• F.A.Q.
• Cast List
• Characters
• Roll of Honor
• Themes

Whether you're new to Voyage or you haven't seen it since you were a kid, here's where you can find what you need to know to acquaint or reacquaint yourself with the show. I've been working on this website for a number of years, and I've gotten a lot of email over that time from fellow fans. Since many people seem to have the same questions, I decided to put together a FAQ--a set of Frequently Asked Questions. These are simply my own answers to these questions, someone else's opinions would certainly differ. But since you asked...

About the Show

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is the story of the futuristic submarine Seaview and its crew. The Seaview, brainchild of Admiral Harriman Nelson, is both a research vessel and a military one, although only its research capabilities are known to most, and it's often used by visiting scientists to work on sophisticated oceanographic research projects. The ship is also called upon occasionally for important missions for the US governemt, and can when necessary be commissioned by the Navy. Despite this, the Seaview is a civilian vessel, with a civilian crew (although many of them have served in the Navy in the past) and to some extent Nelson can do what he wants with it.

In the course of their work, they encounter everything from spies to evil scientists to giant undersea creatures to monsters to aliens to mythological beings, and are somehow surprised every time when something strange occurs.

When was Voyage originally on television?

It ran for four seasons in the early 1960s, starting in fall of 1964 and ending in spring of 1968.

I know that Voyage is supposed to take place in the future. Just when is this supposed to be?

Dates aren't usually given, but those shows that did include dates supposedly took place in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

However, you'll notice that the 1980 shown in Voyage isn't much like the 1980 we experienced 20 years ago. For one thing, the Cold War is still very much in evidence in the world of Voyage; for another, although much of the action takes place on board the ship and the regular characters are in uniform, when they do show civilian clothing, contemporary music, cars, etc., these are all definitely 1960s-era items. Since these occurrences are rare in Voyage, the show appears somewhat less dated than Irwin Allen's other shows (the general lack of female guest stars also contributes to this, since women's fashion changes so much over time) but I still figure that Voyage must take place in some alternate universe where the spirit of the sixties survived longer than it did in ours. (In my opinion. :))

Who are the main characters on Voyage?

Admiral Harriman Nelson (Richard Basehart), both brilliant scientist and fine military mind, is creator of the Seaview and head of the Nelson Institute of Marine Research (NIMR). His is the final word on any decisions affecting the ship. His usual good judgment is occasionally swayed by his scientific curiosity, as on the numerous occasions when he has let a visiting scientist continue a risky experiment beyond the point of safety, but his concern for the ship and its crew is never long forgotten.

Captain Lee B. Crane (David Hedison) is the captain of the ship; as one of the best and youngest submarine commanders in the Navy, he was "borrowed" by Nelson in the first episode after the Seaview's captain was killed before an important mission, and kept on after that mission was over. Although he and Nelson are good friends, they sometimes disagree, usually about issues pertaining to the safety of the ship (the above-mentioned risky scientific experiments), and his level head and devotion to the ship and its crew balance out any of Nelson's occasional flights of scientific fancy.

Lt. Commander Chip Morton (Bob Dowdell) is the ship's executive officer, responsible for carrying out the captain's orders and maintaining discipline aboard ship, as well as staying informed about all ship's business. He also has to deal with sometimes conflicting orders from Crane and Nelson (particularly when one or both of them may actually be aliens, werewolves, or otherwise not quite themselves). And he does it all with quiet efficiency, balancing authority with approachability.

Doc (Richard Bull) is, of course, the ship's doctor. Athough he is occasionally surprised by some of the odd ailments that come into his office, overall he is more than competent to deal with most of the strange stuff, even helping Nelson develop a vaccine for lycanthropy in one episode. Where he is less successful is in keeping injured crewmembers in sickbay where they belong!

Chief Curley Jones (Henry Kulky) was the ship's CPO during the first season, a gruff but essentially good-natured man who kept the crew in line and was one of the best divers on the ship. Since he was only on the show for one season (the actor passed away) we don't know a lot about him, but you do know that Jones was a man you could count on in a tough situation.

Chief Francis Ethelbert Sharkey (Terry Becker) was CPO during seasons 2 through 4. Younger than Jones, he maintained a somewhat less formal relationship with the crew, but they still jumped when he barked an order. His fondness and respect for the admiral resulted in implicit trust in whatever odd thing Nelson seemed to be up to, and almost always this trust was well-placed. And although he didn't always catch on to what Nelson had in mind (who could?), the admiral in turn trusted Sharkey's judgment and often requested his presence on important missions.

Seaman Kowalski (Del Monroe) probably volunteered for or was assigned to more missions, dangerous or otherwise, than any other crewman. He knew the Seaview like the back of his hand and had the skill to work in just about any area of the ship. He tended to be a bit hot-tempered, and would grumble when the officers' decisions seemed to make no sense, but in the end he was absolutely loyal and dependable.

Seaman Patterson (Paul Trinka), Kowalski's closest friend on the Seaview, was often assigned to the same duty. Less brash and more cautious than his friend, he lacked Kowalski's uncommon good luck, and Patterson was shot and otherwise injured many times. However, he did his job well, was courageous in dangerous situations, and although he generally followed orders he was able to show initiative when it was important.

Seaman Stu Riley (Alan Hunt) was only on the show for its second season, but he certainly stood out in comparison to the other members of the crew. He was young, a surfer who spoke in slang, to the confusion of some of the older crew members, and blended his competence with a great enthusiasm for all the fascinating things the crew encountered.

Seaman Clark (Paul Carr) wasn't a regular cast member but a recurring one; he has the distinction of being the only crewman who became an officer during the run of the show. He knew his stuff, but if any crewman was going to get into trouble, it would be Clark--he had an unfortunate tendency (exacerbated by Irwin Allen's fondness for reusing footage) to get his arm stuck in gears in the ventilation ducts, at which point Crane would have to come to rescue him. He appeared mainly in the first season, although reused footage put him in one third-season show as well.

Sparks (Arch Whiting) was the Seaview's radio man; we probably know less about him than about any other regularly-occurring character. All I can say is that he was more than competent, knew his station backwards and forwards, and was apparently quite bright.

I've never been able to figure out the layout of the Seaview, but I know I've seen ship blueprints on the show. Are these available?

As far as I know, the blueprints you see on the ship are not available, and chances are they were not particularly accurate, since their main function was apparently as a plot device used to familiarize the bad guys with the ship's layout. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wondered why they had the ship's plans up all over the place. In one episode there was even a set on Doc's bulletin board!

Fans have tried over the year to create their own Seaview plans (you can find a good set at http://nimr.org/techno.html), but it's a difficult task for two reasons. First is that after the first season of Voyage, Irwin Allen changed the design of the Seaview to include a hangar for the new Flying Sub--the most apparent external change is that instead of one set of windows on the nose, there were now two, but little if any thought was given to how this addition would affect the internal layout of the ship. Second is that, quite frankly, consistency was not something the Voyage creators worried much about. This wasn't uncommon in the days before VCRs and before organized fandom, when the creators of television had no idea that viewers paid any particular attention to such details. In any case, the layout of the ship was likely to be different from week to week, and a hall which took Crane to the Circuitry Room one week might end up at the Armory the next week.

My own pet theory (and you can take it for what it's worth, which isn't much) is that although some of the Seaview's layout was always the same (the control room, the missile room, etc.) other parts could be moved around, added or removed as needed (some sort of modular structure?), such as quarters for visiting scientists. No, that doesn't solve the whole problem, but it's the best explanation I've been able to come up with! :)

What was life like on the Seaview for the crew?

I'd say it depended on your rank; Nelson and Crane, being Admiral and Captain respectively, each had a roomy cabin with comfortable curtained bunk, desk, private bath, and plenty of floor space. I don't think they ever showed where the other officers stayed but they did mention Morton's quarters in "The Saboteur,", so he may have had his own as well. The crewmen stayed in a bunkroom and had lockers for their possessions, and tables for reading and so forth, not nearly so spacious as the officers' quarters but far more so than what exists on actual submarines. The crew's mess appeared to be large, and the crew apparently used it for between-shifts recreation as well (playing cards, reading, the occasional fight when Kowalski said something another crewmember didn't like, etc.).

In addition, the nose of the Seaview was available for officers to do some of their work, as well as providing a place for Nelson to entertain guests of the ship, or to simply relax and enjoy the view. The Seaview as a whole was enormous compared to any actual submarine--wide corridors where two men could walk side by side without rubbing shoulders, lots of unused floor and wall space, and apparently several available guest rooms (although those could have been assembled as needed, assuming a modular design). In any case, it looks to me as if they were fairly comfortable, especially in comparison to conditions on a real submarine, but I imagine it would feel crowded pretty quickly when they were submerged for days or weeks at a time.

What's the best episode of Voyage? What's the worst episode of Voyage?

That depends entirely on who you're asking! I can tell you what the most popular episode is ("Submarine Sunk Here") according to the Voyage survey here, and I can tell you what my personal favorite episode is ("The Mist of Silence"), but I really can't give you an episode that's unequivovally the best or worst of the run.

Other than that, the episodes you'll prefer will depend a lot on why you like Voyage in the first place. The show changed a great deal over time. The first season featured espionage and Cold War themes, with a minimum of monsters (all presented with at least a pseudo-scientific explanation); many familiar names (Robert Duvall, Carroll O'Connor, Leslie Nielson) were among the guest cast, and the stories were overall very good. By the fourth season, monsters were the norm, guest stars were practically nonxistent, and some of the plots were pretty hard to follow. Characterization is better in earlier episodes, although it's never particularly good. Many people prefer the earlier episodes, and my feeling is that viewed objectively, they are probably the "better" shows. However, many other people first saw Voyage as kids--what they remember most fondly is the monsters, and what they like best is the later shows. Me, I like both (and I didn't discover Voyage until I was an adult).

What about the music on Voyage? I heard that John Williams wrote the theme.

Nope. You may be thinking of Lost in Space, for which he wrote both themes. He also wrote the themes for Irwin Allen's Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants, but not for Voyage.

The Voyage theme was written by Paul Sawtell. A new theme was written for the second season, by Jerry Goldsmith, but was only used in one episode. You can hear it at the beginning of "Jonah and the Whale." It's a nice piece, slower and darker than the Sawtell theme, but it clearly didn't fit Irwin Allen's concept of the show because it was dropped after that one episode. I'm also quite fond of the usual theme, of course.

Do you know if they're planning to make a Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea movie?

Well, technically they already have--Voyage was a movie before it was a television show!

This topic comes up for discussion among Voyage fans fairly often (a couple of times a year, at least), generally focusing on which modern actor should play which role, and usually ending up with fans divided into two camps--one made up of those who'd love to see the Seaview sail again, the other of those who believe no modern adaptation could do justive to the original. Personally, I'd probably see the movie if it were made, but am by no means confident that I'd like it.

To answer the question, no, I haven't heard any definitive statement on whether a new Voyage movie is in the works. I'd actually be surprised if it were, since most similar movies made in recent years have adapted shows which have a solid fan base and which have had a successful and steady syndication career (thereby attracting new fans). A new flurry of Voyage-movie rumors followed the release of the Lost in Space movie. Like it or not, however, Voyage (although certainly the superior show :)) does not have the fan following that LIS has. On the other hand, it does have a submarine in it (and submarine movies usually do quite well at the box office), so there's always hope!

Whatever happened to Richard Basehart/David Hedison, Bob Dowdell/etc.?

Here's where I send you to some of the other Voyage sites for information; although I'm (obviously) a big Voyage fan, I really haven't followed the careers of its actors. However, many other fans have--a good place to start is the Irwin Allen News Network's Voyage page at http://www.iann.net/voyage/. You can find pages here devoted to most of the Voyage regulars.

Where can I find information on models of the Seaview and Flying Sub?

Here again I'm going to send you offsite. A great place to find out about models is the Subcommittee's page at http://www.SubCommittee.com. Their emphasis is model subs in general but they also have good information on Voyage models in particular.

Where can I get photos of the cast/scripts/tapes/etc.?

And again you're going to have to look elsewhere! First of all, I'm not in business--I'm just a fan. I don't sell anything. I don't even collect Voyage memorabilia, and therefore I have nothing to sell! This site is purely a labor of love.

There are a number of companies that do sell Voyage merchandise, some of which I link to on my Merchandise page. You might also want to check at eBay, where you can often find a variety of Voyage collectibles.

As for the tapes, that's a tough one. Columbia House produced them for a time, but they stopped after 5 tapes (10 episodes at 2 per tape) and apparently have no plans to produce more. You can occasionally find them for sale on eBay but I don't believe that Columbia House is offering them for sale anymore.

How do I get in touch with Irwin Allen/20th Century Fox/etc.

Well, Irwin Allen passed away a number of years ago :(. I don't know how to contact his estate, having no connection with it. I'm also not connected in any way with 20th Century Fox, or anyone who can help you with licensing issues and so forth. I wish I could be more help here, but I just don't have this information.

Where and when can I watch Voyage right now?

I used to try to maintain a page with as many Voyage air times as I could find, but it turned out to be almost impossible to keep current so I've stopped doing this. I do know that as of today (January 10, 2001) Voyage is airing in the United States on the Sci-Fi Channel, Monday through Friday at 8 am EST. I believe it is showing in Canada in the early morning on the Space Channel.

About This Site

Excellent question! The short answer is "Soon, I hope!" The long answer is that it takes a fair amount of time to do one, and with two small children, that time is hard to find sometimes. If you want to be notified when I've updated the site, please email me at hjbe@mail.portup.com and I'll let you know when it happens.

Why don't you have any pictures/sound files/theme songs/video clips on your site?

Two reasons: first is lack of space--these are all items that can take up a tremendous amount of disk space, and since my site is likely to have a great many text files eventually, I prefer to save my space for that. Second is that there are a number of other excellent sites that do make these available, and I'd rather specialize in the sort of information I already have here.

How do you play the drinking game?

There is a long tradition of television-show-related drinking games. The first one I ever heard of was "Hi, Bob!"--played while watching the old Bob Newhart Show, players took a drink every time someone on the show said "Hi, Bob!" (If you've ever seen the show, you'll realize that most folks would be pretty well schnockered before it was half over!). If there's a television show, current or classic, you can bet that someone has devised a drinking game for it.

The way the Voyage drinking game, or most any other drinking game, is played is simple: you're provided with a list of things that can happen in the show (Chip wears a hat, Crane is knocked out, etc.). If any of these things happen during the show, you take a drink. You can determine for yourself what constitutes a drink--a sip of wine, a swallow of beer, a shot of bourbon....

No, it doesn't have to be an alcoholic drink, although that is traditional--a drink of chocolate milk or Pepsi would work as well. You could even set out a big bowl of peanut M&Ms and eat one every time something on the list happens. Most drinking games are written by young folks with a high tolerance for hangovers; since we wrote the Voyage game well after my college/drinking years were over, I have never played it myself, and I'd be happy if no one ever drank themselves sick using it. It was, however, a lot of fun to write!