City Beneath the Sea was a rather cheesy affair that hearkened back to Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and likely would have delivered a very similar type of show.
What Is It?
City Beneath the Sea takes place in the year 2053 and centers around the undersea city named Pacifica. The pilot film delivers a mostly action-adventure romp that involves an attempt to steal the U.S. gold reserves which have been moved from Fort Knox to Pacifica. Subsequent adventures would likely have followed a similar action-oriented focus, concentrating on the inhabitants of the underwater city and the struggles they faced.
Aired: NBC, 1971
Created By: Irwin Allen
Starring: Stuart Whitman, Rosemary Forsyth, Robert Colbert, Burr DeBenning, Robert Wagner
Why Didn’t it Fly?
Back in the 1960’s, producer Irwin Allen was king of cheesy sci fi with four separate series that aired from 1964 to 1970: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, Time Tunnel, and Land of the Giants. Shortly after the last of those shows went off the air, Allen took a shot at another sci fi entry and headed back underwater like his first series. He originally did an hour-long pilot which had a different story and was set in 2068. Nothing came of that, but he was given the greenlight to do a two-hour telefilm which aired as a movie of the week. That apparently did not pull in high enough ratings to justify what would certainly be an expensive show to produce, and NBC did not order it to series.
Would It Have Worked as a Series?
It might have been interesting to see where the series would have gone and they could have possibly tied it to Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as existing in a future version of the same world (Richard Basehart guest-starred in the movie but not as Admiral Nelson, plus the movie borrowed the flying sub from the series). However, while Voyage started out with a more serious action-adventure tone before descending into high camp in its later seasons, City already had a head start on the camp angle. With Allen heading the show, it would have likely quickly morphed into tales of the arch-villain/sea monster of the week ravaging the Pacifica.
But for fans of Allen’s particular brand of sci fi, the pilot is probably worth checking out as a hold-over from the same style of show he did in the ’60s, leaning closer to the camp of Voyage and Lost in Space as opposed to the more straight-forward adventures in Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants.
Where Can You Watch It?
The television movie has been released on DVD by Warner Archives and is worth a look for some retro-sci fi fun from a simpler era. It is also streaming for free (with ads) on Amazon FreeVee service.
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