The Amazing Captain Nemo (1978)

The Return of Captain Nemo (a.k.a. The Amazing Captain Nemo) was a 1978 science fiction TV mini-series directed by Alex March and Paul Stader(the latter directed the underwater sequences), and loosely based on characters and settings from Jules Verne's novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. It was written by six writers including Robert Bloch. It has been considered an attempt by producer Irwin Allen to duplicate the success of his Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

During naval exercises in 1978 Captain Nemo (played by José Ferrer) is found in suspended animation aboard his submarine Nautilus beneath the Pacific Ocean. Revived by members of a modern-day US Government agency, Nemo is persuaded to rescue United States interests and in so doing battles Professor Cunningham, a typical mad scientist played by Burgess Meredith.

Not originally aired as a movie, it was broken into three parts, expanded somewhat with about 45 minutes of additional footage over the three episodes to become a very brief action series. Sometimes described as a "miniseries", it was intended to be the first story-arc in an ongoing serial. Ratings were dismal, and the series never materialized.

Instead this proved to be Irwin Allen's final foray into weekly science fiction television.

Robert Bloch makes no mention of the series in his autobiography (Once Around the Bloch) but commented on it in an interview: "I did an episode for a show about five years ago which was an abortive attempt at a science-fiction series (Editor’s note: The Return of Captain Nemo). The network gave the go-ahead on it, and they were going to do a four-part story. They assigned each individual episode to a different writer. You had four writers working, neither one of them knew what the other ones were doing, and they had a three-week deadline! And it went off the air after those first four weeks." Bloch's segment (co-written with Larry Alexander) was titled "Atlantis: Dead Ahead" although in the theatrical release there are no titles for individual segments of the story.

The film was a co-production between Irwin Allen Productions and Warner Bros. Television. It was broadcast in the United States on the CBS television network, but was also released theatrically as The Amazing Captain Nemo.

Synopsis

The story opens with a transmission received by the White House from the renegade Professor Cunningham, who threatens Washington DC with nuclear destruction from a missile fired from his submarine Raven. His extortion demand is one billion dollars in gold bullion. To demonstrate his capability he blows up small island with the Raven's 'Delta beam'. Cunningham, bespectacled and cardigan-clad, is assisted by various androids including a large silver-headed one known as Tor.

Actors