Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964–1968): Season 4, Episode 5 - Sealed Orders - full transcript

[ Clicks Teeth ]

Hmm.

This is Nelson.

Ask Captain Crane
to come to my cabin.

Aye, aye, sir.

Sounds like the admiral's
opened his sealed orders.

I'll see what he wants.
Hold the fort.

Mr. Morton,
there's something
you should know about.

What is it?
We're getting a red light
on the E.C.S. board.

And what's wrong with our
Environmental Control System?

I'm not sure, sir.
The problem seems to be
in the missile room.



- Could be a radiation leak.
- You better check it out
and report to me in person.

Aye, sir.
Kowalski, you go with him.

Aye, aye, sir.

[ Knocking ]
Come in.

Sit down, Lee.

Whatever I tell you now
is not to be repeated
outside this cabin.

I understand.
Mm-hmm.

You have any idea
what we're carrying
in missile silo number four?

All I know
is a top-level crew
installed something there...

just before we sailed.
That's all I knew until now.

It's a live warhead,
a neutron bomb.

A neutron bomb?
I didn't know
they perfected those yet.

Neither did I. But right now
we're sailing around...

with the most powerful
destructive force
ever developed.



It's over there.

[ Clicking ]

It's a radiation leak.

[ Clicking ]
From inside.

[ Clicking Continues ]
Let's have a look.

- Hey, it's sealed.
- Sealed?

Maybe I can pry it open.

[ Electrical Popping ]

[ Electrical Humming ]

[ Humming Continues ]
I don't like that sound.

Me either.

Mr. Morton, emergency!
Missile room!

We've got
to deliver that bomb
all the way to Cook Atoll?

Mm-hmm.
By 0700 hours Thursday
without fail.

That's more than
3,000 miles away.

Well, you better
get a move on.
Skipper, this is Morton.

He's here with me, Chip.
Go ahead.

We've got
a radiation leak
in the missile room.

One of our missiles
is going wild.

The one in silo four.

[ Man ]
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Starring Richard Basehart,

David Hedison.

Voyage to the Bottom
of the Sea.

- What happened here?
- Radiation leak, sir.

When I tried to open
the inspection door--
Ah.

This inspection door
is sealed.

It obviously means
it's not to be tampered with.

Sealed?
Why, sir?

There are a lot of questions,
I know, about this new weaponry
but very few answers.

Uh, Kowalski, do you think
that you could bring
the counter over here?

[ Clicking ]
All right. All right,
that's enough.

The radiation's coming
from inside the silo.

Can it be repaired?

Well, I can't even
look for the trouble
with a sealed inspection door,

certainly-- certainly not
without a careful study.

Where is that specialist
in the Pentagon?

I haven't seen him
since we sailed.

Chip.
Neither have I.

All right.

This is Nelson.

Will the Department
of Defense specialist
come to the missile room.

Acknowledge.

Department
of Defense specialist
to the missile room.

Acknowledge. No.

Chip, what quarters
did you assign him?

Number three on "A" deck.
That's right. I brought his
personal gear there myself.

Kowalski, go find him.
Bring him here.
Aye, aye, sir.

[ Humming Continues ]
Is that as dangerous
as it sounds?

Well, it shows every sign
of going critical.

Now, you two go up
to the control room.

I'm gonna be certain we hold
to the course as set.

Keep me posted.
Right.

Chief.

[ Humming Continues ]
Sir?

Remember, this
inspection door is sealed.

Hmm?

Aye, sir.

Admiral, this is Kowalski.

Yes, Kowalski.
Have you located him?

No, sir.
I'm in cabin number three now.

No sign of the technician,
except for his luggage.

Captain Crane is back
in the control room.
Report this to him.

Tell him I want
a search party
to find that technician...

and get him here at once.
Aye, aye, sir.

[ Sighs ]
Um, what's
your name, son?

Jackson, sir.
Hmm.

Jackson, report
to the control room.

- Tell Captain Crane you're
to join in the search party.
- Aye, aye, sir.

Uh-huh.

Admiral, uh,

what if, uh, something
happened to this guy?

What if we
can't locate him?

It could cost the ship
and every man aboard.

Our orders are to hold
on this course...

and proceed for Cook Atoll
at full speed.

We've got to be there
by 0700 hours
Thursday morning.

That's drawing it
pretty fine.
We can do it...

as long as we get
this missile problem
cleaned up.

Excuse me, sir,
but I can't find
that technician anywhere.

And the admiral
wants an immediate
search party formed.

- Very well, Ski.
You take charge of the detail.
- Aye, aye, sir.

- What do you make of that?
- I don't know.

Are you sure
you saw him come aboard?

Positive.
[ Explosion ]

Circuitry room!

Circuitry room!

Circuitry room, report!

What's wrong down there?
Where's the circuitry
room crew?

Somebody's got
to be down there!

Let's go.

Take over, Chip.
I'll see what's
going on down there.

Aye, sir.

[ Explosions Continue ]

[ Explosions Stop ]

Is it okay, sir?

[ Coughing ]
Well, it's under control.

Well, what happened?
What-- What caused it?

The connectors
shorted out.

It's just an--
Just an accident.

A million-to-one chance.

[ Coughing ]

Huh? Lighting control
circuits are blown.

They'll all have
to be rewired.

Yes, sir, but what
I'd like to know is...

what happened to those guys
on the circuitry room watch.

I've been asking myself
the same question.

Give me the name
of every man that was
supposed to be on this watch.

I want
a full report.
Aye, sir.

Skipper. What happened?
How did we go
out of control?

I was just on my way
to find out. Have you
found that technician yet?

No, sir. I've got the search
party organized, and we're
covering this section right now.

Well, find him. That missile
has to be neutralized.

Aye, sir.

Chief.
Sir.

What's the matter with the
circuitry room gang? What took
so long to fix that malfunction?

They didn't fix it.
The admiral did.

He's in there right now
checking the lighting
control circuits.

Ah, very well.

This station's
supposed to be manned.

Well, it wasn't.
I've got the chief
checking into it now.

What's happening
on this ship anyway?

We can't find that technician,
and now the whole circuitry
watch walks off its post.

I think we better call
a meeting of all the ship's
officers in the ward room.

We got to tell them
how vital this mission is.

Yeah. I'll see
to it right now.
Good.

[ Sonar Beeping ]

Course correction. Helmsman,
five degrees right rudder.

[ Beeping Continues ]

Helmsman, when I give an--

Wait a minute.

Sparks, wha--

Chip, I want you to--

Either I've blown my stack,
or the whole control room
crew's gone AWOL.

Come on, you guys. On the ball.
We got a lot of ground to cover.

I said come on.

All right, you guys.
Come on!

Skipper, this is Kowalski.

Skipper,
do you read me?
What is it, Kowalski?

Skipper, you're gonna
find this hard to believe,
but I lost the search party.

[ Clicks ]
Tell him
what we've lost.

[ Inhales ]
Uh, now, look, Kowalski,

exactly what happened?

Well, I'm not sure, sir.

They were following me
down a corridor,

and I went around the bend
with them right behind me,

but they never
came around that bend.

I turned back
to look, and--

Go on.

Kowalski.

Kowalski,
do you hear me?

Kowalski!

Kowalski, do you hear me?
Kowalski!

[ Crane ]
Reactor room, report.

Reactor room.

Sick bay,
this is the captain.

Doc? Do you read me?

Acknowledge.

[ Clicking ]

Attention, all hands.
This is the captain speaking.

If anyone on board
hears my voice,
call the control room at once.

If anyone
on board hears my voice,
call the control room at once.

It's no use.
Obviously, nobody
is going to answer you.

I'm afraid you're right.

But this is impossible.
An entire crew just doesn't
vanish into thin air.

Well, apparently, Chip,
this one did.

Or maybe they all
gathered together
someplace aboard ship,

a mass protest meeting
of some kind.

What? Not this crew.
No chance. I know these guys.

There isn't one man, not one,
who wouldn't carry out
any order you gave him.

- Then where are they hiding?
- All right, all right.
That's enough. Both of you.

That missile's
trouble enough.

Captain, I'd like permission
to go over the ship
from top to bottom.

If there's a single guy
goofing off someplace,
I'll find him.

Might be
a good idea.
Very well, Chief.

Now, keep in close touch
with the control room.
Let me know what you find.

Aye, aye, sir.

Well, fortunately,
the automatic guidance
system's working.

Chip, I want
a 180-degree course change.
We're heading back to base.

Wait. Wait.
Belay that.

We've got to go back.
There's no other choice.

We are staying on the course
for Cook Atoll
at full speed.

Without a crew
and a bomb that might
explode at any minute?

That's right. We're
operating under sealed orders
from the president himself.

I'm going
to read you this.

"The above orders
are to be followed
to the letter...

"in spite of any
or all contingencies.

"All subsequent orders
will be disregarded...

until the mission
is completed."

And with that, gentlemen,
I rest my case.

It doesn't leave much room
for argument, does it?

None whatsoever.
We accepted the mission.
We carry it out.

But we've got a neutron bomb
in the missile room
ready to explode.

- What will happen if you
can't bring it under control?
- If it goes, we go too.

But, sir, if Washington
knew what might happen--

You, uh, heard
the paragraph I just read.

But under
the circumstances, Admiral,

how can you make any sense
out of an order like that?

Quite easily.

As far as I'm concerned,
the moment I broke the seal
on those orders,

the Seaview
and every man aboard
became expendable.

I'm going
to the missile room
to see what I can do.

[ Slow Knocking ]

Who's there?

[ Knocking Continues ]

Come on out. You hear me?
Come on out of there.

[ Knocking ]
I'm warning you.

[ Knocking ]

All right.
I'm coming after you.

[ Knocking ]

[ Electrical Humming ]

- It sounds worse.
- It is. It is worse.

Is there, uh--
Is there any hope
of stopping it?

Well, at this point,
I couldn't even make a guess...

and just-- just wondering
if I dare take the risk
of breaking the seal...

on this door.
Do you think that
might trigger it?

I don't know.
That's the whole point.

I have absolutely
no information on this weapon.

Well, how many
people do have
the necessary information?

Just a handful. And they're
not about to pass it on to me,
if that's what you're thinking.

There's still
one thing we can do.

Fire the missile into the sea
or up into the stratosphere.

It'll explode safely.
No. I can't.

Here. Come over here.

It's on fail-safe.
Mm-hmm.

The missile can be fired
when the president presses
the button and not until then.

Is there any way
to reach him by radio?

Tell him about
the crew vanishing...

and that warhead
threatening to explode.

My orders are explicit
on that too.

We're to maintain
complete radio silence.

Those orders again.
It's like a death sentence.

It may turn out
to be exactly that.

[ Humming Continues ]

[ Beeping ]

Admiral, this
is Chief Sharkey.
I'm in the circuitry room.

Somebody's been here
and soldered the connections.
I was just wondering if--

Admiral, do you read me?
[ Clicks ]

Admiral!

[ Clicks ]
Crew's quarters,
if any of you guys--

Crew's quarters, reply.

Crew's quarters!

♪♪ [ Pop ]

♪♪ [ Continues ]

♪♪ [ Continues ]

♪♪ [ Stops ]

Man, that's hot.

Hot.

They're all hot.

Okay. Now, some
of you guys are here.

Now, come out here
where I can see you.

You hear me? Come out!

Come on out!

Come out! Co--

Come on out!

Come--
[ Grunting ]

[ Grunting ]

[ Sonar Beeping ]

We're holding
our course at least.
Some comfort.

If anything happens to
our automatic equipment,
we're dead.

[ Bell Ringing ]

Obstacle dead ahead.
[ Gurgling ]

[ Gurgling ]

[ Gurgling Continues ]

[ Ringing Continues ]
Collision screen.
Close it.

Hang on.

[ Ringing Continues ]

[ Ringing Stops ]

The board's clear.

That collision alarm
must have been some sort
of short circuit.

Whatever I saw
through that window
wasn't a short circuit.

It must have been
our imagination.
It had to be.

What about
this empty control room?
Is that our imagination too?

No. Chip.

We've got to face facts.

We're in the midst
of a pure nightmare.

We've got to keep fighting.
Yet what are we fighting?
What's the answer?

How many of us are left?
You, me, the admiral, the chief.

Who's going to be next?

Where is Sharkey anyway?
He was supposed to keep
in close touch.

Ah, give him
another few minutes.

Maybe he hasn't found
anything worth reporting yet.

Let's hope that's all it is.

[ Grunting ]

Chief, I need your help.

Come to the missile room
on the double.

Sharkey, can you hear me?

Chief, this is important.
Answer.

Admiral, this is Crane.
I'm in the control room.

Is Chief with you?
No. Chip and I
are here alone.

Well, where the devil
is Sharkey?

Well, he's still
searching the ship
for those missing men.

I need him here. I've
decided to break the seal
on the inspection door,

and we're running
out of time.

I'll come down
and give you a hand.
All right. But hurry.

Chip, uh, can you take
the conn alone?

Well, there's
nothing to do here
but keep from disappearing.

Okay. I'll, uh--
I'll be back
as soon as possible.

Chief?

Chief!

Admiral, the chief
disappeared too.

Are you sure?

I can't find him any more
than I can find the others.

And I just passed
the crew's quarters.
There's been a fight in there.

- What could have
happened to him?
- I don't know.

And I've stopped believing
in what I see.

Chip and I just spotted some
kind of, uh, a nightmarish thing
through the nose window.

And it turned out
not to be there at all.

If only we had time,
time to think, time
to track this thing down.

Now, give me a hand
with the crowbar.

Look, Admiral, you probably
know more about fail-safe
than anyone in the world.

Isn't there some way
we can bypass it?

Well, of course not.
It'd make the whole
concept worthless.

The only thing we can do
is try to deactivate this
in time,

and, frankly, I doubt
if it's possible.

[ Switches Clicking ]

[ Bell Ringing ]

[ Ringing Continues ]

[ Gurgling ]

[ Gurgling Continues ]

[ Ringing Continues ]
[ Gurgling Continues ]

[ Ringing Stops ]
[ Gurgling ]

Skipper, it's starting
to happen again,
the same thing.

I'll get it.

Go ahead, Chip.
What do you see?

Why doesn't he answer?

Chip.
What do you see?

Control room, acknowledge.

What is it, Chip?
What do you see?

- Chip Morton too.
- [ Clicks ]

And that means there's--
there's just the two of us.

Mm-hmm.

Well, they say there's
an explanation for everything,
so there must be for this, but--

But what? What?

The control room's
deserted now.

If anything happens
to that automatic equipment--

I know.
You better get back up there.

Well, what if you
need me here?

I'll let you know if I do.
Go ahead.

I don't know
how long this will take.

[ Growling ]

[ Growling ]

Lee. I've got it open.
I'll need your help now.

Do you read me?
Come down to the missile room
as fast as you can.

Lee?

Lee!

Lee?

Lee?

Lee!

Lee!

Where are you?

Where are you?
What happened to you?

♪♪ [ Pop ]

♪♪ [ Continues ]

♪♪ [ Stops ]

[ Rattling ]

[ Rattling Stops ]

[ Beeping ]

[ Beeping Stops ]

[ Whirring ]

Flying Sub,
who's down there?

This is Nelson. Reply.

[ Whirring Continues ]

[ Gun Cocks ]

Who's down there?

Come out and show yourself.
Do you hear me? Come out!

Lee.

No. No. Lee.

[ Mutters ]

Where were you?
Why didn't you
answer the intercom?

[ Man's Voice ]
Admiral Nelson.

Admiral Nelson!

Admiral Nelson.

Admiral Nelson?

[ Groans ]

Kowalski.
Yes, sir.

Are you badly hurt?

No. No. No, no.
I'm not hurt at all.

Are you sure
you're okay, sir?

Yeah.
How did I get out
in this corridor?

I don't know, sir.
I just found you
lying here on the deck.

Hmm.

- And where have you
been all this time?
- Me, sir?

Well, I've been looking
for somebody, anybody.

Till I came on you lying here,
I thought I was the only one
on board.

[ Chuckles ]
So did I.

Well, at least
there are two of us left.

I need your help in the missile
room. There's a warhead there
that has to be disarmed.

It could go off
at any minute.

- What's happened
to us, sir?
- [ Chuckles ]

Believe me, Kowalski,
I wish I knew.

[ Groaning ]

What was that?
I don't know. It came
from this direction.

[ Groaning ]

Hey. Chief. Chief.

Chief!
[ Groaning ]

Oh, Admiral.
Am I glad
to see you.

What-- [ Groans ]
What is this, some--
a dream of some--

some kind of nightmare
or something?

I wish it were
as easily explained
as that.

What-- What happened here?

We thought maybe
you could tell us.

I-- I don't know.
I-I-I-I-I don't seem
to be able to remember.

Sir, what's wrong
with me?

We all seem to be
on the same kind
of fix, Chief.

There's some kind
of strange force here that--

[ Morton ]
This is the exec
in the control room.

Can anyone on this ship
hear my voice?

If you can,
answer immediately.
That's Chip.

Can anybody in this ship
hear my voice?

This is the exec
in the control room.

- Chip, I hear you.
- Admiral, where are you?

I'm in the crew's quarters.
I found the chief and Kowalski.
They're here with me.

Well, where were they?
What happened to them?

That's the same question
they've been asking me.

Where's the skipper?
I haven't found him yet.

Now, what's your trouble?

I'm getting a danger signal
from one of the panels.
I can't figure it out.

Could you take
a look at it?

I haven't got time.
I've got to get back
to the missile room.

This may have something to do
with the missile down there.

All right. I'll come up
and check it out. Hang on.
Aye, aye, sir.

What was that?
For a minute
I-I-I couldn't move.

I felt like I was
walking in a dream.
Yeah. Me too.

It's happening to all of us.
It's just another nightmare
to add to our collection.

Come on.
We've got to help Morton.

[ Thud ]

Admiral. It's you.

All right,
let him up.

I didn't know who it was.
I swear.

Well, obviously.
Who did you
think we were?

Not who. What.

It-It-It was terrible,
nightmarish.

I-I-I must have gone
completely out of my mind.

Well, you seem to have
a lot of company.

Now, come on.
Let's get up
to the control room.

[ Sonar Beeping ]

What is it, Chip?
The warning system lights.

Everything
looks normal to me.
Well, that's just it.

Before I called you, sir,
I was getting a definite
alert signal.

Right after that,
it disappeared.

That's the only part
of what's been happening.

I don't know how to say it,
but I think I'm going over
the deep end.

Hmm.
Well, one way or another,
it's happening to all of us.

There's just
no explaining it.
I'm not so sure.

I think I could take
a pretty good stab
at explaining it.

Excuse me, Admiral,
but how could
a whole crew disappear?

They couldn't, Chief,
obviously.

Yes, sir,
but-but they did.

All you have to do
is look around
the control room, sir.

If they aren't here,
where are they?
I think I know what you mean.

We're seeing things
that aren't really here.

Mm-hmm. Or vice versa.

And maybe that neutron bomb
isn't even down there
in the missile room.

Yeah, I think that's the root
of all of our problems.

Our troubles started
when we detected
a radiation leak.

Now, I'm sure that
there's a leakage of some kind
of undetectable gas...

that has a psychedelic
effect on the mind.

[ Beeping ]
There it is again--
the warning light.

[ Beeping Continues ]
Missile room, silo four.

The warhead is
definitely going to blow.

How much time
do we have?
About two minutes.

There must be a way
to get rid of that missile,
fail-safe or no fail-safe.

[ Sharkey ]
Admiral, look!

It's activated.
We can fire.
If there's time.

[ Rumbling ]

We ran out of time.

It can't reach
a safe altitude
before it explodes.

Hmm. A "well done"
from Washington.

Seems our mission
was successful
despite the malfunction.

We reached
the proper coordinates, and
the missile exploded safely.

Well, that's nice to know.
Now if they can only tell us
what happened aboard Seaview.

They can, and they did.
Oh?

They were monitoring us
by telemetry.

They didn't know about the mass
hallucination aboard, but
they did spot the malfunction.

That's why the president
released the fail-safe...

and allowed us
to fire the missile
before it exploded aboard.

Now, suppose the president had
waited just a few seconds longer
before he made his decision?

Well, we wouldn't be here
discussing it now, would we?

Yeah, we live in a world
of split-second decisions.
Mm-hmm.