The Women of Voyage - A Personal Perspective
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| Title: | The Women of Voyage - A Personal Perspective |
| Creator: | Bob Perry |
| Date(s): | 1990 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
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The Women of Voyage - A Personal Perspective is a 1990 essay by Bob Perry.
The topic is female characters in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
It was printed in Up Bubble #7 where the topic of women on board the Seaview submarine was hotly debated. Most fans expressed their dislike and non-support of female characters in this show, citing them a distraction to the male characters doing their jobs, distraction for fans who wanted to see smarm and interactions between the male characters, logistical concerns about housing women on a submarine with men, and general displeasure at female character's personalities and motives.
Bob Perry, a contributor to the letterzine, wrote his essay in defense of female characters on the show.
From the Essay
The show has been criticized as one that did not treat women very well. Personally, except in some isolated cases, I find this criticism to be excessive. I think that such a view has been generally held for such a long time because of the treatment of Lt. Cathy Connors, who appeared in the VOYAGE feature co-written by Irwin Allen and Charles Bennet. Cathy is the most dumped-upon woman in the VOYAGE universe. She was the executive assistant to Admiral Harriman Nelson, and must have been rather intelligent to hold such a position. As an officer in the US Navy, she should have been treated with the proper respect due her rank, but for some reason, this was not the case. Cathy was loyal to the Admiral, but he treated her like a chattel. She followed him around while he basically ignored her (unless he needed a letter typed or wanted an aspirin). Cathy also spent a lot of time massaging the ego of her fiance, Lee Crane. She was constantly trying to talk Crane out of losing his temper and doing something dumb. She even danced for the crew and was sent to her room when the action got too heavy to have a woman around.
[Aside from Conners], I think that women were treated rather well in the series. To illustrate my point, I have selected ten VOYAGE women and and have examined their characters.
1) KATYA MARKOVA ('Jonah and the Whale') - a brilliant and successful scientist, whose character suffers because she's a woman in a man's world. She does have to endure prejudice from the Admiral. If she had been a aan. Nelson would have accepted her attitude as difficult, but from the way he treats her, I suspect that he found her quite bitchy. Of course, she eventually comes around to the Admiral's way of thinking. Result — a godless Communist no more! Despite this, she comes across well enough to be admired.
2) GUNDI ('The Cyborg') — mad scientist Tabor Ulrich's idea of the perfect child-woman. She had all the good human qualities of gentleness, purity, and kindness. Her creator gave her compassion. She was the perfect ideal who was humanized by tragedy. I suspect Ulrich created her as a surrogate daughter. Her demise had a strong impact on me.
3) KATIE ('Time Bomb') - Katie is a top American agent assigned to the Institute. She is cool, confident, and capable. Unfortunately, she does suffer due to Crane's lack of resourcefulness. The best diversion he can come up with is the old 'showing a little leg' chestnut. Except for the embarrassing moment, Katie comes through and is a valuable ally. Too bad she wasn't seen more.
4) MUANA ('The Silent Saboteurs') - she is one of the more strong women characters on show. She is brave and resourceful and admirably completes a dangerous mission begun by her deceased husband. During a lull in the action, Muana has a personality-revealing conversation with Crane. She is one the show's more well-rounded characters.
5) DETTA ('The Mist of Silence') — she is one of the VOYAGE women that I admire the most. She was fearless and a compassionate leader. She hated shedding blood but did so when it was necessary. Unlike her lover Ricardo, she was able to keep a balance between revolutionary idealism and the realities of the real world.
6) LANI ('Return of the Phantom') - Lani was quite a woman even if she did have questionable taste in men. Unlike Kreuger, she had respect for the rights of the living and would not violate them for selfish ends even though it was in her power to do so.
7) JULIE ('The Price of Doom') - Julie is one of VOYAGE'S most deliciously villainous females. She was ambitious and a total predator. Pity the person who got in her way. She had no conscience and no compassion. She met a poetic end and was a joy to behold.
8) ELLEN ('The Ghost of Moby Dick') — she suffers the death of her son with quiet dignity while her tragic husband seeks irrational revenge. She is a tragic figure herself and must suffer her pain alone. I suspect that she may have had a romantic relationship with Nelson in the past.
9) MELINA ('City Beneath the Sea') - Nelson goes the extra yard to prove her 'idiot' father was a man of dignity. For want of a better term she was totally likeable and had a positive effect on the crew.
10) THE COUNTESS ('Long Live the King') - the Countess is an enigma but should not be judged too harshly. From her point of view, she was a patriot trying to free her country from tyranny. Besides, we really don't know what kind of ruler the Prince's father was. Remember that the Countess lived in an Eastern kingdom where women were second-class citizens. She is a misunderstood character.
Fan Comments
I agree with you about Julie. But you left out the spy from 'Time Bomb)'. There's someone who's a double agent who's involved in all sorts of schemes and good at her job. She also outsmarted Admiral Nelson. [1]
Hmmm. I liked your selection of women. I thought they were all intelligent characters except perhaps, Ellen ('The Ghost of Moby Dick'). It's been a long time since I sat through this episode, but I remember not liking her, though it's not really fair to say that because I don't remember her role well enough. Of the "bad ladies" I also liked Dr. What's- her-name in 'Hail to the Chief'. A classic bag, (one of those who slips through security yet again! How do they all do that? Especially in this episode, where we're dealing with the President's life!) and extremely dangerous because she's so unflappable. I love that scene at the end where, they're struggling, and she swings that laser around and it pulverizes everything in its path.
And I also agreed with you on 'The Deadly Dolls'. Fun show, except for the chorusing of "Unlock it, unlock it..." at the end, which makes me want to hide. It's very amusing to picture Richard Basehart taping those lines. My personal favorite is when he visits Nelson in the Flying Sub near the end: "Your craft will hit this ship first. You'll be gone, dead," sudden realization " And so will I! Whoops!" and he vanishes. Love it. [2]
Speaking of women who guest-starred in the series, Robert Perry I very much enjoyed your "Perspective" on the ten. It was nice to hear a man's viewpoint on those particular characters. I hope you'll do more of them — I'd live to hear your view of Dr. Rodchenko from "Hail to the Chief'. I adored her. Such innate sexuality! Did you see that absolutely smouldering look she gave Crane when she first came aboard? Obviously a woman who knew wherein lay her assets; her femininity was a useful tool and she was not averse to using it. This took not at all from her scientific qualifications and achievements. I think she's my current hero.
You mentioned Katie. I loved Katie, too. What do you mean, though, that she suffers due to Crane's lack of resourcefulness? I disagree. That's removing the responsibility of decision from her shoulders and making her nothing but a subservient puppet to Crane — the man. If I recall correctly, what Crane told her to do was to distract them, right? How she did was up to her. And lest we forget, that "old chestnut' worked pretty well — the guards were more than wiling to give up what had probably been a long, boring assignment to make a little time. I liked Katie — she was flip and funny and very efficient all at once — about what you'd expect from an Intelligence agent, don't you think?[3]