Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

[YankeyMCC]

Hi all,

I watched some of this old SF movie with my son last night. I remember I used to love the TV show based on this movie as a kid, watching it in reruns.

The premise is pretty neat and I seem to remember the science presented in the TV show to be better than what I saw in the movie. I've seen bits and pieces of the movie before but never really paid much attention or watched as much as I did last night in one sitting.

Not only was the science in the movie horrendous but as I watched I got sick at the apparent political message that could've been written by the weasel Rove himself!

It presented the UN as ineffectual and even dangerous. The US Admiral "scientist" knew better than the worlds best scientific minds convened by the UN. Action was of course required (no less than sending a Nuke at the burning Van Allen Belt :puke: ) but the UN scientist presented a plan of waiting, based on what even in this silly scenario probably was a more realistic plan actually, but the point was that the UN would "wait" and even "interfere" with the US plan of acting.

And of course negotiation was out of the question...either accept our plan or we act alone! Was basically the Admiral's response.

And of course they had to have a foreigner aboard the sub that presented a target of ridicule and symbol of "evil" - ie working against or at least holding ideas contrary to the admiral and captain.

Maybe my memories of the TV show are just rose colored by innocents of youth because as my son demonstrated by his reactions it is a cool premise and even the (by today's standards) effects are exactly the sort of thing that can elicit a 9 year old imagination.

[qnr]

1. I've never seen the movie. In fact, it came as a surprise to hear that

there had been one (although I'm sure that I've heard of it sometime in the past and have just forgotten).

[ThoughtCriminal]

2. In 1962 they actually did "nuke" the belt

In 1962, the Van Allen belts were temporarily amplified by a high-altitude nuclear explosion (the Starfish Prime test) and several satellites ceased operation.

Which is interesting since the movie was in 1961.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Allen_radiation_belt

Irwin Allen's movies and TV shows never did pay much attention to actual science. Maybe there should have been a disclaimer: "These are not real professional scientists. Scientists - DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!"