I was addicted to repeats of this on channel four back in the 90's when i was growing up! Admiral Nelson became a hero of mine and no matter what problem he faced it was normally resolved by firing a nuclear missile or torpedo. I tapped a vast amount of the episodes on VHS at the time and even wrote to channel four asking if they would ever show Voyage again...
This started off in b/w and had some very good episodes with some hard hitting stories with gritty moral issues and great acting. I'm afraid to say by the last two series it was pure monster of the week and Richard Baseheart looked bored and fed up as he tried to save the world from the next rubbery foe. Crew members would be killed or murdered by other crew members when they had been "taken over" this normally happened on a regular basis but in the end the scripts were so bad no one really cared.
Kowalski would get knocked out every episode when he went to check on the circuitry room-which was always left unguarded. The crew had access to firearms when they wanted as there seemed to be a arms locker in their quarters. Throwing bombs was a must onboard. If so much as a summers breeze blew on the hull it would result in the best firework display you have seen coming from the control room equipment.
Despite what i have mentioned....i still love this show! It's pure ocean bound fantasy and had a real nice atmosphere about it. No matter how bad the scripts got the actors hung in there, the sets and lighting were fantastic. when the budget allowed there were some nifty under water shots. I always wanted to lurk and stalk Seaviews always empty corridors or form a search party with the chief. This show often attracted some big names as guest stars...one that springs to mind is Vincent price who tried to take over the Seaview with glove puppets! I really liked the writers idea of future gadgets and weapons, just writing this is making me want the Admiral to go to his lab and knock up a weapon to save the day!
The thing i hated the most about this show was not the nit picks i mentioned i can live with them and there kind of fun,it was the damn editing. What idiot did they get to do it? one shot the Seaview had a double row of windows (from the film) next shot it was back to a single set. They would be in deep water and decided to launch the "flying sub" so a shot of it launching with Seaview on the surface is used. Take me to long to list all the editing goofs. I remember one episode where they are trapped on the sea floor but can launch the flying sub because they are on a ledge....you guessed it, same old shot of it launching when the ship is on the surface,what were they thinking?
Having said all that still great fun to watch.Go for the black and white and early colour episodes some real gems to be found.
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