Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea DVD

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is a 1960's television series that was based on a movie that aired in 1961 by the same name. They were both created by Irwin Allen. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was broadcast on ABC from September 1964 to March 1968. There were 110 episodes produced in total. Thirty two of them were produced in black and white (1964-1965) and 78 were filmed in color (1965-1968). Seasons one and two took place in the futuristic 1970s. Seasons three and four took place in the 1980s.

The series takes place on a futuristic nuclear submarine called the Seaview. It is based in California and the submarine is often anchored 500 feet beneath the ocean in a secret underground rock cavern. Its secret mission is to protect the earth from extraterrestrial threats and attacks but it's also used for undersea marine research. The major members of the crew are the designer and builder of the submarine Admiral Harriman Nelson (Richard Basehart), and Commander Lee Crane (David Hedison), who becomes the Seaview's Captain after the murder of her original commanding officer.

Season four was shown originally in September of 1967 through March of 1968. Season Four, Volume two contains thirteen episodes from December 31, 1967 through March 31, 1968. Season Four, Volume two was released on DVD on January 11, 2011. Special features include original unaired pilot and broadcast pilot with vintage television commercials. There are 663 minutes worth of programming on this DVD set.

The episodes from Season Four, Volume two have been digitally remastered so the appearance sort of reminds me of the Planet of the Apes or Star Trek television series. It still has a great vintage feel to it that will appeal to fans of the original series. This is science fiction the way it should be when the story could be carried by the plot and the acting and not by the amazing special effects.

My very favorite episode is The Return of Blackbeard when Edward Teach himself appears on board the Seaview and starts to kidnap the crew members in an attempt to take control of the submarine to use it as a pirate ship and capture King Solomon's Golden Throne. In his wake as he takes each member he leaves a glowing red Jolly Roger burned into the floor.

This is great old fashioned fun for the family with no worries about content or inappropriate language. There's enough action to keep even the most jaded teen interested in the movie and it's family friendly enough to be suitable for younger children. As an adult, I enjoyed the trip back down memory lane to when I saw these episodes originally.

My thanks to the sponsor for allowing me to review this DVD.

As required by the FTC: I received a product sample in order tow rite my review.  I received no monetary compensation. All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.

Article first published as DVD Review: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Season Four: Volume Two on Blogcritics.

Boathouse Detectives DVD

Seven year old Anna McKenzie lives with her evil stepmother. She over hears her stepmother making plans to send her away to boarding school and her dog off to the pound while she goes to the French Riviera. She plans on using Anna's inheritance to live a wealthy life without having to care for Anna.

Anna writes a letter begging her help and ties it to a helium filled birthday balloon and sets it free outside a third floor window with a hope that it will reach her grandmother. The balloon and the letter is actually discovered floating in a pond by ten year old Gage Harris. He gathers all his friends together and using clues they try to find Anna and reunite her with her grandmother before her stepmother sends her away to Europe to boarding school.

Gage and his friends try to use clues like a partial address on the envelope, the size of the dog based on his paw print, Anna's name, etc. to figure out who she and her grandmother are. They enlist the help of one of their friends who is a girl and she manages to convince the local genius kid to help with the clues.

In the meantime, Anna's grandmother is trying to get custody of Anna back. However, Anna's evil stepmother is fooling around with the lawyer who handled the paperwork for Anna's inheritance and custody and they've faked the papers to show that Anna's stepmother has custody when she doesn't.

This is a great family adventure. The movie is high energy with lots going on and it will keep your child's attention easily. Because it's Dove approved, there is no reason to worry about sex, language, drugs or anything else that might be inappropriate for children. Definitely a fantastic family movie.

Boathouse Detectives stars Ella Harris (Dangerous Parking), Mason Johnson (The New Twenty), Oscar Hoggan, Cameron Phelts, McKenzie Richard, Stacee Riekhoff and Darren Ewing (Mischief, Unacompanied Minors). It is being released March 15th by MTI Home Video and is Dove Family Approved 5 out of 5!

My thanks to the sponsor for allowing me to review this DVD.

As required by the FTC: I received a product sample in order to write my review.  I received no monetary compensation.  All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.

Article first published as DVD Review: Boathouse Detectives on Blogcritics.