Editorial Reviews

Irwin Allen -- the science-fiction and disaster maestro behind such TV and big-screen hits as Lost in Space and The Towering Inferno -- first hit it big on TV with this undersea adventure series. This second Season 1 volume completes that first (and best) year’s run with 16 black-and-white episodes from 1965. The Seaview continues its "vital and dangerous" missions against spies, saboteurs, humanoids, and maritime monsters (and a merry time they provide, too). Side A of Disc 1 alone is almost worth the price of this three-disc set. In "The Last Battle," Admiral Nelson (Richard Basehart) is shanghaied to an island prison, where a new "master race" of kidnapped scientists is being compelled by an unrepentant Nazi to usher in a Fourth Reich. "Mutiny," with its behemoth jellyfish, and "Doomsday," a cautionary Fail-Safe drama, are series benchmarks. And that's Robert Duvall as Zar, an otherworldly, centuries-old creature awakened from suspended animation, in "The Invaders." Other impressive guest stars include Ed Asner as Alexi Brynov, who plots to heat up the Cold War in "The Exile"; Leslie Nielsen as a dangerously impulsive captain in the manta-ray episode, "The Creature"; and George Sanders as a foreign agent who demands that Nelson betray his country to rescue his kidnapped sister in the season finale, "The Traitor." More than 40 years after its initial departure from TV’s dry dock, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea may be a bit creaky for younger viewers. But nostalgic baby boomers will definitely want to take the plunge -- the special effects are still impressive; Basehart provides the gravitas to maintain ballast; and there's that ever-present sonic ping that was the series' signature sound, which is even cooler on a 21st-century TV. Donald Liebenson, Barnes & Noble