User Reviews

With its move to Sunday nights opposite WALT Disney, it became obvious, as the 2nd season of VOYAGE progressed, that Irwin Allen & Co. had decided that the show was best targeted at children. Plots were rid of adult situations and moral complexities in favor of simpler fantasies. By season 3, VOYAGE was basically reduced to monster-of-the-week. Ah, but this sequel to THE PHANTOM STRIKES! was a last nod to more nuanced fare.The episode is not only scary, but heavily flavored with a fatal romanticism. Not only does it feature David Hedison's most interesting performance in the series, but one of Richard Basehart's, too. Hedison expertly expresses Kreuger's long-denied hunger for his lost love. Basehart shines when Nelson,the supreme rationalist, faced not only with having shot his friend Crane, but witnessing the latter's possession by Kreuger's ghost, practically suffers a nervous breakdown. It's strong stuff for VOYAGE, far stronger than anything in its remaining seasons. And hooray for Vitina as Lani: incredibly just about the very last speaking part for a woman in the series!

The Return of the Phantom stands out from all the Voyage episodes in the mixture of fantasy, sci-fi, horror, murder and the occult. From the extra long intro before the opening credits, you can see the Seaview submarine floating in an eerie sea of swirling fog, the cold wind blowing the uniforms of the crew as they bid adieu to Capt. Kruegar. Then, after going below deck we get to see an authentic "Richard Basehart moment"-he becomes somewhat "mad" as he escapes the haunted laboratory. (At one time in his career, Mr. Basehart feared being typecast in such roles). Next..the opening credits, afterwards, under the credit cards of the guest star. Is the always fantastic view from under the Seaview(Season 1, colorized-I know) but always a memorable scene. Imagine being under the sea and seeing such a sight! Now-on with the show. Other reviewers have described the plot, so I need not. I want to highlight the camera work and the music. NUMEROUS closeups, especially of Admiral Nelson were done-all with great care and set-up. Take it from me, you don't do close-ups too often as the lighting, angle, makeup, hair, even the sound-all need to convey the moment perfectly---and they do. Much production time is used for these. This is what I think stands out the most..the various images of Admiral Nelson in terror of the supernatural, fear of murdering his best friend and trapped in the cloak of a straight-jacket--- thought of as mad. Then jump to the haunting scene of Capt. Kruegar actually enveloping the body of Capt. Crane in sick-bay. The scene can be described as unique, supernatural, even erotic(although you would never think of this in 1960's tv). Fortunately, and as always, Admiral Nelson finds where the re-incarnated Kruegar has gone and dispatches him to a "Flying Dutchman" fate with his mate--and Capt. Crane is returned to his former self. The tribal music on the island stays like an "ear-worm", and after the destruction of the island, it is the music that wraps this episode as FS-1 heads to Seaview. A fine, memorable end to Season 2. Flaws, yes...as in all of Irwin's projects. But please look beyond the inconsistencies and see the images, music and thought that went into this memorable episode.

The unmittigated nerve of some people. I don't think I've ever seen anyone pull quite the stunt this episode does. This ISN'T a sequel. This is the 2nd half of what I believe was written and filmed as a 2-part story, but split up, slightly re-written, and broadcast as 2 separate episodes, 9 weeks apart. WHAT-THE-HELL! It doesn't have a satisfying finale, because the satisfying finale was at the end of the other episode. Clearly, this entire episode, is supposed to take place, not after that episode, but in the middle of that episode, before Krueger had his sudden epiphany and realized it was a mistake to ever want to live on again in the modern world.

Alfred Ryder "returns" (more or less), crazy as ever, and David Hedison does a fabulous job playing Alfred Ryder as Krueger, slipping into a slight German accent in the 2nd half. It reminded me of "Turnbabout Intruder" when William Shatner was playing Kirk possessed by an insane woman. Richard Basehart, I've read, was once afraid of being typecast playing unhinged insane characters before VOYAGE came along, and here he gets a chance to do it again.

Lani-and the lookalike dancing girl-were played by Vitina Marcus, who later played Lorelei / Athena in those 2 infamously-bad LOST IN SPACE episodes. (Remember how I said I was really enjoying even the really stupid ones? Well, her 2 episodes were among the very few I had real problems with, even now. HAH!!!) Crazy enough, the classic season finale, "Follow The Leader", where John was possessed by the spirit of a long-dead warrior, aired a few weeks AFTER this one.

One of the most outstanding things about this episode was the work of director Sutton Roley, who had a way with unusual camera-angles and dark shadows unlike just about anyone else who ever worked for Irwin Allen. Among his LOST IN SPACE episodes were "One Of Our Dogs Is Missing" and "The Anti-Matter Man". He only did 3 VOYAGE episodes, including both halves of this bizarre 2-parter. A pity he didn't do more!