History Series / VoyageToTheBottomOfTheSea

* AdaptationalBadass: The Admiral Nelson of the movie never sees any physical action. The Admiral Nelson of the series saw his fair share of fistfights, shootouts, espionage field work and running away from (and blowing away) monsters.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: The Admiral Nelson of the movie was an InsufferableGenius that edged enough on TheNeidermeyer that an important plot point is people within his ship (especially the movie version of Crane) actually hoping that his theories were wrong. The Admiral Nelson of the series is a pretty serious example of AFatherToHisMen.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: The Admiral Nelson of the movie was an InsufferableGenius that edged enough on TheNeidermeyer that an important plot point is people within his ship (especially the movie version of Crane) actually hoping that his theories were wrong. The Admiral Nelson of the series was a pretty serious example of AFatherToHisMen.

* SpotTheImpostor: Comes up during "The Silent Saboteurs". Crane is leading a mission into the Asian jungle to foil a plot against the American space program. He's supposed to rendezvous with a Major Li Cheng, but two agents (a man and a woman) show up, both claiming to be Cheng! Which one is telling the truth? [[spoiler: Neither one, because the real Cheng is dead. However, the woman is working with the Americans, while the man is a traitor.]]

* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: How "The Peacemaker" starts. Scientist Everett Lang helps an unnamed Asian nation (which is ''probably'' not RedChina) develop a "proton bomb" that could destroy the world, reasoning that the country'sPremier will be able to force the world to make peace. Once the job is done, the Premier declares that any peace will be on ''his'' terms, then has Lang and his assistants machine-gunned because [[HeKnowsTooMuch they know too much]] and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness are no longer needed]]. Lang somehow survives and immediately decided to go back to the West.

** "Doomsday", from the first season, sets the year at 1973.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Everett Lang from "The Peacemaker". After the MistreatmentInducedBetrayal incident, he helps Nelson retrieve and disarm the proton bomb... or at least, he pretends to. What he actually does is make himself the ''only'' person who can detonate the bomb, then demands that every nation disarm its nukes within 24 hours or he'll use the proton bomb to destroy the planet. After the situation is resolved, Nelson says he hopes Lang will be judged for his methods, but not his goals.

* WhyAmITicking: The premise of "Time Bomb". American intelligence sends Nelson on a mission to confirm that the Soviet Union is storing illegal nuclear materials. However, the whole thing is a setup; a FemmeFatale DoubleAgent has secretly injected him with cesium, so he'll set off an explosion as soon as he's close enough to the radioactive stuff. This will trigger a nuclear war between America and Russia, leaving Red China (the instigators of the EvilPlan) in a position to be the last superpower standing and TakeOverTheWorld. Can Crane, a female American agent, and the femme fatale (whom they're forcing to help them) find Nelson in time to warn him?

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''Series/SeaQuestDSV''.

* WhyAmITicking: The premise of "Time Bomb". American intelligence sends Nelson on a mission to confirm that the Soviet Union is storing illegal nuclear materials. However, the whole thing is a setup; a FemmeFatale DoubleAgent has secretly injected him with cesium, so he'll set off an explosion as soon as he's close enough to the radioactive stuff. This will trigger a nuclear war between America and Russia, leaving Red China (the instigators of the EvilPlan) in a position to be the last superpower standing and TakeOverTheWorld.

An [[WagonTrainToTheStars aquatic]] [[RecycledInSpace recycling]] of ''Series/WagonTrain'', it preceded ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' by two years. Compare with its SpiritualSuccessor ''Series/SeaQuestDSV''.

* BlobMonster: In "Cradle of the Deep", Dr. Janus is a well-intentioned scientist who puts the ''Seaview'' at great risk as part of an experiment to create life from inorganic matter. All he gets for his trouble is a glowing, pulsating blob whose uncontrolled growth puts the ship in further danger. [[spoiler:In the end, he helps Nelson destroy the creature -- [[HeroicSacrifice at the cost of his own life]].]]

A 1964-68 Creator/IrwinAllen SciFi show starring Richard Basehart as Admiral Harriman Nelson and David Hedison as Captain Lee Crane, and set on the experimental nuclear-powered research submarine, ''Seaview''. The ultimate use of the RecycledScript: almost every episode can be summarized as "MonsterOfTheWeek is defeated by [[RayGun Laser Of The Week]]." The first season, filmed and broadcast in black & white[[note]]except for the pilot, which was filmed in color[[/note]], featured more serious and thoughtful stories, along with a greater UsefulNotes/ColdWar emphasis. When the series [[UsefulNotes/SwitchToColor switched to colour]] starting with the second season, it was used as an excuse for a big dramatic storyline during the switch, and the introduction of a new version of the ship.

* OceanPunk: The oceans are another Cold War battlefield, and if it's not spies it's monsters, aliens, spirits, science run amok or oceanic versions of the NegativeSpaceWedgie.

* FishPeople: Not surprisngly, the crew of the Seaview encountered them occasionally.

* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti: The titular monster from "The Abominable Snowman" seems to be a straight example at first, but turns out to be [[spoiler:a human scientist who's somehow been turned into a murderous mutant by his own WeatherControl experiments]].

** However, the Admiral turns the tables with a side order of XanatosSpeedChess. Nelson's next plan is for the captives to create primitive bombs to blow up Schroder's operation. But then, we learn that [[spoiler:Schroder has anticipated them again because one of the prisoners is a traitor who de-activated the bombs! Fortunately, Nelson has already seen through the traitor and re-activated his bomb. Bye bye, Schroder.]]

* FishPeople: Not surprisngly, the crw of the Seaview encountered them occasionally.

** FishPeople: Unfortunately, her companion turns out to be a ''Film/CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon''-type humanoid monster who wreaks havoc aboard the Seaview.

Based on [[Film/VoyageToTheBottomOfTheSea the 1961 film]] of the same name, in which our heroes defeat a [[GlobalWarning global heat wave]] (caused by the then recently discovered Van Allen radiation belt [[HollywoodScience catching on fire]]) through DeusExNukina. No, seriously. The movie's storyline was later on recycled as a series episode titled "The Sky's On Fire", complete with copious amounts of StockFootage from the motion picture.

* ReplacedTheThemeTune: Like ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'' decades later, the series had a different theme tune on exactly ''one'' episode - Music/JerryGoldsmith scored the season two opener "Jonah And The Whale" and wrote his own rather more serious theme to replace the brighter Paul Sawtell one. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kgMx0ib5YQ You can hear both themes here.]]

* AloneWithThePsycho: "The Human Computer" takes advantage of this trope to deliver a BottleEpisode with a MinimalistCast. The ''Seaview'' is chosen for the trial run of a computer that will run the sub automatically. Crane is supposed to be alone on board, but a Soviet saboteur has stowed away with orders to steal the computer's secrets -- and also kill Crane and MakeItLookLikeAnAccident so the Russians won't be held responsible for an act of war. Most of the episode consists of Crane and the spy stalking each other throughout the ship.

** However, the Admiral turns the tables with a side order of XanatosSpeedChess. Nelson's next plan is to create primitive bombs to blow up Schroder's operation. But then, we learn that [[spoiler:Schroder has anticipated them again because one of the prisoners is a traitor who de-activated the bombs! Fortunately, Nelson has already seen through the traitor and re-activated his bomb. Bye bye, Schroder.]]

** Nelson is kidnapped by a group of [[ThoseWackyNazis latter-day Nazis]], who have been grabbing geniuses and [[DeathFakedForYou faking their deaths]] because their leader, Schroder, wants to TakeOverTheWorld and use his captives as the basis of a new MasterRace. Nelson gets the other prisoners to help him build a [[MacGyvering MacGyvered]] telegraph so he can send the ''Seaview'' their location. Unfortunately, this is [[AllAccordingToPlan just what Schroder wanted]], since his ''real'' plan is to capture the ''Seaview'', use its nuclear missiles to start WorldWarIII, and create the FourthReich out of the ashes.