ALL SCI-FI

[Gord Green]

David, it always comes down to "vision" and conception of the character in question..

Werewolves can be very "dog liked" or just a little fuzzy!

The best, (ImHO) are those that combine the physical beast with the subtle human!
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Krel]

I found these on Facebook and it shows the effort that went into designing the show.








David

[Bud Brewster]

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Impressing artwork, David! Thanks.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

These are terrific to view, thank you, David.

It shows how the fantastic Flying Sub could have been even more invaluable than it already was if it had mechanical arms on it. It would have allowed episodes where the FS could have manipulated objects in key scenes. If there were episodes with the arms I cannot recall seeing 'em used. In effect, the mechanical arms would have been a predecessor to the marvelous unmanned Hyper-Reality Vehicle utilized on seaQuest D.S.V.

The schematic of the oft used undersea station was very informative about the structure with details I never knew about it, or perhaps, just didn't recall.

I've always found it a lacking when SF television shows present such things but never show the audience the details about such objects. I'm enjoying the brand new Sy Fy Channel's The Ark series now. However, one has to just watch the episodes unfold in order to figure out how the inside of the star ship is set up. Thank goodness I could go online at Google Images which has a schematic of the Ark itself. However, it still would be nice to see episodes where the crew would be studying their schematics via a holographic image and have the camera zoom in on the schematics so that the audience could get a better understanding of the interior of the vessel & where things are relative to one another.

[Krel]

There were several Flying Subs made in different sizes for different purposes. One was multipurpose for scenes of the FS landing on land or deck, and with manipulator arms. This FS was, as far as I can remember, used in only one episode. This was the episode where Capt. Crane becomes a werewolf.



The landing wheels (note the spiral spokes) folded down to be pads for the FS to rest on in the episode.

David.

[Maurice]

[Pow]

I noticed a discrepancy after watching the pilot episode, "Eleven Days to Zero," from September 14, 1964 on Uncle Earl's Classic TV.

Evil Dr. Gamma is played by the fine actor Theodore Marcuse. The character has his back to the camera in most of his scenes and is in shadows, so we don't clearly see Marcuse throughout this first episode. When Dr. Gamma speaks it is the voice of Werner Klemperer and not Marcuse. However, in Gamma's final scene it is Marcuse's voice.

[Pow]

Just finished watching the first season episode "The Indestructible Man" with the wonderful guest star Michael Constantine (Principal Seymore Hoffman of Room 222).

The plot sees Michael as a scientist who is on board the Seaview as it races to recover a US spaceship that has returned from months of outer space exploration. It is a robot at the controls of the ship and it has gathered invaluable data on its journey. The robot is recovered, but something has gone seriously wrong as the mechanical man begins a rampage aboard the futuristic submarine as it begins to kill anyone in its path.

[Pow]

They have some very nice remastered episodes of Voyage currently on Youtube. Still a silly series for the most part in my view. What I'm also noticing is that they produced a ton of "bottle shows" each week to save $$$. Star Trek did their fair share too, but Voyage excelled at it.

[Pow]

Film & TV critic John Kenneth Muir writes about Voyage's pilot/first episode "Eleven Days to Zero" on its 60th anniversary.

What remains so compelling about Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea after all these years is that it began as high intrigue on the sea, with an action quotient that is mostly unmatched today. But, around the time of the second season --- when the series went to color --- the accent moved away from action towards Science Fiction and Fantasy, and the series began featuring aliens, leprechauns, mummies, "Frost Men" and sea monsters of all shapes and sizes.

"Eleven Days to Zero" remains a high-tech action and intrigue episode, more along the lines of an early James Bond film than a Star Trek or Lost In Space episode.

It is an exciting and surprisingly violent hour.

I must admit I was struck by the high quality of the stunts, action, pacing on display in this premiere episode of the series.

In particular, the Seaview bridge (with visible ceiling, no less) is an impressive-looking set even by today's standards.

The story is played straight with the finest production values of the day. It moves fast and is actually even sort of gritty in presentation. It is played with an utter lack of irony or self-reflexive humor.

If this plot had been produced today, no doubt the temptation would have been to provide some canned emotional angst, like a bad marriage or a hint of alcoholism, or some father-son issues, but Voyage was born in a different age and so it avoids the modern (and by now tiring . . .) fascination with soap opera plotting.

The characters are simply heroic; and the narrative --- the plot --- takes precedence over facile personal psychology. Which isn't to say that Voyage was always great . . . or even particularly good. There are limits to its old-fashioned approach to story telling too.

To wit, "Eleven Days to Zero" is a cinematic, action-packed pilot, yet it is decidedly humorless, and the characters --- though undeniably heroic --- also lack much in terms of individuality and color. In that regards, series such as Star Trek are plainly superior. In that Gene Roddenberry series, for instance, the dynamic characters added so much to the sense of action and drama, that the crisis scenarios of the week became all that more interesting and immediate.

The paucity of character development remains easy to overlook in a single film, or even a series of films. But on TV, you ultimately come away looking to forge a deeper connection with characters you see every week.

The show doesn't have to be a soap opera; it just has to be written with an eye towards the individual characteristics of the protagonists; and their way of relating to the world.

Sidebar: JKM sums up Irwin Allen's show beautifully. We didn't need to see the writers create dramatic overwrought backgrounds for the cast, as is done in many TV dramas these days. However, you cannot go so far the other way that the characters are blanks to the audience. The audience needs to become invested in both the premise of a series; as well as the characters. The writers must have a balance.

As we well know, Irwin Allen wanted his TV shows to embrace action & adventure with no deep thoughts or addressing societal issues of any kind. In addition to that, he wanted his casts to be all about heroic actions with no depth to their characters.

Ironically, the talented Bruce Geller took the same approach as Allen to the plots & characters he created for his terrific Mission: Impossible TV show. But, it somehow worked for that production. Bruce made his series all about the plot, as did Allen. Bruce also specifically did not develop his characters as individuals beyond their unique skill sets. He wanted the focus entirely upon the caper of the week and how the IMF managed to pull it off. There was no time for anything else, at least for Mr. Geller. What works on one show doesn't always work on another.

JKM sees both the virtues and vices of Voyage.

[Bud Brewster]

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When I read your post above, Mike, I was impressed by the fact that when I finished the first part (which \was written by a professional critic), and started reading your own comments, the writing quality was very high in both cases!

All Sci-Fi is proud to have members who contribute such high quality posts.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Thank you for the kind comments, Bruce. Always welcomed and deserved (LOL).