If you were a monsterkid in the 1960's-1970's, you had to have seen at least one of Irwin Allen's famous contributions to sci-fi at one time or another. Before he became the Master Of Disaster films in the mid-Seventies, Irwin was known for four shows that ran from 1964 through 1970 on US televsions: VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, LOST IN SPACE, THE TIME TUNNEL and LAND OF THE GIANTS.
All of these shows dealt with unusual premises, had futuristic settings and special effects and some memorable characters. This was the same era that gave us BATMAN and STAR TREK, which, although unique in their own ways, didnt have the same brand as the Allen productions. Plagued by dwindling budgets(Allen was a notorious tightwad) and some truly bad scripts, each series came to an end until with season two of LAND, the era was over.
This thread is to celebrate these shows and discuss our memories of just what made them special to us. :)
VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA(1964-1968)
Originally based on the film of the same name(1961), this series dealt with the adventures of submarine Seaview and her crew for four years. Set in the future of 1973 to 1983, The first season was made of of stories of Cold War adventures, underwater threats from both men and nature and occasionally, a monstrous adversary or two. From season two onwards, the series kicked into high gear with more fantastical stories ranging from alien invaders, mad scientists and monsters to revived Nazis from WW II. Sometimes amazing, sometimes absurd but never boring.
Main cast: Richard Basehart(Admiral Harriman Nelson), David Hedison(Capt.Lee Crane), Bob Dowdell(Chip Morton), Del Monroe(Seaman Kowalski), Henry Kulky(Chief Curly Jones(season 1 only), Terry Becker(Chief Francis Sharkey), Paul Trinka(Crewman Patterson), Arch Whiting(Radio Operator Sparks), Richard Bull(Doctor), Allan Hunt(Crewman Riley)
http://youtu.be/2Ba5ay-vWY0 (http://youtu.be/2Ba5ay-vWY0)
LOST IN SPACE(1965-1968)
Based on the Swiss Family Robinson legend, this series focused on the trials and tribulations of an American family and their pilot, who due to sabotage by a foreign power, become castaways in space in their spaceship, the Jupiter II. Originally set to just feature the family on a strange planet, the producers felt that the series lacked something: thus was born saboteur/stowaway Dr.Zachary Smith and his long time partner in crime, the Robot.
Originally supposed to be killed off in a few episodes, Smith became such a hit that he was made a regular and eventually in seasons two and three, most of the adventures were based upon his, the Robot and young Will Robinson's exploits. The first season was mainly serious sci-fi plots, but upon season two, it became a veritable fantasy show with toy departments in space, Vikings, pirates, wizards and all sorts of alien menaces. It returned a bit to a more serious tone for season three, but still managed to be the most psychedelic of all Allen's shows. Set in the far future of 1997(!)..it was certainly the most famous of all of Allen's sci-fi shows.
Cast: Guy Williams(Prof.John Robinson), June Lockheart(Maureen Robinson), Mark Goddard(Maj.Don West), Marta Kristen(Judy Robinson), Billy Mumy(Will Robinson), Angela Cartwright(Penny Robinson), Jonathan Harris(Dr.Zachary Smith) Bob May(body of the Robot), Dick Tufeld(voice of the Robot)
http://youtu.be/Tp1bEpmmGMs (http://youtu.be/Tp1bEpmmGMs)
THE TIME TUNNEL(1966-67)
Possibly the least well-known of Allen's shows, this one dealt with Project Tick-Tock, a multi-million dollar project financed by the US government to explore time travel. After a congressional investigating into funding almost gets the project closed down, one of the main scientists take it upon himself to prove that the Time Tunnel works and transports himself back to April, 1912 and the Titanic's fateful voyage. Trying to rescue him, his partner in the project joins him in the less than perfected tunnel and it is from there they become lost in time, traveling from one time period to another, while their compatriots back in the 20th century try every week to retrieve them..Se in the near future of 1968..The only one of Allen's shows to actually win an Emmy(for special effects)
Cast: James Darren(Tony Newman), Robert Colbert(Doug Phillips), Whit Bissell(General Heywood Kirk), Lee Merriweather(Dr. Ann McGregor), John Zaremba(Dr.Raymond Swain)
http://youtu.be/xdqScP5uXok (http://youtu.be/xdqScP5uXok)
LAND OF THE GIANTS(1968-70)
The last of Allen's fantasy shows featured a rather grim premise: an intercontinental space shuttle fight from Los Angeles to London in 1983, encounters a strange space warp and then crashes; upon which the passengers and crew find themselves to be stranded on an Earth-like planet where the inhabitants are all giants and they are doll-sized. Stories usually dealt with the efforts to avoid capture by the giants, who live in a police state and have rather primitive tech for their age, and try to scavenge parts to repair the damaged Spindrift(the ship) and leave the nightmarish world behind..
Cast: Gary Conway(Steve Burton), Don Matheson(Mark Wilson), Don Marshall(Dan Erickson), Deanna Lund(Valerie Scott), Heather Young(Betty Hamilton), Kurt Kaznar(Alexander Fitzhugh), Stefan Arngrim(Barry Lockridge)
http://youtu.be/nHQ_r8ZwPOw (http://youtu.be/nHQ_r8ZwPOw)
The gadgets and gimmicks of Irwin Allen's shows:
The Seaview(VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA)
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/ab/7c/12/ab7c12b6b9b95d8d4460cfcae2240d70.jpg)
The Flying Sub(VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA)
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LbeRpW0JDiQ/hqdefault.jpg)
The Jupiter II(LOST IN SPACE)
(https://www.walldevil.com/wallpapers/a86/space-wallpaper-lost-hero-large-images.jpg)
The Space Pod(LOST IN SPACE)
(http://www.iann.net/vaults/lostinspace/images/5095_0172.jpg)
The Chariot(LOST IN SPACE)
(https://culttvman.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/chariotbw.jpg)
The B-1 Robot(LOST IN SPACE)
(http://bobgreiner.tripod.com/1d12c330.jpg)
Project Tick-Tock(THE TIME TUNNEL)
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/8a/7c/49/8a7c498887c0e2c5d5f64d25698f9481.jpg)
Land Of the Giants(The Spindrift)
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/f8/3b/92/f83b924914e117a154f9973e2f5f0691.jpg)
Voyage main cast circa Season two
(http://www.actordatabase.com/richardbasehart/gallery/basehart_gallery_50_std.jpg)
Lost In Space cast season three
(http://media.hamptonroads.com/cache/files/images/1912801.jpg)
Time Tunnel cast
(http://www.iann.net/vaults/timetunnel/images/9631_0035.jpg)
Land Of the Giants cast
(http://cdn.iofferphoto.com/img3/item/525/287/946/o_land-of-the-giants-complete-ee69.jpg)
Nice promo shot for LAND OF THE GIANTS
(http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Land_of_the_Giants_8812.jpg)
All of these shows are superb! I watched them growing up, and will watch them now as well.
I'm a huge Irwin Allen fan, then & now. I enjoy them all, with a slight partiality to Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. If the 1950's were the golden years of television, the 1960's were the Magic years!
Lost In Space: Invaders From the Fifth Dimension in a promo still with Jonathan Harris
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/b1/ac/d4/b1acd464f6d429247813cc39f4450d62--space-tv-lost-in-space.jpg)
The ladies of LAND OF THE GIANTS: Deanna Lund and Heather Young
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/40/d5/e0/40d5e0951bae803f825ae4c2677a7bae--the-giants-movie-tv.jpg)
Marta Kristen as Judy Robinson in this promo from LOST IN SPACE season two
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e7/f4/92/e7f49252487fcc4afe1b400f203093fa--space-tv-space-girl.jpg)
The full imagery of the Time Tunnel complex
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/72/3c/00/723c00e65c1e3199cbc6d6025ccc1721--the-time-tunnel-sci-fi-art.jpg)
Another great promo shot from LAND: Heather Young as Betty and Deanna Lund as Valerie
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/6b/5a/9b/6b5a9be6f493c3fc124d8f15b653a969.jpg)
Promo pic of Richard Basehart and David Hedison from VOYAGE
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/5d/9a/a3/5d9aa395b7402d6a664409ae780e1abf.jpg)
Quote from: Memphremagog on November 30, 2017, 02:41:50 AM
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/72/3c/00/723c00e65c1e3199cbc6d6025ccc1721--the-time-tunnel-sci-fi-art.jpg)
Reminds me of the Krell lab.
(http://i.cdn.turner.com/v5cache/TCM/Images/Dynamic/i405/forbiddenplanet_thefaceofthegorgon_FC_470x264_052020161135.jpg)
Comic book tie-ins to the various series:
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/b9/b5/7a/b9b57a7ea4627d7af30328b7efb2d618--comic-book-covers-comic-books.jpg)
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/04/7e/d5/047ed59f105c836791f9e7c38fcbae18--tv-land-the-giants.jpg)
(http://www.iann.net/timetunnel/publications/gallery/comics/gold_key/images/timetunnel_no_1.jpg)
(https://www.covernk.com/Covers/S/L/Lost%20in%20Space%201991%20series/LostInSpace1991Series1.jpg)
These were series we intro'd to the kids at their ages 4-6-8, and I don't think any of them lasted more than a few episodes.
LOST IN SPACE's transition into Dr. Smith & Will Robinson was incredibly tiresome, I thought, and begged for the rest of the cast to participate far more. (And certainly, someone beat Dr. Smith's whiny self for at least half of each episode. Puh-leeze!)
TIME TUNNEL seemed like a banal premise but was delivered in a fairly interesting way, although I tended to like QUANTUM LEAP a bit more.
VOYAGE, we never made it thru Season 1. "Not enough monsters, Mommy..." Yes. I felt the same.
And finally LAND OF THE GIANTS was intro'd after we'd watched ATTACK OF PUPPET PEOPLE (1956, John Agar, John Hoyt), DR. CYCLOPS (1940, Albert Dekker and a set of seriously thick glasses) and THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (1957, Grant Williams).
LAND did not fare well in comparison. Was it the dull premise that had difficulty lasting more than 90 minutes, much less several episodes? Or was it truly "worse"? I don't know. When we watch one of those films, we usually end up watching the other two within a few days, but no one asks for LAND OF GIANTS episodes.
So, I don't have high ratings for Irwin Allen BUT they seem like extravagant challenges for sets and costume design - which seems to be delivered. But I can imagine, yes, budgets were always an albatross. When those first-few-episode promises aren't delivered over time, it's tough for any series to proceed.
Quote from: ChristineBCW on December 02, 2017, 05:52:15 PM
VOYAGE, we never made it thru Season 1. "Not enough monsters, Mommy..." Yes. I felt the same.
You left too soon! "Monster of the Week" started with season 2.
I think you would have more affection for (or at least fonder memories of) the Allen shows, if you had been a kid/teen in the '60s.
Quote from: Mike Scott on December 02, 2017, 10:52:04 PM
You left too soon! "Monster of the Week" started with season 2.
I think you would have more affection for (or at least fonder memories of) the Allen shows, if you had been a kid/teen in the '60s.
Absolutely! :)
I get "Voyage" on MeTV. Getting into it.
Quote from: Mike Scott on December 02, 2017, 10:52:04 PMI think you would have more affection for (or at least fonder memories of) the Allen shows, if you had been a kid/teen in the '60s.
This is a strong possibility because childhoods are generally filled with peers to share entertainment.
My fave was Lost in Space.
The ties that bind: Allen's shows had cast members from his other shows appear as guest stars from time to time..
Bob Dowdell of VOYAGE guest starred in the LAND OF THE GIANTS, "Brainwash" episode(1969)..
Del Monroe of VOYAGE guest starred as Ott, in the TIME TUNNEL episode, "The Kidnappers"(1967)..
Paul Trinka of VOYAGE guest starred twice on LAND OF THE GIANTS, first in "Underground"(1968) and later in "Genius At Work"(1969)..
Arch Whiting of VOYAGE guest starred in LAND OF THE GIANTS in the "Terror-Go-Round"(1968) episode..
June Lockhart of LOST guest starred a year prior to it's debut, in the VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA episode, "Ghost of Moby Dick"(1964)..
Jonathan Harris of LOST, guest starred in the LAND OF THE GIANTS episode, "Pay the Piper"(1970)..
Bob May of LOST, guest starred in the TIME TUNNEL episode, "The Kidnappers"(1967)..
James Darren of TIME TUNNEL, guest starred in the VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA episode, "The Mechanical Man"(1966)..
Robert Colbert of TIME TUNNEL, guest starred in the LAND OF THE GIANTS episode, "Sabotage"(1969)..
Lee Meriwether of TIME TUNNEL, guest starred in the LAND episode, "Rescue"(1969)..
Whit Bissell of TIME, guest starred in the VOYAGE episode, "The Peacemaker"(1965) and in the LAND episode, "Secret City Of Limbo"(1970)..
John Zaremba of TIME, guest starred on VOYAGE twice, in the episodes, "Eleven Days Til Zero(1964)" and "Time Bomb"(1965) as well as LAND, in the episode, "Deadly Pawn"(1969)..
Don Matheson of LAND, guest starred in LOST in the episodes, "The Sky Is Falling"(1965) and "Revolt Of the Androids"(1967), as well as the VOYAGE episode, "Deadly Amphibians"(1967)..
Heather Young of LAND, guest starred in the TIME TUNNEL episode, "Town Of Terror"(1967)..
A gallery of monsters:
This thing appeared both on VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA and LOST IN SPACE..
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ba/ff/3d/baff3da9430b075b46fb43393f42994f--fiction-movies-science-fiction.jpg)
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ca/62/38/ca62388a25b4921d1961651a909c832f--lost-in-space-classic-movies.jpg)
As did this guy..
(http://oi36.tinypic.com/2yv2jr7.jpg)
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/a4/4f/c9/a44fc9c5bb4bb833a6e3b6261b1da361--lost-in-space-season-.jpg)
The Cyclops was unique to LOST IN SPACE, however..
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/f1/44/87/f144878883238577d47e7cec9c69c2b2.jpg)
The Cosmic Monster first appeared on LIS, and then as the Yeti on VOYAGE..
(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/irwinallen/images/4/42/Cosmic_monster.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20081004042303)
(http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/non-aliencreatures/images/a/a5/Yeti.VoyageToTheBottomOfTheSea.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130617013054)
The giant spider was a LIS semi-regular and even turned up under the sea(!) for a VOYAGE episode..
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/b4/b9/0d/b4b90d3ef01f9dcb4c06927dd9e9c2aa--lost-in-space-a-year.jpg)
This guy got around as well, appearing in VOYAGE, LOST and TIME TUNNEL all within one season:
(https://78.media.tumblr.com/dab99e668fb0fa51cc82391725c668c0/tumblr_o5lsdnetDt1u3vseto2_1280.jpg)
Loved the Cyclops on LIS!!
Quote from: Memphremagog on December 03, 2017, 06:21:28 PM
The ties that bind: Allen's shows had cast members from his other shows appear as guest stars from time to time..
Wow! I don't remember all of the cast crossover! :)
You have the monster crossovers. I wonder if there was much set/props crossover?
Quote from: Mike Scott on December 03, 2017, 11:49:00 PM
Wow! I don't remember all of the cast crossover! :)
You have the monster crossovers. I wonder if there was much set/props crossover?
Must have been plenty.
While going through our LOST IN SPACE dvds a few years back, I remember recognizing a famous 'head' on a creature in a cave in Season 1 episode's 'The Challenge'. It was the head of THE FLY (1958) being recycled. I was thrilled seeing it used again. That episode also featured Michael Ansara and a young Kurt Russell.
I always enjoyed detecting the Same Sets or Same Costumes, Same Supporting Actors, etc, and was always a bit angered if not depressed to hear documentaries and silly movie-within-movie films that claimed "the audience isn't smart enough to recognize those."
Which seems ludicrous.
These films were (are) targeting a very specific fan-base, and the filmmakers had to realize exploiting a focused group had to create FANATICS among some, then more, then most of those who would stand around lobbies, candy-stands and malt-shops, bringing up these similarities. I mean, what else do you do while waiting in line for more popcorn? We can't ALL talk about Marshall McLuhan!
The whole premise of "Let's make another monster movie like ____" is solely justified by having The Same Fanbase keep buying tickets. But I wonder if any filmmaker (outside of Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder) intentionally used at-least identifiable sets (or costumes) as an appeal to film fans beyond the 'sequel/prequel' concept? "Let's mix and match heads and bodies and see if film-fans giggle?"
Of course, most of these appealing films were done in a era when fan-communications would have been restricted to lobbies, candy-stands and malt-shops. Or FAMOUS MONSTERS letters to the editor... The next day's classrooms...
Jonathan Harris guest-starring as the Piper in the LAND OF THE GIANTS episode, "Pay the Piper"
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/75/ec/dd/75ecdd98fa6a4cfd51e756df98f81ccd--the-giants-sci-fi.jpg)
How many actors have played the roll of Jerk? (Jackass, A**hole, etc)...
Jonathan Smith did a dandy job on LOST IN SPACE.
Captain Binghamton (Joe Flynn) in McHALE'S NAVY. (He had movie roles that used Joe as a milquetoast, though. But then consider the Kurt Russell Disney films, where Flynn was a befuddled or semi-jerk college dean or president. He could easily rotate several personas.)
Paul Gleason in THE BREAKFAST CLUB and in the first DIE HARD... probably others, too.
Jeffrey Jones in FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF (of course, apparently his real-life jerkness was more keen).
Few actors can approach match Charles Lane, however, who have the largest numbers of film and TV credits while being cast as the jerk - I doubt that all 365 of those from 1930 to 1995 qualify as "jerk" characters but I know a good many do.
Jonathan Harris was able to deliver an absolute cowardice quality, however, and then used it or reveled in it later in the tale, or next episode. He seemed to have such fun in the few on-camera reminisces I've seen.
I will cast an au chapeau towards Irwin Allen for using actors as well as film techs in his production company.
And to further my enlightenment towards irwin Allen, I found SCTV's not-quite-documentary about his apparently short-lived talk show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFcxnyg7XkA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFcxnyg7XkA)
featuring guests Shelley Winters, Robert Wagner, Red Buttons and Charlton Heston. "Guests stayed at the luxurious Ann Sheraton Hotel."
Quote from: ChristineBCW on December 06, 2017, 08:55:40 PM
And to further my enlightenment towards irwin Allen, I found SCTV's not-quite-documentary about his apparently short-lived talk show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFcxnyg7XkA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFcxnyg7XkA)
featuring guests Shelley Winters, Robert Wagner, Red Buttons and Charlton Heston. "Guests stayed at the luxurious Ann Sheraton Hotel."
That's outstanding.
Quote from: ChristineBCW on December 06, 2017, 08:55:40 PM
I found SCTV's not-quite-documentary about his apparently short-lived talk show:
Hilarious! Allen's 2nd career, as the "Master of Disaster". Seems like SCTV even thought "Earthquake" was an Irwin Allen movie.
Bob Dowdell of VOYAGE fame, guest-starring as a cop in the LAND OF THE GIANTS episode, "Brainwash" from 1969.
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/5b/4f/4e/5b4f4eb466b3a724a1301bf5402381ba--the-giants-sci-fi.jpg)
James Darren of THE TIME TUNNEL as the android, Omir, in "The Mechanical Man" episode of VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA(1966)
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/os3UKrCtutE/hqdefault.jpg)
I rather like the '60s and some '70s TV shows because they were "littered" with so many of the same faces, and usually those faces were always the same character.
One of the more creepy returning aliens of LOST IN SPACE: the Saticons, corpse-like aliens from a dead planet. First seen in WRECK OF THE ROBOT, then later again in season 2 for THE GALAXY GIFT.
(https://i1.wp.com/midnitereviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Lost-in-Space-Wreck-of-the-Robot.jpg)
(https://ibdp.videovore.com/video/6732255?size=600x400)
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/67/bb/77/67bb77c7bdcb4632f76c8b13ba0ae5c3--lost-in-space-television.jpg)
Really cool hats. Are those early light sabers, or is one chap a conductor for a 2-piece orchestra, and the other's holding the magic violin bow?
Irwin's shows cast actors with prior or future ventures into sci-fi or horror:
VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA allumni:
Richard Basehart: Twilight Zone(1963), The Satan Bug(1965), City Beneath the Sea(1971), Maneater(1973), Time Travelers(1976), Mansion Of the Doomed(1976), Island Of Dr.Moreau(1977), Knight Rider(1982)
David Hedison: The Fly(1958), The Lost World(1960), Journey to the Unknown(1968), The Cat Creature(1973), Wonder Woman(1977), Project U.F.O.(1978), The Power Within(1979), Fantasy Island(multiple episodes), Knight Rider(1985), Spectres(2004)
Bob Dowdell: Land Of the Giants(1969), City Beneath the Sea(1971), Buck Rogers In the 25th Century(1979), V(1985), Max Headroom(1987), Freddy's Nightmares(1990)