Irwin Allen’s Flight 612

Just got back from a most wonderful and inspiring 2 day getaway, our trip involved a visit to the Performing Arts Archives to see “The Irwin Allen Papers”…as well as a tour of Warner Bros. studio…first up, was an appointment with the UCLA library to go through about five boxes of material covering Irwin Allen’s big four, we went through a ton of paper! and found a lot of very interesting info.

Our first box, was Land of the Giants “The Crash”, and we discovered a lot of interesting little facts about the production costs, script revisions, miniatures/Bill Abbott and much more!

An interesting note to Bill Abbott, for the sequence with the Spindrift in space, it mentions to have the space ship travel from left to right, don’t lurch it, then do lurch it. Use big half planet cut out with fog for approach.

Gary Conway’s Steve Burton profile was mentioned also,-Dark, Handsome, Affable, reasonably modest six footer in his late twenties.

Apparently, Nathan Juran was contracted to direct episode 1 and 3 of LIS and LOTG as of June ‘67, but Irwin changed the contract to direct himself…also, storyboard sketches had a giant cat claw through the rear cabin of the Spindrift, as well as Steve battling a giant Tarantula!

Budget overages, pointed out, that shooting went over by 10 days due to script revisions, materials, and stenographic labor increased. Lots of very interesting story boards, pre-production art, wages, and notes were in the file.

A final shot in the pilot shows Major Kagen’s tape recorder on the ground, a note states to get the actor’s voice on tape. This was bumped, because they decided to move “The Weird World” episode (the second one filmed) until several episodes later.

We were amazed at the effort that went into this pilot, but it really shows well…amazing special effects, gorgeous sets, great action, effective Directing by Irwin Allen (with very interesting camera angles) and all around perfect “Mood” setting, (you really had the feeling of SCOPE) it really felt like a GIANT and alien world, the characters were all solid, along with a good script…what a ride!

Time Tunnel “Rendezvous with Yesterday” was next, and quite interesting to say the least, production sketches showing the opening sequences were very interesting…filmed out in Coyote Dry Lake in Barstow, the scene in which the Senator and Robert Colbert (en route to The Time Tunnel) drive through the desert and disappear down below the surface is actually a hole/ramp dug in the desert! (miniatures were considered) but Irwin knew what he wanted!

Another very interesting notation was characters that were considerations, for “Ann” Joan Marshall and Barbara Bain were runner ups, as well as Barry Atwater for “Dr. Swain”, and for “Althea”, Juliet Mills or Samantha Egar, for the part of “Senator Clark”, Carol O’Connor, Henry Jones and J.D. Cannon were all considerations.

The elaborate sets for the Titanic had a budget of $10,000, and was very well executed, the pilot really plays more like a movie, than a T.V. show, beautifully produced and photographed and excellent Directing by Irwin Allen.

Some of the story ideas noted 1956, 1927, 1863, 200,000 B.C….and under the “Standards and Practices” caution was noted, that the prehistoric Reptile might cause nightmares in “next weeks Adventure”

Perhaps the most interesting find was several Polaroid Pictures, for continuity purposes, among them were shots of Dennis Hopper (Actually in the pilot, but cut due to running over time) he played the part of a masquerading woman, who tries to get aboard a life boat.

Another fun piece of trivia was the hotel Irwin and the crew stayed at, “The Desert Inn” in Barstow for the filming of the opening…Irwin’s room was Suite 23…as a side note we checked around on the internet and found that it’s still there!

Part 2 will cover LOST IN SPACE & VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA…

Lars & Cynthia

One year prior to Irwin Allen’s foray into the Sci-Fi/Fantasy and special effects genre, he produced a wonderful movie called The Big Circus…released in 1959, it had all the marking’s of an “IRWIN ALLEN PRODUCTION” action & spectacle, vivid production values and big scope!

Irwin was sort of a modern day Cecil B. Demille a real showman, and what better way to show this than “The Big Circus” after all the approach was similar in almost all his productions, an all-star cast, lots of excitement, sabotages, tragedy, and people “rising to the occasion”.

Big Circus marked Irwin’s first association with costume designer Paul Zastupnevich, who’s loyalty would last for over thirty years!

The movie was based on a screenplay by Irwin & Charles Bennett, who also collaborated on the “Voyage” ‘61 movie. A great all-star cast with Victor Mature as “Hank” Whirling and sister Kathryn Grant - “Jeanne” the secretary, Rhonda Fleming as the press agent, and the great Peter Lorre as the clown.

The story opens with an introduction to Red Button’s Mr. Sherman character sent to over see the budget. Things get under way, but there’s a little problem, apparently Whirling has a saboteur in his employ, and for six years at that!

Enter “Bormon”, Whirling’s arch rival, who wants to be the only game in town!

He offers to buy out Whirling…but he certainly won’t hear of it! So, “Tommy” played by David Nelson the unknown sabatour on board the train, currently on tour cross the country, and connected with Bormon “arranges” a train wreck leaving Whirling’s circus to travel by elephant, horseback and foot but, the show must go on!

Facing bankruptcy, Hank comes up with the idea of having Zach Colino played by Gilbert Roland to walk the tight rope over Niagara Falls - thats it, that will put us back on the map! And it does…he makes it!

And so the troop is invited on “The Steve Allen Show,” if he can’t bring the people to the circus, why not bring the circus to the people. Hank Whirling is paid $200,000 from United Broadcasting for the performance, bringing back the Whirling Circus stronger than ever!

This movie really conveys the spirit of most of Irwin Allen’s work. Grandeur, people in jeopardy, and then rising to the occasion bigger, better, and stronger than ever. Irwin’s theme seemed constant through the Sci-Fi/Fantasy years-and through the “Disaster years”.

The video is quite rare, and hard to find, but if you come across a copy and you haven’t seen it, definitely check it out! you’ll be quite amazed at all the familiar names and themes.

Huge Seaview Submarine PREORDER by Moebius Models

This model kit is now available for Preorder at Megahobby.com.  The Seaview if  from Moebius Models.  39″ long and based on the television series sub, with 4 windows in the bow and the Flying Sub bay. Details will include a Flying Sub, Diving Bell, detailed control room. The kit may even include small scale figures. Box art will be by Polar Lights favorite Chris White.

Huge Seaview Submarine PREORDER by Moebius Models

Just completed this wonderful figure of Judy Robinson (Marta Kristen), the figure is even approved by Marta! with her signature cast on the base…very cool! and also, the classic Aurora (Polar Lights) Robot. The figure is resin and produced by Jimmy Flintstone, when I first saw it, I knew I had to build and paint it…it represents the spirit of the show, and the 1960’s-the caricature element is obvious, but really suggests the fun and colorful side of Lost in Space !

I decided to paint her in the colorful third season violet & yellow scheme, even though the dress is more of the second season cut & design, I went with more of the mood and “feeling”of the show in general.

The majority of the figure was airbrushed in acrylics, and details hand painted…the robot was mostly airbrushed as well, using Floquil “Old Silver” and Modelmaster enamels. Much time was spent on the arms and tracks cleaning up the seams and filling gaps. This old Aurora kit (reissued by Polar Lights) is still very cool, and a classic!

This little vignette will make a nice addition to the Irwin Allen collection, its amazing how much interest after forty plus years there still is…models, figures, ships and merchandise continues to come out and more on the way !

A nice addition to our collection this Christmas, was this great German program from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.  It appears to have been a hand-out at the theatre back when the movie preimered.

We found it interesting to note how Walter Pigeon and Joan Fontaine are depicted on the cover..  Miss Fontaine is leaning on Walter Pigeon’s shoulder, suggesting some romance maybe? However, anyone familiar with the movie knows there’s nothing going on bettween the two of them, in fact Joan Fontaine is the villian!

Great graphics, and images we have never seen before, it’s also interesting to note how the women on the Seaview are very present in the layout.

Its quite amazing how bright, clean, and futuristic this science fiction classic looks after 47 years, Irwin really was ahead of his time, what a visionary!

This was a great collectible find ( or I should say present ) from this Irwin Allen classic!

The many incarnations of the Irwin Allen ships have continued to appeal to modelers for over 40 years. Aurora plastics were the first model company to release model kits based on the Irwin Allen shows, these kits have remained sought after all these years.

I think a lot of the appeal is the designs….they were truly timeless shapes, if fact they almost seem more real than the real thing in some ways, take for instance the Seaview, what a cool design ! if you look at a modern sub, it almost doesn’t seem as real ! I do like the shapes of WW II submarines though, they seemed to have more shape and form.

In the 80’s Lunar Models filled the void left by Aurora and Monogram and released almost everything from all the Irwin Allen shows, including accesorie sets, figures and more, I got every kit as it was released back then, and still couldn’t get enough !

Polar Lights revieved the Aurora craze by reissuing many of the classic early kits, and some originals such as the Jupiter 2 ( a beautiful rendition w/ full interior ) and a Dr.Smith with the robot also very cool!

Now Moebius Models has taken the torch, and is releasing a 49inch Seaview ! complete with interior, Flying Sub and more ! they have also anounced a Lost in Space Chariot, and Space Pod in 1/24 scale…A great scale, not too big or too small . www.moebiusmodels.com

A tip of the hat must go to Irwin’s art directors Jack Martin Smith, Bill Creber, and the great Paul Zastupnivich , to name a few, for being true visual geniuses, good design never gets dated.

You may remember us from many years ago when we ran Over Land Sea Space and Time. Through that fanzine we met hundreds of really great Irwin fans. Since then times have changed (thank heavens) and we no longer have to run off Xerox copies of a paste up to spread the good word. Now we have websites and blogging.

So, long over due, but we’re finally going to put up our Irwin site dedicated to the man, the myth and all the cool collectibles we’re finding thanks to eBay! (Again, technology rules.)

Stay tuned, we’re working on it as fast as we can (and we don’t have a Time Tunnel to speed up the process.)

Cynthia and Lars