In the African jungle, Dr Blanchard and his coward assistant Brock are doing control experiments on a white gorilla. But Brock is less interested in science and more interested in murder, he makes the gorilla kill Blanchard. Nelson appears in Africa and later requests that both the gorilla and Brock come on board the Seavew! Yes, this is a monster on the sub show.

Several Republic/ Columbia movie serials did the story of men hunting down an ape in the African jungle so I am guessing that this episode, like others, was rooted in the old B&W serials. This is better than the serials. The jungle in Fatal Cargo is the jungle set in Land Of The Giants, and the set is actually more pleasing in Voyage, why? In Giants, the jungle growth was all wrong or too small for a giant world!  But the set makes a nice Africa. When hunting down the ape, Nelson comes out with the line "Who is hunting who?".

I think writer William Welch was winking at viewers with that line, I don't think we are meant to take this tale too seriously. Nobody can take Brock or that gorilla costume too seriously. This episode came near the start of year four and I am guessing that the writers wanted to escape the fantastic nature of year three (the two episodes before Cargo were rooted in reality) and go with a mundane monster and a rather stupid and mundane character like Brock. This does give Cargo a unique goofy feel and Nelson and Sharkey have some amusing reactions to the non-sense that it going on around them. But I am not going to sell you on the idea that this is a classic! I know of three male Voyage fans who have trashed this episode big time.

But the stupidity of the episode can be over-looked if you like Voyage as much as I do. I would rather Voyage be stupid than boring. Voyage episodes City Beneath The Sea, Village Of Guilt, The Death Watch, The Wax Men and Sealed Orders were boring. Cargo is better than them. And despite the goofy nature of the ep, it actually has a great two second bit of the Seaview crashing into rocks that really looks good. And I love that early scene of Nelson with Brock, Basehart just lets out a gentle grunt to let us know that Nelson knows that Brock is talking total BS. The guest star and the gorilla did double time on LIS but no murders happened in LIS. Not that we see murder in Cargo. The picture fades to black one second before the killing. That is the way it should be as kids might be watching. The music lifted from Jonah And The Whale seems totally out of place, the gorilla costume is just too bad for words, the script is sometimes stupid, but all in all, Cargo is a fun show to watch on a Sunday afternoon if you think Voyage is the ultimate series.

The 5th last Voyage ever screened - The Savage Jungle - was voted as the true stinker of the series. Over a two year period, myself, Ray and fan Scott McIntyre had internet debates on Voyage (yes, some do use the net for this) and those Tarzan movie-type jungle scenes INSIDE the Seaview were seen as being just too terrible!  Savage Jungle stinks. To me, LIS hit rock bottom with the second half of year two. To me, Land Of The Giants hit rock bottom with The Marionettes. Time Tunnel's short 30 episode run never got a chance to go silly. But Irwin Allen television was always watch able and that is the main thing. Thank you.