MovieChat Forums > Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964) Discussion > What year was this show supposed to have...

What year was this show supposed to have taken place in?


In the opening scenes of some episodes, the year was superimposed over the opening shots of the Seaview in the water(usually looking up at the ship from below). Does anyone remember the year, in the future, this series was supposed to have taken place in? I seem to remember it was 1974. Am I correct in this assumption?

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That's about right. If I recall correctly, the first season episode "Hot Line" was set on May 27th, 1973.

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Cyborg has the date of 1984 on it. So, if you look at the episodes (tho continuity wasn't the best thing here), the time frame was around 73 to mid-80s.

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I seem to remember an episode that mentioned 1973. Even more amazing thing is, in the episode the crew are listening to a report about how the New York Mets have won the World Series! Remember, the episodes were shot in the mid-60s, when the idea of the Mets winning the World Series were about as fantastic as...well, you get the point.

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An episode featuring Albert Salmi started out with a fierce 16th century sea battle with pirate ships, then flashed forward to the "present" year as shown in a superimposed title: "1978." (Salmi played the pirate and his supposed descendent). Reference: Season 2, Episode 21, broadcast 13 February 1966.

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There was definitely an episode where '1978' appeared.

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Dead Man's Doubloons states 1978 at the beginning.

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Same for The Peacemaker.

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The first season episode "Hot Line" was set on May 27th, 1973. - alpha128 (me)
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I remember 1978 and later episodes said 1982. - Roving_Mob
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Yes, they jumped around the '70s. - CaptGage


I recently started watching Season 2 right here on the IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057798/episodes#season-2) and see what you mean about jumping around the '70s. "...And Five Of Us Are Left" begins on November 16, 1973, consistent with the continuity of the first season. "The Peacemaker" is set in 1978, while the very next episode, "The Silent Saboteurs" takes place two years earlier in 1976! It seems like they suddenly stopped caring about continuity.

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I just watched the season 4 volume 2 set, and at least two episodes said "1982."

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For a series that ran 4 years, the action depicted supposedly takes place between 1972/3 and 1982 or 1984 depending upon episodes. I know the b&w year 1 episodes had the date of '72 or '73 being mentioned and/or superimposed over the picture. So a time-frame of approximately 10 years has elapsed for the crew of the Seaview!

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^^^The dates really mean nothing in VTTBOTS. Since season 2 had back to back episode with a two year gap. Far as Im concerned 4 years passed. I dont think the writers ever really could nail down a year when the series really took place, so each writer just made up a time frame with each episode.

Regardless it doesnt bother me. Still love the show.

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Maybe they thought there could be a Submarine like that by then .

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apparently time consistency wasn't big in the 60s...at the beginning of each Star Trek episode the "star dates" were basically random...I've read a number of quotes from Gene Roddenberry & several of the writers that nobody kept track or cared; they just stuck numbers in.

Maybe back then they thought nobody would notice that sort of thing in those 'science fictiony' shows

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I guess the idea was "it's the future". So to jump around the 1970's on a show that made little sense anyway doesn't really matter.

And continuity? Hah! Every time another sub was featured in an episode, the interior always looked like the Seaview. They just used the same set and said what the hell, a sub's a sub, right.

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Well, the episode "Hail to the Chief" (episode 16 of the first season) opens with a shot of a secretary writing on a desk diary dated June 24, 1973.

(Incidentally, she writes that the the helicopter on that date will be ready at 10:04. Try not to be late!)

I'm not sure Irwin Allen cared much of a fig for continuity, though...

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I'm watching ...And Five of Us Are Left, and a TV announcer says it's 1973.



This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.

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I'm watching "The Deadliest Game" right now, and Crane just said "1978".

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I'm just a patsy!

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The exact date given is July 14, 1978.

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In the first series it wan't superimposed but often referred to verbally as 1973. The later series had the superimposed numbers, commonly 1978 in the second seriss. I remember after that it went as far as 1981. As a litte boy when first watching it, years like 1981 were miles in the future, or seemed like it!

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As someone previously stated, the years arn't really that important. It was just supposed to convey 'this is the not so distant future'.

You also have to remember that none of the people had DVDs or video's back then so there wasn't anyone constantly viewing past episodes. (Though you'd think the writers would have had a timeline.)

He who fights and runs away, lives to run away again!

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The fact that a number of episodes begin with a specific year shown in boldly at the beginning and the fact that they never use the same year and sometimes even seem to jump back in time to earlier years seems to suggest that some of the writers might have been making an inside joke, or maybe just testing to see if IA ever noticed or cared. (Obviously, IA never noticed or cared.)

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"The Sky's on Fire" from Season 2 says "1978" at the beginning.

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This morning on MetV I saw the beginning of "And five of us are left" October 3, 1965.

It began with a US submarine being attacked with depth charges in 1945. And then it cuts to a tv news program saying there is evidence some of the crew of the lost sub are still alive 28 years later in November something, 1973.

And I think several other persons have mentioned that in earlier answers.

One could think of all the episodes happening in different alternate universes from other episodes. The producers found a few dozen exciting events - out of no doubt millions of alternate universes - to depict in various episodes.

So the episodes might not be produced or broadcast in chronological order, because they don't happen one after another but are selected from different alternate universes.

And when a crewmember sees something weird in an episode, the characters all think he is sewing things. They don't remember other weird things which turned out to be real in various episodes, because those episodes were in different alternate universes and hadn't happened to the characters in that episode's universe.

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And in the early morning of February 12 , 2023 MeTV had the episode "The Machines Strike Back" from December 12, 1965. And the opening scene had "1976" superimposed.

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