VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA-TIME BOMB
TIME
BOMB
Writer-William
Reed Woodfield, Allan Balter
Dir-Sobey
Martin
Music-Leith
Stevens
Teaser
A
German man and a Russian woman called Litchka watch Chinese Li Tung demonstrate
a new method of blowing something up. Distilled water combined with unstable
cesium and injected into a body will make that body become a living bomb. He
shows how this is done on a model of a body. In the circulatory system, it
remains harmless until triggered by proximity to a nuclear reactor--it will
then explode with 50 times more power than an atomic bomb. The model,
introduced to a small nuclear cube, explodes. Their plan: cause an American to
trigger a war between Russia and the United States from which they will emerge
the rulers of the world.
Act
One
Seaview
is on an official visit to San Cristobal but this is canceled. Nelson and a
crewman enter Flying Sub. Nelson goes through the Flying Sub checklist with
Crane above on Seaview in extreme detail. This includes exterior hatch opening,
jet intakes, rocket assist, watertight hatches, and fuel of 500 pounds. This
checklist comes directly from William Reed Woodfield's (the writer for TIME
BOMB and the unaired THE SURFERS) script for THE SURFERS which was supposedly
unfilmed in its entirety. In THE SURFERS Crane and Nelson are both in the
Flying Sub and go through this checklist there before leaving in it. The
unnamed crewman that is in the seat with Nelson in TIME BOMB is not shown much
once he sits down and certainly not much once the checklist starts. This makes
me wonder if the scene was originally shot for THE SURFERS and re-doctored up
for TIME BOMB. Katie at NIMR (we are never really told if this is the same
agent portrayed by the same actress, Susan Flannery, in the first season
episode THE TRAITOR), calls on the vidphone. Crane tells her it is no fun to
scramble alone. A coded message is from Vice Admiral Johnson--there is a
Russian subsurface nuclear device. Nelson tells him this has been tried before.
Johnson tells him this one is self activating, multidirectional, and is 200
megatons which can make the owners own the world. It makes all other weapons
obsolete including the one Nelson is working on now (later episodes such as THE
MACHINES STRIKE BACK, KILLERS OF THE DEEP, DEADLY CREATURE BELOW, and THE
DEADLIEST GAME) feature some of this which is left over from DOOMSDAY's nuclear
alerts of the first season. In a Russian station in Gorov on the Black Sea, the
Russians are perfecting this weapon. Johnson brings Nelson to Triamon Gallery
in Washington DC where he meets Litchka, supposedly a US agent. Nelson comments
he doesn't understand the paintings they are seeing but a map is put into one
smaller painting giving the lines and latitude of the nuclear station. The
hydro jet races will be Nelson's cover. The base is partly in the water to use
sea water to cool the reactors. Nelson sees one painting, as a cover for their
conversation as Mother Earth embracing the sea. Johnson returns to get Litchka
back to the Ambassador. Nelson is given a Soviet ID, passport, ration book,
leave papers--he will pose as a Russian sailor on leave, a uniform as such
which will be sent ahead to Seaview, Soviet brand cigarettes (each containing a
tiny cylinder with two minutes of oxygen which fits into a rebreather and a
mouth grip and can be assembled in 40 seconds), a Soviet time piece which has
been rebuilt with a super thin unit and micro energizer to fire lethal darts).
Why lethal? As Nelson leaves the building, a boy, seen from behind (and wearing
a helmet that will later be used on TIME TUNNEL's THE KIDNAPPERS) play-shoots
Nelson. A blond mother takes the toy gun away---and the boy takes off the
helmet--he is not a boy at all but a midget--and a full adult! Both mother and
boy are agents! He injected Nelson!
Act
Two
Seaview
is in the Black Sea with two Soviet Odessa class destroyers above. The screen
in the Control Room has a map of the world. Chip is told to have Seaview hug
the bottom at 90 feet down. This may not be deep enough to avoid the
Destroyers--which may hit the Seaview antenna array. Seaview also rigs for silent
running but we still hear the familiar pop sound it makes outside it. The
Flying Sub takes off from the water and this time, we see sparks flying out the
rear. It flies in dark clouds at night. Crane flies; Nelson drops out the
bottom floor hatch with a parachute. Soon, he is in Russia in a sailor's
outfit. Police come, check his ID and ask him about his train. He has only a 72
hour pass and the claim he will waste most of it walking to Gorov. They take
him: at first worrying Nelson but they are giving him a lift. The soldier, as
he puts Nelson into the car, sounds as if his explanation was dubbed in after
the scene was filmed--giving us the explanation far too early to cause us much
concern. Johnson and his men have the midget man and a tape of what he is
doing. A doctor is there also, getting a confession (?) perhaps. Johnson calls
to get word to Litchka to stop Nelson from going to the reactor in Gorov. She
gets the message, using a small painting with holes in it to read it. She
smokes (gag!) and burns the message. In the streets, a soldier knocks Nelson's
hat off (are these the same two who gave him the lift? It doesn't appear that
they are) and despite what may look like more trouble brewing, the two soldiers
that are near him--the one who knocked off the hat, are being playful--they are
drunk and sometime later they carry Nelson, who acts drunk also, to the door he
says is his destination. The soldiers guess that this is his girl's door and
not his own. Nelson gets them to leave and goes into Litchka's apartment. She
calls him Alexi (JONAH AND THE WHALE?) for the benefit of the soldiers
overhearing) and lets him in. He admires her hanging paintings. She tells him
she loves freedom and beauty--but really is a fanatic about both. She and
Nelson kiss. Later, we see her descend her stairs from her bedroom--with Nelson
sleeping on the couch (hey, this isn't Capt. Kirk!). She checks him with a
geiger counter which shows he has the cesium in him, it clicks, and she seems
very pleased indeed.
Act
Three
Johnson
tells Crane aboard a surfaced Seaview that Litchka claimed Nelson never
arrived. Crane suspects she is a double agent. Johnson sets up Crane as a
reporter for Picture World Magazine covering the hydro jet races. Crane admits
he is a fair photographer. Johnson sends Katie to pose as his caption writer,
Crane pleased it is her. She also calls Sharkey by his first name--Francis--to
take her things in. He tells her everyone calls him Sharkey, so she does. Katie
shows Crane his gadgets: a flash film camera with smokebombs, handle, breathing
masks and units contained within the equipment, a lens brush which is the
antidote to neutralize the cesium. Lee's orders are to stop Nelson whatever the
cost: Lee's lens mount is a high powered rifle to kill the Admiral if Nelson is
too far away to neutralize the cesium. Nelson is sent to Velsinka Karma (?), a
man he is to take the place of in the races; then Nelson is to roll over his
boat and swim to the station. At 20 feet is an intake pipe which water is used
to cool the reactor. This will allow him to swim to the entrance. Crane and
Katie arrive, Crane telling Katie there is no such thing as secret police in
this country (Russia). The driver knew exactly where to take them when they
requested to go to Litchka's. Katie plants a bug in Litchka's apartment after
they meet her. They use a radio in a camera to hear her call someone. Katie
takes out a gun. The pair force Litchka to attend the races with them. Crane
spots Nelson in the jet and takes out the rifle. Litchka urges him to kill
Nelson--if he gets near the reactor, they will all die when it blows up.
Act
Four
Crane
cannot do it. Nelson tips over his jet. Crane's limo driver is supposedly taken
ill and a new driver is at the car. Crane needs equipment from the trunk--he
lies, getting the driver under the trunk hood, hitting him down with hit as the
agent starts to take out a gun. Katie tells Crane that Litchka is learning to
co-exist---via Katie's gun. Litchka tells them how to get to the station. Katie
fakes a stalled car while Crane and Litchka hide in the back seat, Litchka at
gun point. Katie sprays one guard unconscious over her engine hood. Crane
quietly instructs her to get the other guard over to the car. She does and
Crane sneaks out and hits him down. Katie hides the car and they will go to the
dock. She will call Morton to bring the Flying Sub to the water as close as he
can. Nelson in the pipe emerges but has to fight and apparently kill a man
soldering the top of the joints. Crane gets a guard's uniform and chokes
another guard at the entrance down (lots of death in this one? Unless they are
just all unconscious-??!). Nelson comes up and is about to shoot a guard from
behind but the broken crystal on the device make it inoperative and good thing:
the guard he was about to kill was Lee! Nelson jumps him and they fight--Lee
ending up on his back. When Nelson sees the helmet off Lee, he stops. Lee
explains the whole thing. Nelson still wants to see inside the reactor and gets
in. A guard finds the stripped other guard unconscious (we hope and not dead!).
Nelson emerges and they run as alarms go off and guards give chase. They run to
the car where Nelson asks Katie playfully, "Who's minding the
Institute?" She smiles and drives
to the dock. They throw smoke bombs as other cars arrive. Nelson gives Litchka
one last look as she pleads to be taken with them. Lee tells him they only have
three masks. The trio dive into the water and swim as Litchka is taken
prisoner. The other men fire machine guns into the water.
Tag
The
three swim to the Flying Sub and go in. After telling Johnson to listen to him
for a minute, Nelson tells Johnson to contact Russia and explain about their
being at the Russian 's Nuclear Powered Space Probe lab, just being about their
protecting it from being destroyed by a plot to start a war between Russia and
the US.
NOTES:
Jill Wells, a marvelous fan fiction writer, has written a sequel to this
episode where Litckha resurfaces some time later---with a baby girl in
tow--Nelson's daughter! Well thought out fan fiction! TIME BOMB is typical of
the early second season and most of the second season...well thought out
complex, if somewhat flawed and rushed tales...but very enjoyable. It might
have meant more if Nelson and Litchka really fell in love; however the story is
very good and entertains through out with some surprise twists and coy spy
jokes. I'd swear the Seaview dock appeared as the Soviet street Crane and Katie
had their driver stop on as they race to the races. The sets for the whole episode
are very, very good...the art gallery, Johnson's office, the races, the jets
themselves...all very unlimited compared to the later episodes of season
three...which almost always take place only on Seaview and the Flying Sub and
other already existing sets. While the sets here may be from other productions,
they at least vary in many ways. Leith Stevens gives us an adequate score
although he has done better in this series and other series. The episode also
used many scores from other episodes such as JONAH AND THE WHALE. The name
Johnson is used quite a bit on VOYAGE. A good episode but awfully violent.
My
feelings on this episode have changed. It has not dated well: Nelson calls
Johnson in the end to explain to Russian Embassy that they had a little fracas
as a nuclear reactor (no weapons) of a space installation: but Nelson seems to
have left someone dead at the bottom of the sea and aimed to kill a guard with
a dart; Crane knocked a guard out or killed him (the guard checking him does
not seem able to revive the fallen and stripped man); and later Crane chokes a
man to either death or unconsciousness. Nelson thinks the Russians will
understand!? They also left the female spy out on her own alone where she could
have escaped!
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