User Reviews

The Flying Sub, containing Admiral Nelson and Commander Van Wyck ( Warren Stevens ) streaks through a stormy sky. Four ships have vanished mysteriously without trace in the same area. Finding nothing, the Admiral is keen to return to the Seaview, but Van Wyck becomes adamant that they continue searching. Suddenly, they spot an ancient rigger, and it opens fire. The craft swoops down and lands near an uncharted sub-tropical island.

They find Dutch writing on the wall of a cave, and narrowly avoid being killed by a booby-trap. The last person to enter was not so lucky, His skeleton is nearby, the rib-cage containing an ornamental dagger. As soon as Nelson removes it, a booming voice tells him that he has evoked an ancient curse.

Returning to the sub, Nelson sees that the crew have been transformed into skeletons...

A retelling of 'The Flying Dutchman' legend. The Dutchman was, you may recall, a seaman whose bad judgment resulted in the deaths of his crew and whom was forced to sail the seven seas for all eternity. Here its Commander Van Wyck who is in this position, and must remain so until he can find another to take his place. Guess whom he has in mind? This was Warren Stevens' third 'Voyage' appearance, the other two were in Season 1's 'The Saboteur' and Season 3's 'The Day The World Ended'.

New footage of The Flying Sub's retractable arms was employed here for the first time, and would be reused ( like all of Allen's S.F.X. sequences ) in later episodes. But it is the scene with the skeletons on the bridge of the Seaview that is the most memorable.

The luckless crew of the Seaview find themselves caught up in the curse of the flying Dutchman...

This episode starts with the long-suffering flying sub being brutally attacked by scary looking orange lightning. Onboard Admiral Nelson and a navy commander called "Van Wyck" are on a scouting mission to find out why several navy ships have disappeared without trace in the area. Nelson has to deliver a mini karate chop to Van Wyck to calm him down and prevent him seizing the controls in a panic...however things soon take a dangerously bizarre twist (naturally) when the pair of them see an ancient square rigger floating Infront of them - which wastes no time in downing them with cannon fire!

After the opening credits Nelson and Van Wyck wake up and discover all controls dead and the radio not sending (as normal) However...even more mysteriously there seems to be an uncharted island close by. Nelson decides to get his rubber raft out and investigate, after a little scoffing about what use looking over the island would be Van Wyck agrees and gives a sinister smile...(surely this week's guest star isn't going to turn out to be a villain?) The island quickly gives up its dark little secret in the form of a small cave with a written curse at its portal- conveniently discovered by Van Wyck. Once inside the Admiral almost gets his Barnet parted permanently by a sword booby- trap that falls from the ceiling. A chilling discovery then comes in the form of a cobweb festooned skeleton complete with a dagger in its ribs- again conveniently pointed out by Van Wyck. Nelson (never one to be superstitious) pulls the dagger from the skeleton and in doing so becomes the recipient of a curse delivered in a disembodied voice! The pair quickly leave the cave as a sudden rock fall threatens to entomb them.

Back on the shore Van Wyck starts to humour Nelson and deny anything other than a slight rock fall took place. Nelson decides to hold onto the dagger and surmises one of them is losing contact with reality and then curtly announces they are heading back to the flying sub. After oddly discovering the radio and all equipment is now in good order Nelson radios in his findings and then heads back to Seaview.

Ok, the next scene (in my opinion) is in the top 10 voyage moments) Nelson climbs up the ladder from the flying sub birthing area and is traumatized by what greets him. The whole control room crew are now either represented by skeletons or have been turned into them! There they sit and stand at their posts... to make matters worse the red emergency lighting is on which only adds to the eeriness. Soon Nelson is backing up in disbelief but a bony hand on his shoulders has him spinning round and promptly passing out when confronted by a skull staring at him!

The rest of the episode plays out with the Seaview and its crew labouring under the curse of the Flying Dutchman. At first Captain Crane thinks Nelson has gone off his rocker and cancels several of his orders to contact the outside world. Van Wyck has fixed the controls so Seaview will sail in a giant circle until the end of time - as he puts it. The chief discovered this when he catches him fiddling about with the controls in the circuitry room and gets himself clobbered (naturally the circuitry room was unlocked and unguarded as usual) Eventually Crane believes Nelson after he himself sees the square rigger flying Dutchman through the periscope just before getting attacked by it! In the midst of being thrown about and the ship in danger Crane tells Nelson they should go to his cabin and talk it over (any Captain would go for a chat at a time like this yeah?) Crane gets more proof Nelson wasn't fibbing when he gets "taken over" by the dagger and tries to stab Nelson with it (naturally) A classic voyage stunt-double punch-up is soon in full swing and just when Crane seems to be winning the chief just happens to enter into the rumpus and starts attacking Crane (again naturally)

Things end up on the ocean floor as Nelson decides to embark on a deep dive in the bell. Obviously, he decides to go alone even though he knows a lunatic ghost is after him. Predictably the cable snaps and Nelson is left low on air and stranded. Van Wyck decides to keep him company and appears beside him. Here we learn that Van Wyck is the original first- mate of a ship that sailed hundreds of years ago called the "Amsterdamer", after he and the other crew mutinied and took the Captain to the cave on the island they stabbed him with the dagger and received a curse from the Captain's dying breath..... The only way Van Wyck can be free from the curse is to pass it onto someone else, but that person had to have been to the island and removed the dagger from the skeleton of the Captain.

Eventually the diving bell's cable is retrieved thanks to some really cool mechanical grab hands in the flying sub that are adroitly worked by the chief. Once safely back in the missile room there is another huge rumpus, despite Van Wyck being susceptible to karate chops on two occasions in this episode curtesy of Nelson (who else) he now seems to have gained the strength of 10 people! Van Wyck eventually falls on his own dagger during more of the Seaview being thrown about by turbulence after a missile was fired at the island. Van Wyck himself returns to a skeleton and the danger is over.... until another guest star turns up next week!

A really good season four-episode (as they go) Warren Stevens as usual is brilliant, although he is given little to work with, he still makes Van Wyck as believable as possible...for voyage! I enjoyed this take of the "Flying Dutchman" story or legend? It was refreshing to have a guest star onboard Seaview who did not want to take over the world, wasn't an alien or after nuclear weapons! Van Wyck simply wanted to free himself from the curse and disappear to wherever murdering first-mates go to! The idea of the Seaview becoming the new "Flying Dutchman" if he had been successful with his plan was thought provoking! Let's forget about how a man who lived hundreds of years ago could impersonate a modern navy commander and be sent on search mission....hmmm Enjoy.