MovieChat Forums > Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964) Discussion > Is it only me who ADORES this serial, or...

Is it only me who ADORES this serial, or?

posted 12 years ago by vladorlok
10 replies | jump to latest

I am normally most into horror movies, but of the classic stuff, like Vincent Price, Bela Lugosi etc. My second choice is the classic sci-fis from especially the 50's with gigantic radioactivity infected monsters as a popular theme among others. My third choice is then adventure and fantasy. In these movies i am especially looking for solid acting, plots, atmosphere and a kitschy monster!

Within this environment VTTBOTS certainly is among the VERY BEST things I have ever seen, and believe me, I have seen THOUSANDS of movies! And if we only count series, I would even rate it as high as my favourite series ever!! I especially LOOOVE the superb written stories, but the other qualities I usually look for are certainly also represented here…

So far I have even only watched the first 47 episodes, but I am in no hurry… Since I LOVE this so extremely much, I really have to ENJOY and make it last as long as possible…

So to me Star Trek is no competition at all… But…when I ask people around me, they just say something like: HUH…you are CRAZY!

So the question is: Am I really the only one who loves this serial so dearly?

One more thing:

Since I LOVE this so much, I have by now watched around 15 episodes of Irwin Allen’s “Land of the Giants”. I DEFINITELY also like that one, although not nearly as much as VTTBOTS.

How do you people here find LOTG?

Since I am a little allergic towards disaster movies…(especially the ones I have seen with Charlton Heston, I have always hated)…I don’t really feel like watching IA’s much praised disaster movies. To me his BIG movie contribution will always be his ingenious (in my eyes at least) sci-fi series, and I don’t want to ruin that picture. So…OF COURSE I am looking A LOT forward for “Lost in Space” and “The Time Tunnel”!! But everything to the right time…

So for now my question only is: Am I REALLY the only one who loves VTTBOTS that much?

But if you want, you could mention your personal serial (and movie if you insist) favourite. It could be interesting to hear, and might provide a little inspiration for future watching…

Jan

[–] StuOz 12 years ago

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Lost In Space
The Time Tunnel
Land Of The Giants
Batman

I call these the Big Fox Five, all made at 20th Century Fox, and, with the exception of Batman, all produced by Irwin Allen!

I love them all and talk about them (on the IMDb) endlessly!
The five shows are a child-like family bunch to me.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] wrlord2001 11 years ago

First of all, it's not a serial. If you really like old scifi, you should watch some real serials.
Secondly, this show was light fare. The science was atrocious and there was very little effort at verisimilitude. Star Trek tried, and often succeeded, at a mor realistic and accurate universe. Trek also had more literary roots.
Nothing produced by Irwin Allen had much depth. He was the JJ Abrams of his day.

[–] sueeastlake 11 years ago

I also enjoy VTTBOTS. Richard Basehart tried to make it an interesting show, and he did a great job with what Irwin Allen gave him. I don't want to spoil your viewing, so enjoy the episodes and the acting of Richard and David Hedison.

[–] Blueghost 10 years ago

I love Star Trek. To me Star Trek is on par with Shakespeare in terms of dramatic themes and consequences thereof.

But there'd be no Star Trek without Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and where Voyage didn't tackle a deep theme every episode, as did Trek, it was an entertaining show that just told good stories without some social agenda.

If there was some deep social message in Voyage, it grew out of the story, verse Trek or some other show which formulated their stories around some theme.

I'm not a huge fan of Voyage, but I do like it, and definitely acknowledge that it was the precursor to Trek, and help inspire and give classic Trek with Kirk and Spock its form.

I wonder how a Special Edition with CGI SFX would do for Voyage. I'd buy a copy.

[–] StuOz 10 years ago

Thanks for your post, Blueghost.

I love classic Star Trek. In fact seven special episodes of it get re-watched about once a year (the 2 pilots, Man Trap, City on Edge, By Any Other Name, Battlefield, Whom Gods).

But as much as I love Star Trek...Voyage is the hands down winner of the two.

Granted, there was no "deep social message", but I let the 1963 Outer Limits/1966 Star Trek take care of the messages...and enjoy watching them do it.

Voyage is a sight (effects) and sound (music scores) Irwin Allen wonder with the highly talented Richard Basehart.

And Basehart aka Nelson only fell in love once in the whole 110 episodes (Time Bomb), unlike Star Trek where Kirk would fall in love with some girl every second episode...complete with cornball music playing the moment a cute lady appeared on the screen!

I am a bit bothered by your closing "CGI SPX" comment at the end? Please don't tell me you are bothered by the wonderful LB Abbott/Howard Lydecker miniature effects and would like a Star Trek-type make over job where all those Seaview/FS1 effects are replaced by CGI effects?

Classic Star Trek NEEDED a make-over...Voyage does not. Before you respond please remember my opening comment about how much I love much of classic Star Trek.

Thanks again, Blueghost.

[–] Blueghost 10 years ago

Nah, I'm not bothered by the effects at all. But I did see some guy in Brazil post his CGI of the Seaview up on Youtube, and they looked pretty slick; *EDIT*; here's a link; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hakLADv--ms

I think a more contemporary audience might get a little impatient with the fact that the water outside the Seaview looks like bath water, and I wonder if new interest in the show could be generated by some SFX tweakage; it would help revitalize interest.

But I'm not holding my breath. The show's fine to me as is.

[–] StuOz 10 years ago

Yes, I know what you mean about the bath water look, and yes it does get on my nerves a tiny bit, but not enough to be an issue.

If you change that you may as well change other little things as well. I vote for no change. Thanks.

[–] darkness_surroundz 10 years ago

season 2 gave us a new, smaller Seaview model, and for budget reasons, was filmed in a swimming pool (instead of a lake that FOX owned that had rocks and seaweed in it; at 12 years old-it always looked too fake for me

actually i think the old Seaview was used for the first couple episodes of Season 2