Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Annual [1967]

[1966] Annual. Original price 10/6.
96 pages. Full colour contents.
World Distributors (Manchester) Limited.

Based on the US television series starring Richard Basehart and David Hedison.

Cover photographs by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

Contents:

 2 UNTITLED endpaper; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

 4 Indicia

 5 Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Annual title page; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

 6 Contents illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

 7 The Kingdom of Davy Jones text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

23 The Statue Makers text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

31 Robinson Crusoe of the Depths w: UNKNOWN (uncredited)); a: Alberto Giolitti (uncredited).

r: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (Gold Key) #04 (May 1966).

60 The One That Got Away text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

71 Vanderdecken Sails Again text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

81 Trapped in Lost Atlantis text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

94 UNTITLED endpaper; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

This is painful. With such a rich variety of unexplored locations to set stories in, and so much of the planet covered in water, it is expected that the author of these stories might have decided to have some fun, taking the vessel to uncharted depths, creating unique and interesting problems for the characters to think their way out of, but that isn't the case. Tired, worn out references are the first indication that the stories are aiming squarely for pulpy, rehashed dreck. Davy Jones? Robinson Crusoe? Atlantis? Check, check, and check.

Narratives set underwater are open to a multitude of possibilities, and yet there are no risks taken - even ardent fans of the (mediocre) television series, approaching the title with expectations of the same quality of storytelling, are likely to be underwhelmed with the contents on offer.

If the author couldn't be bothered with a simple non-fiction feature, what was the point of snagging the license?

There are hundreds of mythical sea creatures which should have been considered, some truly terrifying in concept, but the sea-life on display is hokey, unimaginative, and entirely ridiculous. A giant green beach-ball with spindly tentacles? That's as terrifying as an average episode of Rainbow. World had, elsewhere, provided some great reference on prehistoric sea-life, and I wouldn't have complained one iota had that merely been reprinted here, though even reused elements are missing.

Facts about the sea in which the story takes place is, likewise, entirely absent, even though including such detail would have raised the sense of danger in which the characters are journeying in. Had the readers been informed of decompression sickness, the temperature of the sea, or even how dark things get, a mere few metres beneath the waves, then the sense of the vessel, and its occupants, being in considerable danger every step of the way might have been presented. As it is, the adventures might as well have taken place in a yellow submarine.

I expect at the very least a feature on Athenian ships, with Thucydides mentioned one (at the bare minimum), a feature on the different kinds of ships used throughout history, different names for familiar items (Kellick being an anchor, for example), and a quick recap of great literature set on the seas. Moby Dick, the most non-fictiony fiction ever fictioned, would have slotted in perfectly had the notion to include something of merit been considered for even a minute. There isn't even a playfulness in naming ships, such as including a vessel called Acushnet. I want to hurl this annual across the room with force, so limited is its imagination.

A terrible waste, which manages, miraculously, to make the television series appear to be high quality, entertaining, lavish, and intelligent in comparison.

Praise Tangaroa that there are only two of these annuals...

Here is the rock that strands me now;
With one side or the other it must come to war.
That's as sure as a ship's hull pegged tight.
Nowhere do I see safe, untroubled harborage.
                                  Aeschylus.

"The sea can wash away all human ills."
                                  Euripides.

Voyage to the Bottom
of the Sea Annual

[1968]