The excitement starts almost immediately, with some curious radiation disabling the submarine Neptune. Nelson, who's on board to inspect the sub, goes out to get samples of the radiation source. Outside, he and fellow diver Fowler look on helplessly as a gigantic coelenterate (read: jellyfish or man o'war) attacks and destroys the Neptune. (One thing I can't understand is why the thing wasn't destroyed when the Neptune blew up inside its mantle.) The smaller coelentarates were not very well done--the mass of them just looked like a smeary microscope slide, and the individuals like torn balloons--but the giant version was marvelous.
Nelson's battle for survival out on the open sea could have constituted an episode in itself (and would, in a later episode). As you would expect, Nelson keeps his head and forces Fowler to keep his, fending off sharks, rigging up a raft, and catching some food. Fowler, weakened by multiple jellyfish stings, slips away during a storm. Meanwhile, Crane and Admiral Jiggs Starke have their first (but by no means last) confrontation. Starke is almost, but not quite, a caricature of the hard-nosed career man who eats junior officers for breakfast. His rigidness is balanced somewhat by his concern for his friend Harriman Nelson. While he is certain that Nelson will survive if anyone can, he also accepts the fact that men die at sea.
Starke comes on board the Seaview to investigate the Neptune's disappearance, and immediately starts running the men ragged. Crane stands up to him, pointing out that he and most of his men were "new Navy" before joining the Seaview, and not used to such unrelenting discipline.
It's not clear just how long Nelson was lost--Crane mentions that Starke has been on board "for days". There is shipwide rejoicing when they learn that Nelson is alive. Starke no doubt would have been horrified at Crane's lax and familiar attitude with his crewmen, but he had his back to them at the time, pondering Nelson's request that Starke go easy on his men.
It's at this point that Richard Basehart really starts to shine. His frenetic behavior was superbly done. I don't understand how he managed to talk so fast without tripping over his tongue. He swings from chattering excitement to sudden, silent self-absorbtion.
David Hedison also gives a remarkable performance, dealing with a ship that is beginning, frighteningly, to parallel what happened to the Neptune, an Admiral who would like to keel-haul him, and a friend who's showing increasingly bizarre behavior.
It all comes to a head when Nelson, satisfied that they've pinpointed the initial problem, wants to immediately surface and leave, forgetting that they are currently unable to blow ballast. Crane has run the problem through the computer and was given a seemingly contradictory solution. He thinks it through and realizes why it should work, but Nelson is having none of it. Having defended Crane from Starke up until now, Nelson suddenly turns on his friend with a fury. Starke can still only see that Crane is being insubordinate--again!--and sides with Nelson in relieving Crane of command. Crane takes control back at gunpoint. For a few moments, he sounds as though HE'S the one who's gone off the deep end, but once the Seaview is safely on her way, he quietly surrenders the gun. Richard Basehart gives his final bravura performance, unable to see anything but that his trusted comrade has pulled a gun on him--on him! His reasoning twists to assume that if Crane would mutiny against him, the entire crew must have, as well. Starke finally accepts that something is seriously wrong here. About time.
If you listen carefully to the doctor's statement, it's clear what the problem is (they're not going to let Nelson die, after all) but Crane is horrified at the probability that his friend is dying a terrible death. He has no time to dwell on it, however--the giant coelenterate is back again, and Starke, having seen Crane save the ship once, counts on him to do it again. Crane, of course, does so with great dispatch, rousing his frightened men with a few words and getting right down to it.
It was a drug allergy, of course. The doctor gets rid of the pills Nelson has been popping like Tic-tacs (did he even bother to read the dosage instructions?) Old and New Navy reconcile in a suitably manly fashion.
If they could have kept the series at this level, it could have gone on years longer than it did.moreless
EDIT
Episode Summary
Admiral Nelson is helping out aboard the submarine Neptune during its shakedown cruise when a huge jellyfish attacks and destroys the sub. Nelson survives and begins to act erratically when he returns to the scene with Seaview.
Watch Online
-
Richard Basehart
Admiral Nelson
-
David Hedison
Captain Crane
-
Robert Dowdell
Chip Morton
Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions
See All-
Trivia
ADD TRIVIA- While the doomed submarine is labled Neptune, and is referred to as such throughout the show, in the closing credits it is referred to as the Jefferson. Edit
-
Notes
-
Help by adding notes to this episode. Add notes
-
-
Quotes
ADD QUOTES- Crane: (to Admiral Starke) Let up on the men, Admiral. You've been on them for days. I don't run an old Navy, spit, polish and brig ship. I was new Navy, so are my men, and so was Admiral Nelson. Edit
- Starke: Your man Crane, he's insolent, has no respect for his superiors. Nelson: You don't like him, Jiggs, because you can't scare the pants off him. Edit
-
Allusions
ADD ALLUSIONS- Crane: That's all they need ... Captain Bligh! Crane is referring to William Bligh, commander of the HMS Bounty. Bligh was immortalized as a brutal tyrant in the novel Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall, and even more so in the 1935 film starring Charles Laughton & Clark Gable. Bligh may well have been maligned; as I understand it, his problem was not so much brutality (brutal discipline on British ships was the norm at the time) as being too soft with his men in many ways. He preferred scolding to physical punishment (he was known for his sharp tongue) and after letting his men loaf for five months on Tahiti (waiting for their cargo of breadfruit to ripen), naturally they weren't pleased at having to buckle down and go back to work. Bligh was a remarkable seaman, piloting a 23 ft boat and a small group of loyal crew some 3,618 miles to safety after they were set adrift. But it's not likely that his reputation will change in the public eye. Edit
Show Forums
Add a Topic
See All
Last Activity
Replies
-
Seaview Crew Wardrobe
06/05/111
-
Second Season Missing Episode
08/26/093
-
Columbia video releases
12/27/081
-
Two episodes with the same title.
12/16/082
-
Season Four on DVD
12/16/082
-
The Return Of The Phantom
S 2 : Ep 26
Aired 3/20/66
-
The Mechanical Man
S 2 : Ep 25
Aired 3/13/66
-
The Menfish
S 2 : Ep 24
Aired 3/6/66
-
The Monster's Web
S 2 : Ep 23
Aired 2/27/66
Related Shows
Season 1 Episodes
See AllEp 32
The Traitor
Ep 31
The Condemned
Ep 30
The Secret Of The Loch
Ep 29
The Enemies
Ep 28
The Creature
Ep 27
The Exile
Ep 26
The Amphibians
Ep 25
Cradle Of The Deep
Ep 24
The Saboteur
Ep 23
The Human Computer
Ep 22
The Buccaneer
Ep 21
The Indestructible Man
Ep 20
The Invaders
Ep 19
Doomsday
Ep 18
Mutiny
Ep 17
The Last Battle
Ep 16
Hail To The Chief
Ep 15
Long Live The King
Ep 14
The Ghost Of Moby Dick
Ep 13
The Blizzard Makers
Ep 12
No Way Out
Ep 11
The Magnus Beam
Ep 10
Submarine Sunk Here
Ep 9
Hot Line
Ep 8
The Village Of Guilt
Ep 7
Turn Back The Clock
Ep 6
The Sky Is Falling
Ep 5
The Price Of Doom
Ep 4
The Mist Of Silence
Ep 3
The Fear-Makers
Ep 2
The City Beneath The Sea
Ep 1
Eleven Days To Zero
-
crazyrhythm EDITOR
User Score: 1258
-
dkhenderson1
User Score: 512
-
ssosmcin
User Score: 305
-
Harlann
User Score: 264
-
NiteWatch
User Score: 131
-
AH3RD
User Score: 125
-
Mafeu
User Score: 32
-
char2renee
User Score: 23
-
CaptainMidnight
User Score: 19
-
OLDERTVFAN
User Score: 18
-
TM56
User Score: 14
More
Less
