Porthole Views, October 1967
It's one of those days; one of those snoozer days, that is. Here are two scans that are not really worth your time, but maybe, on a slow Sunday, they might provide some value.
So - a passenger aboard the classic Submarine Voyage decided (like many before) to snap a few pictures while looking out one of the portholes. After all, we're actually under water! This doesn't happen every day. Most people who take pictures like these leaned forward to get an unimpeded view, but this person didn't. For some reason.
In this first one, a family of giant clams - papa clam, mama clam, and baby clam, all rest, or maybe they're being especially active, it's hard to tell with a clam. There's also various corals and seaweeds, as well as a ghostly sunfish (or Mola Mola, as I likes to say) lurking in the near distance. Did you know that a female sunfish can produce as many as 300 million eggs at a time? That's a lotta eggs!
Next is my favorite tableau, featuring a battle to the death between an octopus and a shark. The shark is wondering how he got into this mess, since he was just sniffing around for a nice mackerel or sardine, perhaps. But they don't call octopi "devil fish" for nothin'. I once saw a YouTube video showing an octopus attacking a dogfish (a small species of shark), so I guess that this scene isn't as ridiculous as I used to believe.
13 comments:
Major-
"Most people who take pictures like these leaned forward to get an unimpeded view, but this person didn't. For some reason". I think the photographer was trying to mimic the image from an early television set, when only round picture tubes were manufactured, and the tube 'surround' cropped-off the top and bottom of the image creating a view more akin to a rectangle. It was just a tad off-center.
Thanks, Major.
I like the porthole views. It gives us that "you are there" feeling.
That must be Papa clam on the left, he looks the biggest. Mama clam is over by the sunfish and Baby clam is in front of Papa.
Papa Clam, "Oh gawd, it's another one of those danged underwater boat things full of those squishy humans. Hold my beer, Son. I'm gonna run over there an' show 'em a thing or two; let 'em know who's boss!"
Mama Clam, "Oh dear. Do be careful, Fred!"
Baby Clam, "Better hurry, Pop; there gettin' away! Um, how are you gonna 'run' over there anyway? We don't have legs!"
Papa Clam, "Don't bother me with the details, Son... Dang! Now they're outa range! Just when I was gettin' up a good head of steam, too! That's it, run away you squishy humans! Run away if you know what's good for ya! I guess I showed them!, yes siree Bob."
Baby Clam, "Who's Bob?"
Thanks for today's fisheye views, Major.
300 million eggs at a time?! That's a big breakfast. Can I have mine scrambled with a side of plankton?
I like the porthole showing. It gives it a "you are there" feel. Thanks, Major.
I always loved original Submarine Voyage .... but admit it also made me afraid to swim in the ocean or dark water like lakes etc.... I was sure there were giant clams and glow-in-dark angler devil creature fish from hell. And as an adult I’m afraid if giant squid ..... that we now have real oceanographic proof of existence and it’s just a mater of time before we have proof of Sea Serpents!!
“And now, with high tech sonar we can actually hear the fish talk....” ( unfortunately everything they say is highly obscene!!...)
There is nothing quite and quiet as a clam - I learned from The Electric Company.
I loved the Submarine Voyage! I was able to experience both the west coast and the east coast versions. In my opinion there were just enough "facts" to keep it realistic, while fantasy kept it entertaining! I have said before how on my first Disneyland ride, I was convinced we were actually diving!
Yep, Mike, the evil angler fish haunted my dreams ever since I saw it in a book on the ocean I had as a kid. Imagine my relief when I found that the vast majority of them are about five inches long. Are there bigger ones? A very few, but we won't talk about that...
The Electric Company! We're gonna turn it on!...We're gonna bring you the power! Great show, and Peter Max inspired logo. Maybe Peter actually did it? Rita Moreno did some of her finest work: "Hey you guys!" and later won a Grammy for it. The photos of the Sub Voyage facilitated some PTSD this A.M, but I quickly recovered. The photos are great and I agree with the "you are there" POV. These are printable and framable. I think I was maybe 6 or 7 when I went on the subs for the first time....everything was hunky dory.... until the darkness came....then....the screaming! I became unglued. I very very much remember this experience. I do not have a fear of dark water...so who knows, the other passengers on that sub must have looovvved me. The crescendo of the experience was the first discovery of the sea serpent tail, little by little, then KAPOW! The sea serpent FACE! I very specifically remember the utter and total meltdown I had...then we went on Pirates of the Caribbean...probably not the best thing to do for a damaged little boy...who knew that the quiet boat ride would turn into a mania of Hell fire and brimstones? (more screaming ensued) We then went on Carousel of Progress...and I remember being quite skeptical of what was to come...those changing color lights at the beginning I knew would be a TRICK for the INSANITY of skeletons and serpents that was in my future! Well..... it was sweet, and lovely, with a little doggie in the show, and nice people...and I especially (and possibly strangely) loved that we would go into the center stage at the end and ride a moving sidewalk! The model was the icing on the cake and my tears melted away. Who doesn't have a soft spot for the Carousel of Progress? I'm pretty sure that things the rest of the day turned out relatively OK after that. I wanted a giant lollypop from the Candy Palace...but I think we kids got the 6 pack of hard candy sticks...in a "red" flavor...and we shared, very gratefully. Later in life, but before adulthood, I returned to the Candy Palace to get that giant lollypop. I'm not sure if people remember, but it was extra extra giant...bigger than your head...it was such an indulgence (I paid for it myself) and was sooooo hard to eat. It was so heavy and impossible to hold and lick at the same time. Later at home, it ended up in the trash, with small nibbles around the edge. I tried to save the wrapper...Goofy was on it...but it got all sticky and impossible to extricate from the surface...so it went into the trash too. The next visit my allowance was burning a hole in my pocket and I returned to the scene of the crime. I looked at those giant lollypops with regret and remorse. There was a small bag of toy shaped suckers labeled "Barley Sugar Toy Pops". They were very clear see-through candy toy shapes, "boy" shapes: like trains and such. With normal paper sticks...not the giant wooden stick that was on that immense lollypop. I got those pops. They had a specific sugar taste unlike cane sugar. I just Googled them and they are still made. What I REALLY wanted was the clear plastic box of the Seven Dwarf diamonds and jewels...in rock candy. I STILL want those candies...so pretty and so tasteless except for the sugar flavor. I recall I never had enough money for them. All the "expensive" things were in those cube shaped clear plastic boxes- with "Disneyland" in gold lettering, and the stylized version of the castle- like those small fruit delicious tropical fruit candies...tiny bananas and mangoes and things...my friends seemed to always be allowed such luxuries. I should have bought those instead of that giant lollypop that day back in '68 or '69. 50 years later, it's a still fresh memory and lesson of humility.
Bu, your story of terror reminds me of one I may have told here before, and my apologies if I have done so…
We took our kids to the MK for the first time when the oldest was just shy of his third birthday. When we went to see Mickey’s Philharmagic (which actually stars Donald Duck), he totally lost it when the 3D pie came out into the audience. From that point, he just screamed and cried, and since we were in the middle of a row, all I could do was turn him towards me and away from the screen, wrap my arms around him, and try to reassure him.
Later that day or possibly the next, we visited the Hall of Presidents. As we walked into the theater, he froze and gripped my hand very tightly.
“What…what is this?” he asked, fear evident in his voice.
I explained that this was about the history of America and that he would be able to see all of the presidents.
Very quietly he asked “Is Donald Duck in it?”
Major, I agree with my fellow Junior Gorillas, these have a fine “you-are-there” ambiance that makes me feel that I Am There. Which makes me very happy. Perfect Sunday fare, thank you.
The Submarine Voyage was a highly cinematic experience in 3D, until it was ruined by inserting actual 2D cinema of a mediocre movie having nothing to do with the sub concept other than being set underwater. If the subs needed 2D anything, they could have just shown a movie through the porthole. The current ride just feels like a donkey grafted to a camel, neither part works.
I think Nemo would have been better as a dark ride and they could have added Ariel to the subs easily, her sisters were already in it.
Bu, once again, what a veritable crescendo of commentary. I sure remember those garish big suckers. I thought the only way to eat one would be to break in pieces with a hammer. There were similar “spiral” ones where they wrapped “ around” the stick, more like a spear than a plate… And the clear boxes of the little fruits… …had forgotten those till this instant. Never bought any because $, but they were exquisite to look at, little candy jewelry.
JG
Nanook, you’re right, it feels like I’m watching The Ernie Kovacs Show on the DuMont network!
JB, I feel like I always placed my face close to the glass (I remember the feeling of air blowing on my face from the little blower, which was supposedly there to help prevent claustrophobia in some riders) to take it all in, but it seems that it might be natural to sit back a bit when wanting to take a photo. “The Clam Family”, I’m going to steal your idea and make a billion dollars! Steven Spielberg will produce and Tom Cruise will play Papa (“Jack”) Clam, a former secret agent.
K. Martinez, I’m sorry, you have to eat 300 million pieces of bacon with your eggs. No substitutions!
Mike Cozart, I don’t know if the Submarine Voyage made me think about all of the creatures in the ocean fighting and eating each other, but I did once have a chance to swim out in the open ocean, and I had a touch of thalassophobia. I couldn’t help thinking of a great white swimming beneath me! There’s a song by the band Soul Coughing and they used the sound of fish “talking” briefly, I believe it was taken right from the soundtrack of the Submarine Voyage. I was so excited when I heard it and recognized it!
Stu29573, I remember early in the YouTube days I watched a video made by someone who mocked the Sub ride from the moment he sat in his seat. I wanted to punch him in his annoying face! I agree with you, that ride was the perfect combination of fact and fantasy. Angler fishes are definitely scary, but it turns out that most would fit in the palm of your hand.
Bu, it’s stream-of-consciousness time! ;-) “The Electric Company”! Rita Moreno! I assume you must have been very young on your first Submarine ride, I’ve seen other young kids on other rides and you can always tell when the scary parts really kick in for them. Pirates of the Caribbean is one - a small boy was absolutely howling through most of the ride. I felt a combination of annoyance and pity. The parents should have known better, shouldn’t they? I loved the Carousel of Progress, I still remember hearing my dad laugh at some of the corny humor. I just liked the jaunty song and the way the scene changed every few minutes. I feel like if I ever got one of those big lollipops (I always wanted one when I was a kid, but my parents were smart and never got one), I would break it up into pieces with a hammer, store the pieces in a bag, and eat it little by little over the period of weeks. Barley Sugar Toy Pops, well that’s new to me. Rock candy never did it for me, we bought some in Gettysburg and that was the one time I bothered. Imagine if you had some of those items in the original Candy Palace packaging today. $$$!
Chuck, I don’t remember you telling the story of your oldest son being freaked out by the 3D, but it can be a pretty intense illusion if done right. Remember “Magic Journeys”? Sometimes the 3D effect was so powerful that you’d see everyone in front of you reaching out to try to touch the fish (or whatever) that seemed to be only a foot or two from your seat. I wish Donald Duck WAS in the Hall of Presidents, frankly!
JG, well, it just goes to show you that I am a bad judge of what makes a picture interesting or not. Of course I am glad when people like the scans! I feel like the Nemo version of the Subs is almost something special, but it doesn’t quite get there. I would be fascinated to see how the projected scenes work. I agree with you, I think I would have been more charmed if they had just provided more standard dark ride tableaus instead of stopping to watch the CGI bits. Ha ha, you and I have the same thoughts about those big lollipops - use a hammer. What I REALLY liked were those sticks that were cherry-flavored (though they sort of looked like they would be peppermint).
I wonder why Walt didn't have THIS ADORABLE CREATURE in the lagoon?
Major, you definitely have very high standards. These pictures are too good for a snoozer Sunday. I love 'em. Definitely, "you are there!"
As a child, I remember my mom LOVED this attraction and her enthusiasm was contagious. She made the ride seem so real and exciting.
JG, YES, they ruined it with the stupid movie additions. Yawn!
Yep, we would, also, bring home the big suckers and eventually break them up and eat the pieces, over a long period of time.
"I did once have a chance to swim out in the open ocean, and I had a touch of thalassophobia."
(Major, I'll google the exact meaning of "thalassophobia" once I'm done with my commenting.)
The one and only time I had the chance to swim in the open ocean was when we snorkeled in Hawaii by the sea turtles, with a tour group in a tour boat. The water was clear "to the bottom" and I started swimming and following a sea turtle that was maybe 10 feet below me. By the time I stopped to take notice where I was, our little tour boat and ALL the fellow-snorkelers were maybe 150 feet away, and I was a lone straggler. Not too smart where sharks can be found, as they look for the stragglers (the sickly ones??), I'm sure. I quickly re-joined the group. About a month later, I read that a swimmer WAS attacked by a shark in that exact location. Eeks!
Love all the stories and comments today - thanks, everyone!
It's a running joke in our family to say "clam" instead of "calm." So if that undersea family is being particularly active, maybe they just need to clam down.
I remember reading in Harpo Marx's autobiography that one director they worked with always said before a take, "Let's go out there and sell them a load of clams." I've tried so hard to work that into a real-life conversation, but I've never managed to do it.
I can see the old-time TV screen comparison, but for me it's another trip to the optometrist. Better one, better two, better clams?
Lou and Sue, I would have loved to see a Dumbo octopus in the Submarine ride, especially since there was a brief deep sea scene!
Lou and Sue, listen, I am very fancy, and the sooner everybody knows it, the better. I loved the subs too, which is partly why I was so annoyed by the jerk I referred to earlier (in my reply to Stu29573). To some degree, you have to suspend disbelief and be willing to have some fun. That guy just wanted to be a smartass. I learned the word “thalassophobia” from a reddit subgroup! I’m glad your story about swimming after the sea turtle had a happy ending, I probably would have just kept following him for miles. My sister lives up the California coast, and there are regular white shark sightings, and I believe a surfer (or swimmer?) was killed just a few months ago. Pretty freaky!
Melissa, I think we need to make a TV show about your family. “Melissa’s World”! Harpo Marx wrote an autobiography?? I need to look for that one! Speaking of optometrists, I need to get new glasses, I hope he shows me pictures of the Submarine Voyage.
Post a Comment