Netflix!

They wouldn't have to replace as many lost or damaged discs, and they could vastly increase their total video library, because it would all be digital!

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Pow
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PostPosted: Thu May 20, 2021 2:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some More Voyage Fun Facts.

"Leviathan," Episode # 42, November 7, 1965. We find out in this episode that the flight jackets worn when operating the Flying Sub contain a built-in life jacket.

I don't believe they ever utilized those life jackets in any future episodes.

Probably just as well. I doubt that even a talented special effects crew could have made such a thing as this look anything but silly.

"The Peacemaker" (originally titled "The Man Who Stole The World), Episode # 43, November 14, 1965.

The intensely serious actor John Cassavetes was an acclaimed writer and director. He was cast as the guest star on this episode because he required money to finance his film "Faces."

He openly hated being on the set. He would say to the cast 'Come on! Are you kidding with this stuff? Do you guys do this every week?'

"Killers of the Deep" Episode # 47, January 2, 1966.

A large portion of the 1957 Twentieth Century Fox WW II movie The Enemy Below is edited into scenes for this episode.

"The Skies on Fire" Episode # 51, January 23, 1966.

This episode utilizes visual effects footage from the 1961 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea movie.
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Thu May 20, 2021 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've got around 90 episodes on data DVDs that I have yet to watch. From the comments here I guess I'll have to break them out and give them a second look.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Fri May 21, 2021 7:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Werewolf," Episode # 60, Sunday, September 25, 1966.

Always look forward to seeing a werewolf as it's my favorite classic movie monster.

The makeup is quite good for the creature.

I'm curious about why one sci~fi TV show can design decent werewolf makeup; while another fails.

Is it due to the artistry of the makeup department? Budget or time constraints? Producers or network veto power?

Case in point: Kolchak, The Night Stalker episode "The Werewolf" from November 1, 1974.

The episode is one of the best to come out of the series. Imaginatively enough, the story is set on board a passenger cruise ship's final run.

So we have a wolf man running around on a huge ship where neither the crew or passengers have anywhere to flee.

The story is much, much better than the Voyage episode with a werewolf.

However, the Voyage monster makeup is much, much better than the disappointing makeup on The Night Stalker.

Wonder why one show can pull off such good monster makeup while another series falters?

The Night Stalker episode is 8 years after the Voyage episode.

Did makeup techniques not advance and become superior over the years? Just curious.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2021 1:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
"Killers of the Deep" Episode # 47, January 2, 1966.

A large portion of the 1957 Twentieth Century Fox WW II movie The Enemy Below is edited into scenes for this episode..

I'm very fond of The Enemy Below, so I watched the YouTube video just to have fun spotting the borrowed footage. Very Happy

Unfortunately the YouTube version of the episode has been cropped to simulate widescreen — which means the closeups of the actors faces are cut off below the nose! Rolling Eyes

But it was worth enduring this, because the episode is loaded with borrowed clips — and it's also packed with wonderful "movie connections" which I've noted below.

* * * * * * * * SPOILER ALERT! * * * * * * * *

For example, David Hedison played the first officer aboard Robert Mitchum's destroyer in The Enemy Below as they hunted a German submarine. In this VttBoftS episode, he ends a prison on board an old WWII sub being used by an enemy of America. Very Happy

The YouTube thumbnail of Hedison in the water is from the climax of the 1957 movie. The scene is used in the episode after Hedison bails out of the flying sub when it crashes into the ocean.

Admiral Nelson (Richard Basehart) survives the crash, and he's picked up by a U.S. destroyer. But the captain of the destroyer is killed shortly after this when the ship is attacked.

Nelson takes command of the destroyer which begins hunting the enemy sub . . . without knowing that Hedison is aboard.

The near-miss of two torpedoes fired at the U.S. destroyer is also from the FOX movie, as well as all the scenes of the crewmen on deck when the depth charges are launched.

More irony: the cast includes Michael Ansara as the captain of the enemy submarine. In the 1961 movie, he played the man rescued from an ice flow near the beginning of the film. Michael is, of course, the real life husband of Barbara Eden, another star of the 1961 movie.

I even heard one quick bit of dialog by the destroyer's radio officer (whom they called "Sparks") from the ship's PA system, and I instant realized it was an audio clip from the 1961 "Voyage" movie. That actor's exaggerated southern drawl is unmistakable!

Natually all the scenes of the German sub underwater are from the movie, as well as the destroyer being hit by a torpedo in the climax.

And of course, Irwin Allen couldn't resist using the The Enemy Below's remarkable scene of the destroyer ramming the submarine — with Basehart at the helm after ordering the crew to abandon ship, just like Mitchum did in the movie!

Basehart even rescues Hedison from the sinking sub in the same manner as Mitchum did with the German captain, Curd Jürgens! Very Happy

All-in-all, this episode is a real treat for "Voyage" fans who also happen to love The Enemy Below.

One final note: The 1957 Fox movie is, of course, the inspiration for the TOS episode, Balance of Terror. So, it's interesting that the same movie inspired not one but TWO episodes from popular science fiction series, and this one even blended in clips from the film, as well as cleverly altered elements of the plot!


_Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea S02E15 Killers of the Deep


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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2021 4:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm with you, Bud, The Enemy Below is also one of my favorite WW II based films ever!

Items from the Marc Cushman & Mark Alfred biography of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, volume 2.

Mark Bailey said, "It was a particular thrill in Season Two to encounter an episode of Voyage which returned to Season One's level of dead-seriousness, gritty intensity. There were no outrageous schemes or villains to be found and the episode plays realistically once you get past the premise of stealing nuclear weapons with a basically obsolete World War II sub."

"William Read Woodfield turned in a tight script and the reliable Harry Harris directed this episode with punch. Great music culled from the Voyage library. The entire episode is loaded with fine L.B. Abbott miniature photography."

"If you have seen The Enemy Below, you'll admire the way footage from that film was integrated into this new story." Marc Cushman

Regarding the supporting cast, William Read Woodfield told interviewer Mark Phillips, "We had to write them a certain amount of lines and hopefully it wasn't too stupid. The first chief [Henry Kulky] was a bulldog-looking guy; the second Chief [Terry Becker] was a better actor. He was always asking us to give Chief Sharkey more depth. We would say, 'Look, we've only got a limited amount of depth and the stars get it, so leave us alone.'

~ I suppose this problem remains with many TV shows, of any genre, to this day doesn't it? The leads get the meaty roles and dialogue while the supporting cast gets the scraps. You cannot lay it all at the writer's doorstep though. The producers/creators of shows set the tone that the scriptwriters must follow. Then you have actors like a William Shatner or Martin Landau who are loath to let the supporting actors shine and eclipse any of the spotlight from the leads.

Patrick Wayne was 26 and the son of John Wayne when he guest starred on this episode.

James Frawley (29) played Manolo, the grimy executive officer to Captain Ruiz (Michael Ansara). Frawley had been in two Season One Voyage episodes.

He was a prominent character in the only two-part episode of The Outer Limits titled "The Inheritors." Excellent episode that was so great that it was rebooted for The New Outer Limits years later. Frawley would appear on numerous TV shows before moving into the director's seat for such TV series as The Monkees, Columbo, & Cagney & Lacy.

Bruce mars plays a Bosun's Mate. He's well remembered as Finnegan in the 1966 episode "Shore Leave" from Star Trek.

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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2021 5:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That actor with the thick Southern drawl who played Sparks in the Voyage feature film, Bud, was the prolific character actor Robert Easton (born Robert Easton Burke, 1930~2011).

If you don't recognize the name you'll surely recognize his face from his numerous movies and TV appearances.

Robert was one of the renowned group of high-I.Q. children who were known as the "Quiz Kids" on radio in the 30s and 40s.

This is interesting because generally Bob was cast as simple minded rural hicks in most of his film and TV appearances over his lengthy career.

He was a member of the National Honorary Scholastic Fraternity for men while in college. He would later study phonetics at the University College in London, England.

He became well known as the "Henry Higgins of Hollywood" because he was a master of dialects who frequently coached other actors for their roles requiring believable dialects.

He overcame a stuttering problem he once had.

He did the voice of Phones on the Gerry & Sylvia Anderson science fiction puppet TV show Stingray which was about another futuristic submarine.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2021 5:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Mike, I actually started my post above just to say I was going to watch the episode and later post about the scenes borrowed from The Enemy Below.

But when I began watching it on YouTube I quickly realized it wasn't just a "Voyage" episode that saved money by stealing footage from The Enemy Below — it was a retelling of the same story, with a few clever twists which rearranged the characters so that key personnel from the series became involved in this new version! Very Happy

And as I continued to watch the YouTube video, I found all those other connections — such as David Hedison as the first officer in the 1957 movie, and Michael Ansara from the original "Voyage" movie in the roll of the submarine captain!

I hope a channel like ME.TV will start airing this series instead of that incredibly dumb Buck Rogers, so I can enjoy Voyage more often.

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 02, 2021 2:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Buck Rogers had some beautiful women on that show but was truly a God-awful TV series. Stunning that it was ever renewed for a second season compared to such one season wonders such as Space: Above & Beyond or UFO, Captain Power & the Soldiers of the Future, and Hypernauts which were all deserving of a second season...and many more.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 02, 2021 3:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
Stunning that it was ever renewed for a second season . . .

Add to that the baffling fact that they made it even worse in the second season!

How could they take a show that deserved cancellation and create a second season which made the first one seem almost good by caparison? Shocked

"Almost" is the operative word.
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Krel
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 02, 2021 6:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Glenn Larson said that he wanted "Burt Reynolds in space".

I have to admit that I liked most of the first season. I'm still amazed that they got away with killing someone by blasting them out of an airlock.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 02, 2021 6:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
I have to admit that I liked most of the first season. I'm still amazed that they got away with killing someone by blasting them out of an airlock.

Why? Is there a specific law against that? Laughing

Wait . . . come to think of it, the law wouldn't have to be specific. Murder is murder!
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2021 2:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not a law, but there was a time the Networks had a prohibition on showing deaths that were considered overly graphic or cruel.

David.
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Krel
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 31, 2023 10:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
I'm curious about why one sci~fi TV show can design decent werewolf makeup; while another fails.

Is it due to the artistry of the makeup department? Budget or time constraints? Producers or network veto power?

Fox had the advantage of John Chambers who did "The Planet of the Apes" makeup.

In addition to John Chambers being one of the top Hollywood makeup men, he was also a CIA asset, and is one of the people responsible for getting the American hostages out of Iran.

David.


Last edited by Krel on Mon Apr 17, 2023 3:32 pm; edited 1 time in total
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