ALL SCI-FI

Pow · Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 12:27 pm Post subject:

''The City Beneath the Sea, September 21,1964.

This is the first episode we see the Mini-Sub appear in on the TV series.

Irwin Allen would produce a sci~fi TV Movie/Pilot, "City Beneath the Sea'' in 1971. It has nothing to do with this episode of VTTBOTS. Although the Flying Sub would appear in the TV movie.

Krel · Guest

Pow · Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2018 2:21 pm Post subject:

Fun Fact } Irwin Allen wisely established that the Seaview was a privately designed & owned submarine by Admiral Nelson.

By doing this it would give the series the ability to do episodes based solely on scientific exploration as well as espionage.

However, the Seaview would embark on military missions when requested by the POTUS & the Pentagon.

This gave the show a much broader scope as to the types of stories they could do.

Pow · Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2018 10:39 am Post subject:

"The Price of Doom, ''October 12,1964.

Original title: "Meal Time."

This episode was written by the legendary Harlan Ellison.
Ellison was so upset as to the changes with his script that he used the pseudonym Cordwainer Bird instead.

The name is misspelled as "Cord Wainer Bird" on screen.

This was the first ''monster'' episode for the series.

Adrian Samish was the network executive in charge of reviewing scripts. His suggestions for script changes so enraged Ellison that Harlan leaped out of his chair & on top of the conference table. He then ran down the table and socked Samish.

Samish was sent reeling backwards and into a wall. A model of the Seaview on the wall then fell onto Samish and broke his pelvis.

Needless to say, that was the final time Harlan was to ever work on VTTBOTS, or any other Irwin Allen productions.

Samish would later get revenge on Ellison. Samish worked on Quinn Martin's ''The Invaders'' sci~fi TV series and would make certain that Harlan would not be allowed to submit scripts for the show.

Samish was also able to make sure that a script written by Ellison for the Batman TV series was never used.

The giant plankton was made out of balloons with pumps feeding air into it to make it move.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2018 10:47 am Post subject:

________________________________

Pow, I can't thank you enough for all these great posts about Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and all the wonderful info you've shared!

I was horrified by the story of Harlan attacking Samish and causing the Seaview model to fall on the man!

My God, please tell us the model wasn't damaged! Shocked

(Just kiddin' . . . Laughing

)
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

scotpens · Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2018 12:41 pm Post subject:

Krel · Guest

Pow, I had read that it was Adrian Samish's collar bone that was broken, also that the attack got Harlan banned from the Fox Studios.

In the first season, the Seaview was a reserve Navy vessel because it carried nuclear missiles. The Seaview carried a Navy Officer to man one of the fail-safe panels. That quickly got dropped.

David.

Pow · Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2018 3:39 pm Post subject:

Bud, glad you and everyone is enjoying the VTTBOTS trivia.

I know I always learn from the facts all of you folks post here online and enjoy it immensely.

One more Fun Fact about ''The Price of Doom'' episode.

The scientific ice station in this episode is called Tick~Tock.

The name of the project in Allen's Time Tunnel show was Tic-Toc.

Pow · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 3:32 pm Post subject:

"The Sky is Falling, ''October 19,1964.

The Seaview encounters a flying saucer from another world.

This is the first episode of the series to deal with an alien life form.

The saucer is the same one from the sci~fi classic ''The Day the Earth Stood Still.''

The working title was ''The Last Treasure.''

Krel · Guest

Pow · Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2018 12:37 pm Post subject:

"The Ghost of Moby Dick, ''December 14,1964.

Well, we all knew that a sci~fi TV show taking place under the seas was going to have to eventually get around to a retelling of the classic great novel, eh?

Richard Basehart has a scene where he reads out loud from the Herman Melville novel. Basehart portrayed Ishmael in the 1956 film version of Moby Dick.

Guest June Lockhart would go on to play June Robinson in Irwin Allen's next sci~fi TV show "Lost In Space.''

United Artists nixed the use of any footage of the giant white whale from their '56 film for this episode.

I saw this episode a few years ago and was very impressed with the model of the whale and all of its scenes.

Pow · Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 2:06 pm Post subject:

"The Last Battle,'' January 04,1965.

A former Nazi intends to create a Fourth Reich from his base on a Pacific Island.

The prison camp set was from the film "Von Ryan's Express" where it was a WW II P.O.W. Camp. It cost $500,000 to construct for the 20th Century Fox movie.
The military jacket that Frank Sinatra wore in that film would make its way to Bob Crane. Crane would don it for his role in "Hogan's Heroes."

Sinatra was angry that the P.O.W. set was being used for a television series. The problem was eventually resolved.

Felix Feist who directed this particular episode also was the director of the 1953 sci~fi movie "Donovan's Brain.''

Krel · Guest

Pow · Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 1:20 pm Post subject:

You are quite right, Dave, about film & TV productions utilizing sets from other productions.

The Barkley Mansion from ''The Big Valley'' television show was originally constructed for the 1949 John Wayne movie ''The Fighting Kentuckian.'' It has been erroneously identified as Tara from "Gone With The Wind'' for years.

The mansion appears on many episodes of ''The Wild Wild West" TV show. TWWW utilizes both the exterior of the manor which was on the Republic Studios backlot in Studio City, as well as the interiors of the home.

TWWW also used the exterior Dodge City set from Gunsmoke that was on a studio sound stage.

Matt Dillon's jail was used in both TWWW & TBV.

The exteriors of the fictional town of Mayberry had numerous TV productions filmed on its streets.

''Adventures of Superman'', (Metropolis), "Star Trek'' TOS, The Green Hornet, "Mission:Impossible", "Batman.''

Pow · Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2018 1:32 pm Post subject:

"The Invaders' January 25,1965.

An undersea earthquake reveals an ancient city which has numerous metal cylinders scattered throughout its ruins.

One of the cylinders is brought aboard the Seaview and a humanoid life form in suspended animation is released from it.

He is Zar, a superior being mentally and physically.

His mission is to determine if his species and humankind are able to co-exist on their mutual planet.

If not, then the virus that Zar carries in his blood is capable of eradicating humans from the earth.

Zar is played by Robert Duval.

This was what is called a "bottle show". That's when a TV series makes use of only the sets created for the series, in this case the Seaview, and does not have to spend any money on creating new sets for an episode.

VTTBOTS would resort to this budget saving tactic many time over the course of its 4 season run.

Some have compared similarities of this plot to ST:TOS first season episode "Space Seed'' with guest star Ricardo Montalban as a genetic superman.