Separated at Birth

[Rob Campbell]

The other night, I watched an old episode of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" on YouTube. It was ridiculous, a giant whale swallowed the diving bell. When the diving bell appeared on screen, I started laughing since I noticed the diving bell bears a remarkable resemblance to Stuart, toe one-eyed Minion! I can't unsee it!

 

[Steven]

Had a couple of the Aurora models of the Seaview and Flying Sub. Along with their monster collection.

 

[Rob Campbell]

Had a couple of the Aurora models of the Seaview and Flying Sub. Along with their monster collection.

As a kid, I had the Seaview sold by Sears. It came with a whale and crab-like monster. The Seaview also fired little torpedoes from a spring loaded tube.

 

[Zeus-cat]

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was made by Irwin Allen. So were Time Tunnel, Lost in Space and Land of the Giants. These shows usually started with a somewhat serious and dramatic tone that held promise for a decent show. But by season 2 (or sooner), they devolved into silliness with a monster of the week.

 

[Steven]

As a kid, I had the Seaview sold by Sears. It came with a whale and crab-like monster. The Seaview also fired little torpedoes from a spring loaded tube.

I never heard of the Seaview doing this. Renwal made a few subs where you could drop one half of the hull down to expose the interior along with the spring loaded torpedoes. Must have been a limited run. sounds unique.

 

[RobertH3]

Incredibly sad and unintentionally funny - Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea had a great starting premise. It would have made an awesome Cold War espionage show! Then Lost in Space Lobster monsters, Blackbeard's Ghost firing nuclear missiles, etc. And worse, Lost in Space earworm sound effects that you never forget.
Lost in Space gets a partial pass for 8 year olds - I liked it then.
Irwin ruined lots of acting careers : /
In fact I think SeaQuest also used nearly the same premise (& also got silly toward the end).

I ALWAYS think of these Irwin Allen shows every time I hear about Hollywood wanting to do a serious SF / Fantasy movie.

Thank you to Peter Jackson, who proved you could do a serious Fantasy movie without Hollywood BS. I kind of think he pointed the way for movies like "Arrival" and the latest "Dune" to be made seriously and to the novels.

 

[Rob Campbell]

Incredibly sad and unintentionally funny - Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea had a great starting premise. It would have made an awesome Cold War espionage show! Then Lost in Space Lobster monsters, Blackbeard's Ghost firing nuclear missiles, etc. And worse, Lost in Space earworm sound effects that you never forget.
Lost in Space gets a partial pass for 8 year olds - I liked it then.
Irwin ruined lots of acting careers : /
In fact I think SeaQuest also used nearly the same premise (& also got silly toward the end).

I ALWAYS think of these Irwin Allen shows every time I hear about Hollywood wanting to do a serious SF / Fantasy movie.

Thank you to Peter Jackson, who proved you could do a serious Fantasy movie without Hollywood BS. I kind of think he pointed the way for movies like "Arrival" and the latest "Dune" to be made seriously and to the novels.

Well said. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea had potential. Sadly, it devolved into a monster of the week show. Irwin Allen had several TV shows that aired in the 60s. INHO, Land of the Giants was the worst. The only one that was half way reasonable was The Time Tunnel.