The most successful of Irwin Allen's big scifi productions, it ran for four seasons and at its best offered exciting drama and eye-popping special effects. (At its not best it had some pretty silly episodes.) Voyage had basically one musical theme over all four seasons, but there was one special exception, and the visuals and the theme were touched up from time to time. Here you will get a comprehensive rundown of the many Voyages you will experience in this video:
• Season one: Black and white open and close. The great theme by Paul Sawtell is introduced.
• Season two: Now in color, Voyage opened with a spectacular episode wherein a giant whale swallows up Admiral Nelson et al who are exploring in a diving bell. The Seaview sends a crew inside the whale (!) to rescue them. It looks like they spent a fortune on props and effects, but the inside of the whale was made from props created for 'Fantastic Voyage' where people were shrunk and sent inside a human. To open the season they got one of the top composers to create a new theme. Jerry Goldsmith's music is imposing and scary. It may fit this episode but it's a little bit of a downer to hear every week. By the next episode the old theme was back, but Goldsmith's scoring lived on in many episodes thereafter when the mood called for doom. Closing credits image for season two is a shot of the flying sub.
• Season two after episode one: The full color open and close now with Paul Sawtell's music (Goldsmith's closing credits music lingered for a show or two before it left).
• Season two starting with The Peacemaker: New opening credits with a circular motif inspired by the sonar screen.
• Season four starting with Rescue: A new open using a freeze frame and then drawing the sonar motif over it. The arrangement is a bit more assertive, ending with four decisive notes instead of dying down. The end credits image is an artist's painting of the Seaview (this actually began in season three).
Enjoy this voyage into Voyage, which is sorely overdue for Blu-Ray release.