Producer Irwin Allen became a staple of 60's imagi-fiction television, and it started with his small screen adaptation of his triumphant science fiction epic VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. The TV Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea starred Richard Basehart as the inventor of the world's most sophisticated atomic submarine, the Seaview. Working in co-operation with, but not for, the US Navy, his chief security officer was David Hedison. Hedison's desire to do things by the book usually conflicted with Basehart's get-it-done, oft-speculative nature. Early on, the show was heavy with international espionage and intrigue, as spies and despots across the globe tried to get their hands on Seaview. Occasionally, the adventures were more science-fiction based, with the crew running across alien civilizations and strange phenomena. This approach was favored with viewers, so the series eventually developed into a monster-of-the-week format when Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea switched to full color. Gillmen, werewolves, voodoo, dinosaurs, ghosts, undersea giants, blobs, everything you could image was in Seaview's scope! While this approach endeared the series to viewers (particularly the kiddies) and embedded many a memory, it also served to annoy critics who favored the more adult situations of the early episodes. Said critics have been rather harsh on the resulting series and even those shows Allen followed up with (and even Allen himself, at times). All their carping, however, could never rob Allen of his standing with all those monster kids who grew up on his wares. His first series remains one of his most fondly remembered.
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