Laboratório Submarino

Originally was supposed to be a development animated project that was set to premiere in 1971 for CBS' Saturday Morning schedule,the short-lived animated action-adventure/science fiction series "Sealab 2020" ended up premiering on September 9, 1972 as part of NBC's Saturday Morning schedule that lasted 13 episodes until December 2, 1972. Only the original episodes aired during its broadcast while the repeated episodes lasted from January of 1973 until its demise for the Saturday Morning scene on September 1, 1973.

"Sealab 2020" was the next to last of the Hanna-Barbera action adventure cartoons that were produced during the 1970's. This was a series that was part "Star Trek" under the sea with elements of Jules Verne,part "Ivan Tors",with hints of Irwin Allen's 1960's television series "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" for great measure. With an educational purpose that was prone to teach kids about the ocean environment and different types of sea animals to boot,all within an half-hour.

The cartoon series takes place in the year 2020...."Sealab" was an underwater laboratory where 250 people,including children lived. It's leading scientist was oceanographer and Native American Dr. Paul Williams(who was a Chinook Indian),who was head of the research facility under the sea who studied the undersea world assisted by aquanauts Hal(Jerry Dexter),Gail(Ann Jillian),and Ed(Ron Pinkard). Sparks(William Callaway)was the radio dispatcher and communications officer,while Captain Mike Murphy(voiced by Hanna-Barbera stockplayer John Stephenson)was in charge of the Sealab's operations. Captain Murphy's children,Bobby(Josh Albee),and Sally(Pamelyn Ferdin),along with Jamie(Gary Shapiro)got involved in some of the adventures which were involving dangerous rescues and helping out others in several episodes. Mrs. Thomas(Olga James)was the educational consultant with Sealab and was responsible for looking after the children of Sealab and was Bobby and Sally's teacher.

The great Ross Martin(of the television series "Mr. Lucky",and was also of "The Wild,Wild,West" fame)was the voice of Dr. Paul Williams who was one of several minorities that were featured in this short-lived series. Regular Hanna-Barbera stockplayers John Stephenson,Jerry Dexter,and even in some episodes Don Messick along with Henry Corden, Mike Road, Janet Waldo, Joan Gerber, Casey Kasem and Paul Frees provided character support. Peter Dixon and former "Star Trek" writer-producer Fred Freiberger contribute to some of the stories. After its initial run on NBC ended,"Sealab 2020" came back in re-runs during the mid-1980's on cable as part of the USA Network's Cartoon Express and most recently,Cartoon Network's Boomerang Channel brought it back after a decade long hiatus...in re-runs mostly.

I've actually watched several episodes from this series recently, and was surprised to discover that -- far from horrible -- it's actually a serviceable bit of Saturday morning nostalgia.

First airing on Saturday morning in September of 1972, the show had a very short run of 13 episodes. Going in, I was hoping for excitement and adventure reminiscent of Jonny Quest (far and away Hanna-Barbera's finest moment, in my opinion). Alex Toth, who designed many of H-B's most popular classic characters (Space Ghost, Herculoids, etc.) did many of the designs for 2020, which lends it a cool comic-booky look not unlike Quest.

Alas, the show has a very different tone -- perhaps because of the prevailing attitude of the early 70's that cartoons should abstain from violence. The result is an almost educational show, teaching kids about the various sea creatures and rudimentary information about the ocean and diving. And initially the show comes off as very boring because of this. But I have to admit that after being bored by the first 2 episodes, I found myself becoming more and more interested in the next two. The show has some good messages, such as overcoming handicaps and preserving the environment, and deals with some decent issues most cartoons would never touch.

In some weird way, the stories and scripts are more reminiscent of live action programs than a cartoon. They are fairly adult and lack the zaniness one might expect from this era of Hanna Barbera (i.e. Funky Phantom, anyone?). In other words, it is a perfect counterpoint to the new Sea Lab 2021, which goes for sheer laughs.

I think that the other reviewers that gave 2020 negative reviews have never actually seen the show. When you think about the time period when this show was made, it's probably one of the better H-B shows. While we'll never have another Jonny Quest again, 2020 was an interesting project that will probably, like Quest, never be duplicated.

Sealab 2020 is is distinguished from other Hanna-Barbera toons of the early '70s by its exceptional and fairly unique (for a toon) design. The character looks are typical of the work Alex Toth did for HB during the period and the animation is about par with Super Friends. The vessels and architecture actually show influences from Loewy, Neutra and other modern and futurist designers.

The show's concept, a team of scientists working at a large undersea research base, seems interesting enough, but the episodes themselves were fairly dull.It lacked the sense of adventure of Johnny Quest or the HB superhero shows of the period. At the very least, it wasn't another Scooby Doo or Flintstones knock off.

Fortunately, the show provides plenty of fodder for the Sealab 2021 parody that runs on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block of programming. Using remixed original footage from the show, animators have created a hilarious, original, and definitely adult-oriented program featuring some known actors (Erik Estrada) doing the voices.

According to the premise in the (then) distant future year of 2020, a underwater community known as the Challenger Seamount exists. Run by a group of scientists and their families, the place is meant to study the effects of sea life while its residents encounter adventure every step of the way.

A great setup if you ask me. What makes Sealab 2020 stand out is that this is basically an outer space adventure show, but everything takes place in an underwater world. Instead of a distant planet, its the bottom of the ocean floor here on Earth. Yeah, there are some lessons to be taught and some real-world facts to be pointed out, all mixed in with the adventures. After all H-B clearly tried to be educational with this. But it never felt like you were being beaten over the head with its environmental protection issues, unlike the obnoxious crapfest Captain Planet which came along some 20 years later and in which the lessons about the environment were so heavyhanded and obvious where, after watching a couple of episodes, it made you feel like a polution-loving, Earth-trashing buffoon who needs to be shot just for throwing a bubble gum wrapper on the ground the previous day!. Another welcomed relief is a lack of a "comedy relief" character. There is no talking pet walrus or a fat bumbling fool who is always doing something ridiculous. Sealab 2020 could also be seen as a bit of an influence as this same setup (an underwater command base and lab) would be used again in "Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue", one of the better Ranger teams and series.

Sealab 2020 is/was a great look at a year that seemed very hopeful, but as we found out in real-life, was anything but that.

My rating (from Excellent to Poor) - Good. Enjoyable sci-fi with some education thrown in for good measure.

This is one of my fav tv shows as a kid, because it was very entertaining and intelligent at the same time.

It comes from the days when tv could make interesting shows that were very well balanced in the creative and educational aspects; like Sesame Street, the Ludvik Von Drake and Goofy cartoons on The Wondeful World of Disney, and some broadly educational music and science shows like the British Vision On and the Australian Curiosity Show, and folks like Leonard Bernstein and Prof Julius Summer Miller.

I remember the episode on Sealab when Vincent Van Pattern did a guest role as the voice of a boy in a wheelchair, as well as the episodes of a shark plague, and when Bobby runs into a toxic chemical spill. Considering this comes from Hanna Barbera - the creators of THE JETSONS and THE FLINTSTONES , among other things, this is pretty good stuff.