Mania Grade: A
Reviewed Format: Plastic Model Kit
Manufacturer: Polar Lights/Playing Mantis
Retail Price: $17.99

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SEAVIEW SUBMARINE

This year Polar Lights is finally fulfilling its long-unspoken promise to get to the bottom of the well of feverishly-desired and long-unavailable Aurora kits from the '60s, and three of these major releases have the name "Irwin Allen" all over 'em. Polar made a killing in the past few years not only reissuing a couple of classic Aurora kits from Allen's TV series LOST IN SPACE, but also releasing the first ever model of the famed Jupiter 2 spacecraft from that show. But Allen's two other hits, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA and LAND OF THE GIANTS, have gone unrepresented in model kit form since the last reissue of the old Aurora Flying Sub kit by Revell/Monogram a few years ago.

Aurora's kit of the submarine Seaview from VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA was one of the company's first science fiction kits and remains one of the most popular and sought-after of the '60s releases. The Seaview was originally designed and built for the feature film VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA in 1961, and Allen adapted his feature into a television show in 1964, capitalizing on the impressive sets, miniatures and special effects footage still available from the feature. The show ran for four years on ABC and for many years held the record as the longest-running non-anthology science fiction program on network television. It was also known as one of the most ridiculous genre shows ever made, with a format that practically defined the term "monster of the week." Nevertheless, the show was a success because it aired just as color televisions were becoming popular, and its vivid miniatures and underwater special effects sequences were a ball to watch on the big, cabinet-style TV sets of the era.

Aurora's Seaview kit was a big seller when it was first released, this despite the fact that it wasn't terribly accurate and its 13" size didn't really capture the majesty of the huge 8' and 17' miniatures that plied the oceans (or at least the special effects tanks at 20th Century Fox) on the television show. The kit was kept in production throughout the '60s and later reissued by Aurora with new box art and the addition of some terribly out-of-scale raised panel lines on its hull in 1975 as part of Aurora's last gasp of reissues and new kits before the company folded. While many of Aurora's molds were sold, rumor has long held that the Seaview molds were destroyed in a train accident shortly after the demise of Aurora, and the kit was never reissued after 1975. Hence it's become a holy grail for model collectors and baby boomers who likely received it as a birthday present when they were kids in the mid '60s.

Ever since Polar Lights began releasing the LOST IN SPACE kits a few years ago fans have been clamoring for the Seaview, and last year rights issues with the Irwin Allen estate were finally cleared up and Polar was given the go-ahead. Their Seaview reissue comes packaged in the "long" long box (there was a slightly shorter version available in the '60s as well), closely duplicating the original '60s packaging, augmented with the new "Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen" logo and of course the Polar Lights rather than Aurora oval (also, the legend "From The Exciting Television Series" has been changed to "From The Classic Television Series"). Polar also added a small window into the interior of the box on the lower right hand side just as they did with their recent, giant Godzilla model kit. Like the Godzilla kit, the Seaview release has a variant molded in white plastic and the window allows collectors into that sort of thing to rifle through boxes on the shelves looking for the white variant without actually tearing open the boxes.

As for the kit itself, well, it is what it is. Aurora got the basic details right, particularly the hull and engine shapes and overall layout of the vehicle. But the nose (here featuring the original 8-window design from the movie and the first season of the TV show, before the sub was modified to handle the yellow Flying Sub in year two) is painfully blunt (compare the finished kit's nose with the sleek lines depicted in the box cover painting), the rear fins (all four of them) are at the wrong angle, and overall the submarine is too short in profile. But guess what? Nobody cares! Fans who just want the same model they built as a kid will treasure this release (which is mercifully absent the ugly raised panel lines of the '75 reissue), and those who want something more accurate have either explored other, non-official options or are holding their breath for a more elaborate release of this subject from Polar Lights. My advice is, if you want to see a chance of that, better buy this kit in bulk.

The original Aurora kit had around 20 pieces (the Polar Lights version adds a flat bottom piece to seal the "dimensional ocean floor base," possibly just to differentiate the kit from the original release). Part fit is somewhat improved although still not stellar, but it's incredibly cool to open the old-style Aurora box and see this kit molded in black plastic just like the original releasesort of like being flung back in time thirty-five years. Coming this summer: the spaceship Spindrift and "attacking snake" diorama from LAND OF THE GIANTS, two kits that are even rarer than the Seaview.