Sunday, August 10, 2014

Outré Intro: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (Final Season)



Growing up, I was obsessed with all things that had to do with submarines and sea monsters.  I was a huge fan of Captain Nemo, Jules Verne, and The Land that Time Forgot (1975).  Accordingly, the Irwin Allen science-fiction series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964 - 1968) was also right up my alley.

As a kid, I loved all the sea monsters and other weird villains featured on the series (including lobster men, leprechauns, and killer clowns), but as I got older, I came to appreciate the restraint and more-reality based stories of the black-and-white first season.  

One thing remains unchanged:, even today  I love the design of the Seaview, the series' advanced submarine.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea's final season features a great (if simple) introductory montage that, much like its predecessors, expresses many of the key aspects of the series.  

First, the titles are depicted as if on a sonar screen, which is a nice touch given the subject matter.



Notice how the series title, featured in the card below, has a watery coloring and font.


Next up, the sonar screen presents images of our cast-members in scenes revealing hard-driving action. First up: Richard Basehart as Admiral Nelson.





Next, we meet co-star David Hedison, as Captain Lee Crane.



Next, an image of one of the most popular "characters" on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: the amazing flying sub.  

As a kid, I always wanted (but never got...) the model kit of this super-color sub/plane.



In the following card, we meet our creator and producer, Irwin Allen, the man behind Lost in Space (1965 - 1967), and The Time Tunnel (1966-1967) as well.



Finally, our sonar screen disappears, and we go right into the underwater action...






Below, you can see an earlier season's version of this opening and closing montage, which has the added value of featuring the beautiful Seaview.


No comments:

Post a Comment

My Father's Journal: "Apologia"

Apologia By Ken Muir   I am a person of my age, of my time in history.    Born into an America that was on the verge of winning the greatest...