SeaQuest

I was a bit of a sci-fi nut growing up, so you can imagine the joy I experienced when sci-fi on the small screen made a strong resurgence in the early to mid 90s. Yep, those were the days, back when I found myself glued to the television, eagerly watching and awaiting the newest episodes of shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, The X-Files, Earth 2, Sliders, The Outer Limits, and NBC's Seaquest DSV.

Seaquest caught my attention for three particular reasons: the premise of an undersea world was immensely appealing, the series was being executive produced by none other than Steven Spielberg, and the star of the show was one of my favorite actors, Roy Scheider. With all these ingredients, I just knew this was going to be a sci-fi classic and given how undemanding a sci-fi fan I was back then, this show won me over from the start. Watching season 1 again, it's a bit tougher to imagine why I was so fond of this show in the first place.

Certainly, there's a handful of bright spots to be expected. Scheider, as always, does a great job of playing the fatherly authority figure/everyman role that I'm sure he's grown used to. The f/x and sets, very "90s" in look and style, were quite impressive for its time and are still passable enough today that they don't often distract the viewer. The series even occasionally delivered its share of high adventure and mild suspense. I also liked John Debney's main theme, which is actually kind of catchy.

But the series never came together like it should have. From the start, Seaquest was clearly aping ST: TNG, what with the UEO/Federation parallels, the captain/ship's doctor romance, and the brilliant but annoying teenager who served no other purpose than to draw in a younger demographic (even though Jonathan Brandis, RIP, was a better actor than Wil Wheaton, I still found Lucas far more irritating than Wesley Crusher).

This would all be perfectly forgivable if the show actually delivered on its fantastic premise. Unfortunately, Seaquest is cluttered with too much vanilla-bland writing and cheesy dialogue. Seemingly 3/4's of the episodes attempt to deliver an important "lesson," but this tends to come off as self-consciously heavy-handed and corny. The show was also clearly intended for a family audience, hence the mostly light tone and lack of any material that might come across as potentially offensive; this must almost be entirely attributed to Spielberg's presence, as I cannot imagine Rockne S. O'Bannon pandering to younger audiences.

Looking back at the first season's 23 episodes, I wouldn't say they're awful; in fact, I found most of them just plain and mediocre. The only one that stood out was Episode 4, entitled "Games," which managed to deliver sharp suspense for most of its duration, still unfortunately marred by a cheesy climax, which became a staple of the series. Of all the shows I mentioned above, this rests with Earth 2 as the worst of the bunch (TNG still the best, of course).

Is Seaquest a bad series? For the most part, yes, but I've got too much of a sci-fi slant to hate it. Anyone completely weaned on today's sci-fi shows (Battlestar Galactica, Farscape, Firefly, Stargate, Enterprise) aren't going to find much in Seaquest that would appeal to them. But those who grew up on early 90s sci-fi...well, you've undoubtedly seen this show enough times already to know if it's up your alley or not.

At it's heart SeaQuest wasn't a bad show. I think done today it would greatly benefit from the fact that computer graphics have become so commonplace and affordable. An issue that was one of the major problems at the heart of SeaQuest. At 1 Million an episode (Unheard of at the time)there was obvious cuts that showed up on screen. The perfect example it in an episode where the SeaQuest has a giant bioillumenesant squid invading through the moon pool. The interior scenes have a number of old tricks that were obvious lifted from 1950's monster flicks. "Don't go in that room captain! It's in there!" and a clear rubber tentacle with blink lights, that is without a doubt silly looking and a budget crunched effect. Very Lost in Space-ish.

The next issue at hand is story. While not being awful in the first season the plots are often centered around you taking away an ocean lesson, which would later be echoed by Dr. Robert Ballard of Titanic fame. More often the not what was meant to be fun, comes off as silly, and what should be threatening or action packed is not. The menacing ball pit from Brothers and Sisters comes to mind. Even with these issues SeaQuest doesn't show any weaknesses that any other first season Sci Fi show hasn't had. It's struggling to find an identity, and establish itself. The first seasons of Star Trek:The Next Generation, and Deep Space 9 have the same sort of growing pains as well, but turned out fine once they had found it's voice.

The third issue which doesn't really show on screen is Roy Scheider himself. Roy clearly hated the show, and put the bad mouth on it as often as he could. In interviews both in print and on TV. In reflection the cut corner effects, and silly plot devices may have had something to do with Scheider's complaints, but face it when the star of a show torpedo's it how much longer is it likely to survive? Season 2 of SeaQuest saw a change in were it was filmed, which helped, and unfortunately a change in cast as well. Most of the principal cast stayed on, but the loss of Stacy Hiduk (spelled wrong I know) stunk. However we did get several new cast members that balance out the losses.

The effects didn't really get any better, but I think the crew got better at making the show, and it's effects budget run and look better.

The stories were starting to shape up a bit as well, but unfortunately not well enough.

Budget, coupled with sinking ratings, and the star bad mouthing the show made the changes that were coming for season 3 unavoidable.

Season 3 changes the format of the show considerably. It takes place years later, and Roy is replace by a man who has been in seemingly every bad movie ever Michael Ironside. While the show is dead in the water at this point. The stories started to get better, and were actually beginning to become something that might work.

Only problem is it was way too late. Ratings were in the toilet, the show was pre-empted for everything. It no longer had a standard day, or time slot. The cast had yet again another round of changes made for season three, and most of what the audience was familiar with had changed so much it no longer held interest to the fans that could find the show.

I gotta be honest. I loved SeaQuest, and as I watch season 1 on DVD I still do. I really wish SciFi channel would resurrect it like it did with Battlestar Galactica.

I recommend it with a sense of not overanylizing the show. If you do that I guarantee you won't like it, but given half a chance I think you'll find a buried treasure of sorts.

Did I use enough bad sea related jokes in this review?

This was, and will always be, one of the best original series that ever aired on TV. It came from future and of course, it confused many people. But to sit and really watch it, you can appreacite the work put into it.

The first season was the all time best season it could ever been. The scripts were well written and the acting was the best. By the second season, many people started to drifed from it. I guess the crew was half there and really wanted the old crew. This season as someelse said here was really comical but the plots got to be werid. A underwater adventure turned to a space adventure. The ending of season two was great but it brought out season three. Season three was the point where everything changed. The series tried to get back on track, for what seaQuest was all about- the sea. Like i said they tried. The characters changed overnight and the followers of the second season started to drift from the new cast. Some of the old favorites where still there but they have changed too fast. The character, Lucas, was one of the favorites that kind of kept the series togethor. But by season three, he was not a hyper teen we loved, he changed to a serious moody adult. And the change of captins did not help eihter.

I am not bagging on this series, it is one of my favorites but the writters could have done a better job.

I was 12 when SeaQuest premiered on a Sunday night in 1993. I was so excited because Steven Spielberg was one of the producers, Roy Scheider (Jaws!!) was the captain and Jonathan Brandis was so cool thanks to Ladybugs and the Neverending Story 2.

I absolutely loved the first season. Recently rewatching it has filled me with warm feelings of nostalgia. It was such a great show.

Like so many others have said, everything went downhill with season 2. I completely understand why Scheider left. The stories were horrendous and the writing laughable and cringe-inducing. The worst part is that I had invested a year with the first crew and was very fond of them. For a 12 year old with not a lot of friends, I enjoyed seeing and depending on these characters to be there every Sunday night.

Should be a phrase ingrained in the minds of every would-be hollywood director/producer, especially after what Harrisburg and Co. did to SeaQuest DSV; which was (in my opinion) one of the best tv shows ever due to its original concept of exploring the oceans, rescue missions, and minor international conflict displayed in the first season.

But why oh why did the producers feel the need to change the set up from science fact to silly science fiction upon season two? Did it have something to do with the end of Star Trek: TNG and the producers wanting to fill its shoes? Perhaps... but I'm sorry, the sci-fi concept did not work for Seaquest and the ratings (or lack there of) proved that!

I did have to commend the producers for trying to make a come back in the third season with science "fact" and continuity, but the stories weren't all that good and the casting of Cap. Hudson was one of the series ultimate down-falls. On the other hand, had Bridger remained at the helm the series would've at least survived the whole third season (my speculation). Thankfully SeaQuest has home on the Sci-Fi channel.. as long as they stop rescheduling it back an hour!