It's notable that fewer and fewer women appeared on "Voyage" as the series went on.Quite different to the contemporary "Star Trek"!Apparently,Basehart and Hedison begged Irwin to cast more women,but he wouldnt.Earlier episodes often had espionage plots,and quite a lot of land based sequences,with scope for female guests;later ones featuring the "Seaview" crew,the aliens/monsters etc seemed to have no need for women(clearly Allen didnt think they belonged in the crew of a sub in the near future-the 70's!Admiral Nelson does not seem to have been a pioneering equal opportunity employer).
Some of the first season episodes are objectively pretty good-"Submarine sunk here","Mutiny" "The Invaders"(great guest spot by Robert Duvall).The second season also had some good stuff-"The shape of doom" "The Phantom strikes" etc.But,thanks largely to "Batman",camp was becoming "in",and soon just about every show started to take the "wild" route.It worked with Batman-camp was the premise from the beginning-to make something so extreme adults could appreciate all the cliches being sent up,while kids too young to get this aspect could enjoy the show as a colorful adventure.But with shows that were at least semi serious,who's writers(unlike the hep crowd penning "Batman"),didn't understand camp,and equated it only with silliness,it could be a disaster.Thus in season 3 and 4 of "Voyage" we have cut price aliens,werewolves,fiendish puppets and even leprechauns,making a seafarers life a misery for Crane,Nelson and co.This was "Lost in Space" without the saving presence of Dr.Smith!
A word about the often unheralded Bob Dowdell as "Lt.Commander Chip Morton".Chip was always incredulous about some monster being behind whatever was happening-no matter how many times they'd been found to be the guilty party in previous episodes.Chip kept a straight face thru it all,and could still say "hard right rudder!",while an explosion had him lurching across the deck.And of course theres Terry Becker,as "Chief Sharkey"("Admiral Nelson","Sharkey"-how DID they think up those names?)-the Chief was rarely sure what the heck was going on-but he knew he didn't like it!
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paronge
19 years ago
I too am fond of those Sunday nights when Voyage, Lassie and disney were on and my imagination was fused with the seas and subs. It may be cheesy on retrospect but it still brings back memories. Back then TV themes were great! And yes Irwin Allen stretched the show thin in the last two or three seasons. But when it comes to high concept shows it becomes inevitable because I have seen other shows go that route. Even Seaquest fell into that trap. It would be good to see it on DVD and while David Hedison is still around there should be an attempt to update like the star trek franchise. While Sheila Matthews Allen is still alive I believe that she will never give her consent. Just Like the other Irwin Allen shows should be on DVD and updated with reuinions or new series.
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sueeastlake
11 years ago
I have heard David Hedison say that Richard Basehart and him went to Irwin Allen to try to have the stories give more back story to the characters, to make them more in depth, but Irwin Allen didn't get it. Ultimately, he sacrificed "Voyage" for "Lost in Space". At least both men tried to do what they could as far as the acting, but the scripts in the last shows just could compare to the ones in the 1st and 2nd years. David Hedison was thrilled to work with Richard Basehart, and sometimes to relieve the dislike they had for the material, they would pull pranks on each other. David was relieved when "Voyage" was cancelled.
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