SeaQuest DSV

Sci-fi shows are often unappreciated in their time because the subject matter is too foreign for the general public to accept. Only years later do we realize that an innovative show has gone before its time. With the recent re-runs of DSV on sci-fi I realized how much potential the show had. Exploring the oceans is as exciting as exploring space. I especially enjoyed the episode where they uncovered an air pocket which preserved much of our ancient history only to have nations fight over who owned the artifacts. I've read opinions of people who thought the acting was sub-par and the plots stupid. Let me counter by stating that even the most successful sitcom is absurd in its premise and if the laugh tracks were not in place I doubt many people would even realize something funny was going on. Sci-fi makes you think. It tries to broaden your horizons. I realize that the masses prefer being spoon fed entertainment that they can watch while chasing the kids or cleaning the house but if you take a few minutes to watch these episodes perhaps you will see the value of such entertainment. As for me, I enjoy science fiction and this show was definitely worth my time.

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.

The sad tale of seaQuest DSV should forevermore be inscribed into a producer's guide of "what not to do" to a TV series.

The first season was hands-down one of the greatest seasons of sci-fi adventure television ever. The premise, the characters, the writing, the acting, the production design, and even one of the most inspiring opening themes ever...

I was a huge fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and in many respects the first season of seaQuest DSV, airing opposite TNG's seventh season, was a more interesting show. It succeeded by not copying the Trek science fiction formula, but by complementing it, with a mythology grounded more in science fact than fiction. The series just exuded the feel of smart television, whether that feeling came from the subtle nods to current scientific research coming true or the almost Sorkinesque highbrow dialogue or Dr. Rob Ballard's involvement as a consultant.

And then, well, to adapt a common internetism, the show "triple backflipped over the shark."

Perhaps the one in the opening credits.

All of a sudden, four of the more interesting characters (those played by Applegate, Beacham, D'Aquino and Haiduk) vanished into thin air. The remaining cast were neutered to shells of their former selves. The show took a nosedive as far as plotting was concerned, and instead of thoughtful stories about real issues we got pulp culled from the worst of the worst of cruddy science fiction. Psychics! Laser guns! Time travel! Plants taking over the sub! Gigantic Crocodiles! Evil Aliens(tm)! Genetically-engineered slave warriors in skimpy wetsuits!

Wherever the show could have stunk, it did. NBC, still no doubt rather proud of the fact that they'd cancelled Star Trek twenty-five years earlier, wanted silly lowest-common denominator sci-fi to grab an even bigger share of the ratings. Unfortunately for NBC, as the ratings attested, even the lowest common demoninator of Americana really had no wish to have to endure an hour of second season sQ DSV.

There is some online opinion that show redeemed itself in its third season, although I personally feel that "seaQuest 2032" was no less odious than the year that had preceded it. After pushing the magic reset button as hard as they could following the events of the second-season cliffhanger finale, the writers essentially remade the show, turfing Scheider and any pretext that they'd attempt to tell smart television ever again. The show became a hammily-acted excuse of a drama, ditching the wide-eyed wonder of the first season and turning it into a geekfest of underwater shoot-em-ups with an evil bunch of pseudo-Australian pseudo-Fascists wrapped in a coat of paper-thin political intrigue(tm). Now more of an underwater Babylon 5 (and even that's being too kind) than an underwater Star Trek, I cried few tears when NBC put the show out of its misery.

So, for all you wanna-be producers out there, a few lessons: (1) If a show is smart and popular, consider the fact that making it dumb will probably make it unpopular. (2) Never, ever toss aside characters for no reason other than to get people who'd look better in a wetsuit. (3) I'll take a talking dolphin over a bald tattooed version of Forrest Gump anyday. (4) Despite what your polling data may tell you, submarine fighters are not cool. (5) If a friggin' genius like Rob Ballard has agreed to work on your show, you're doing something right. If said friggin' genius leaves your show and you replace him with Michael deLuise attempting to read fascinating facts about penguins off a teleprompter, you're doing something wrong.

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!