Biography
Sobey Martin was, like his younger contemporaries
Marc Daniels and
Don Richardson, a mainstay of television directing for the first two decades of the medium's existence. His earliest credits date from 1949, with an installment of Your Show Time and the Sherlock Holmes adaptation The Adventure of the Speckled Band. He primarily directed dramas and thrillers, interspersed with westerns, throughout the 1950s and 1960s, though his work also included some literary adaptations of subjects such as The Canterville Ghost, and his credit turned up on such series as
The Cisco Kid,
Boston Blackie, and
The Millionaire. During the mid-'60s, Martin started working regularly for producer
Irwin Allen on
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,
Lost in Space,
Time Tunnel, and
Land of the Giants. Although he also did episodes
Rawhide and
Lancer, those science fiction programs came to define his career, up through his retirement in 1970. As with most television directors, Martin was never a great stylist, his key attribute -- typical of the medium -- being that of a fast, efficient shooter. When presented with a good script and cast, however, he could rise to the occasion; Martin directed "Mutiny," one of the two best episodes of
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea in the series' entire four-year run. According to various cast members on
Land of the Giants, however, he also had an odd quirk: the latter series was complicated to shoot and often had its cast and crew working long days, and Martin had a habit of occasionally calling "Action!" and then falling asleep during the take. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide