S1E04 - Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Episode Overview: "The Sky Is Falling"

Hi friends! Today I’m going to highlight an episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea to show how really great this show is. One of my favourite episodes is from Season 1 and it’s called The Sky Is Falling

The episode opens with scenes of panic from around the world when a UFO is seen in the skies. Cut to a US military base where two high-ranking officials are discussing prepping missiles for launch against the UFO

But before they can fire, the UFO starts losing altitude and it enters the sea.

So they end up aborting the missile launch. And since the UFO has gone under the sea, it’s a job for the crew of the Seaview!

After the credits, we cut to the control room where Admiral Nelson receives new orders. They plot a course to rendezvous and pick up a passenger, Rear Admiral “Trigger-Happy” Walter Tobin.

Once Tobin comes aboard, he briefs Nelson and Crane on the UFO and that their orders are to investigate it and to get it before it gets them. The last ship that was investigating it got pulled into some kind of underwater vortex and was lost. They proceed under rigid combat conditions towards the UFO and then start to pick up readings on SONAR and their instruments. Tobin orders them to prepare missiles, but then they hit a bunch of turbulence. They start to get pulled further and further into the vortex even at full power they can’t pull away, so Nelson orders the reactor room to use something called “strontium pellets” (which comes up again later) and the additional power helps them pull away.

All of their comms devices start to cut out so they head into the observation nose, which is a super cool set. As they discuss what could be causing the issues, they’re interrupted by the UFO coming into view right in front of the seaview! This part is so exciting. I love the music and sound effects at this part.

Tobin orders Nelson to fire the missiles but Nelson refuses, stating that they haven’t committed any act of aggression.. But as he’s saying this, the UFO starts to light up and sends out some kind of pulse at the Seaview and everything goes dead, including the ventilation system. The crew starts to panic with one crewman in particular going a little crazy.

Captain crane briefs the crew on the situation and tells them that they are caught in the saucer’s magnetic field and are actually slowly moving towards the surface. Crane joins the Nelson and Tobin back in the observation nose, where they witness an escape pod from the UFO being released, moving slowly towards the Seaview. It then settles above the escape hatch in the control room. Nelson investigates and enters the pod, saying that he’s taking this as an invitation from the saucer and he intends on accepting.

Once he enters, the pod detaches itself from the Seaview and returns to the saucer.

Tobin, being the pessimist that he is, responds with, “Well that’s the last we’ll see of him”.

Then we cut to a huge control room and Nelson emerges from the floor in an elevator-type device. The music in this scene is just so good. It sets the scene, it’s super eerie and complements the visuals of the scene so well. Nelson is then joined by a being in a flight suit and helmet who welcomes him. The being then removes his helmet and lo and behold.. IT’S NELSON! The alien looks exactly like him. Nelson is standing there completely shocked and speechless. And there’s some really good split scene work here with Richard Basehart playing both characters. The alien notices Nelson’s reaction and asks him what’s wrong: “Does my appearance offend you?”. Such a great line!

The alien goes on to explain that he’s from another planet and ended up on Earth by accident. They’ve been studying Earth for a long time and he states that Earth is dangerously sensitive to anything it does not understand. His real appearance, for instance, would be considered repellent by human standards, so he says he assumed the likeness of the one creature that could not possibly offend him! The look on Nelson’s face is priceless, as he realizes the reason the alien took on his own appearance.

Nelson explains to the alien that without power, the men on the Seaview could suffocate and die. The alien refuses to surface or release them, but Nelson explains that if they can make it to 100 feet at least, they can use a snorkel device to get air from the surface, and the alien agrees to bring them to that depth.

Back on the ship, the crew is running dangerously low on air and losing hope, but all of a sudden, they start moving again. They think they’re making it to the surface but then stop at 100 feet level. They’re all discouraged but that’s when Captain Crane realizes that they can use the snorkel device and they successfully hand pump air into the Seaview.

But meanwhile, the military is continuing its assault on the UFO and they start bombing from above. The alien gets angry and accuses Nelson of lying and attacking them, but Nelson explains that it’s not the Seaview, it’s the military. The alien then explains that their fuel system was damaged and that they’re waiting for their sister ship to arrive to help them leave Earth, but Nelson explains that if another ship arrives, it could be perceived as a threat or an invasion, and there could be dire consequences. But the alien says it’s not their fault that their simple mistake was considered an act of aggression. Nelson searches for a way to help the aliens and when he says that they use something called strontium-90 pellets, the alien realizes that that’s something that they can use, even thought it’s primitive, they have the means of converting it. Nelson convinces the alien to let him return to Seaview so he could bring back the pellets. The alien hesitates but then trusts Nelson, and sends him back. There’s an amazing shot here of the alien as Nelson leaves. The camera pans up the alien and reveals its face, it’s like a faceless face!

Once Nelson returns to the Seaview, he explains what happened to Crane and Tobin, and Crane gathers all the strontium they need to take back to the aliens. But Tobin, living up to his nickname of “Trigger-Happy”, countermands Nelson’s orders and orders Crane to put Nelson under arrest. The ion ray effects are beginning to wear off and Tobin plans on using the Seaview’s missiles to attack the UFO!

This is one of my favourite parts of the episode. Crane, who looks like he’s about to obey Tobin’s orders, begins to put Nelson under arrest, but then quickly locks the door so Tovin and Nelson are locked in Nelson’s quarters. Trusting Nelson and his judgement, Crane takes it upon himself to go through with Nelson’s plan and deliver the strontium to the aliens.

The next scene shows Crane arriving at the same control room that Nelson was in. And as he turns and sees the alien, his jaw drops and the look on his face is pure shock as he sees the alien who looks exactly like him. The alien greets him and thanks him for the strontium.

The military attack is approaching as Crane returns to the ship, and Nelson tries to reach the commanding general to get the attack stopped. But luckily the aliens are able to get the strontium converted in time and Nelson, Crane and Tobin watch the UFO emerge from the sea and take off.

The closing scene is perfection:

Nelson: We haven’t got a weapon that can touch it now
Tobin: Well, maybe he’s just as well
Crane: We can expect to see it again someday. I hope they’ll remember they were treated as friends
Nelson: They’ll remember all right, I wonder if we will…

And that’s the episode! There are so many things I love about this episode. Firstly, it was written by Don Brinkley and directed by Leonard Horn.

The scenes in the alien control room were shot brilliantly with really unique shots of the room itself, as well as the closeup shots on the alien and Nelson.

I love how they establish the closeness and friendship between Nelson and Crane. Besides being Crane’s superior officer, Nelson is also his trusted friend. And Crane understands the importance of the mission and even defies Tobin’s orders to ensure that he finishes what Nelson started. And we see that Tobin reacts with anger to Crane defying his orders, but a look of pride actually comes across Nelson’s face because he knows that Crane trusts him and he’s doing the right thing.

We also learn about Admiral Nelson’s character and who he is as a person: curious, open-minded, a true scientist and diplomat. Before rushing to conclusions about the aliens, he listens. He takes the time to understand the situation and works to find a solution intelligently and calmly. Can you imagine what would have happened if Trigger-Happy Tobin ended up there instead?

Speaking of Tobin, he represents the closed-minded members of the human race, and our tendency to respond to the unknown with hostility. I made a point at the beginning to quote Tobin’s reasons for deeming the aliens hostile. He said “they penetrated our radar screen, ignored our signals and violated just about every international security regulation in the book”. A book that, no doubt, the aliens have never even seen before! He is holding the aliens to his own standards that only exist to him or humans. The aliens are completely oblivious to these so-called rules that they are breaking. They even reveal in the episode that their communications methods aren’t even compatible with Earth’s systems. So while Tobin and the military jump to the conclusion that the aliens are ignoring their signals, they’re actually not even receiving them!

As a kid watching this episode, it had such an impact on me. I remember when I first saw the ending and how it literally stopped me in my tracks. Crane’s remark about how he hopes that the aliens remember they were treated as friends leads to Nelson’s line: “They’ll remember all right.. I wonder if we will”. And it’s so clear that we probably won’t! Just seeing Tobin’s reaction even after Nelson came back with the truth and an explanation as to why the aliens weren’t responding and how they ended up on Earth, it just drives that point home. We are so quick to judge something we don’t understand with hostility, rather than curiosity.

According to Jeff Bond’s book, the Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen, this episode was the second highest rated episode of the first season. Jon Abbott’s book doesn’t really have a favourable review of this episode, but I personally absolutely love it, and I would recommend this as a starting point to anyone who hasn’t seen the show before. The episode is available on Apple TV in Canada for $1.99, and I’m sure it’s much cheaper in the States. You can search on Apple TV in other countries to see if it’s available anywhere else too.

So I hope you enjoyed this overview and if it interests you, I hope you check out the show! If you do, let me know, send me an email or connect with me on Instagram. There are a lot of other amazing episodes to talk about so stay tuned for more overviews.

Thanks for listening and until next time, take good care of each other