Seven Things to Know About Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

1. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was nominated for 11 Emmy awards from 1965 to 1967, all in technical categories. It won four Emmys for Special Photographic Effects, Cinematography, and Film & Sound Editing. The show's special effects were supervised by L.B. Abbott, the head of the Special Effects Department at 20th Century-Fox from 1957 to 1970. Abbott was also awarded four Oscars for his special effects work in the movies Doctor Dolittle (1968), Tora! Tora! Tora! (1971), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), and Logan's Run (1976).

Del Monroe as Kowalksi.

2. Del Monroe played the same character in the 1961 theatrical film Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and on the TV series. He was billed as Delbert Monroe in the film and played Seaman Kowski. He shortened his professional name to Del Monroe for the TV series, while his character was renamed Kowalski (sometimes shortened to "Ski"). Although Del Monroe never received a credit in the series' opening, he appeared in 98 episodes from 1964-68. Mark Slade, who later played Blue on The High Chaparral, also appeared as a crewmember in the film and TV series--though his name changed from Smith to Malone and he only appeared in five episodes during the first season.

3. Budget-conscious producer Irwin Allen sometimes reused footage from his movies and shared costumes across his TV series (which included Lost in Space and Time Tunnel). Two of his most famous uses of recycled footage are in the Voyage episodes "The Sky's On Fire" and "Turn Back the Clock." The latter, a first season episode, finds Captain Lee Crane (David Hedison) on an island populated by dinosaurs and a native girl (Vitina Marcus). The dinosaur footage (actually live lizards in "make-up") was lifted from Allen's 1960 theatrical film The Lost World--which starred Hedison and Marcus. The second season episode "The Sky's on Fire" is basically a condensed version of the theatrical film Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) with recycled footage of the Seaview and the burning skies.

Admiral Nelson as a werewolf.

4. Admiral Nelson's first name--which is rarely used--is Harriman (or Harry to close friends). He is a four-star admiral, though his rank inexplicably changes to three stars briefly during the first season (surely a continuity error). Nelson has many close encounters with aliens and monsters during the show's run. He transforms into a werewolf in two episodes. In "Werewolf," the second episode of the third season, a fellow scientist infected with lyncanthropy, attacks Nelson--who also becomes a werewolf. Twelve episodes later, in "The Brand of the Beast," Nelson becomes exposed to high levels of radiation and transforms into a wolf-man again. (And, for the record, Captain Lee Crane turned into a werewolf-like creature in the season 4 episode "Man Beast.")

Hedison in "The Human Computer."

5. In a 2013 interview, I asked David Hedison, who plays Captain Crane, to list his favorite episodes: "I thought I did good work in several first season episodes when we had better writing. 'The Saboteur,' where I was brainwashed by the Chinese to kill Admiral Nelson, 'The Enemies' where I went mad and tried to kill the Admiral, 'Mutiny' where Nelson went mad and I had to stop him.  Hmmm...do I sense a pattern here? Another episode I enjoyed was 'The Human Computer.' It was the first episode they let me carry--the episode was me, alone on the Seaview with a Russian saboteur. That was fun to do."

6. Several changes occurred with the debut of the second season of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Henry Kulky, who played Chief Petty Officer (CPO) Curley Jones, died of a heart attack in February 1965. He was replaced by Terry Becker, who portrayed the submarine's new CPO, Francis Ethelbert Sharkey. The show also switched from black-and-white to color, which was highlighted in the season's first episode "Jonah and the Whale." The plot had Nelson and a Soviet scientist in a diving bell swallowed by a whale! The Seaview received several season 2 upgrades, including a nifty yellow flying sub (I had one of the original model kits). However, the most significant change was an emphasis on science fiction and more fantastical plots. That carried over into the show's final two seasons.

7. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was a modest hit for ABC, but it never cracked the year's Top 30 shows in terms of Nielsen ratings. It didn't help that ABC moved it from Monday at 7:30 pm in its first season to Sunday nights for the remainder of its run--opposite perennial hit Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color on NBC. 

Beyond the Poseidon is Not a Disaster

Following 1978's unmitigated flop The Swarm, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) offers a little redemption for producer-director Irwin Allen and star Michael Caine. Let's be clear: This belated and unnecessary sequel to 1972's The Poseidon Adventure is not a good film. But it is a watchable film thanks to an interesting cast and the many ways it manages to rehash the first film.

Caine plays Mike Turner, a small-time ship captain with financial difficulties, who loses his cargo in a storm at sea. Turner, first mate Wilbur (Karl Malden), and "passenger" Celeste (Sally Field) get a break when they happen on the capsized Poseidon. Turner plans to board the luxury ocean liner and recover any valuables, which he can then claim as salvage.

Michael Caine, Karl Malden, and Sally Field.

Before he can execute his plan, a larger ship arrives at the site. Its captain, Dr. Stefan Svevo (Telly Savalas), states his mission is to rescue and provide medical services to the remaining survivors. Turner and Svevo both lead parties into the bowels of the Poseidon--which Wilbur dubs a "floating time bomb"--and are quickly trapped inside the sinking ocean liner.

There are few surprises in Beyond the Poseidon Adventure. It turns out that Svevo has an ulterior motive which has nothing to do with saving passengers. That leaves Turner to become the reluctant hero as he finds passengers who were apparently left behind at the end of the previous film.

Mark Harmon and Angela Cartwright.

Those survivors include: an overprotective father (Peter Boyle), his daughter (Angela Cartwright), the daughter's burgeoning boyfriend (Mark Harmon), the ship's nurse (Shirley Jones), a blind man (Jack Warden) and his wife (Shirley Knight), a socialite (Veronica Hamel), and a self-proclaimed Texas billionaire (Slim Pickens). Naturally, not all of them will make it to the end of the film!

The original Poseidon Adventure is one of the best disaster movies, thanks largely to Gene Hackman's commanding performance. As much as I like Michael Caine, he doesn't put much effort into his lead role. His opening scenes with Sally Field, which include an overdose of playful banter, are painful. It's not hard to see why actors such as John Wayne, Burt Reynolds, and Clint Eastwood allegedly turned down the part.

Savalas...not as Blofeld.

To her credit, Sally Field eventually rights the ship (no pun intended) as the always-optimistic Celeste. Her best scene is when she volunteers to help Caine just so she can cry out of sight of the other passengers. As for the rest of the cast, it's fun to see Slim Pickens hamming it up as a Texas oil man and to watch a young Mark Harmon paired with Penny Robinson from Lost in Space. And I must admit that Telly Savalas' first appearance, dressed in an all-white uniform, made me think he was reprising his role as Blofeld from On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Surprisingly, the special effects--always a highlight in an Irwin Allen production--are somewhat shoddy. There are some embarrassing rear-screen shots at the start of the film. And when Caine and Malden are navigating their tiny ship through a ferocious storm, one gets the feeling that a bunch of grips are just off-screen throwing buckets of water so they splash on the deck.

It's easy to criticize a movie like Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, but by the time Caine and Co. started focusing on how to escape from the ocean liner, I found myself getting involved in their plight. Yes, it rehashed much of the original with folks bickering among themselves as they jump across huge holes in the hallways and climb creaky ladders with flames blazing below them. I expected all of that...along with the stereotypes and the obvious plotting.

That doesn't mean it was any less fun.


Here's a clip from Beyond the Poseidon Adventure courtesy of www.warnerarchive.com. You can view it full-screen on the Cafe's YouTube channel. (You can also stream the entire movie at Warner Archive).

Irwin Allen's City Beneath the Sea

Stuart Whitman as Admiral Matthews.

Shortly before The Poseidon Adventure revived his big screen career, producer Irwin Allen made this 1971 made-for-TV film about an underwater city called Pacifica. Set in 2053, it opens with the U.S. President (Richard Basehart) ordering former admiral Michael Matthews (Stuart Whitman) back to the submerged city to oversee the transport of the nation's gold from Fort Knox to Pacifica. Matthews' return is met with open hostility. Everyone blames him for the death of his friend Bill Holmes, especially Bill's bitter widow Lia (Rosemary Forsyth).

Rosemary Forsyth as Lia.

There's little time to cope with such emotions, though, as Matthews learns about a "planetoid" that's heading directly for Pacifica. Unknown to Matthews, his brother Brett (Robert Wagner) has been plotting to steal the nation's gold bullion as well as its supply of H-128, a valuable, radioactive source of highly-efficient energy. Brett sees the impending planetoid disaster as a perfect opportunity to adjust and implement his scheme.

The Flying Sub from Voyage.

Intended as the pilot for a new TV series, City Beneath the Sea borrows liberally from other Irwin Allen projects. The aircraft that Whitman and Robert Colbert use in the opening scenes is the Flying Sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Much of the equipment was recycled from Voyage and Lost in Space. Star Colbert was a regular on Allen's Time Tunnel TV series, as was supporting actor Whit Bissell and "special guest star" James Darren. In addition in Basehart, look quickly and you'll spot Bob Dowdell, who played Lieutenant Commander Chip Morton on Voyage.

Robert Wagner as the bad brother.

I'm not sure if City Beneath the Sea could have sustained itself as a weekly series, but the telefilm moves crisply and features plenty of action. Though Star Trek veteran John Meredyth Lucas wrote the screenplay, there's not a lot of depth to the characters. The most promising is Aguila (Burr DeBenning), a scientist with both gills and lungs. DeBenning later appeared as an underwater-breathing man again--though this time a villain--in Man From Atlantis.

Four-time Oscar winner L.B. Abbott supervised the spotty special effects. His work was no doubt hampered by the modest budget, but still good enough to earn the film a theatrical release in Great Britain.

City Beneath the Sea was Irwin Allen's second attempt to launch a TV series about an underwater city. He made a ten-minute clip in 1967 starring Glenn Corbett, Francine York, Lloyd Bochner, and a young James Brolin as Wild Bill Tyler. You can watch it on YouTube.


Here's a clip from City Beneath the Sea. You can view it full-screen on the Classic Film & TV Cafe's YouTube Channel. You can also stream the entire movie at warnerarchive.com.

Lost in Space: The First Episode

The series ran on CBS from 1965-68.

When a friend recently updated his Lost in Space collection to Blu ray, he kindly gave me his DVD set. Although I've watched several Lost in Space reruns on the telly over the years, it had been a long time since I watched the first episode. I was astonished at the difference between the series' debut and the TV series that evolved from it.

But before reviewing it, I want to discuss producer Irwin Allen's original concept. He envisioned a space-age version of Johann Wyss's Swiss Family Robinson about a family of explorers who survive a crash landing on a desert planet. This was not a new idea; indeed, Gold Key Comics published a comic book series called Space Family Robinson beginning in 1962.

In Allen's original Lost in Space pilot, an episode called "No Place to Hide," the Robinsons' spacecraft Gemini XII is thrown off course when meteors crash into it. After landing on an uncharted planet, the Robinsons make a new home--and encounter a giant cyclops.Will Robinson even sings "Greensleeves," accompanying himself on guitar. Speaking of music, the theme for the pilot episode was borrowed from Bernard Herrmann's score for The Day the Earth Stood Still.

CBS liked the $600,000 pilot and ordered a series--but also wanted changes that resulted in the addition of a villain and a robot. According to Lost in Space historian Mark Phillips, Irwin Allen wanted a villain like Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon and story editor Anthony Wilson wanted a Long John Silver-type. Their compromise was Dr. Zachary Smith.

Guy Williams and June Lockhart were
top-billed.

"The Reluctant Stowaway," the first official Lost in Space episode, takes place on October 16, 1997. It initially unfolds in semi-documentary fashion, describing how the Robinsons were chosen from more than two million volunteers to navigate the Jupiter 2 to the planet Alpha Centauri. The five-year journey will require the family and pilot Major Don West to remain in suspended animation. Amid all the preparations for the spaceship's launch, Dr. Smith sneaks aboard the Jupiter 2. A spy for an unnamed nation, Smith reprograms the robot to destroy the spaceship eight hours into its maiden voyage. Unfortunately, Smith gets trapped aboard, hence becoming the "reluctant stowaway."

Dr. Smith threatening Major West.

As in the pilot episode, a meteor storm throws the spacecraft off course and its passengers are rudely awakened from their suspended animation. Needless to say, they're surprised to find Dr. Smith aboard. He's absorbed with trying to stop the robot from destroying the cabin pressure system and radio--thus killing all the passengers.

This Dr. Smith is slightly different from the one who would become--with Will and the robot--the eventual stars of Lost in Space. Smith is a villain, though a none-too-bright one, although we're led to believe that he was the grand master of the Oxford chess club. One enduring trait is clearly established: Dr. Smith is a big liar!

John and Maureen Robinson (Guy Williams and June Lockhart) play a much larger role. They have the episode's juiciest scene when they engage in a heated disagreement over whether to continue with the mission or try to return to Earth. The episode ends with John floating helplessly into space after his safety cord breaks while repairing the Jupiter 2's exterior systems. It's quite a cliffhanger, leading to the now familiar:

Billy Mumy as Will.

The first half-dozen episodes provide ample screen time for all the characters (and includes Angela Cartwright's favorite episode "My Friend, Mr. Nobody"). However, starting with "Invaders from the Fifth Dimension," Smith, Will, and the robot began to player larger roles--at the insistence of CBS executives. By midway through the first season, it's clear that the aforementioned trio have become the show's focal point. The other characters would occasionally get meaningful screen time, but Lost in Space had become the show we know today.

Incidentally, most of the footage from the original pilot was included in the series' first five episodes. That pilot eventually aired on the SyFy network and was included in a video release of Lost in Space from Columbia House. By the way, the now-familiar Lost in Space theme was written by a young composer named Johnny Williams--yes, that's John Williams, the man that went on to become the most nominated composer in the history of the Academy Awards.

Summer of MeTV Classic TV Blogathon: Let's Go on a Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea!

What was the longest-running science fiction TV series of the 1960s? If you answered Star Trek, Lost in Space, or even The Outer Limits, you'd be wrong. That distinction belongs to producer Irwin Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, which debuted in 1964 and ran for four years.

Richard Basehart as Admiral Nelson.

The show's "star" was the Seaview, a futuristic, atomic-powered submarine designed by Admiral Harriman Nelson. Although Nelson essentially lived aboard his super sub, the vessel's commander was the younger Captain Lee Crane. The relationship between these two men--paternal, respectful, and occasionally at conflict--formed the central core of the series throughout its run. It was enhanced by the casting: film veteran Richard Basehart played Nelson while handsome, likable David Hedison was Crane. The two actors became lifelong friends off-screen.

The episodes from Voyage's first season featured a canny mix of suspense, espionage, and science fiction plots. In “Hotline,” the Seaview’s crew has to disarm a nuclear reactor aboard a Soviet satellite that crashed into the ocean. “No Way Out” finds Nelson and Crane trying to provide safe passage for an uncooperative Communist defector. In “The Sky Is Falling,” Nelson tries to negotiate with apparently-friendly aliens (this was the first of many episodes about extraterrestrials).

Captain Crane looks concerned.

It’s a strong season that benefitted from quality guest stars such as Robert Duvall, George Sanders, Carroll O’Connor, Hurd Hatfield, Everett Sloane, and June Lockhart. Additionally, three episodes were penned by notable film and television scribes: Charles Bennett (Foreign Correspondent, Curse of the Demon); John McGreevey (The Waltons); and the amusingly-named Cordwainer Bird--which was a pseudonym for acclaimed science fiction writer Harlan Ellison.

The colorful Flying Sub.

A modest ratings hit, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was renewed for a second season—but one that brought changes. Gruff but lovable Chief Curley Jones was nowhere to be seen, because actor Henry Kulky had died from a heart attack at age 55. Terry Becker joined the cast as Chief Sharkey. The realistic mini-sub was replaced by a spiffy, colorful “flying sub.” And most notably, there was a shift toward more science fiction plots, starting with the first episode. Titled “Jonah and the Whale,” it found Nelson and a female Russian scientist literally inside a gigantic whale after the beast swallows their diving bell. (The elaborate, colorful sets for this episode was the subject of a TV Guide article.)

By the third season, the Seaview had become a popular place for strange creatures to visit. The crew had to battle a werewolf (Admiral Nelson no less!), a mummy, a “heat monster,” some “fossil men,” a deadly cloud, a mean mermaid, “wax men,” and Nazis revived from suspended animation. This monster-of-the-week approach wore thin, although Basehart and Hedison still kept the show watchable. Despite placing #63 in the Nielsen ratings for the season, Voyage was renewed for a fourth and final season.

A dinosaur borrowed from The Lost World.

I've chosen not to dwell much on Irwin Allen’s entertaining theatrical film, 1961’s Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, which served as the basis for the series. However, it warrants a mention for two reasons. First, the budget-minded Allen was always looking to get the most out of existing sets and stock footage. So, the TV series’ season 2 episode “The Sky’s on Fire” ripped off the movie’s plot about the Van Allen radiation belt “catching fire” and threatening to scorch the Earth. Likewise, the season 1 episode “Turn Back the Clock” recycled footage from Allen’s 1960 theatrical film The Lost World—which conveniently starred David Hedison. The dinosaur scenes (actually, they were live lizards on miniature sets) from that movie also cropped up in other episodes.

The movie’s other contribution to the TV series was its special effects wizard L.B. Abbott. The head of 20th Century-Fox’s special effects department from 1957-70, Abbott won Academy Awards for Doctor Doolittle (1967), Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Logan’s Run (1976). He also earned three Emmys for his special effects, one for Allen’s Time Tunnel and two for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. They were the only Emmys won by Voyage.

A blueprint of the Seaview.

As a youth, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was my first “favorite TV show.” It also inspired me to write my first fan letter, which yielded a black & white photo of the Seaview and a copy of its blueprint (I wrote about this in an earlier post). I had a model of the Flying Sub and a toy Seaview propelled across my bathtub waters courtesy of a wound-up rubber band. I am not alone in my affection for this show either. You can find all kinds of cool stuff about Voyage at the Irwin Allen News Network and my 2013 interview with David Hedison ranks as one of the Café’s most popular posts.


This post is part of the Classic TV Blog Association’s Summer of MeTV Classic TV Blogathon. Click here to check out the complete blogathon schedule. And don’t forget to set your video recording devices for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, which airs weekly on MeTV on Sunday at 1:00 a.m.

The Poseidon Adventure: Trust in Hackman

The first--and best--of the 1970s "disaster movies," The Poseidon Adventure has aged well over the years. I sometimes think it gets lumped in with its disaster brethren--The Towering Inferno, Earthquake, etc.--which is a shame, because Poseidon is a superior film that established the formula for those lesser efforts.

The first half-hour is basically an introduction to the people aboard the S.S. Poseidon, an outdated cruise ship making its final voyage from Athens to New York. The passengers and ship staff include: a police detective and his former-prostitute wife (Ernest Borgnine and Stella Stevens); a retired couple (Jack Albertson and Shelley Winters) going to see their grandson for the first time; a teen girl and her obnoxious younger brother (Pamela Sue Martin and Eric Shea); a lonely businessman (Red Buttons); a singer (Carol Lynley); a bartender (Roddy McDowall); and an unorthodox priest (Gene Hackman), whose defiance of his church superiors has resulted in his banishment to a third-world country (a mission that the priest embraces). Granted, some of these characters border initially on stereotypes, which is surprising considering that Stirling Silliphant (In the Heat of the Night, Route 66) co-wrote the screenplay. However, as the film progresses, Silliphant reveals hidden depths to some of the passengers.

Gene Hackman and Pamela Sue Martin..

The plot cranks into high gear when the ship capsizes after being hit with an aftershock (8.6 on the Richter scale) from an underwater earthquake. With several people already dead, the survivors face their first dilemma. Two of them (Buttons and Hackman) propose that they make their way upward to the propeller shaft where the hull may be thin enough to reach the surface. However, the ship's purser encourages the passengers to remain in the ballroom, with promises that help must surely be on its way. Unable to reach agreement, two groups split off with one following the decisive priest and the other remaining with the purser.

Borgnine as the detective Rogo.

As the first group of passengers makes its way slowly up to the hull, friction quickly develops between the priest and the detective. In addition to having doubts about the priest's course of action, Borgnine's detective--a man typically in charge--bristles at taking orders from someone else. And it doesn't help that his wife seems to have complete confidence in Hackman's priest. This intra-group turbulence heightens the suspense as the survivors face one seemingly insurmountable hurdle after another. 

The interior of the ship, masterfully created by set designers William Creber and Raphael Bretton, earned an Oscar nomination for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration. Danger seems to lurk around every turn, whether it is rising water, searing flames, or boiling steam.

Oscar nominee Shelley Winters.

In addition to its art decoration, The Poseidon Adventure earned Oscar nominations for cinematography, costumes, sound, editing, and John Williams' excellent music score. Shelley Winters, who won the 1973 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, lost the Academy Award in the same category to Eileen Heckart for Butterflies Are Free. Still, The Poseidon Adventure wasn't shut out in Oscar wins; the song "The Morning After" picked up a statuette and the film was given a "special achievements award" for its visual effects.

Although Borgnine gives one of his best post-1960s performances and Winters has a great scene, acting honors go to Gene Hackman. His high-octane performance propels the film and reaffirms his status as one of the most versatile actors of his generation.

The flop sequel with
Michael Caine & Sally Field.

Backed by a canny marketing campaign ("Hell, upside down" and "Who will survive?" proclaimed the posters), The Poseidon Adventure was a boxoffice smash. Producer Irwin Allen copied the formula, only with bigger stars, for The Towering Inferno. And, at the end of the disaster movie cycle, he mounted an unsuccessful sequel called Beyond the Poseidon Adventure.

Thirty-three years after the original film, two remakes appeared: a made-for-TV version with Rutger Hauer and 2006's Poseidon, a lively remake helmed by Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot). Though the latter is quite watchable, I recommend sticking with the original if you're in the mood for a suspenseful movie about an overturned ocean liner.

Seven Things to Know About "Lost in Space"

1. Gold Key Comics published a Space Family Robinson comic book series three years before the Lost in Space TV series. Its characters were different and its authors had nothing to do with the TV series. However, the premise was similar, so Gold Key's parent company, Western Publishing, and CBS reached a legal settlement. Western received an undisclosed amount of money and was allowed to retitle its comic book series Space Family Robinson: Lost in Space.

2. The show's original pilot "Nowhere to Hide" was never broadcast, although it has since been released on video. It contains two major differences from the regular series:  there is no Dr. Smith and no robot! In the pilot, a meteor storm sends the Gemini XII (instead of the Jupiter 2) off course--as opposed to Dr. Smith's sabotage.

Lost in Space robot with Bill Mumy.

3. Veteran art director Robert Kinoshita created the robot. He also created Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet (1956) and The Invisible Boy (1957). In fact, Robby appeared in two Lost in Space episodes: "War of the Robots" and "Condemned of Space." Kinoshita also worked on numerous other TV shows from Sea Hunt to Hawaii Five-O to Kojak.

4. Lost in Space never finished worse than #35 in the Nielsen ratings for a season. Its first season in 1965-66 was its best, with the show finishing #32. The #1 TV series that year was Bonanza.

5. In the first episode, Dr. Smith was an evil enemy agent who sabotaged the Jupiter 2, but was unable to escape from the spaceship. The writers intended to phase him out of the series. However, actor Jonathan Harris eventually turned Dr. Smith into the lovable, bumbling coward that became the focus of the show with young Will Robinson (Bill Mumy).

6. Angela Cartwright, who played Penny Robinson, told us earlier this year that her favorite episode was "My Friend, Mr. Nobody." In it, Penny's "imaginary" friend turns out to be a very protective invisible cosmic force. Ms. Cartwright said: "I love the black and white film noir feel to it. I loved the message it had...though I remember it was challenging to talk to no one through the whole episode."

7. In 2004, director John Woo shot a pilot for a new series to be called The Robinsons: Lost in Space. It retained little except the premise, the character names, and the robot from Irwin Allen's series. The WB network did not pick up the pilot, so the new series never materialized.

The Time Tunnel: A Retrospective on Irwin Allen's Classic Science Fiction Series

Cast members Robert Colbert, Lee Meriwether,
and James Darren--from Terry's private collection.

"Two American scientists are lost in the swirling maze of past and future ages during the first experiments on America's greatest and most secret project: the Time Tunnel. Tony Newman and Doug Phillips now tumble helplessly towards a new fantastic adventure, somewhere along the infinite corridors of time."

-- From the opening credits for Irwin Allen’s The Time Tunnel, spoken by Dick Tufeld, best known as the voice of “the Robot” in Lost in Space, with a theme song by John Williams. Seriously, even the credits have star power. They do not make television like they used to. 

While science fiction television in the 1960s might be best remembered for Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek, the backbone of most of the best TV series of that decade was Irwin Allen. Allen was responsible for Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and Land of the Giants. But my personal favorite, launched in 1966, was The Time Tunnel, which aired on Friday nights on ABC (right after The Green Hornet!) for one season. While it was Allen’s shortest-lived series, many of us who were kids (or adults!) at the time have fond memories of the Tunnel!

The Time Tunnel set.

The first episode set up the series:  Drs. Tony Newman (James Darren) and Doug Phillips (Robert Colbert) are scientists working on Project Tic-Toc, a time control experiment. Lack of results in their time experiments are leading to budget cuts, so Tony rashly enters the Tunnel before it can be fully tested. A few bright lights and explosions later, he finds himself on the H.M.S. Titanic. To save Tony (and potentially the ocean liner), Doug follows. There are lots of arguments and plans, but the Titanic sinks anyway. 

Then, at a critical moment, the two scientists are yanked from 1912 into another year, beginning a weekly jumping from one historical event to the next. Meanwhile, back at the Tunnel's headquarters, staff members General Haywood Kirk (Whit Bissel, in charge), with Dr. Raymond Swain (John Zaremba) and Dr. Ann MacGregor (Lee Meriwether), are running the science part of the show (and pretty much making up time rules from one week to the next).

A novelization by
Murray Leinster.

There are several reasons that The Time Tunnel appealed to many of us as kids. First, Tony and Doug got to go back in time to see famous events, along with a few imagined ones in the future. History you learned about in school was dramatically presented each week!  It was educational!  Second, producer Irwin Allen used scenes from Fox theatrical films to dress up the production, so it looked much more expensive than many series of the day. So for the Titanic episode mentioned above, there were scenes from A Night to Remember (1958) with a believable sinking. Another favorite episode about a war between Greeks and Trojans, "Revenge of the Gods," used clips from Fox’s 1962 film, The 300 Spartans.

Now, I do think that, for most of these “imagined” episodes, the series relied on props and monsters from other Allen shows. So when you thought that aluminum foil clad alien looked familiar from last week’s episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, you may have been right!  But then, that’s what made these shows so much fun! I remember having discussions with my childhood friends on Saturday mornings about the previous night’s episode and what we liked about it. 

A rare image from the View-Master set
that shows Tony and Doug home again.

While the show saved production dollars by using footage from theatrical features, The Time Tunnel was still a very expensive show. At that time, you didn't know that shows were cancelled in advance – or at least, I didn't – so when the series didn't return for its second season, I was crushed. I’d gotten the View-Master reels for The Time Tunnel for my birthday in 1967. I used to have theater shows on the side of our house with my V-M projector, showing the pictures from the first episode and telling the story!  The last slide of the set showed Tony and Doug back in the tunnel. They apparently made it home. I couldn't wait for the second season!

Insert a sad face here. The Time Tunnel was cancelled before the last episode was finished. ABC felt it had room for only one drama in their 1967-1968 season, and replaced Allen's series with The Legend of Custer. Who is writing a blog post about that show now?

Irwin Allen never lost his fascination with time travel  He attempted two more time-travelling series before he passed away in 1991. His wife, actress Sheila Mathews Allen, along with producer Kevin Burns, produced a Time Tunnel pilot for a new series for Fox in 2002. They tried again in 2006, but didn't get a pilot made. 

Lee Meriwether, aka Dr. Ann MacGregor,
signs an autograph for Terry.

As a child of the 1960s, living with reality shows of the 2010s, I still hold out hope for The Time Tunnel to return. Of course, I envision a new cast, new tunnel, new time travel rules--new everything!  But, I really want the first episode to pay homage to the original, with the scientists of Project Tic-Toc (now headed by Dr. Ann MacGregor) finally bringing Doug Phillips and Tony Newman home!

This Café exclusive was written by guest blogger and Irwin Allen authority TerryB. You can "like" Terry on Facebook.

How My First Fan Letter Yielded Childhood Treasures from "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea"

It was inevitable that Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea would become my favorite TV series in 1964. It had two big things going for it: a futuristic submarine and a never-ending variety of monsters. I knew this was a fact because I'd seen the 1961 theatrical film Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and it featured the submarine Seaview, a giant octopus, spies, and--for good measure--a "burning sky." (Cost-conscious producer Irwin Allen recycled all these plot elements into the TV series and even included stock footage of dinosaurs from his 1960 film The Lost World.)

I'm not sure where I heard about people writing fan letters to get autographed photographs, but the idea greatly appealed to me. Having not yet learned how wonderful reference librarians are, I sought guidance from my most reliable source of information outside of our Compton's Encyclopedias (which were of no help in this endeavor). I asked my Dad where I should send my letter.

My father worked for a large Western Electric plant, which had a small library and an enterprising librarian who probably used one of the business indexes to track down the address to 20th Century-Fox. I typed my letter on the family's old Underwood typewriter...and waited for what seemed like years.

Then one day, I discovered a large envelope in the mail containing a small black-and-white photograph of the Seaview and a rough blueprint of its interior. I was ecstatic! Those two items would be displayed in my bedroom for the next three decades (long after my departure); they would become an integral part of show-and-tell at school for the next four years. Today, I still keep them in my box of childhood treasures.

The actual size of my photo is 3" x 2-1/2".

In the TV series, it was the SSNR Seaview, the "SSNR"
standing for Submarine Seaview Nelson Research.

Having always responded well to positive reinforcement, I followed up with another fan letter. This time,  I requested an autographed photo from star Richard Basehart, who sent the picture below (note it was signed with a felt-tip pen vs. a "stamped" signature):

My "friends" at 20th Century-Fox subsequently enrolled me in the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Fan Club. I received a membership card (shown at the start of this post) that made me an Honorary Admiral (like thousands of other kids) and the color postcard below:

Left to right: Basehart, David Hedison, Allan Hunt,
Terry Becker, and Bob Dowdell.

As the years passed, my letter-writing interests went in other directions (e.g., trying to convince a local TV  station to keep airing Dark Shadows instead of a local kids show). I did write 20th Century-Fox a few more times and have some nice Batman photos to show for my efforts. 

However, nothing can compare to the joy of my first fan letter and my beloved photo of the Seaview. 

Best B-Movies…oops, I mean, Bee Movies

I originally wrote this post in 2009 to generate some buzz. After considering several possibilities, I seized on a honey of an idea and decided to do one on bees in the cinema (no, not bees in movie theatres, but rather bees depicted on film). Since the number of quality bee films is limited, I dipped into television, too. Here are my top five:

1. Mysterious Island (1961). Bees hit the big time, or rather they were big in this lively adaptation of the Jules Verne novel. Castaways on the title island battle giant bees, courtesy of special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen. Bottom line: Harryhausen + giant bees = cool scene.

2. The Outer Limits episode “Zzzzz” (1964). An entomologist studying bees needs a new lab assistant. A queen bee who can transform herself into human form needs a new mate. The entomologist is married. We now have a conflict. This entertaining episode benefits mightily from Joanna Frank, who scores as the exotic bee queen determined to get her way.

3. The Deadly Bees (1966). OK, it’s not a great movie, but it didn't deserve to be spoofed on Mystery Science Theater 3000. It was directed by famed cinematographer Freddie Francis, so it looks good. Plus, it earns its spot on this list just for including a plotline about liquidizing the “smell of fear” and for featuring great a tag line: “Hives of Horror!”

4. Ulee’s Gold (1997). Too recent to qualify as a classic film, but we’ll toss it in here as an example of a serious bee movie. Actually, the bees are strictly supporting players in this low-key tale of a beekeeper and his family in northern Florida. Still, it earned Peter Fonda his best reviews in years.

5. The Swarm (1978). Irwin Allen made other big-budget films after this one, but Swarm marked the beginning of the end for the Disaster Movie King. Still, if you’re going to have an all-star cast fight hordes of bees, you could do worse than Michael Caine, Henry Fonda, Richard Widmark, Olivia de Havilland, and Fred MacMurray. Plus, it was nominated for an Oscar! For Best Costume Design (?).

Honorable Mentions: The Savage Bees, The Bees (1978), Terror Out of the Sky, and Invasion of the Bee Girls (a Roger Ebert favorite). I don’t remember bees in The Hellstrom Chronicle, but surely they were some. I omitted recent films like Bee Movie and The Secret Life of Bees.

What other bee films are there? I’m hoping someone can up with a humdinger! Or at least one that buzzworthy!