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"Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" The Price of Doom (1964)

Top-flight season one outing from Harlan Ellison., 22 November 2006

Author: seaview2 from United States

Arctic scientists inadvertently expose a newly discovered deep-ocean plankton to heat and light at their arctic base, and the stuff grows wild, killing them. Alarmed by the unexpected silence, Nelson drives Seaview toward the Arctic base with Dr. Reisner and his associate Dr. Julie Lyle on board. Reisner has high hopes that plankton can help feed the world's starving populations. Opposing Reisner is Phillip Wesley, a representative of the big corporation that laid out the money for the research--he wants results that pay dividends. When things go amiss, Nelson concludes there's a spy on board and it has to be one of the three.

Harlan Ellison was dissatisfied with the treatment of his script for "The Price of Doom," so it was credited under his pen name Cordwainer Bird. Picky, picky! As with this episode, Voyage's first season produced numerous thoughtful, well written and acted hours that resonated similarly to first-season classic Outer Limits episodes. There might be a bear (monster) on the loose, as in this episode, but it wasn't the point of the show. The human story was the essence of things. Not only had writer Ellison scripted for "Limits," but this episode's director, James Goldstone, helmed several "Limits" outings. As science fiction chronicler Mark Phillips has pointed out, "The Price of Doom is classic Voyage.

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