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Such is the pulling power of Steven Spielberg that when
his '22-hour spectacular' new underwater adventure series was first shown
in America just one month before its first UK appearance, it reportedly
drew an audience of 67 million. "When I was a kid, one of the movies
and books that inspired me was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,"
said Spielberg, whose company Amblin produced the show with Universal TV.
"I'd always wanted to explore the possibility of the depths of our
oceans as a theatre for all sorts of drama. SeaQuest is part
fiction and it's part complete and pure fantasy. The world underwater is
going to provide farming for future generations, and the year 2018 isn't
that far away. Neither is the possibility of the 'new frontier', which
perhaps isn't outer space just yet; the new frontier is perhaps
underwater."
SeaQuest DSV (Deep Submergence Vehicle) was set
at a time when the lack of terrestrial resources has sent explorers to
raid the oceans of their resources. Roy Scheider, star of such movies as Jaws,
Jaws II, and 2010: Odyssey Two, the first two again with
Spielberg, played Captain Nathan Bridger, crew commander in what amounts
to a new world, while British star Stephanie Beacham, once seen in the rag
trade drama Connie here and in America's Dynasty, played
the leader of the scientific arm of the expedition.
Unfortunately, but not surprisingly given the track
record of the producer, the series lacked any real depth, being no more
than a rehash of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. The sets were
superb, the camera work flawless, and what seemed to be a fortune had been
spent on the effects, so creating a totally believable underwater world,
where new communities had sprung up to harvest the life of the sea and
experiment in improving conditions for Man there. But the scripts were of
poor quality, containing the same old plot devices seen in so much
American output over the years. The characters were corny and hackneyed;
the new captain initially reluctant after a personal loss some years
before to become re-involved in the Navy and its new project, despite
knowing more than he should after so many years of semi-retirement and
living on a deserted stretch of picturesque beach land. Of course he is
persuaded, cajoled and tricked into accepting the post, and, grudgingly,
he gets down to the job at hand. The same basic idea had been seen in many
series, Airwolf and Scheider's own Blue Thunder being
examples. There was also the obligatory presence of a smart kid and a
friendly and helpful animal, in this case a dolphin, to add to the
smugness factor that exuded from every pore of this programme. It carried
nothing new and an initially interested British public soon gave the
programme the thumbs down and avoided it in droves. Its 6.30pm slot on
Sunday evenings probably didn't help either, and SeaQuest DSV soon
disappeared from the screens, unfortunately only to reappear in January
1995, with the ITV introduction, "And now a brand new series,"
for those viewers who'd already forgotten it.
Three seasons were made, but due to the dropping ratings'
figures only the first ten episodes of Season One were originally shown in
this country, the Sunday evening slot being taken by ITV's Family Movie
idea. The episodes did not carry titles, either on screen, or, as is the
case with many US shows, ones to be used with the programme listings (ITV
cut these from the programme without explanation or reason). Luckily, the
information was readily available in contemporary genre-related magazines,
and is reproduced here, along with the remaining episodes that make up the
first season. In the sporadically-shown re-run, episode titles were still
missing from the transmitted prints. In the US, a second, re-vamped season
was made, followed by another massive re-vamp for an even less interesting
third season, now entitled SeaQuest 2032. This was cancelled
halfway through its run.
Official studio counts list the pilot as being episodes
one and two, but for the purpose of this guide, the pilot is listed as one
episode. (Actor Jonathan Brandis, who played Lucas Wolenczak throughout
the series, died at the age of twenty-seven in 2003.)
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Created by: Rockne S O'Bannon
Executive Producers: Steven Spielberg
with Rockne S O'Bannon, Tommy
Thompson and Philip David Segal
(All Pilot Only), David J Burke
(Series Only), Patrick Hasburgh, Clifton
Campbell (Season 3)
Co-Exec Producer: Carleton Eastlake
(Season 3)
Producer: Gregg D Fienberg (Pilot to
Season 2), Steve Beers (Season 3)
Co-Producer: David Kemper (Pilot to
Season 2), Philip Carr Neel, Harker
Wade (Season 3)
Associate Producer: Philip Carr Neel
(Pilot-Season 2), Peter Mavromates
(Season 3)
Supervising Producers: Kerry Lenhart,
John J Sakmar and Hand Tobeason (All
Pilot-Season 2), Lee Goldberg, William
Rabkin (Season 3)
Music: John Debney (Pilot-Season 2), Russ
Mitchell Landau (Season 3)
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US Production/UK Screenings:
Season One: 24 Episodes
1993/23rd October - 26th December 19941
Season Two: 22 Episodes (including 1
double-length)
1993-94/15th February - 30th August 1997
Season Three: 15 Episodes
1995/20th July - 2nd November 1996
An Amblin Production for Universal TV
61 colour episodes, pilot 85-minutes, rest x 47 minutes
(ITV)
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