User Reviews

Rock solid nail-biter has the Seaview crew contemplating global nuclear doom when Russia sends up what appears to be a missile (but is actually a series of satellites, but doing so without authorizing the United States) with the President planning to possibly "push the button" if it goes past the "Dew line" into American territory, waiting on the Pentagon's word of whether or not he is to abort or carry out plans to release a nuclear strike in retaliation. The Seaview will be standing by, in hostile, enemy waters, awaiting orders on releasing their nuclear warheads. The plot is simple but very, very effective. Even though I knew the outcome, I found myself chewing the fingernails to the quick—that is about as good a compliment as could really be asked for. It's the wait, the sweat-inducing, anxiety-building, mortal terror of what could happen if the signal to abort doesn't come. There's definitely an anti-war message here, as fourth-in-command, Corbett, is unable to unlock his fail-safe in the missile room as ordered, vocal about his repulsion in launching nuclear missiles, being responsible for Armageddon on Earth. This really puts him in the doghouse with Admiral Nelson who is in disbelief that a Navy man didn't follow orders as trained at Annapolis. But Corbett's feelings that the world should know how close we come to annihilation really tests Nelson's resolve and the ending could cost the opinionated officer his career on the submarine, when he decides to launch a missile where a malfunctioning fuse hadn't closed the fail-safe mechanism, the Seaview under attack by an enemy Destroyer that believes their inability to surface and explain the meaning of their current position (the missile's fail-safe unlocked indicates an act of war) resulting in the dropping of death charges. The President will release the fail safe from the White House for approximately five seconds but no error can occur or the Seaview will be sacrificed due to fallacies in the sub's fail-safe mechanisms. I couldn't really ask for a better episode or a more suspenseful plot than what "Doomsday" delivers; this is good stuff. The appearances of the fail-safe control boxes really symbolize the ever-present possibility of the end of the world, and this episode establishes how close the world can come to destroying ourselves. Satellites shot into orbit, hidden in secrecy from the US, almost plunged the US and Soviet Union into nuclear war...this episode certainly has something to say, doing so quite well. A tense subplot has the doc plucking glass from officer Kowalski's eyes after glass explodes into his face, the rocking to and fro of the Seaview due to damaged ballast tanks really placing the sub into difficult situations.