Where is the regular Skydiver crew in this ep? Why do they need to be changed?
And if Nina is part of this 'best available sub crew'..... why does she spend most of her time on Moonbase? Wouldn't it be more efficient to have her in Skydiver?

She's there so that Straker can have a love interest. Haven't you noticed that they got to the point where they were pairing him with every female on the show? It was so obvious it was embarrassing!

Well,

While this story came well down the production list, the outline was there from early in the production planning. At that time, Nina Barry and Straker were seen to be closer than eventually protrayed. She was there from the creation of SHADO, and was one of the contributing factors in Straker's divorce (although ironically, at that time nothing was going on between them). Her use in Subsmash was more than a "mere" plot device, but rather an left-over from a relationship that was never developed to the degree originally considered.

This is Ed Bishop's favorite episode. He does a commentary on it for the DVDs, which are coming out this year. Personally, I love the tilted sets, which really added to the claustrophobic atmosphere.

Crikey - I haven't seen this episode since it originally aired!

I seem to recall one of the (female?) crew crawling along a torpedo tube and waiting for it to be opened. Very tense and scary!

Sorry to point out in an otherwise outstanding episode, but the scene at the beginning with Straker and Foster on the bridge of Skydiver is unintentionally funny - Foster's hair is blowing about a bit, but Straker's hair doesn't move! It's like it's been glued down.

And it's not as if they couldn't have set the scene somewhere else. It's as if they said 'We have this submarine set and a sea backdrop, let's use it!'

I got the DVDs too yesterday! Yay!
It does show that in some of the signs on the Skydiver conning tower, you can see through the metal where it is shining in the light, and see the sea behind it.
I still don't see why Maxwell and Howell couldn't be in this......

Why can't more than one person leave in the escape hatch at one time?
Why not open the door to the hatch and drain the water out? It could start a fire, but the last person to use the hatch wouldn't be affetec by that.

Straker's hair moves a bit on the Skydiver bridge. His helmet is just being held down by too much hairspray.

There are some minor nits in this ep, but overall, it's an excellent episode. It's a refreshing change of plot from the usual "UFOs are attacking" (and the reuse of stock footage of Interceptors and Skydiver launching). A definite plus for this ep is the fact that most of the effects scenes are brand new (we even get to see a new SHADO vehicle, a sea rescue plane). Nina Berry definately looks more attractive in a Skydiver oufit (minus purple wig and blue eye shadow) than in her Moonbase get-up (on the other hand, Lt. Ellis looks cuter in her Moonbase outfit). Delores Mantez gives an excellent performance too. It would have been nice to see more of her in the series.

Ed Bishop provides the most humorous commentary for the DVDs. I thought his remarks about Cpt Waterman abandoning his ship were funny. Now in his seventies, Ed's voice has changed a bit. I wouldn't have recognised his voice if I heard it elsewhere.

One cheesy nit involves a shot of a scuba-diver underwater; it's clearly a shot of a diver in a swimming pool and not the ocean.

The ending was unusual for UFO; it's a happy ending! It was also funny to see for once that Straker was told not to smoke (by a nurse). Alec's gift for him is, of course, a box of cigars.

Again, a most enjoyable episode.

Straker requests 'the best Skydiver' crew for the mission. That's odd, as Captain Carlin, the blonde male sailor, the brunette female sailor, and the dark-haired male sailor that we've seen aboard Skydiver 1 are nowhere to be seen. In fact, one of the crew is Nina, whose usual post is Moonbase! Does that make sense?

Peter Gordeno, who played Captain Carlin, had apparently quit by the time this episode was filmed, so its no surprise he wasn't in it.

Early on in the episode it looks like Straker is wearing eye liner in one of the closeups.

Its unclear exactly what is happening to Chin. They have a whining sound during his attacks, which, along with what happens to him when the sub is attacked, can be taken to imply he is somehow being effected by the aliens.

Skydiver is nuclear powered, but via a system that is apparently different from "normal" submarines, which need several crewmen just to operate and monitor their nuclear reactors. Skydiver as a whole must be highly computer automated and assisted, as it has a tiny crew for an apparently ocean going sub with a long operational range.

The idea that Straker has claustrophobia is ridiculous. SHADO HQ is underground. The ships to get to the moonbase & back are cramped. Moonbase itself should cause a claustrophobic problems, but we never saw any signs of anything resembling claustrophobia before.
Admittedly they don't actually call it claustrophobia in the episode so maybe Straker suffers from a fear of being on submarines & not claustrophobia. (I know someone with taphephobia (fear of being buried alive) who got incredibly nervous when he entered Carlsbad Caverns, but never had a problem with smaller enclosed spaces above ground.)

How exactly did Nina get the scuba equipment off her in that tight tunnel?

For that matter, couldn't they have used any extra air tanks to give them some more air to breath?

At the end Straker reaches to shake Nina's hand, but in Nina's closeup you don't see any movement of her shoulders to indicate she shook his hand.

Kinggodzillak - Why can't more than one person leave in the escape hatch at one time?
Reflections In The Water had Straker & Foster leave Skydiver at the same time in Escape Hatch 3.

Maybe they redesigned/upgraded after the events of Sub-Smash.

Maybe, I just thought it interesting that they used the exact same hatch. (Maybe the set prop only had one working gage & that was 3?)

hmmmmmm,kag, what's a gage?

To !,

Who's "kag"?

Gage is an accepted alternate spelling for gauge.

I knew gage didn't look right, but couldn't think of any other way to spell it. Thanks, Butch!

I liked whittle better..

I recently got the DVDs and ran through the series. This was one of the episodes that stuck with me from when I originally saw it in the 1970s. I still remembered the horribly claustrophobic scenes with Nina caught in the torpedo tube.

You're welcome, Keith.

When I heard the commentary of this episode I was horrified at how much Ed Bishop's voice had changed. I mean, it was COMPLETELY different!

It's like hearing the deep voice of John Banner, aka Sgt. Shultz of Hogan's Heroes, and saying it's Ed Bishop.
How could it change so much? I could understand a difference from age, but this was completely unfamiliar.

I listened to Ed again, and I'd like to correct the John Banner reference.

Bishop's voice reminds me much more of either W.C. Fields, or Terrence Dicks, a producer from Doctor Who.

Either way, it was a drastic change from Bishop's commanding UFO voice.

Stuff revealed by Ed Bishop's commentary on 'Sub-Smash';

The Skydiver set really was rotated about 45 degrees, so that everybody had to climb, realistically, around the set.

Not only does Ed Bishop suffer in real life from claustrophobia, but so did Dolores Montez (playing Nina). The scenes in the torpedo tube must have been horrible for her to endure.

Straker uses a watch to set the time for Nina and the other crewman to exit the Skydiver. That was the same watch that he wore throughout this series, but not only that, it was engraved by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson as a gift after the series ended. Bishop wore it all the time, even in his later years when he did the commentary.

Bishop reveals that Michael Billington 'came within a hair's breadth several times' to be the next James Bond. Meaning he could have been up for the role at the same time as (I'm guessing) George Lazenby for 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service', and then against Sean Connery, for Connery's last canon Bond film, 'Diamonds Are Forever'), and perhaps even Roger Moore for 'Live And Let Die'. Unfortunately, Ed doesn't reveal a time frame for the screen tests.