VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA-SUBMARINE SUNK HERE

 

SUBMARINE SUNK HERE

WRITER-WILLIAM TUNBERG

DIR-LEONARD HORN

MUSIC-PAUL SAWTELL

 

TEASER

Seaview is underwater and we hear the wonderful Seaview-VOYAGE theme variation. Lt. Commander Morton calls from a Navy Yard. Nelson and Crane take it in the nose from the radio man there. He and Curley are overseeing repairs to the diving bell. Seaview is finishing up mapping the ocean bottom and will head to New London with shore leave (which Nelson calls liberty leave) set for the night. In the control room, crewman Evans whispers to sonar operator Blake about asking Bishop for emergency leave. Evans' wife is having a baby but something's gone wrong. He keeps asking the cold Bishop (this time played by Paul Comi!) for an answer and if he doesn't get one, he threatens to go to the Admiral. Bishop doesn't take kindly to that and a fight breaks out. Blake gets up from sonar to help stop the fight. Evans hits Bishop and Bishop falls and hits his head, badly hurt. Mr. O'Brien puts Evans under arrest. Blake tries to tell O'Brien it wasn't Evans' fault...and misses readings on the sonar scope. Nose: Nelson and Crane see an entire derelict mine field. Seaview heads right at it. Crane calls O'Brien but gets a belated answer about the fight; Crane orders slow back. Doctor Baines takes Bishop away with help. Crane runs up to the Control Room and tells Blake to keep his eye on the sonar screen. Nelson sees one mine chain caught in the Seaview's front search light housing and the mine rises up and slumps against the window. Nelson grabs the mike, "All stop! All stop!"  He runs for the control room.

 

ACT ONE

This episode shows that the Control Room and the Observation Window Nose area should be all one--although this episode probably wouldn't have taken place if both were on one level in this season. A freeze frame of the mine field and the mine line caught on the nose. Nelson runs to the Control Room and tells what happened to the nose. When he asks what occurred, Crane tells him about Evans and Blake. Nelson calls his getting up a dereliction of duty, even if it was just for a few seconds. Lee and Nelson go to the nose as they launch the mini sub. The two men in the mini sub laser the mine chain off the nose but the mine itself rises up and hits another mine. Both explode, throwing the mini sub into another mine. The mini sub blows to bits. Two more mines hit each other. Seaview goes down past more mines and extensive bubbles. More mines go off. Men must close doors on other men, trapping them in flooded compartments. Evans, confined to a room alone, bangs on the locked door as the room floods, "Hey! Hey!"   A crewman in a sailor hat lets him out and both fall from water spraying at them. They just barely get out and seal the compartment. NOTE: This sequence among many others from this episode is used in NO ESCAPE FROM DEATH. Nelson goes to a main hall and watches and then helps men help other men up from a floor hatch. Another man comes up, Collins, hurt. Patrick O'Mare is down below in the flooding room. Another man, Harker, tries to reach him and does. But he can't hold onto his arm as the water fills the entire room, even with Seaview tilted somewhat. O'Mare falls into it. Harker goes up for help but Nelson orders Harker to dog the hatch. "He's still alive down there."  Nelson orders Harker to dog it anyway. Harker obeys and O'Mare falls down into the water. Dr. Baines arrives and wants to take a man to Sickbay. Nelson says, "Hold it, Doc, put him on the deck till we hit--we're going to hit with quite a jolt."  Seaview goes down. Nelson warns, "Brace yourselves everybody--we're gonna hit bottom!"  They do and shake. Nelson then says, "Alright, Doc, you can open up your sickbay--that is if we still have one."  Nelson wants Harker to go aft to reach the auxiliary ballast tanks. Harker keeps repeating to himself that he couldn't hold his buddy O'Mare--over and over and out loud. Patterson tells that the transmitter is not working but he has the intercom on line. Nelson calls Ski in Crew's Quarters--tight; Dr. Baines has two casualties--critical, engine room is flooded and the passages to it are flooded, the emergency lights are on. Harker says there's nobody down in the engine room. Nelson continues to call--nothing. Harker says, "They're all dead. Just floating out there. Even my buddy's out there..Pat O'Mara. I did it. I closed the hatch."  Nelson tells Crane to tell O'Brien to release the emergency marker buoy from the Control Room. Harker gives out emergency plugs which Ski tells him are no good at this depth. Ski has to break up a fight between Harker and Blake. O'Brien is breathing heavily; Crane wonders if the air purifier quit when the lights did. A crewman asks Crane to tell it to them straight. One asks supposing the coast guard doesn't find them. Nelson asks, "Suppose you're crossing a street in LA a month from now and car hits you?"  Crane returns--the air is out--the purifier is damaged beyond repair. Nelson calls all men---they are short of air but Mr. Morton and Chief Jones are in New London. Once they fix the bell, the two can reach Seaview with air. Nelson tells them to just sit tight and "we'll all make it."  Residual air and what oxygen tanks they will bleed off in ten hours. They all watch the Control Room marker buoy phone, hoping it will ring soon.

 

ACT TWO

Star Dispatch, a newspaper, reports SEAVIEW SUNK! ADMIRAL NELSON ABOARD. ALL HANDS MAY BE LOST. COMMUTER FARES INCREASE TO BE DENIED, NEW PROHIBITION, LATE NEWS FLASH, GOVERNOR RETURNS, NEW PROBLEM FACED BY HEALTH BOARD. New London gets a message to Chip--they have found the Seaview. Curley still has a short in the Bell guidance control system. It will take two days to fix. He and another man work while Chip goes to the craft reaching Seaview. Another ship picks up the buoy marker which reads SUBMARINE SEAVIEW SUNK HERE--TELEPHONE INSIDE. Chip calls. Nelson is glad to hear his voice. The Seaview angle of list is more than 30 degrees which means the bell cannot be coupled to the hull. Chip breaks the news that the bell is still in New London. If they cannot find the short soon, Chip will take the bell down by controlled descent. Nelson tells the others to conserve air; Sickbay calls the Admiral down. When Nelson leaves, a crewman says, "Conserve air. Stop breathing."  All the men stare at Blake who runs out of the Control Room. Sickbay: Baines tells Nelson that Bishop has a skull fracture and concussion; the other man has a fractured leg and will be okay but Bishop is in trouble. Doc needs bottled oxygen--using a fraction of everyone's air. Nelson tells him he is asking him to risk the lives of every man aboard to save Bishop's. Doc says, "Either he gets oxygen or we let him die."  Nelson tells Doc, "Give him his share and give him mine,"  but he has to take a vote of the other men individually. Nelson starts with Dr. Baines who says, "Yes, of course."  Crew Quarters: Blake stares into nothingness. Evans talks to him. Blake says,  "It's my fault all those guys are dead."  Harker cuts in, "That's the way I see it."  Ski gets in between them again, "If you ask me--it was Bishop's fault."  Harker and Evans now have a verbal fight which escalates until Ski and then an entering Nelson put a quick end to it. Nelson tells them to vote for a fraction of their air to be given to Bishop. Blake, Ski, and Pat say yes. Another, bigger crewman says, "Yeah."  Harker tells him it may be selfish but he wants to look Bishop in the face if they get out of this--so he votes yes, too. Evans votes yes also which makes it unanimous for this room. Nelson says, "Thanks,"  and leaves. Crane takes a chart of the other men in the Control Room. Collins and O'Brien say yes. Bishop gets his oxygen from all the men. Chip goes back to Curley--but they have no luck yet in finding what is wrong with the bell guidance. Chip tells him this is the only bell on this coast that can go that deep. Control Room gets an alarm; Patterson tells them there is a fire i the auxiliary firing system in the Missile Storage Room. The fire is deep in the wiring. Nelson tells him to rip out the wiring. He goes to the corridor aft to check and sees smoke coming from somewhere. He checks one room for fire--it is clear, he checks another. Inside is smoke. Nelson grabs a fire extinguisher and sees sparks on controls. He puts it out. Seaview suddenly shakes and water comes into the room, hitting boxes which fall on top of Nelson and trap him. Water and boxes hit him.

 

ACT THREE                          

Nelson picks his head up but can't get free. O'Brien calls a relief fire detail aft. He falls. Crane asks for reserve oxygen for him. Ski yells for room to get through. Crane tells him, "Just enough to bring him around."  O'Brien revives and stands up. Crane tells Ski to spread the oxygen around the rest of the room--the air is foul. Crane orders Blake to get one oxygen tank to every unflooded room in the ship. Collins wakes Evans up in the Crew Room and whispers to him that they can get out. When Evans brings up that no one can survive at this depth, Collins wonders how they know--no one has ever tried it at this depth. Collins brings up Evans' desire to see his wife and kid. He agrees to follow Collins but still continues to try to talk him out of it. Harker blocks Blake, seeing him with oxygen tanks and Harker makes serious cracks about it--about Blake looking after number one with the tanks--saving it for himself. They have a major physical fight in the hallway. Seaview moves again and the fight stops. It is settling in the mud on the bottom but Blake thinks she is breaking up. Chip makes a decision in New London, "All right Curley, let's go!"  Chip orders Curley to get going even though the bell isn't totally fixed yet. Seaview's angle is 23 degrees now. Crane says, "One more wallop like that and the bell won't do us any good."  He goes to tell the Admiral. Crane sees Harker who tells him he saw the Admiral. Crane passes the fire room and the fire detail almost has the fire out. Crane orders it sealed off when the fire is totally out. He then goes to room that Nelson looked in and then the room that Nelson is trapped in. Crane runs in and pulls the boxes off Nelson, drags him to the door, calling Harker to help him. They carry Nelson out. He seems unconscious but starts to rally when they get him towels. Evans tells Collins he cannot go out the escape hatch and tries to pull him away from it. Evans tries to stop Collins but Collins goes out in scuba gear. Nelson is fully awake and the trio hear Collins calling Evans on the intercom. They come to the room and see Evans being talked to by Collins--who seems all right. Nelson says, "He hasn't a chance!"  Collins calls, then starts choking, "Help me, help me, helppp,"  in one of the most unforgettable moments in VOYAGE, Collins gags to his death while Evans puts his head down against the tube. Harker says, "Chalk up another one for Blake. First O'Mara and the rest of em'---now Collins. If it weren't for Blake."  Nelson interrupts him and tells him, "That man didn't plant the minefield. He made a mistake of judgement."   Harker yells that that mistake cost them. Nelson says, "It cost him, too, he has to live with it. I believe we oughta give him a break. Think about it."

 

ACT FOUR

The ship above has the bell ready to go down with loaded oxygen tanks, Chip, and Curley. Curley tells Chip it is all secure and Chip says, "Let's go."  The captain of the ship says, "Good luck, commander,"  to Chip. The bell is lowered into the water. Nelson tells the crew, "Mr. Morton has started his descent. We have to be as quiet as we can, don't move around the ship, stay calm."  The angle worries Crane and Nelson--at 23 degrees it is difficult but not impossible to land the bell on the hull. Chip and Curley in the bell watch downward. Harker goes to Blake in the Crew Quarter; Blakes looks away from him. Harker pours coffee for him and tries to talk to him, sincerely. Harker says, "C'mon, have a cup of coffee, I'll get it."   Without a word, Blake walks out. The bell passes the mines now but it and the mines shift with the current. Chip says, "We just have to inch our way through and pray we don't touch one of em."  There are nice bubble effects in front of the window as Chip or Curley look out. The bell moves against one of the chains holding the mines. Two mines blow up due to this. Seaview shakes on the bottom from this. Steam pours out. Curley tells Chip the bell is not responding to hard left. Another mine goes off. Ski says, "That was the bell..it hit a mine."  Nelson calls Chip and then the salvage barge but the phone's dead. The angle is now 31 and the bell cannot couple with the hull. Crane tells Ski they have to believe the bell is still there. Chip does calls but can't get through--the bell can't reach them he says, the angle is too steep. They don't hear him. Nelson says it is only five degrees off--if the hydraulic system were working...but it's busted--they have no ballast and no power. Crane suggests flooding a compartment. Nelson points out compartment 47 on the tech drawing--flooding it will bring Seaview to the right list. Ski asks, "What for? There's nobody out there--no body alive."  Crane says, "Kowalski, we have to believe they're there."  The open sea cutter will flood the room but it will have to opened by hand and the water will stay in the compartment. Crane says, "Yeah, so would the man who opened the valve."  Nelson says, "We can't ask any man to do that."  Blake overhears all of this from afar and runs out. Harker sees him in the hallway and calls to him, sincerely trying to get to talk to him. Harker fails and goes to the Control Room and tells the Admiral he tried to talk to Blake but it didn't do any good--he's too far gone (gosh, and who put him in that state, Harker you dope!). They ask where Blake is now. Harker tells them on the way to frame 47. In the room, Blake shuts the door and opens the valve. Nelson and Crane call in. Nelson yells, "Blake! We'll find some other way to rise the ship!"  Water shoots out at Blake, downing him with tremendous pressure and he falls over boxes. More water pours in. Seaview turns the right angle--just perfect. The bell lands on the hull. The hatch opens, a bit of water seeps in, and light fills the area under it. Chip asks, "Permission to come aboard, sir."  Nelson grants it and all rejoice as air tanks come down with Chip and Curley, carried, of course. Dock 11 MO--Nelson is in full dress waiting (whatsamatter--can't Nelson visit any of his people ?); Crane comes out of the hospital (the end music here is fantastically moving) and tells him they have more people in the hospital than on shore leave but all are fine. Even Bishop is off the critical list and he doesn't want to bring any charges against Evans. Nelson says, "Good, neither do I."  Nelson has news of his own-he just spoke to Carver at the Bureau of Ships (or is it Carver Bureau of Ships?)--Seaview will be raised and back in commission in short order. Lee tells him, "I'll pass the word up to young Harrimin Evans."  Getting into the car, Nelson asks, "Who?"   Hanging through the window, Lee smiles, "Oh, didn't I tell you--Mrs. Evans had her baby--a boy--she named him after you."   Nelson smiles as Lee gets into the car and they drive away.

 

REVIEW: This episode is very scary not due to any monsters, for there weren't any; it was due to the fact that the lives lost were lost due to human error. And the "guest"  crewmen (crewmen who only appear once or twice) in this episode, Evans, Baines, Harker, Collins are all very human and fallible. Lt. Bishop is also added to that list. The mine field sequence from the movie and the mini sub being destroyed is used to wonderful extent here, bettering the movie version with a tight story of survival after a mishap and crash. It was a very human drama and sacrifices had to be made. The men in this were all intense characters. Curley and Chip trying to get through the minefield in a damaged diving bell was quite good too as it gave this often overlooked pair something to do. The scenes above seemed to be from a 1950s movie as they wait for the bell to be repaired. This is excusable since their descent in the bell to save the men is quite exciting. I also like the fact that Nelson and Crane discuss the newborn baby of one of the men and that it is named after them. But all things considered shouldn't she have named the baby Blake instead--I mean it was Blake who defended Evans to begin with and Blake who saved them all. Also--why couldn't the room be flooded some other way--maybe with hoses or something? Blake was a good character even though he made a mistake--certainly if one had to pick between Blake and Harker...While the mistake factor is fine...some of the crew seem  a bit unlikable...Collins, Harker, Bishop, and even O'Brien are not too well liked in this episode. Of all of them, Blake was the nicest. Evans, while an okay character, also seemed a bit daft--why didn't he keep a watch on Blake, knowing how Blake felt about what he did ?  Why did he fall in with Collins? This makes the crew look a bit too stupid, especially with the Collins bit. Despite all that, Collins' death scene is not one that is easy to forget. And this time (perhaps the only time) a Seaview Doctor has a name---Doctor Baines (who looks like the Doc in THE PRICE OF DOOM but isn't). The Doc in THE PRICE OF DOOM may have been a corpsman but he isn't credited, wears a tie, and if you look closely has at least one or two stars on his collar.        

 

               

                        

 

 During the fire, when men are wearing oxygen masks, what looks like an Asian man sitting down smoking can be seen on the far left when the frame is widened!