The Seaview comes face to face with a long dead U-boat Captain seemingly still on patrol...
While mapping the sea-floor the crew of the Seaview detect a large wreck and stop engines close by to take a look (their first mistake). The wreck is that of a first world war U-boat - U 444. The model effects are superb here! The wreck is brilliantly depicted festooned with corrosion and has a gaping hole in one side... Nelson is interested in the wreck and wants the position marked so he can return at a later date. Suddenly Seaview loses all power and is dead in the water...all the control room equipment has also given up the ghost (no pun) If that was not strange enough the wreck of the U-boat slowly starts to rise from its resting place and comes level with the helpless Seaview's observation windows! This would be unnerving enough but then Riley suddenly picks up a sound coming from the U-boat.... Richard Basehart delivers the line "a sound from a dead ship" in such a way to give you chills. The hulk then disappears in a cloud of bubbles and a clearly unnerved crew resume their duties. Director Sutton Roley used extreme close ups and brilliant camera angles which really made this scene a winner.
The run of unexplainable happenings carries on occurring when first Nelson finds out the U444 was sunk no where near the position they found her and then a lone survivor is discovered drifting miles from any shipping lane.... The man is brought to the conning tower hatch and once again another clever use of angles and lighting is used. Crane and Morton are looking up at the Stranger when all of a sudden, the main lighting goes out and the red emergency light kicks in...this happens all while we are looking at the ship wrecked survivors face staring down into the control room from above.... very eerie. The lone survivor introduces himself as Captain Krueger and claims his freighter was rammed and sunk by the same U-boat the Seaview witnessed. (for some reason Nelson and Crane think this ridiculous even though they had witnessed the same hulk) Alfred Ryder who plays the part of Krueger is brilliant here, he is creepy but polite, sinister but friendly - very well done. Nelson and Crane don't really buy into Krueger's story all that much and they extend him every courtesy but still place a guard at his cabin door.
The rest of the episode is a war of wills, Nelson vs Krueger. Krueger confides to the Admiral that he wants him to shoot Crane so he can take over his body and live again - sounds naff but it is well played out. Krueger bides his time and sets about unnerving the crew by appearing and disappearing at various times, he also changes the controls and puts the Seaview off course. Another mournful scene comes when the crew think they have killed Krueger and set about burying him at sea... it's an eerie little service with swirling fog and a chilling wind (you end up longing for scenes like this by season four!)
The end comes when Krueger boards his ghost U-boat and starts an attack run on the Seaview, it's very well done and the end is both touching and a little creepy!
Top notch work here, the model U-boat is great, the directing is spot on and makes brilliant use of the regular cast and guest star. Ryder would return in the sequel to this episode (plus another outing in a different role) I have never been that keen on the sequel - simply because it takes things away from this episode. If you're looking for a great season two episode with superb acting and a decent story then look no further!
While mapping the sea-floor the crew of the Seaview detect a large wreck and stop engines close by to take a look (their first mistake). The wreck is that of a first world war U-boat - U 444. The model effects are superb here! The wreck is brilliantly depicted festooned with corrosion and has a gaping hole in one side... Nelson is interested in the wreck and wants the position marked so he can return at a later date. Suddenly Seaview loses all power and is dead in the water...all the control room equipment has also given up the ghost (no pun) If that was not strange enough the wreck of the U-boat slowly starts to rise from its resting place and comes level with the helpless Seaview's observation windows! This would be unnerving enough but then Riley suddenly picks up a sound coming from the U-boat.... Richard Basehart delivers the line "a sound from a dead ship" in such a way to give you chills. The hulk then disappears in a cloud of bubbles and a clearly unnerved crew resume their duties. Director Sutton Roley used extreme close ups and brilliant camera angles which really made this scene a winner.
The run of unexplainable happenings carries on occurring when first Nelson finds out the U444 was sunk no where near the position they found her and then a lone survivor is discovered drifting miles from any shipping lane.... The man is brought to the conning tower hatch and once again another clever use of angles and lighting is used. Crane and Morton are looking up at the Stranger when all of a sudden, the main lighting goes out and the red emergency light kicks in...this happens all while we are looking at the ship wrecked survivors face staring down into the control room from above.... very eerie. The lone survivor introduces himself as Captain Krueger and claims his freighter was rammed and sunk by the same U-boat the Seaview witnessed. (for some reason Nelson and Crane think this ridiculous even though they had witnessed the same hulk) Alfred Ryder who plays the part of Krueger is brilliant here, he is creepy but polite, sinister but friendly - very well done. Nelson and Crane don't really buy into Krueger's story all that much and they extend him every courtesy but still place a guard at his cabin door.
The rest of the episode is a war of wills, Nelson vs Krueger. Krueger confides to the Admiral that he wants him to shoot Crane so he can take over his body and live again - sounds naff but it is well played out. Krueger bides his time and sets about unnerving the crew by appearing and disappearing at various times, he also changes the controls and puts the Seaview off course. Another mournful scene comes when the crew think they have killed Krueger and set about burying him at sea... it's an eerie little service with swirling fog and a chilling wind (you end up longing for scenes like this by season four!)
The end comes when Krueger boards his ghost U-boat and starts an attack run on the Seaview, it's very well done and the end is both touching and a little creepy!
Top notch work here, the model U-boat is great, the directing is spot on and makes brilliant use of the regular cast and guest star. Ryder would return in the sequel to this episode (plus another outing in a different role) I have never been that keen on the sequel - simply because it takes things away from this episode. If you're looking for a great season two episode with superb acting and a decent story then look no further!
