According to John Burlingame's excellent liner notes, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was the longest running and most successful of Irwin Allen's TV shows. Strangely, I don't ever recall having seen it on UK television - although I assume it's been shown - but it doesn't have the same nostalgic appeal of Lost in Space. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was in fact based on a film, which would perhaps explain why no updated film version has been produced, although I wouldn't rule it out happening eventually. The benefit of course being that movie budget sets and effects could be recycled for a high quality show and it certainly looks to have been one of Allen's most serious and passably realistic concepts.

The original film was scored by Paul Sawtell and so the composer was asked to write music for the pilot episode, Eleven Days to Zero. Sawtell isn't well known now, but he had collaborated with Allen numerous times previously on various feature films. The album opens with Sawtell's rousing Main Title, a brisk fanfare that became the series signature tune. His underscore is some of the best featured in an Allen show, with plenty of harps to represent the ocean in a Bernard Herrmann, Beneath the 12 Mile Reef type way. His action is also satisfying, most notably in the exciting Squid Fight. Hmmm, submarines and squid fights, how original... The chilly Solid Ice adds a little wintry bleakness.

I suspect that most collectors will be after Jerry Goldsmith's contribution to the episode Jonah and the Whale, which was, for some reason, the only episode not to use Sawtell's main theme. Goldsmith's is brooding and dangerous; more appropriate perhaps, but it doesn't suggest the same sense of adventure. Unlike John Williams' somewhat unexciting TV efforts, Goldsmith's effort is much more imaginative. Clearly creating fantastic musical soundscapes for The Twilight Zone taught him a lot and so he employs a low brass, early synths and percussion, much in the manner of Bernard Herrmann, to keep the momentum going and actually provide a genuinely dramatic musical backdrop.

Of the Irwin Allen TV scores currently available, this probably represents the most imaginative, even if it is the shortest. The sound quality also seems notably improved, particularly with Goldsmith's rasping brass sounding very clearly. Early Goldsmith does seem to be more interesting than early Williams, maybe the latter just needed a large cinematic landscape to find his muse, whereas Goldsmith can be inspired by much less. However, that is not to overlook Sawtell's efforts which are just as enjoyable as Goldsmith's. Plus, any album with a picture of a very young Jerry Goldsmith has got to be worth a look.

This album is also available as part of The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen boxed set and can be purchased here.

Rating ~

1. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Main Title (Paul Sawtell) (0:29)
   Suite from Eleven Days to Zero (Paul Sawtell)
2. Murderous Pursuit (2:54)
3. Ocean Floor Search - Squid Fight (5:34)
4. Solid Ice (1:48)
5. Lost - Job Well Done (3:35)
6. End Title (The Seaview Theme) (0:40)
   Suite from Jonah and the Whale (Jerry Goldsmith)
7. Jonah and the Whale Main Title (0:30)
8. A Whale of a Whale - Thar She Blows - A Whale of a Time - The Second Dive (4:23)
9. A Meal Fit for a Whale - Crash Dice - Sub Narcotics (4:18)
10. Collision Course I & II - Diving Party - Going Down (4:44)
11. Home Free Part I & II (3:58)
12. Jonah and the Whale End Credit (0:50)

Total Time ~ 34:03