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Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964 - 1968)
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Krel
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 08, 2018 5:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I believe that "The Invaders" was the episode to introduce the 'circuitry room' that ended up being featured in so many episodes. This episode establishes that the circuitry room is located under the control room.

Zar's ray gun is an altered prop from "Just Imagine". It was also in one first season episode of "Lost In Space".

Amazingly, these are the only two appearances of this prop in Irwin Allen's shows. Unheard of. I wonder if it walked off the Fox lot. That would explain why it never made another appearance in any of his shows.

David.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 7:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

''Cradle of the Deep,''Monday, March 01, 1965.

This would be the final episode for the terrific character actor Henry Kulky who played Chief Curley Jones. Kulky was just 53 years old when he died in February of 1965.

Bomber Kulkavich was Henry's title when he was a wrestler for many years before turning to acting.

Henry never had any acting lessons but was always good at playing hulking villains who were usually not terribly bright.

Some of his genre work he appeared in was Mighty Joe Young, the Adventures of Superman, Tobor the Great.

I always thought that Henry looked exactly how the Chief of a submarine would look from his hulking frame & tough looking face. He was just perfect and it was sad to lose him as a supporting cast member. And he really had served in the U.S.Navy during WWII as a deck seaman.


Last edited by Pow on Thu Oct 18, 2018 3:40 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Krel
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 8:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow, Henry Kulky played Chief Curly Jones. Terry Becker joined the show as Chief Francis Sharkey.

But I remember missing Henry Kuly on the show.

David.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 3:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Krel, I went back and edited that error.

Jimmy Doohan(Chief Engineer Scott on Star Trek:TOS) was Irwin Allen's pick for the replacement for Henry Kulky.
However, Doohan had already met & discussed having a role on ST.


Last edited by Pow on Fri Oct 16, 2020 4:34 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Pow
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 3:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fun Fact } The budget for the pilot of VTTBOTS was over $500,000 & considered one of the most expensive TV pilots ever done at that time.

One year later Irwin Allen would produce the pilot for his next sci~fi TV series, Lost In Space.

It would cost $689,545.

VTTBOTS was able to recycle the sets, models, uniforms, and props from the motion picture of the same name.

LIS had to create almost all of its sets, props, models, and costuming from scratch.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 6:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

The TWO pilots for Lost in Space were much more intelligent and serious than what this somewhat notorious show evolved into, and I could never could get into the series because of that.

Star Trek was more appealing, but I went into the Air Force on October 7, 1967, so I made it as far as season 2, episode 4 (Mirror, Mirror) and then spent the next four years in the Air Force as a security policeman, stationed in Kunsan, South Korean and Ramstein, Germany before returning home and finding out that Star Trek was easy to catch up on with the frequent reruns.

I managed to watch the rest of the series on this Low Definition, 12" Magnavox TV —






— while living the life of a swingin' bachelor in his own first-ever apartment, driving around in his first-ever car, a dark green 1969 Dodge Charger —





— and dating chicks in miniskirts almost as short as Uhura's uniform!




~ Actual photo from 1971, which I swear includes all the girls I dated.

Ah, those were the days . . . Cool

Ummm. . . what were we talkin' about? Shocked

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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 9:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey! The last girl on the bottom right looks like my sister!
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

This brief clip from a tribute to the series is very enjoyable. I wish YouTube had the entire show. Narrated by June Lockhart.
________________________________



1965-66 Television Season 50th Anniversary Tribute: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea


__________

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Pow
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 16, 2020 5:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Unproduced Script for the series.

"King's Gambit," written by Robert Hamner.

Plot : The Seaview is sent to ''steal'' the body of King Ahmed as it lays in state. Colonel Kassim, his successor to the throne, claims that the king died suddenly in a laboratory accident.

The C.I.A. informs Nelson that they believe King Ahmed is alive and in a state of suspended animation.

Keeping the king alive was part of Kassim's plot to overthrow the monarchy since he knew the populace would revolt if the king was killed in a coup.

Nelson & Crane attempt to retrieve and revive the king.

But time is short...the suspended animation process becomes permanent after 72 hours, and King Ahmed has only 12 hours remaining.

What a shame this intriguing script by Robert Hamner was never produced.

When I first read the synopsis it struck me that this script would have fit smoothly into an epsode of "Mission:Impossible."

Although the script sounds compelling to me, I did wonder about some aspects to it regarding its interior logic?

Why couldn't Colonel Kassim have simply assassinated King Ahmed and reported to the populace that the king had died in the laboratory accident?

Was the lab accident legit & that's what placed the king in suspended animation in the first place?

Again, if this was a real accident, Kassim could have used it to murder the king & report that the king died in the accident.

Why is the Seaview dispatched to handle this crisis? It would seem that such a mission would be carried out better by C.I.A spies, or some other agency that deals with this kind of covert operation.

In fairness, perhaps script writer Robert Hamner did address these plot points in his full script and what I have available to me is just an outline.

Don't get me wrong as I love the story as an espionage caper. "I'm just not sure that they were stretching it out in order to make it an episode for VTTBOTS.

The premise just sounded more appropriate to an episode of Mission:Impossible, The Man from UNCLE, or I Spy."

Still, its very cool.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 11:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Un-produced script for the show.

"King Pearl" written by William Read Woodfield and once was scheduled for filming on January 18, 1965.

Plot: Washington orders the Seaview to investigate the sightings of a ghost ship connected with the loss of several vessels.

Seaview finds a graveyard of ships which they track to Pearl Bay inside North Korea territorial waters.

Dr. Chou Li Wo has developed a method of creating large oysters in order to produce more valuable pearls.

His plan is to finance a bush war in Southeast Asia.

So I wonder exactly who put the kibosh on this potential episode?

The network, White House, or Irwin Allen? Perhaps all three?

Obviously this kind of plot was too hot & touchy to make it entertainment for Americans in their living rooms with the Vietnam War raging at the time.

Also, it shows that the US isn't quite the land of the free as it loves to proclaim itself.

We have censorship via the government & corporations and would be foolish and ignorant to deny that it has happened in the past, or present.

Script writer William Read Woodfield was a terrific writer.

It was Woodfield who was the primary mover behind the "Mission: Impossible" (1966~'73) plots becoming all about the big con against the enemy-of-the-week by the Impossible Missions Force.

It was said that WRW & his writing partner Allan Balter were the ones who really opened up the show & defined what M:I came to be.

Billy Woodfield had read the book The Big Con as a boy. The book was a marvelous study of American confidence men and their methods. Woodfield became a devotee of the con and would employ it in his scripts where possible.

His script for VTTBOTS here doesn't exactly seem to employ his love of the con for this plot. But again, I am going by an outline and not his entire finished script.

Perhaps the ''ghost ship'' for this story is a con and not just a case of wild rumors and fear?

Maybe the "ghost ship'' is intended to keep people away from some kind of covert activities?

Sadly, Woodfield & Balter would clash with M:I creator Bruce Geller and storm off the series.

It was a pity as Woodfield & Balter were excellent writers and had a handle on what M:I was all about as a series better than anyone else. In some cases even better than Geller himself.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 11:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
Perhaps the ''ghost ship'' for this story is a con and not just a case of wild rumors and fear?

Maybe the "ghost ship'' is intended to keep people away from some kind of covert activities?

My first inclination was to think the ghost ship was indeed a ruse to discourage investigation, but then I realized that this would be cliched, as well as disappointing to the audience.

And since Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was never shy about presenting outlandish plots, maybe it turned out to be real ghosts on a cursed ship.

You know, like this. Shocked




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Krel
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It was probably IA that put the kibosh on the script. He didn't like using real-world enemies in his shows, he felt it could harm the show's chances in syndication if the politics change.

Pow, looking back it's seems to me that "Hell and High Water" would have made a good first season episode, when the show originally seen as an espionage show.

I think that "The Atomic Submarine" would have also made a good episode.

David.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 4:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I totally agree with you, David, that "Hell and High Water,'' and "The Atomic Submarine" would have made very suitable episodes for Voyage.

The plot material for H&HW might have even necessitated Voyage doing a two-parter for the series — which I don't believe they ever did.

Irwin Allen rarely did two-part episodes with any of his sci~fi shows as I recall.

The only one that comes to mind is the one where guest star Michael Rennie played the alien keeper of an intergalactic zoo on "Lost In Space."

H&HW also has a scene where Richard Widmark rams his submarine into another ship.

Did the Seaview ever ram another ship, boat, or monster during its 4 year run?

In any event, such a scene would certainly have been exciting visually and for the story.

One of my fav adventure/espionage films is "Ice Station Zebra."

Had the movie never been produced, its story would have also been a fine two-part episode for Voyage too.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 5:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Guys, I'm loving your discussion! Very Happy

I think I'll put the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea series on my Netflix list. It will help me stay indoors until well after the election, when Joe Biden wins by a landslide and gets us past this damn Pandemic by applying common sense and basic science!

Won't that be refreshing and new? Cool

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
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Krel
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 9:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't think that Irwin Allen like two-part episodes because of the syndication thing. TV stations renting shows, preferred single episodes because they could show them in any order. If you have two-part episodes then you have to be careful of the order of broadcast.

Pow, do you know if there was a "shelf" on the pier side of the moat? I ask, because I saw a photo of David Hedison in a wetsuit standing in the water between the Seaview deck, and the pier and the water only came up to his ankles. If they had a shelf to put the sub decks on, they they wouldn't need to make the free floating or on scaffolding. They could mount them on wheels so the sub could be moved for scenes.

I found out that "Hell and High Water" is on YouTube, so I'm going to have to watch it.

David.
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