Basically, this episode of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" is about a Middle-Eastern mummy run amuk on the Seaview. Think of the Mummy from the Universal Pictures' franchise and you'll have an accurate idea what is causing all the trouble onboard the ship. Apparently, this Mummy who is a dead ringer for the Universal mummy exerts strange, psychological powers because he has members of the crew do his evil bidding. Of course, no thriller would be as thrilling if some kind of deadline were imposed on the narrative. According to Admiral Nelson, the Seaview is on a secret mission to deliver a 3-thousand year old mummy on display in an American museum to help defuse the threat of war in the Middle East. Nelson believes if they can deliver the artifact in a timely manner that it could allay any war. I'm not sure if delivering this mischievous mummy is a good idea, because it wrecks havoc aboard the Seaview. If you're counting, one crew member is killed by the mummy in the flying sub chamber. Meantime, this creature who is definitely wrapped too tight lets all his other antagonists off the hook. They receive numbing blows or he emanates some psychology power over them and they do what he wants them to so as to throw a wrench into the time deadline. Of course, it is all nonsense, but what else would you expect from a mummy aboard the Seaview. The mummy looks really cool with his age-old linen wrapping. Mind you, doesn't have the power of speech (his tongue was removed in the movies) but he can growl ominous when the occasion calls for it. This is one of those shows where they play head games with David Hedison's character, so that he is under the influence of the mummy and commits acts of sabotage. At one point, the Seaview scrapes bottom and a repair team are dispatched to fix the hull.
3 Reviews
Starring The Stock Movie Music And The Mummy
StuOz10 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Another pleasing William Welch script where reality (a Middle Eastern mission, Crane gets sick) gets mixed with fantasy (a Mummy walks the Seaview) and the end result is an eight out of ten show where the stock music score takes almost centre stage! The highly regarded Voyage/Sea fan - Mark Phillips - has no time for this episode at all but another highly regarded fan - the late Mike Bailey - agrees with me about the score giving this hour a huge lift. Whenever The Mummy appears on the screen we get this so perfectly matched music playing over The Mummy footage, I would even go as far as saying that this episode should be played at film-making school as a prime example of how important music is to film.
No reason is given as to why The Mummy came to life and you can thank Irwin Allen, not William Welch, for that. I read that Irwin had a stock-line he gave to writers: "Let us not waste time trying to explain things we can't explain". You are so right, Irwin! An eight out of ten show.
No reason is given as to why The Mummy came to life and you can thank Irwin Allen, not William Welch, for that. I read that Irwin had a stock-line he gave to writers: "Let us not waste time trying to explain things we can't explain". You are so right, Irwin! An eight out of ten show.
Malicious Mummy Makes Mincemeat of Monroe
adm-harry-nelson14 October 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Ya gotta hand it to the writers here - why write an overly complicated plot when you can stick to the basics instead and make it work? That's why this one gets a 10 rating from me.
The basics are; (Spoiler!) a mummy jumps out of his box and strangles everybody.
And I mean everybody. Del Monroe (Kowalski) gets it. As does the Captain. At one point there's a strange scene in the sick bay with everybody stretched out and Admiral Nelson and the Doc shaking their heads. That mummy keeps popping out. They don't know why. It's never explained, and I mean AT ALL! And how the 3000 year old mummy knows about nuclear sub wiring rooms?!? Never explained. At the very end Nelson looks right at the camera and sort of shrugs when asked to explain. "Heck" he shrugs, "It's the 60's."
Hey, here's my favorite part - at the end they channel the entire output of their nuclear reactors into this one steel cable. And CHIP is STANDING ON IT! No kidding, he's one tough guy.
Tough? That's nothing. The mummy has superhuman strength, even though he drags his foot a lot. He can actually pull a steel door (locked by Sharkey, I saw him do it) that's gotta be rated at 8793 tons per sq. inch right off its hinges, and that's a first here on the ...
good ship Seaview.
The basics are; (Spoiler!) a mummy jumps out of his box and strangles everybody.
And I mean everybody. Del Monroe (Kowalski) gets it. As does the Captain. At one point there's a strange scene in the sick bay with everybody stretched out and Admiral Nelson and the Doc shaking their heads. That mummy keeps popping out. They don't know why. It's never explained, and I mean AT ALL! And how the 3000 year old mummy knows about nuclear sub wiring rooms?!? Never explained. At the very end Nelson looks right at the camera and sort of shrugs when asked to explain. "Heck" he shrugs, "It's the 60's."
Hey, here's my favorite part - at the end they channel the entire output of their nuclear reactors into this one steel cable. And CHIP is STANDING ON IT! No kidding, he's one tough guy.
Tough? That's nothing. The mummy has superhuman strength, even though he drags his foot a lot. He can actually pull a steel door (locked by Sharkey, I saw him do it) that's gotta be rated at 8793 tons per sq. inch right off its hinges, and that's a first here on the ...
good ship Seaview.
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