ALL SCI-FI

[Rocky Jones]

I haven't read Micro, but it was Crichton's last novel and someone else had to be hired to finish it. I've read many of his works and liked most of them, though his stuff could be kind of hit and miss. While Jurassic Park and The Great Train Robbery were top notch he also turned out weak stuff like Disclosure and Timeline. I'd understand if Micro wasn't prime Crichton.

I remember the F. Voyage toon being on during it's run, but I never bothered to watch it. Maybe substituting the super cool Harper Goff sub for that squarish airplane-like thing turned me off. While I can appreciate people's model-building skills that design never worked for me.

[Bud Brewster]

This is a beautiful design . . . for an aircraft. And that works against it, because we want see this lovely thing soaring through the clouds, not cruising slowly through a liquid medium.



And how could we not see it as an aircraft in view of it's similarity to this?






It even borrows the idea of the little observation dome on top!


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

[scotpens]

The Voyager in the cartoon series was actually a combination aircraft-submarine, like this sleek baby.

[Bud Brewster]

The flying sub, of course, looks like an aquatic vehicle that also flies. The Voyager looks like an aircraft in every way.

And even the flying sub looks like an aircraft in some ways, of course, because it's design was inspired by a manta ray -- which looks a lot like an aircraft.



Me, I like my submarines to look like submarines. They can be new and sleek and futuristic -- but basically they're submarines.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

[Bud Brewster]

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Oops, my lack of knowledge in marine biology is showing. Sorry.

This stingray from the website at the link still looks a lot like an aircraft, don't you think?



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

[Pow]

I liked the Flying Sub design even better than the Seaview itself. Terrific concept having an air vehicle aboard the sub.

It opens up more story possibilities.

My late friend, Ed, always felt that they used the FS too much & with no restraint such as the Enterprise's shuttlecraft.

I agree, even as much as I loved the FS.

Several years after Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, Gerry Anderson's UFO TV series would also incorporate the same premise.

On that show SHADOW operated smaller subs on patrols for alien activity.

The front section of the sub was a jet aircraft which could detach itself from the sub, Skydiver, & then leave the ocean & fly in the air.

Both sub & Sky1 were nifty designs.

Interesting that years later on Seaquest DSV they did not include any aerial vehicles aboard the submarine.

[Bud Brewster]

[Krel]

On one of the IA fan sites there are photos of the concept model for the FS set. In it, the set was to originally have had two reactor walls, like in "City Beneath the Sea".

In some of the 3rd, or 4th season episodes, there is a drawing of the FS on the wall in Nelson's office (I think). The FS is hovering above the water with a exhaust wash ring below it. This indicates that they originally considered making the FS a VTOL vehicle.

David.

[Brent Gair]

I actually built a model of the Flying Sub based on the concept art. Honestly, it was so long ago I can't remember if this was the design in the picture on Nelson's wall or if I saw it somewhere else. Note the much more prominent vertical fins.

[Bud Brewster]

[Gord Green]

The version of the "submarine" above is NOT the one from the movie. The PROTEUS was the movie vessel and looks much more like a submersable.

In the animated series, a different team of experts performed their missions in a craft called the Voyager, a submarine which featured wedge-shaped wings and a large, swept T-tail, and was capable of flight.

The original PROTEUS:





From the studio blueprints :









Crew patch :



Some views of the ship :

[scotpens]

[Gord Green]

Sorry! I clicked in "mid thread".
I had read the earlier posts a year or so ago and totaly forgot!

Pictures are still pretty though!

[Bud Brewster]

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My compliment was specifically for the Proteus, of course, but the Voyage is a gorgeous "aircraft" design, and the Flying Sub which Brent posted a picture of is a nice hybrid of sub-and-aircraft design.