Main Characters suffer from too much angst!

I've found the crux of the problem with CBTS.

All of the main characters lack charm, warmth and even the slightest bit of humor. For the most part Stuart Whitman prances around barking orders to others with a look on his face like he's constipated. His old friend's widow, played by the stunningly hot Rosemary Forsythe goes through almost the entire movie whinning and bitching about how the Admiral (Whitman) ordered her ex out on a routine flying sub mission that got him killed. Robert Wagner is the only one really giving a solid performance in this movie even though prod/dir Irwin Allen had to go and give him the 'Butch Cavendish' treatment with a mustache so that the audience can immediately id him as the bad guy. The Admiral's second-in-command, 'Woody' (maybe he can't get one -- thus his problems), played by Robert Colbert is a stern almost robotic character who goes around with a chip on shoulder since he was supposed to be Pacifica's leader/mayor/whatever-in-charge until the Admiral was called back to take charge because of his prior expertise in running the city. I liked Dr. Aquila, played by relative newcomer (at that time) Burr DeBenning, but he too is kinda stiff and reserved (not sure if Irwin & Co. did that deliberately to make him a new kind of Spock-like character, in this case being half-human, half-fish).

By far, CBTS is one of Irwin's most adult-themed sci-fi projects, but unfortunately due to the above mentioned limitations with the characters the film is best enjoyed for it's superb special-effects, miniature work and elaborate set decorations and/or reconstructed former 'Lost in Space' or 'Time Tunnel' props).