EPISODES FEATURED ON THIS DISC

DISC 5

EPISODE 16 - "Whale Song"
EPISODE 17 - "The Stinger"
EPISODE 18 - "Hide and Seek"
EPISODE 19 - "The Last Lap at Luxury"
"Hide and Seek" - Deleted Scenes
"The Last Lap at Luxury" - Deleted Scenes


seaQuest DSV – Season 1
By Mal Simons, Blockbuster.co.uk

The 21st century: mankind has colonized the last unexplored region on Earth; the ocean. As captain of the seaQuest and its crew, we are its guardians. For beneath the surface lies the future.

Following a lengthy campaign by ‘Questies’, season 1 of seaQuest DSV, Steven Spielberg’s fantastic eco-sci-fi action series from 1993 has been launched on to DVD. Roy Scheider, Stephanie Beecham and the late Jonathan Brandis star in twenty-three timeless underwater adventures. Set in the (now) near future, the series charts the adventures of Captain Nathan Bridger and the crew of the world’s most sophisticated submarine – the seaQuest.

Watching seaQuest more than ten years on from its original broadcast, I am impressed by the quality of the writing, the acting and the production as a whole. Although the series was positioned as a Sci Fi show, seaQuest DSV stands out as a show very much based in science and in fact. This is not some far out space show with aliens and people with weird foreheads, instead this is set on Earth, in the year 2018 no less, the show follows the world’s colonisation of the ocean floor and the exploration of the deep blue sea.

The deep can be a dangerous place however and following a major war (around 2010), most of the nations of the world have formed the United Earth Oceans Organisation (UEO), a military organisation designed to police the peace. Not everyone is happy with the creation of the UEO and there are groups out there who would kill in order to plunder the world’s natural resources. To help keep the peace, the UEO deploys its newest submarine the seaQuest DSV and brings a respected and accomplished scientist and captain, Nathan Bridger (Scheider) out of retirement. Bridger was the original designer of seaQuest who is persuaded to return to active duty. The ship is refitted to accommodate both scientific and military teams and the ship is sent on its merry way.

The science team is headed up by the ship’s chief medical officer Dr. Kristin Westphalen (Stephanie Beacham) who, in addition, to being the ship’s doctor is all-knowing when it comes to the world of science. Also along for the ride is child-genius Lucas Wolenczak (played by the late Jonathan Brandis) who becomes both a friend and adopted son to the Captain but also helps to save the ship and crew on several occasions… or help the Captain to at least. Rounding out the crew is the ‘talking’ dolphin Darwin, who was previously Bridger’s pet and friend but can now speak thanks to technology developed by Lucas. The pilot episode sets the scene very quickly and is truly one of the finest pilot episodes I have ever seen of any series. We are introduced to the ship, the crew and some of the more quirky characters.

Roy Scheider is perfect in the role of Nathan Bridger, in many ways, he appears ore comfortable in this role than he does as Chief Brody in Jaws. As a retired scientist and Navy Captain who lives alone in the middle of the Mediterranean, he initially wants nothing to do with the seaQuest and only takes command as a last resort when he is on board as seaQuest is attacked by its disgruntled former Captain, hell bent on revenge against both the ship and the UEO.

The show does borrow a bit on the formulas established by other science fiction shows such as Star Trek and is at times more heavy on the science than the action however, the show itself has a much friendlier feel to it – there is no over-reliance on techno-babble and for every episode that is slightly more science heavy, there tends to be an action episode which follows it up. The show is extremely well written and enjoyable if you give it a chance. Even more impressively, the special effects have really stood up to the test of time and still work well today.

The cast does a great job of developing their characters and Scheider makes a great Captain and has a great on-screen relationship with Jonathan Brandis, who plays Lucas. It is a tragedy that following the show, Brandis committed suicide aged 27. He showed a lot of potential in this series and is more watchable than other ‘child genius’ characters from other shows.

All in all, a great show that deserves this outing on DVD. Split over six discs, the series also includes deleted scenes and the regular speeches from oceanographer Bob Maynard. This is a great show that was cancelled well before its time. Season 1 develops well and by the end of the season, you will be left wanting more. Roll on Season 2. Add to your list now!

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