Let's see. We've had ghosts, a couple of werewolves, several Creature-From-the-Black-Lagoon types...the cyborgs could be considered a high-tech version of the Frankenstein Monster, and now a mummy. Someone should have tossed a vampire in there, then they would have had a full complement of the classic movie monsters.
Seaview is up to something highly secretive. They slip up close to Manhatten Island, remaining below the surface. Nelson and Crane, looking as odd as military people usually do in civvies, board the FS1 and sneak in to shore. Everyone makes it clear that the situation is Top Secret and they have to keep well hidden...so naturally the Flying Sub ends up floating openly on the surface while Nelson and Crane secure their highly unusual cargo--a large sarcophagus. (I'd like to know just how they got that huge thing through the rather narrow door at the back.) The sarcophagus and its occupant are 3,000 years old. Crane suddenly looks faint. Nelson has him sit down while he finishes up with the sarcophagus. As soon as both their backs are turned, the rope around it breaks, the top cracks open, and a grubby wrapped hand emerges. Following the credits, the top closes up again and Crane slumps in his seat. Nelson jumps for some smelling salts (I thought only Victorian ladies carried those.) Crane passes it off as a dizzy spell, but Nelson insists that he be checked out as soon as they get back.
As FS1 enters its docking bay, you can't see anything resembling a hatchway up there, but clearly there must be something for maneuvering large items in and out. Nelson reaches to help Crane up the ladder. I liked how Sharkey instantly realized that something must be wrong. Crewman Ron helps Crane to Sickbay while the cargo is sent to the main storage locker. Seaview is set on a course due east. Down in Sickbay, Doc has to more or less order Crane to take the mild sedative he has given him. He reports to Nelson that Crane is showing some indication of a nervous disorder, and recommends rest; early bed and light duties the next day. Crane protests that he's feeling fine, but Nelson upholds the doctor's decision, and calls Chip Morton to his quarters. Chip will have to assume acting Captain duties, and he's getting tossed in the deep end--there is a touchy situation in the East, and Seaview has been assigned to try and ease the situation. The sarcophagus, which had been brought to an American museum 70 years previously, belongs to one of the Eastern countries, which is actively campaigning to get its national treasures back. The State Department is hoping that the return of the sarcophagus at an auspicous moment--namely, when the cabinet meets for an emergency session--might help to prevent a war. The meeting is in 70 hours, and the Seaview will need to make all speed to get there in time. They're keeping the matter secret because there are, of course, certain factions who would love to see war break out.
A tall, slim officer slips into the storage room where the sarcophagus lies. The initial thought, of course, is that it's Crane, somehow effected by the sarcophagus...but it turns out to be Chip Morton. This was a nice bit of misdirection, because Chip looked rather furtive--but perhaps, as Acting Captain, he was just being conscientious.
Night has fallen. (You could argue that in a submerged submarine, it's always night.) Crane doesn't appear to be sleeping well. Down in the storage room, the sarcophagus opens again, revealing a remarkably clean interior. (Maybe the museum curators vacuumed it for the trip.) The mummy rises. I wonder if those old mummifiers followed a protocol in dealing with mummies that run the risk of rising, for they always seem to bind one arm down and bust one of the legs, ensuring that you'll at least have a chance of outrunning it. The discerning eye will also note that this particular mummy is a little saggy in the seat. Shambling down the corridor with that classic mummy limp, it comes across two crewmen doing some electrical work. The mummy turns and gestures at a control box, turning off the power. (This mummy must have observed a lot in the last 70 years, or else it's an amazingly quick study.) The crewmen see it, and, after a disbelieving pause, jump to the attack. The mummy's pretty active for being one-handed and lame, and quickly knocks them out, passing its free hand over their faces before lurching off. The men awaken with no memory of what happened.
We have a visit from the comedy team of Sharkey and 'Ski. 'Ski is concerned; the crewmen that brought "the box" on board are certain that it's a mummy. Brilliant deduction; I can't see that they could possibly take it for anything else. Sharkey is quite indifferent--after all, it's been dead a long, long time. Kowalski's worried about bad luck. Sharkey reassures him--and then looks casually around for a piece of wood to knock on, seemingly unaware that he's contradicting himself. Kowalski really should have reached over and tapped on Sharkey's skull.
The mummy approaches Crane's cabin. Crane opens his eyes, and (with excellent reaction time) bolts upright, dives out of his bunk past the mummy, and snatches up the gun placed to hand on his desk. The shots fired serve no purpose other than to get people's attention. Nelson, reading in his own bunk, rushes to Crane's room to find him lying on the floor. (I'd love to know how that limping creature got out of Crane's cabin so fast. Or perhaps he was hiding in the bathroom.) Chip and the Doc follow shortly thereafter.
Crane cannot remember firing his gun. Doc feels that a good night's sleep will do wonders (should have gotten him some chicken soup while he was at it). He tucks Crane in, and they leave him alone. Interestingly, Crane, whom we had seen sleeping stretched out on his back, is now scrunched up on his side (and almost looking like he had his thumb in his mouth).
Once again, we see a slim officer (both Crane and Chip were in their pyjamas) enter a room--this time, the Circuitry Room--and make some adjustments to the gauges there. In the Control Room, a crewman passing through (presumably a routine night check) notices the hatch to the Flying Sub is jiggling. Going down to check, he finds some of the equipment has been sabotaged--and then he sees the saboteur. The mummy quickly throttles him. Perhaps the mummy waved a forgetful hand over the night crew, because no one seemed to notice that the crewman never came back up--or closed the hatch.
The next morning, Chip is happily confident that they are making good time, demonstrated by printouts of their speed tapes. Kowalski, meanwhile, hears something odd (I'm not sure just what sort of equipment he's scanning) and checks the computer. He shows the printout to Sharkey, and asks him how often the computer is wrong. Sharkey passes the printout along to Chip--and asks him how often the computer is wrong. Rather than being three hours ahead of schedule, they are now some ten hours behind. Nelson marches off to the Circuitry Room and finds, as expected, that the automatic navigator has been altered--and it had to have been done by someone on board. The State Department throws another fly into the ointment--the emergency cabinet session has been moved up by twelve hours. Nelson opts to sacrifice secrecy for speed by taking the Flying Sub, and he cautions Chip not to make a shipwide announcement of the fact. Sharkey, going to prep FS1, finds the dead crewman, and calls Chip. (Poor Chip's not having much luck as Acting Captain.) Repairs to the FS1 will take too long--they're never going to make the deadline. At this dismal point, Crane breezes into the Control Room and immediately takes charge. He believes that they can make it by running at flank speed continuously until they reach their destination. I believe that it was just back in the episode "Brand of the Beast" where Nelson proposed maintaining flank speed and Crane protested the danger. This time, it's Nelson who protests, backed up by Chip. Crane stands fast, and, oddly enough, it's Nelson who backs down. Hearing of the sabotage, Crane arranges for guards in all vital areas of the ship. That evening, Sharkey's checking on the security arrangements, when he spots a shadow in the corridor. This was really a well-shot scene, as the vague outlines of the shadow abruptly morphed into the sharp silhouette of the Captain. Meanwhile, Kowalski takes over the guard post at the storage room, going inside for a quick check. Crane suddenly becomes faint again. The mummy rises again. You'd think this mummy would be happy to be going home again, but it apparently developed a taste for American culture and was put out at being forced to leave. Kowalski notices the hatch lock jiggling. The mummy retreats before 'Ski can get inside. The first thing to hit 'Ski's eyes is the empty sarcophagus--and it's enough to keep him from noticing the mummy standing just feet away. Finally spotting it, he shoots at it (this time no one seems to hear the shots) before the mummy grabs him. 'Ski frantically stretches out a hand to the alarm button.
Up in the Control Room, Sharkey sees where the alarm is coming from, and knows who is down there. You get the impression that he moves just a little faster because it's Kowalski. Crane may or may not have heard the alarm--he collapses under a set of stairs, and Sharkey rushes by without noticing him. On reaching the storage room, the sarcophagus is closed, and Kowalski unconcious on the floor, with nothing visibly wrong with him. Nelson enters the room. Oddly--given his belief in a saboteur and his knowledge of enemy factions seeking to thwart things--Nelson wonders not only who--but WHAT--might have attacked Kowalski.
An officer's uniformed arm reaches out and pulls loose the microphone hanging near the Circuitry Room, then tosses it down the corridor, distracting the guard, who promptly gets cracked on the back of the neck. The officer enters the room and commences ripping out the circuitry. Seaview lurches. Chip is up getting tossed around in the Control Room--so obviously it can't be him. I had been wondering if it was going to be an O. Henry situation, with Crane being a decoy to the audience. There are the regulation showers of sparks from the panels. Chip calls for a fire detail to "put out those fires"--although no one's actually reported any. Seaview goes down and hits--yep, again. This time we see it from above. Fortunately, this time around they're in less than five hundred feet of water, so divers can go out and make repairs directly on the hull. Nelson finds the unconcious guard, the damaged circuits, and Crane, lying under the stairs. He seems a bit flustered at having three different casualties to deal with. He has them sent to Sickbay, while Sharkey sends out the repair team.
It's an odd group of casualties. Blair, the guard, had not been knocked out when the Seaview lurched (well, people seldom are). Rather, he looks as though he had been hit on the head. Nelson really should have guessed that--after all, it was in keeping with the sabotage in the Circuitry Room. Kowalski and Crane both seem to be in a state of shock. In spite of the fact that this is Crane's third "spell", Doc seems to think that he can return to duty as soon as he wakes up. Meanwhile, the crew have been exerting themselves. The divers return--including crewmen Ron and Ray. Ron and Ray have been running all over the sub during this episode. The repairs are completed--including those for the Flying Sub. Crane, reporting to Nelson, cannot remember anything beyond blacking out and awakening in Sickbay. Nelson, more prudent than the Doctor in this case, relieves him of duty and sends him to get some rest--first mentioning that he's going to take the sarcophagus in the FS1. He follows Crane and watches him enter his cabin--clearly he's concerned.
An officer slips down the hatch to the FS1, and presses a packet of explosive to one of the panels. Nelson jumps out of hiding and tackles the man, who turns out to be Crane (and was anyone really surprised?) Crane's left knocked out (he's spent a good portion of this episode unconcious) with a nice symmetrical red patch on his cheek. Doc asks about the bruise. Nelson (keeping things to himself again) tells him that Crane must have fallen during another "spell". He tells Doc to keep Crane out for twenty-four hours. Ron and Ray (fresh from their dive) help haul him to Sickbay again.
Sharkey, for whatever reason, enters the main storage room. The mummy is apparently tired of sneaking around--he emerges right as Sharkey is watching. Sharkey is stunned, as you might expect, but recovers in time to dodge and run. The mummy shambles after him--knocking open hatches along the way. Sharkey makes it to the Control Room, gasping, "that thing--it's alive." Everyone instantly knows what he's talking about, and no one questions it, although Chip wanted more details. Battle stations are called. Sharkey insists that nothing short of an atom bomb is going to stop the thing--which plants an idea in Nelson's mind. Calling the Reactor Room, he tells the crewman to prepare to channel all the power through the starboard hull cable, then tells Chip to go grab some #4 cable and meet them down there. The mummy, meanwhile, seems to have forgotten that it was chasing Sharkey, or perhaps it just got lost. Ron and Ray (still busy) jump it, along with another crewman. They get knocked aside, but manage to rip off a layer of its face bandages, giving it the gruesome look of an empty eye socket--cyclops style, no less.
Down at the Reactor Room, two more crewmen face off against the mummy, delaying it just long enough for Chip to arrive with the cable. Nelson looks particularly heroic as he approaches the mummy, his face set and grim. He tosses the cable over it, and yells to Sharkey to hit the power. There's a nice light display, and the mummy sags to the floor. Nelson seems certain that there will be no more trouble--of course, they could have said the same thing a couple of days ago, too. The mummy really doesn't look any different. Nelson briskly orders it put back where it belongs, and taken on board the FS1. He zips off with it--presumably getting there in good time, preventing the war, and all that.
Crane (still with that bright red patch--they should have darkened it) is concerned that he might have more attacks--but of course with the mummy gone, there's no chance of that. Crane also wonders just what had been going on. Rather than admit that he didn't have the faintest idea, Nelson says--with a look straight at the camera--that Certain Things Are Better Left Unexplained.
Just enjoy them.moreless
EDIT
Episode Summary
The Seaview is on a top secret mission to transport a 3,000 year old sarcophagus from New York to a country in the Middle East. The United States hopes that by returning a national treasure, war will be prevented. The inhabitant of the sarcophagus has other ideas, and attempts to prevent the Seaview from reaching her destinaton.moreless
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David Hedison
Captain Crane
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Richard Basehart
Admiral Nelson
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Terry Becker
Chief Sharkey
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Trivia
ADD TRIVIA- According to the book Irwin Allen Productions, the background music was taken from the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still and various pieces used on The Time Tunnel. Edit
- Uncredited roles: Scott McFadden (Mummy), Patrick Culliton (Mac), Phil Barry (Simpson), Ron Stein, Ray Didsbury, and Ted Jordan (Crewmen) Edit
- The character of Sparks is played by an uncredited actor, rather than Arch Whiting. Edit
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Quotes
ADD QUOTES- Chief Sharkey: If something's been dead for 3000 years, it can't hurt anybody. Edit
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