Since it's production
in 1969, Seabase Atlantica has been largely forgotten about. The
reasons are a mixture of legal and cultural. The few who saw it in
early morning syndication in the US would rather forget about it as
would the 'talent' who appeared in it. It's certainly not mentioned
on James Darren's otherwise impressive resume.
In recent years, a few
have made efforts to rectify this and in the mid-nineties, the
magazine 'FanGrok' was the first to a publish a (slightly inaccurate)
episode guide. Thanks to Paul Morehouse, we know the reasons for its
shady past.
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Today however, I'm
pleased to announce that the series will finally get a wider
audience. The many political and legal obstacles that have prevented
even the publication of images from the show have now been crossed.
The complete series will be available on DVD from next month. We've
managed to put together on a limited budget a selection of special
features to accompany the HD remastered episodes. We even managed to
convince some members of the original cast to contribute on the
grounds that we will release it away with or without their own
defence of their actions. The first 1000 copies of the box set will
include a special 'Seabase Atlantica' calendar depicting many unseen
photos from the show.
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All-in-all, it looks
quite good having seen some of the test discs. I hope to include more
details in a future post.
Andrew-Mark Thompson
SEABASE ATLANTICA
Season two –
September-December 1970
REGULAR
CAST:
SHELLEY
WINTERS…Doctor Hanna Bourbon
JAMES
DARREN…Captain Anthony ‘Ziggy’ Shapiro
CHAD
MARTIN…Aqua, the Mer-boy
BARBARA
EDEN…Susan Crutch
JUDY
ALLEN…Cindy Crutch
JONATHAN
HARRIS…Voice of Debbie the Robot
2.01
BEYOND
THE GREEN SEA
Wr.
Stirling Siliphant
Dir.
Irwin Allen
Professor
Crutch, after a severe mental breakdown, is replaced by kindly
matriarch Dr. Hanna Bourbon as commander of Seabase Atlantica. Aqua
the Mer-boy discovers a giant starfish and is taken over by it. The
starfish dupes him into thinking he’s the ghost of Blackbeard. Dr.
Bourbon exorcises the ghostly spirit by placing a peutronic headband
on Aqua to disperse the phantom. The radiation from the headband
gives the Mer-boy unexpected telepathic powers that prove useful in
later episodes.
2.02
MERMAIDS
FROM URANUS – part one
Wr.
William Welch and Irwin Allen
Dir.
Harry Harris
Guest
cast: Zsa Zsa Gabor (Mer Queen), Linda Evans, Stella Stevens (Mer
Maids).
Green,
scaly but beautiful mermaids capture Aqua the Mer-boy, wishing to use
him to help them reproduce their race as all men on their home planet
have been wiped out by a verminous space plague. Aqua telepathically
communicates the location of the Uranian base to Dr. Bourbon, who
launches a rocket with her, Ziggy, Susan, Cindy and Debbie the Robot
on board to rescue him. But the rocket has to face a meteor storm
before it reaches their friend. (Dynasty’s
Linda Evans thought she was only contracted to film one episode of
this two-parter and was shocked when she discovered it would involve
more days filming than she really wanted. The producer was forced to
lock her in her Winnebago for the duration of filming to prevent her
running off.)
2.03
THE
MUSHROOM HUSTLERS
Wr.
Peter Packer
Dir.
Sobey Martin
Guest
cast: David Carradine, Goldie Hawn, Dennis Hopper, Bill Williams Jnr
(Hippies).
Susan
is turned on by magic undersea mushrooms and become deliriously
hallucinogenic. She is rescued from a man-eating crayfish by a tribe
of gentle underwater hippies, desperate for new supplies of the
wonder fungus. Ziggy rescues Susan and entombs the hippies forever at
the bottom of the sea.
(The giant
mushroom prop actually heralds from the original 1939 MGM production
of ‘The Wizard of Oz’.)
2.04
BATTLE
OF THE WEREWOLVES
Wr.
William Welch
Dir.
Sober Martini
Guest
cast: Bill Williams Jnr, Rick Springfield (Werewolves).
Ziggy
is infected by a virulent peutronic virus that turns him into a
werewolf. He goes berserk and releases another werewolf, being
transported to the base, from its cage. They go on a killing rampage
and, as more and more people becoming infected, the werewolves
threaten to take over. It’s a race against time as Dr. Bourbon and
Susan struggle to find an antidote before the entire world is taken
over.
2.05
MERMAIDS
FROM URANUS – part two
Wr.
William Welch and Irwin Allen
Dir.
Harry Harris
Guest
cast: Zsa Zsa Gabor (Mer Queen), Linda Evans, Stella Stevens, Bill
Williams Jnr (Mer Maids), Eddie Boyle (Dog).
The
rocket lands on Venus but Aqua is now under the thrall of the sexy
Mer Queen. Dr. Bourbon is tortured and forced into the pit of mud to
wrestle to the death with the Mer Queen whilst Ziggy and Susan are
rescuing Aqua. The family return to Earth after the Mermaids’ power
source is sucked out.
2.06
THE
BIG BEAST
Wr.
Jack Turley
Dir.
Harry Harris
A
giant purple cloud approaches the Earth and releases yellow and pink
spores in the oceans, from which an evil turquoise and vermilion
seaweed parasite emerges. Hanna must lure the creature into an
extinct volcano, where Debbie the Robot is waiting to ignite a
peutronic incendiary device. The volcano erupts bathing the parasite
in hot lava and burning it to death. (Footage
of the volcano erupting was taken from an NBC news report that one of
the show's technicians had taped the night before shooting started.)
2.07
THE
RETURN OF THE MARY CELESTE
Wr.
Wanda Duncan and Bob
Dir.
Sobey Martin
Guest
cast: Henry Jones (Prof Sphere), Bill Williams Jnr (Sailor man).
Ziggy
discovers the body of a man wearing an old fashioned sailor’s
uniform and, in turn, stumbles across an ancient undersea
civilisation peopled by the crews of vanished sailing ships. They are
ruled over by the megalomaniac Professor Sphere, who plans to destroy
the world with a giant atom crusher that will release super-heated
plankton into the Earth’s core and split it open. He gets drowned
when his security kitchen is flooded.
2.08
THE
DOUBLE ANENOMIES
Wr.
William Welch
Dir.
Harry Harris
While
swimming near the base, Cindy is swallowed by a giant sea anemone,
which duplicates her form and sends it back to Seabase. The duplicate
plans to turn the peutronic reactor on to over and infect the base
with deadly radiation, in turn converting everyone into dangerous
zombie werewolves. Just in time, Aqua finds the real Cindy’s body.
He returns with her to help Ziggy grapple with the duplicate and toss
it into a seaweed threshing machine. (This
is another of Judy Allen's least favourite best remembered episodes
according to one of her carers.)
2.09
THE
RED VAMPIRE DEVILS
WR.
Bob and Esther Mitchell
Director
Harry Harris
Guest
cast: Peter Mark Richman (Gonadski), Lloyd Bochner (Swasslehoffmann),
Bill Williams Jnr (First and second vampire man).
Evil
red agents kidnap Hanna and Susan and are then attacked and killed by
two blood sucking vampire creatures. But with the two women now
buried alive in an undersea grotto with less than an hour’s worth
of air, it’s a race against time for Aqua the Mer-boy to
telepathically locate them without himself becoming trapped and
sucked to death by the savage vampire devils that guard the cave
system. (The
Russian embassy in Washington complained about the portrayal of their
citizens as blood lusting vampires. A letter appeared in Pravda a
month after the episode's transmission, denying that it was based on
fact.)
2.10
DESTROY
SEABASE!
Wr.
Dan Ullman
Dir.
Harry Harris
Guest
cast: Jonathan Harris (Dr. Crutch), Bill Williams Jnr (Midget fire
eater).
An
underwater circus visits the Seabase but unknown to the denizens of
Atlantica, the lead clown and ringmaster is, in truth, the insane Dr.
Crutch, who has escaped from his top secret, high security lunatic
asylum and plans to blow up the base. Luckily, Debbie the robot
recognises her former master’s voice and electro-zaps him.
2.11
MURDER
IS AN UNDERWATER NIGHTMARE OF REVENGE
Wr.
Bruce Geller and Irwin Allen
Dir.
Sutton Roley
Guest
cast: Mike Connors (TV’s Joe Mannix), Kent Smith (The Murderer),
Bill Williams Jnr (The other suspect).
When
a visiting scientist is murdered on the Seabase, Dr Bourbon is forced
to bring in outside help in the form of TV’s Joe Mannix. The
private detective is forced to use all of his wits to identify the
murderer before he strikes again spelling doom for the base and its
crew. (Mike
Connors agreed to appearing in this episode as a forfeit for losing a
round of golf with Shelley Winters.)
2.12
THE
UNSEEABLE MENACE
Wr.
William Welch
Dir.
Ronald Neame
Seabase
Atlantica is infiltrated by mysterious sewer dwelling entities which
attack and devour people in bathrooms. Ziggy and Aqua the Mer-boy are
miniaturised and sent down the plumbing in a two-man sub. They destroy
the creatures with special anti-septic grenades. (This
episode utilised the sub from the movie 'Fantastic Voyage' after the
director discovered it on the 20th Century Fox lot under a
tarpaulin. Sadly the prop was not in the best of condition and the
show's budget did not allow any restorative work to be carried out on
it. Look closely in the second act and you can see the phrase 'What's
jammin kid?' graffitoed just by the escape hatch handle.)
2.13
STAR
OF BEDLAM
Wr.
Irwin Allen
Dir.
Sobey Martin
Guest
cast: Bill Williams Jnr (Evil tree).
In
this special Christmas episode, Dr Bourbon, Ziggy and Aqua the
Mer-boy journey to investigate a strange light that falls into the
sea. They find what appears to be a Christmas tree sent from the
stars. Returning with it to the base, they are horrified to discover
that it is really a deadly space conifer that has been sent to pave
the way for an all-out invasion of planet Earth. The tree paralyses
Dr Bourbon and Ziggy with stinging needles but just in time, Aqua
telepathically convinces it that it is an ordinary Christmas tree and
is a worldwide symbol of peace and goodwill. With the conifer frozen,
Dr Bourbon is able to destroy it forever with a powerful defoliant
and Christmas is saved.
2.14
TOAD
HELL
Wr.
William Welch
Dir.
Harry Harris
Guest
cast: Warren Stevens (Dr. Gammynekker), Bill Williams Jnr (Toad
tongue operator).
The
crew of the Seabase find themselves lost in the Mojha desert under
threat from the giant toads of Dr. Gammynekker. The evil doctor plans
to use his toads to threaten the UN with annihilation but Dr. Bourbon
is able to stop him and he is devoured by one of his toad minions
during a freak electrical storm caused by his peutron ray bomb.
9/8/2014 STOP PRESS: The DVD release of 'Seabase Atlantica' has been postponed due to unforseen legal issues with the estate of Irwin Allen.
Seabase Atlantica: The Whole Story
Written by Andrew-Mark Thompson
Based on material originally written and researched by Paul Morehouse and first published in the magazine ‘FanGrok’
With humble acknowledgement to the work of Adam Richards and Owen Richards.
With humble acknowledgement to the work of Adam Richards and Owen Richards.