n 1961, Irwin Allen released a science-fiction film called Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. The film is about a sleek submarine, the modern height of scientific achievement, which some call "Nelson's Folly" after its creator, Adm. Harriman Nelson (played by Walter Pidgeon). Confidence in the expensive venture is low in Congress. During a three-day radio blackout as the ship dives under the North Pole, the sky is set aflame. The Van Allen belts have been ignited by a meteor shower, endangering all life on Earth. The Adm. suggests that a nuclear missile fired into the belts would deplete the flame, but U.N. scientists disagree. Nemo-like, the Adm. defies orders and takes the Seaview on a mission to put out the fire and save the world.
In 1964, Allen brought the adventures of his nuclear submarine to the small screen in a TV series that ran for four seasons. Though it didn't have the film's well-known cast (the Adm. was now played by Richard Basehart), the show was a success, despite its often cheesy effects and creature costumes. While it did feature some bizarre monsters and situations, the show had a lasting charm that still captures interest today. As with many science-fiction shows of the time, the vehicles and sets shared star status with the actors using them. The Seaview, with its highly useful onboard flying submarine (whose flying sequences were actually quite realistic), undertook many undersea adventures, to the delight of the audience.
Polar Lights has made a name for itself by reissuing replicas of model kits originally produced by Aurora in the 1960s and 1970s. The box art for this Polar Lights release of the Seaview is taken from the first issue of the Aurora model, and the model is a reproduction of that popular kit. The box has a small oval window revealing the black plastic parts inside.
An atomic adventure under the sea
Polar Lights' model kit comes molded in black, and includes 20 parts. The kit is considered suitable for ages 8 to adult, and is a fairly simple model to build. The hull is made from two halves, with a bottom piece. Fins and exhaust tubes, rudders, diving planes and the conning tower make up the majority of the parts. The kit includes a three-piece ocean-floor base with a Seaview name plate. The front window panel is the only part molded in clear plastic rather than black.
The Seaview, which is military gray in the show, will need to be painted to become an accurate depiction of the unusually shaped submarine. Fortunately, for most modelers, this is a fairly simple task, as the number of parts is not daunting. Oddly, however, the instructions claim the Seaview should be painted blue without specifying the shade.
The simple construction is outlined in clear instructions that take you from start to finish in very few steps, but the charm of this model is partially in its simplicity. There is little need for this model to be much more complex unless it had moving parts or a detailed interior. Yet some may disagree, as hard-core modelers like a challenge, and this model kit would hold very little challenge for them.
While the kit is a nice one, and is gratefully geared both in difficulty and price toward the young who were the target audience for the show, it has some drawbacks. Modeling the kit in gray or light blue would have saved some young modelers the difficulty of painting the submarine. To achieve a good finish, spray paint is almost essential, which may be beyond the capacity of some of the younger kit modelers. Also, sadly, this model does not include the wonderful flying submarine as a companion piece.
