Irwin Allen tv Shows

[jim48]

Okay. What is your favorite Irwin Allen show and why? Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea? Lost in Space? The Time Tunnel? Land of the Giants?

 

[drwayne]

Well, at the time they came out, I was a kid, and was fond of LIS and Voyage, didn't like Giants
or Time Tunnel.

If I were the current me back then, I would probably have gone for Time Tunnel.

I still like the first season LIS, and see potential there that got lost when TV (as it
seems to at times) got into a pack mentality that led to way too much camp.

Wayne

p.s. I would like to travel back through time and persuade the guy that though up
"reality TV" and persuade him to not push the idea.

 

[Larryman]

1) Lost In Space - for what it could have been... without Dr. Smith and campyness.
2) Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea - for the undersea adventures.
3) Time Tunnel - for the underground tunnel complex, and for Lee Meriwether.

 

[drwayne]

1) Lost In Space - for what it could have been... without Dr. Smith and campyness.
2) Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea - for the undersea adventures.
3) Time Tunnel - for the underground tunnel complex, and for Lee Meriwether.

Lost In Space was originally cast without Dr. Smith, but apparently the team felt that an
"adversary" was neccessary. I suspect that a series of stories about survival would not
have lasted as long, and would have been harder to write well, but I would have been
interested to see it.

Wayne

 

[jim48]

1) Lost In Space - for what it could have been... without Dr. Smith and campyness.
2) Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea - for the undersea adventures.
3) Time Tunnel - for the underground tunnel complex, and for Lee Meriwether.

Lost In Space was originally cast without Dr. Smith, but apparently the team felt that an
"adversary" was neccessary. I suspect that a series of stories about survival would not
have lasted as long, and would have been harder to write well, but I would have been
interested to see it.

Wayne

Good point. Smith was the network's idea. In 1975 Irwin Allen did Swiss Family Robinson without a Smith character. It lasted 13 weeks. I've been watching some of the second season color episodes of Voyage on Hulu. I can see why they won an Emmy, thanks to that flying sub/Seaview footage. Time Tunnel deserved a second year but it was up against the Wild, Wild West on CBS, which I was watching!

 

[Larryman]

Drwayne wrote:

“Lost In Space was originally cast without Dr. Smith, but apparently the team felt that an
"adversary" was neccessary. I suspect that a series of stories about survival would not
have lasted as long, and would have been harder to write well, but I would have been
interested to see it.”

jim48 wrote:

“Good point. Smith was the network's idea. In 1975 Irwin Allen did Swiss Family Robinson without a Smith character. It lasted 13 weeks. I've been watching some of the second season color episodes of Voyage on Hulu. I can see why they won an Emmy, thanks to that flying sub/Seaview footage. Time Tunnel deserved a second year but it was up against the Wild, Wild West on CBS, which I was watching!”


If planet Priplanus had been well conceived as ‘the adversary’, Dr. Smith would not have been needed. The two on-looking aliens at the end of the unused pilot “No Place To Hide” were never utilized in the series. They alone, could have been the series-long adversary, for which Dr. Smith was substituted. They could have been the ‘Klingons’, to the Robinson’s ‘Federation’.; or the ‘Goa'uld’ to the Robinson’s ‘Stargate Command’. You get the idea. But I would prefer that those two aliens were of a group of perhaps six Krell explorers from their homeworld of Altair-4, before the Id machine devistated that planet. These Krell could pose a series-long advesary to the Robinsons for posession of Priplanus.

 

[drwayne]

And of course, they never touched the idea of what was behind Aeolis-14-Umbra.

It is interesting looking at earlu episodes of Voyage. Many were very much in the spy/adventure mode,
with little focus on Seaview.

As a kid, I of course loved the Flying Sub.

Wayne

 

[jim48]

They were still doing some pretty good spy shows in the second season of Voyage as well.

 

[drwayne]

I never got to read Billy Mummy's comic book series - but I gather that he did address who
Aeolis 14 Umbra was.

Wayne

p.s. As a kid I liked the season 2+ Seaview better, though I recognize now what the movie/season
1 version conveyed the image of size better.

p.p.s. I have drafted, a number of times, a story that takes place largely in the time of ST:TNG
in which the issue with the impact of warp drive on subspace have a solution - the hyperdrive
design of the Jupiter 2. The only problem is that the design was lost in WW3, so a mission
to find the original Jupiter 2 takes place. It is a mystery that involves finding the wreck of
the Seaview, as well as papers from Harriman Nelson and ----- Bruce Wayne.

 

[jim48]

I'd like to see someone do a script--ideally a mini-series--or a novel that ties everything together: The wreck of the Seaview with some startling papers in Nelson's safe, the return of the Jupiter II and the Spindrift to Earth and Tony and Doug making it back to the Time Tunnel, with Ginger and Mary Ann!

 

[crazyeddie]

p.p.s. I have drafted, a number of times, a story that takes place largely in the time of ST:TNG
in which the issue with the impact of warp drive on subspace have a solution - the hyperdrive
design of the Jupiter 2. The only problem is that the design was lost in WW3, so a mission
to find the original Jupiter 2 takes place.

I always wondered why the Jupiter 2 needed 5-1/2 years to get to Alpha Centauri when they could have just gone into "hyperdrive" from the get-go and gotten there much faster (in the original unused pilot, the ship was called the Gemini 12 and it would have taken them 100 years to get to Alpha-C!). Then, in later seasons, they flitted about from planet to planet, apparently at superluminal velocity, so somewhere along the line they acquired faster-than-light capability. And yet, in the "Visit to a Hostile Planet" episode, the Jupiter 2 is catapulted back to 1947 because of a propulsion malfunction that causes a "runaway acceleration" that causes them to exceed the speed of light......so how come that didn't happen every time they used the hyperdrive?

When watching LIS, you have to keep telling yourself: "it's entertainment....don't expect logic or consistency!" :lol:

 

[drwayne]

After the robot damages the astrogator in the first episode, Don states that they are going into
a hyperdrive - and says it like it is a bad and or unexpected thing. I have come to believe that
the Jupiter 2 propulsion system is a only marginally controlled system, with poor navigational
control in the superliminal regime. This might be somewhat consistent with the references
later in the series that implied intergalactic capability, which is probably beyond the navigational
capabilities of the Star Trek timeline.

Tangential note:

There are apparently some references in Billy Mummy's comic book series to the Jupiter 2 drive
being based on alien technology.

Wayne

 

[Larryman]

My preference is a Jupiter-2 which uses anti-gravity (dark energy) for lift-off and landing, and a hyperspace drive to achieve a light-speed 'maximum' velocity. Thus, mandating the continued use of the original freeze-tubes for any inter-stellar voyages. I prefer the "No Place To Hide" Robinson party to arrive at planet Priplanus, and stay there to fight dinosaurs, Cyclops, other monsters, and a small abandoned Krell alien colonist group. Two of the Krell are seen at the end of "No Place To Hide". The Krell landing ship is the sub-light-speed Manta Ray war machine of 1953 "War Of The Worlds" - but without the snake-head heat ray on top. I leave the action of visiting star systems, one-after-another, to the future (and faster) United Planets Federation fleet of C-57-D hyperspace patrol saucers.

 

[drwayne]

Certainly "The Keeper" could have worked very well without Smith.

You probably would not be interested then in the team that created the Jupiter 2 - 4 gifted
individuals - Batman with his unique skills in reactor technology, Harriman Nelson with his
skills in rocketry and hydrodynamics, and the fortune and financial genius of Bruce Wayne.
(yes, Admiral Nelson is one of the few to know Wayne's dual identity). Combined with
the talented Robinson family - how could anything go wrong?



Wayne

 

[Larryman]

Certainly "The Keeper" could have worked very well without Smith.

You probably would not be interested then in the team that created the Jupiter 2 - 4 gifted
individuals - Batman with his unique skills in reactor technology, Harriman Nelson with his
skills in rocketry and hydrodynamics, and the fortune and financial genius of Bruce Wayne.
(yes, Admiral Nelson is one of the few to know Wayne's dual identity). Combined with
the talented Robinson family - how could anything go wrong?



Wayne

Lol, very creative. But I'll pass on any Batman associations to LIS. However, Admiral Nelson's input could be useful in the Jupiter-2 design... as I would use the J-2 to explore beneath the alien seas of Priplanus, after it's arrival. Anti-gravity works underwater too. Refer to many USO/UFO siting reports. If Alpha Control launch facility is located at present day Kennedy Space Center... it would be cool to see the Seaview submarine stationed off shore, to minitor the lift-off of the Jupiter-2. And to see Admiral Nelson, at the Seaview's observation port, witnessing the J-2 launch, and bidding the Robinsons good luck in their colonizing endeavour.

 

[jim48]

p.p.s. I have drafted, a number of times, a story that takes place largely in the time of ST:TNG
in which the issue with the impact of warp drive on subspace have a solution - the hyperdrive
design of the Jupiter 2. The only problem is that the design was lost in WW3, so a mission
to find the original Jupiter 2 takes place.

I always wondered why the Jupiter 2 needed 5-1/2 years to get to Alpha Centauri when they could have just gone into "hyperdrive" from the get-go and gotten there much faster (in the original unused pilot, the ship was called the Gemini 12 and it would have taken them 100 years to get to Alpha-C!). Then, in later seasons, they flitted about from planet to planet, apparently at superluminal velocity, so somewhere along the line they acquired faster-than-light capability. And yet, in the "Visit to a Hostile Planet" episode, the Jupiter 2 is catapulted back to 1947 because of a propulsion malfunction that causes a "runaway acceleration" that causes them to exceed the speed of light......so how come that didn't happen every time they used the hyperdrive?

When watching LIS, you have to keep telling yourself: "it's entertainment....don't expect logic or consistency!" :lol:

That's pretty much what Irwin Allen would tell his writers when they began to question and correct the silly science in his shows. "Don't get logical with me," he was quoted as saying. An actor from Land of the Giants said that Allen would remind the directors that "... this is a running and jumping show."

 

[drwayne]

Come to think of it, Admiral Nelson and Captain Crane would probably be in FS-1 for the event,
to get on scene fast if something went wrong.

Wayne

 

[Larryman]

Come to think of it, Admiral Nelson and Captain Crane would probably be in FS-1 for the event,
to get on scene fast if something went wrong.

Wayne

I never liked the flying sub. The concept was too implausable.

 

[drwayne]

Come to think of it, Admiral Nelson and Captain Crane would probably be in FS-1 for the event,
to get on scene fast if something went wrong.

Wayne

I never liked the flying sub. The concept was too implausable.

I (of course) completely agree with the transparent impossibility angle that you mention, but

*best little kid voice*

it was sooooooo cool.

Another teaser - who do you think might have invented the freezing tubes, and who might have
used the tubes to ride out the post nuclear holocaust in a certain underground, nuclear powered
facility that went undiscovered until the time of ST:TNG.

Or, put another way, how do you figure the 60s vintage TV Batman would do in TNG times?



Wayne

 

[jim48]

Y'all aren't going to believe this. I've been watching Voyage on Hulu and telling my neighbor about how cool the flying sub is. He sent me a link to a site which of course I didn't save. There was a picture of a mock-up that Steve Fossett commisioned before his death: A two-man winged flying sub that can dive very deep and fly into space! I'm serious! God only knows what's going to become of that. Perhaps Richard Branson should take over. A lot of the gee-whiz stuff in Irwin Allen's shows seemed implausible then and now, but who knows? A time tunnel probably would require billions and billions of government dollars and a top-secret underground location. We have the technology to build a hyper-space vehicle like the Spindrift of Land of the Giants, and if anything the interiors of the Seaview looked like a mix between '50s technology and '70s. Lost in Space? Also a mixed technology bag. Anti-gravity propulsion has been the Holy Grail for some time, as have laser rifles, practical robots and force fields, all of which are not too far off, from what I read. Finally, the flying sub was sooooooooooooo kewel, even with its Kirby vacuum cleaner sound effect!

 

[Larryman]

Y'all aren't going to believe this. I've been watching Voyage on Hulu and telling my neighbor about how cool the flying sub is. He sent me a link to a site which of course I didn't save. There was a picture of a mock-up that Steve Fossett commisioned before his death: A two-man winged flying sub that can dive very deep and fly into space! I'm serious! God only knows what's going to become of that. Perhaps Richard Branson should take over. A lot of the gee-whiz stuff in Irwin Allen's shows seemed implausible then and now, but who knows? A time tunnel probably would require billions and billions of government dollars and a top-secret underground location. We have the technology to build a hyper-space vehicle like the Spindrift of Land of the Giants, and if anything the interiors of the Seaview looked like a mix between '50s technology and '70s. Lost in Space? Also a mixed technology bag. Anti-gravity propulsion has been the Holy Grail for some time, as have laser rifles, practical robots and force fields, all of which are not too far off, from what I read. Finally, the flying sub was sooooooooooooo kewel, even with its Kirby vacuum cleaner sound effect!

I guess... this link:
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/10/a_loo ... ble-2.html
... or something at this link:
http://www.deepflight.com/

Sorry... I dont see anything there capable of space flight - no lift-off rockets.

I think the only vehicle that could do all three (submarine, air-flight, and space-flight), would be an anti-gravity flying saucer.

 

[Larryman]

Could the VTTBOTS Flying Sub make a better LIS Space Pod? If it had the rotating engine light applied from the bottom of the Space Pod (to provide an anti-gravity lifting force), and eliminate the sub's landing wheels? This would give LIS a Space Pod - Mini-Sub.

 

[Larryman]

For a flying submarine, which is better styling...

* the slight 'up'-swept wings of the Manta Ray style VTTBOTS Flying Sub -or- the strong 'down'-swept wings of the 1956 War Of The Worlds Manta Ray style Martian War Machines?

* and the 'hard-pointed' nose of the VTTBOTS Flying Sub -or- the 'smooth-rounded' nose of the Martian War Machines?

 

[drwayne]

I remember a joke at one point about Voyage in which the gist of the joke is that someone in
that universe REALLY needs to invent a good circuit breaker.

 

[jim48]

I remember a joke at one point about Voyage in which the gist of the joke is that someone in
that universe REALLY needs to invent a good circuit breaker.

What, and put a dozen Teamster's electricians out of work? Circuit breakers obviously had to wait for the 23rd century.