''SeaQuest DSV'' (stylized as ''seaQuest DSV'' and also promoted as simply ''seaQuest'') is an American

science fiction television Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...

series created by Rockne S. O'Bannon for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. It aired between 1993 and 1996. In its final season, it was renamed ''seaQuest 2032''. Set in "the near future" (the year 2018 in the first season), ''seaQuest DSV'' originally mixed high drama with realistic scientific fiction. The first two seasons star

Roy Scheider Roy Richard Scheider (; November 10, 1932 – February 10, 2008) was an American actor and amateur boxer who achieved fame with his leading and supporting roles in celebrated films from the 1970s through to the mid-1980s. He was nominated for t ...

as Captain Nathan Bridger, designer and commander of the eponymous naval

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

''seaQuest'' DSV 4600, the

ship prefix A ship prefix is a combination of letters, usually abbreviations, used in front of the name of a civilian or naval ship that has historically served numerous purposes, such as identifying the vessel's mode of propulsion, purpose, or ownership/na ...

standing for "

deep-submergence vehicle A deep-submergence vehicle (DSV) is a deep-diving crewed submersible that is self-propelled. Several navies operate vehicles that can be accurately described as DSVs. DSVs are commonly divided into two types: research DSVs, which are used for ex ...

Jonathan Brandis Jonathan Gregory Brandis (April 13, 1976 – November 12, 2003) was an American actor. Beginning his career as a child model, Brandis moved on to acting in commercials and subsequently won television and film roles. Brandis made his acting debut ...

portrays Lucas Wolenczak, a teenaged computer genius placed aboard ''seaQuest'' by his father, and

Stephanie Beacham Stephanie Beacham (born 28 February 1947) is an English actress. In a career spanning six decades, she has a wide number of credits to her name on film, television, stage and radio in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Beacham beg ...

portrayed Kristin Westphalen, the chief medical officer and head of the ''seaQuest'' science department. In the opening episode of the third season Bridger departed DSV 4600 and was replaced by Captain Oliver Hudson, played by

Michael Ironside Frederick Reginald Ironside (born February 12, 1950), known professionally as Michael Ironside, is a Canadian actor. A prominent character actor with over 270 film and television credits, he is known for playing villains and antiheroes, but has ...

. Also present was a

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

character called Darwin who, due to technological advances, was able to communicate with the crew.

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

expressed interest in the project and served as one of the show's executive producers during the first two seasons. Production of the first season was marked by disputes between the producers, NBC and cast members, changes in the production staff, and an

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

. The second season saw changes in the cast, as well as continued disputes between cast members and producers. The third season introduced a new lead actor and title. While initially popular, the series began to decline in ratings throughout its run and was abruptly canceled in the middle of its third season.

Overview

Season 1

The series follows the adventures of the high-tech submarine ''seaQuest'' DSV 4600, a

operated by the United Earth Oceans Organization (UEO), a global coalition of up-world countries and undersea confederations, similar to the United Nations. The UEO was created following a major showdown of nations and confederations at the Livingston Trench in the

North Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

that occurred circa 2018 as depicted in the pilot episode, "To Be Or Not to Be", and it remained a recurring element for the duration of the series. The ''seaQuest'' was designed by retired naval captain Nathan Bridger and built by NORPAC (a military organization mentioned in the pilot) and given as a loan to the UEO after its creation. The storyline begins in the year 2018, after mankind has exhausted almost all

natural resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...

, except for the ones on the

ocean floor The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as seabeds. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...

. Many new colonies have been established there and it is the mission of the ''seaQuest'' and its crew to protect them from hostile nonaligned nations and to aid in mediating disputes as well as engage in undersea research, much of which was still in the preliminary stages when the show began production in 1993. Bridger, though originally reluctant due to a promise he made with his wife after their son, Robert, was killed in a naval military action before her death, is convinced to return to the navy, under the auspices of the UEO, and assume command of the ''seaQuest''. The first season's storylines primarily dealt with plausible oceanographic research, environmental issues, political machinations of the world and the interpersonal relationships of the crew.

Season 2

In the first-season finale, Bridger sacrifices the ''seaQuest'' to prevent an ecological disaster and for a short time it was not known if the show would be renewed for another season. The series had suffered in the ratings, as it was pitted against ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

'' on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

and '' Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

. When it was decided the show would return, NBC and

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...

used this opportunity to change the show's format, beginning by relocating the show's production from

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

. Several cast changes were also made as both Royce D. Applegate ( Chief Petty Officer Manilow Crocker) and

John D'Aquino John D'Aquino (born April 14, 1958) is an American film and television actor, best known for his role as Lieutenant Benjamin Krieg in '' seaQuest DSV'', Joel in the film '' Pumpkinhead'', U.S. President Richard Martinez in the Disney Channel ...

(Krieg) were released by NBC as the network wanted a younger cast for the second season. D'Aquino returned for a guest appearance in the third season.

Stacy Haiduk Stacy Haiduk (born April 24, 1968) is an American actress. She starred as Lana Lang in the syndicated superhero series ''Superboy'' (1988–1992) and as Katherine Hitchcock in the NBC science fiction series, ''seaQuest DSV'' (1993–1994). Hai ...

(Hitchcock) informed producers that she did not wish to relocate to Orlando for the second season, having just returned to Los Angeles after spending four years in Florida during the production of ''

The Adventures of Superboy ''The Adventures of Superboy'' is a proposed TV series that was put into production in 1961. It was meant to capitalize on the success of '' Adventures of Superman'', which went out of production in 1958. Only a pilot episode ("Rajah's Ransom") ...

''. Stephanie Beacham, who as Dr. Westphalen was one of the first season's strongest characters, was also hesitant to relocate to Florida. Beacham also blamed continued disputes between the network and the show's producers as a major reason why she did not return. Joining the series for season two were Edward Kerr as Lieutenant James Brody, ''seaQuest''s weapons officer; Kathy Evison as Lieutenant Lonnie Henderson, ship's helmsman; Rosalind Allen as Dr. Wendy Smith, the boat's new chief medical officer; Michael DeLuise as Seaman Anthony Piccolo, an ex-convict who has

genetically engineered Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including th ...

gill A gill () is a respiration organ, respiratory organ that many aquatic ecosystem, aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow r ...

s and

Peter DeLuise Peter John DeLuise (born November 6, 1966) is an American and Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for his role as Officer Doug Penhall in the Fox TV series ''21 Jump Street'' and for directing and writing episodes ...

as Dagwood, a prototype genetically engineered life form (G.E.L.F. or "dagger"—a racial slur) who serves as ''seaQuests custodian. As the ''seaQuest'' itself was rebuilt in the storyline, it allowed for the sets to be redesigned for the new Florida location and a shortened version of the

Emmy award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

winning main title theme was instituted as the series returned to the airwaves on September 18, 1994 with the two-hour

television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

season premiere, "

Daggers A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually one or two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a cutting or thrusting weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or popular-u ...

". NBC and the show's producers also decided they wanted more traditionally science-fiction oriented episodes this season, a direction that was explored toward the end of the first season when ''seaQuest'' discovered a million-year-old alien ship entombed in the ocean floor in the episode "Such Great Patience". The second season explored heavy science-fiction concepts such as genetic engineering, aliens,

parapsychology Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, teleportation, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry (paranormal), psychometry) and other paranormal cla ...

time travel Time travel is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a device known a ...

and various " monsters of the week" (including killer plants, a giant fire-breathing worm, a prehistoric crocodile and an ancient demon.) Roy Scheider was vocal in his anger at the show's new direction. In an interview given during the second season, Scheider averred: "It's childish trash... I am very bitter about it. I feel betrayed... It's (the new season) not even good fantasy. I mean, ''Star Trek'' does this stuff much better than we can do it. To me the show is now ''

21 Jump Street ''21 Jump Street'' is an American police procedural drama television series created by Patrick Hasburgh and Stephen J. Cannell for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired from April 12, 1987 to April 27, 1991, spanning 103 episodes over five s ...

'' meets ''Star Dreck''." Scheider felt the series had strayed too far away from its premise, and that he "became more of a combat commander than a scientific commander and I hadn't signed up for that." Scheider added that after moving production to Florida, the show was "going to present human beings who had a life on land as well as on the boat... we've had one script that has done that (the episode ' Vapors')," Scheider said. "The other shows are Saturday afternoon 4 o'clock junk for children. Just junk—old, tired, time-warp robot crap," making reference to the much maligned episode "Playtime." As Scheider explained, "I don't do this kind of stuff... I said (to the production executives), 'If I wanted to do the fourth generation of ''Star Trek'', I would have signed up for it. I wouldn't have done ''seaQuest''. You guys have changed it from handball into field hockey and never even bothered to talk to me.'" Scheider's comments left him in trouble with some of the executive producers, including Patrick Hasburgh who, in reply, had strong words for Scheider as well: "I'm sorry he is such a sad and angry man. ''seaQuest'' is going to be a terrific show, and he is lucky to be part of it." By the end of season two, ''seaQuest DSV'' was again suffering, partly attributed to a perceived decrease in the quality of the writing as well as preemptions by NBC due to sports coverage. The possibility of cancellation appeared likely but NBC kept the show in production after plans for a new series titled ''Rolling Thunder'' to replace ''seaQuest DSV'' were canceled. Producer

Lee Goldberg Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter, publisher and television producer, producer known for his bestselling novels ''Lost Hills'' and ''True Fiction'' and his work on a wide variety of TV crime series, including ''Diagnosis: Murder'' ...

claimed the new series was canceled because the premise was "awful." The season finale, written as a possible series finale, involved the ''seaQuest'' and its crew being abducted by aliens and forced into a civil war on an alien world where the ship appeared to be destroyed and the crew presumed dead.

Season 3

Blaming continued disputes with producers and abandonment of the show's original premise, Roy Scheider requested to be released from his contract with NBC. However, the network only partially agreed and demanded that Bridger would make several appearances throughout the third season. Edward Kerr had been very frustrated with the episode entitled "Alone" (Reportedly, Kerr hated the script so much that he left the set. Brody is absent from that episode) and also wished to exit the series in the third season, which is why his character was critically injured in the season finale, "

Splashdown Splashdown is the method of landing a spacecraft or launch vehicle in a body of water, usually by parachute. This has been the primary recovery method of American capsules including NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Orion along with th ...

". NBC would only agree to release him from his contract if he continued to play Brody for a few episodes in the third season so his character could be killed off for more dramatic impact in the episode "SpinDrift". Because of rescheduling, the episode "Brainlock", with Brody still alive, aired after the character's death. Rosalind Allen was released as Dr. Smith proved to be unpopular with the audience and because producers felt that her character's telepathic abilities would not fit with the more serious tone planned for the new season.

Marco Sanchez Marco Sanchez is an American actor, producer, and writer. Filmography Film Television References External links * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez, Marco 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American ma ...

( Chief Petty Officer Miguel Ortiz), who had requested to remain with the series, was also released after NBC decided it wanted the principal cast number dropped from ten to nine, leaving

( Lucas Wolenczak), Don Franklin ( Commander Jonathan Ford), and

Ted Raimi Theodore Raimi (born December 14, 1965) is an American character actor, director and writer. He is known for his roles in the works of his brother Sam Raimi, including a fake Shemp in ''The Evil Dead'', possessed Henrietta in ''Evil Dead II'', ...

( Lieutenant Tim O'Neill) as the only three cast members who remained with the show since the first episode. The marine trivia presentations at the end of the show, formerly hosted by

oceanographer Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...

Dr. Bob Ballard in the season one and the main cast excluding Scheider in season two, were dropped entirely. The show itself was renamed to ''seaQuest 2032'', with the storyline pushed ahead ten years after the end of season two. In the season premiere, the ''seaQuest'' reappears on Earth, its crew mostly intact, ten years after their abduction at the end of season two. Captain Bridger retires to raise his new grandson and

joins the cast as the more militaristic Captain Oliver Hudson. Originally, Ironside refused to take over from Scheider as star of the series. "I saw so many problems that I couldn't see where I'd be able to do the work I wanted to do." claimed Ironside. Also considered for the lead of the series was actor

Jonathan Banks Jonathan Ray Banks (born January 31, 1947) is an American actor. He played FBI Special Agent Frank McPike in the television series '' Wiseguy'' (1987–1990). For his role, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supportin ...

, who had previously appeared in the first season episode "Whale Songs" as radical environmentalist Maximilian Scully. After weeks of negotiations where Ironside offered producers a number of changes to the storytelling structure of the series, which were agreed upon, he finally signed on. "You won't see me fighting any man-eating glowworms, rubber plants, 40-foot crocodiles and I don't talk to Darwin." he said. Though not cast as the new lead of the series, Jonathan Banks reprised his character of Scully in the third season. Also joining the cast was

Elise Neal Elise Demetria Neal (born March 14, 1966) is an American actress known for her work in television and film. She rose to prominence in 1997 with roles in ''Rosewood'', '' Money Talks'', and ''Scream 2''. She later starred as Yvonne Hughley in th ...

as Lieutenant J.J. Fredericks, who served as ''seaQuests sub-fighter pilot. Steering story lines back towards more reality-based themes, the third season attempted to blend the sense of the first season with some of the unique elements of the second season, while at the same time, pushing forward in an entirely new direction altogether as the UEO faces the threat of the Macronesian Alliance and the ever growing corporate conglomerate Deon International. The series was perceived as becoming much darker than it was in the previous two seasons, focusing less on science (as it had in the first season) and science fiction (as it had in the second season) and more on international politics. While these changes were met with mostly positive reactions, ratings continued to decline and NBC canceled the series after thirteen episodes. The 57th and final network airing of ''seaQuest 2032'' took place on June 9, 1996.

Cast

Main

Season 1

as Captain Nathan Bridger (47 episodes) *

as Lucas Wolenczak (57 episodes) *

as Dr. Kristin Westphalen (22 episodes) *

as Lieutenant Commander Katherine Hitchcock (23 episodes) * Don Franklin as Commander Jonathan Ford (56 episodes) *

as Lieutenant Benjamin Krieg (22 episodes) * Royce D. Applegate as CPO Manilow Crocker (22 episodes) *

as Lieutenant Tim O'Neill (54 episodes) *

as CPO Miguel Ortiz (40 episodes) *

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American actor who specializes in voice acting. He began his career in the 1960s, and held around 850 film, television, and video game credits as of 2020, making him one of the most prolific v ...

as voice of Darwin * Dr. Bob Ballard as himself, marine trivia during credits

Season 2

* Rosalind Allen as Dr. Wendy Smith (19 episodes) * Edward Kerr as Lieutenant James Brody (26 episodes) * Michael DeLuise as Seaman Anthony Piccolo (33 episodes) * Kathy Evison as Lieutenant Lonnie Henderson (32 episodes) *

as Dagwood (31 episodes)

Season 3

as Captain Oliver Hudson (13 episodes) *

as Lieutenant J.J. Fredericks (10 episodes)

Recurring

Shelley Hack Shelley Marie Hack (born July 6, 1947) is an American actress, model, producer, and political activist. She is best known as the face of Revlon's Charlie perfume from the mid-1970s until the early 1980s, and for her role as Tiffany Welles in ...

as Captain Marilyn Stark *

Richard Herd Richard Thomas Herd Jr. (September 26, 1932 – May 26, 2020) was an American actor appearing in numerous supporting, recurring, and guest roles in television series and occasional film roles from the 1970s to the 2010s. He was well known in the ...

as Admiral/Secretary General William Noyce * W. Morgan Sheppard as "The Old Man", Professor Martinson *

Dustin Nguyen Dustin Nguyen (born Nguyễn Xuân Trí) (September 17, 1962) is a Vietnamese– American actor and martial artist. He is best known for his roles as Harry Truman Ioki on '' 21 Jump Street'' and as Johnny Loh on '' V.I.P.'' Recently, he starr ...

as CPO William Shan *Jesse Doran as General Francis Gideon Thomas *

Kent McCord Kent Franklin McWhirter (born September 26, 1942), known by his stage name Kent McCord, is a retired American actor, best known for his roles as Officer Jim Reed on the television series ''Adam-12'', Captain "Boxey" Troy on ''Galactica 1980'', an ...

as Commander Scott Keller * Robert Engels as Malcolm Lansdowne * Mark Fauser as Weapons Officer Dalton Phillips *

Timothy Omundson Timothy Michael Omundson (born July 29, 1969) is an American actor. He is notable for his supporting roles as Sean Potter on the CBS television series ''Judging Amy'', Eli on the syndicated series '' Xena: Warrior Princess'', Carlton Lassite ...

as Dr. Joshua Levin *

Dan Hildebrand Dan Hildebrand is a British stage, TV, and film actor. Career He was educated at Highgate School in north London. He has appeared in TV shows such as ''Sons of Anarchy'', '' Lost'', ''NYPD Blue'' and '' Longmire'' as well as playing two separat ...

as Helmsman Carleton *

Roscoe Lee Browne Roscoe Lee Browne (May 2, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American actor and theatre director, director. He resisted playing Stereotypes of African Americans, stereotypically black roles, instead performing in several productions with New York Ci ...

as Dr. Raleigh Young *Sarah Koskoff as Julianna *

Denis Arndt Denis Leroy Arndt (February 23, 1939 – March 25, 2025) was an American actor, best known for his starring role as Alex Priest in the play '' Heisenberg'' for which he earned a 2017 Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play. Life and care ...

as Navy Quartermaster Bickle *

James Shigeta James Saburo Shigeta (; June 17, 1929 – July 28, 2014) was an American actor and singer. He was known for his roles in ''The Crimson Kimono'' (1959), ''Walk Like a Dragon'' (1960), ''Flower Drum Song (film), Flower Drum Song'' (1961), ''B ...

as Montegnard Confederation President Chi *

as Maximilian Scully *Michael Costello as Secretary General McGath * Sam Jenkins as Mariah *

Mark Hamill Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Luke Skywalker in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, and the Joker (character), Joker in various animated DC Comics projects, starting with ''Batm ...

as Tobias LeConte * Karen Fraction as Dr. Perry *

Michael York Michael York (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English film, television, and stage actor. After performing on stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Romeo ...

as President Alexander Bourne of Macronesia * Andrew Stahl as General Stassi * Tim DeKay as Larry Deon * Ralph Wilcox as Mason Freeman *

Patricia Charbonneau Patricia Charbonneau (born April 19, 1959) is an American actress, perhaps best known for playing the part of Cay Rivvers in '' Desert Hearts'' (1985), her first film role, for which she was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best F ...

as Elaine Morse

Episodes

During the first and second seasons, NBC aired the show on Sundays at 8:00 p.m.

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...

; however, the series was frequently preempted in the second season in favor of

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

coverage. During the third season, NBC moved the show to Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET; ''seaQuest'' continued to face frequent preemptions in favor of sports coverage and other television specials. Several of the show's producers, including Carleton Eastlake, believe these preemptions led to the show's cancellation. After cancellation, the series aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in the United States,

Horror Channel Legend, formerly Zone Horror and Horror Channel, is a British free-to-air television channel specialising in sci-fi, fantasy, thriller, action and cult series. It is broadcast in the UK and Ireland. The channel is known for its horror movies du ...

in the UK, Space: The Imagination Station in Canada and

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Production

In October 1992, it was announced

had given a 22-episode order to ''Sea Quest'' which was co-created by Rockne S. O'Bannon and

. The budget for the first season was estimated to be around $30 million with

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a division of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#Universal Studio Group, Universal Studio Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which, in turn, is ...

's televisions ambitions for the series being to serve as part of a larger

multimedia franchise A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program, o ...

Spielberg had been friends with

since he starred in '' Jaws'' and was instrumental in getting him as the lead in the series with Scheider saying of the experience "“It’s the best part offered me this year. If it gets to be half as good as it reads — it will be wonderful. It’s time for a show like this on TV. During development, the original title for the series was ''Deep Space'', though this was changed after the announcement of '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. Roy Scheider's character was based on John C. Lilly and Bob Ballard, who was also the technical advisor for the series in the first season. Lilly was a pioneer researcher into the nature of consciousness using as his principal tools the isolation tank, dolphin communication and psychedelic drugs, sometimes in combination. He was a prominent member of the Californian counterculture of scientists, mystics and thinkers that arose in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Albert Hofmann Albert Hofmann (11 January 1906 – 29 April 2008) was a Swiss chemist known for being the first to synthesize, ingest, and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Hofmann's team also isolated, named and synthesi ...

Gregory Bateson Gregory Bateson (9 May 1904 – 4 July 1980) was an English anthropology, anthropologist, social sciences, social scientist, linguistics, linguist, visual anthropology, visual anthropologist, semiotics, semiotician, and cybernetics, cybernetici ...

Ram Dass Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert; April 6, 1931 – December 22, 2019), also known as Baba Ram Dass, was an American spiritual teacher, guru of modern yoga, psychologist, and writer. His best-selling 1971 book '' Be Here Now'', which has been d ...

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from "bold oracle" to "publicity hound". Accordin ...

Werner Erhard Werner Hans Erhard (born John Paul Rosenberg; September 5, 1935) is an American lecturer known for founding est (offered from 1971 to 1984). In 1985, he replaced the est Training with a newly designed program, the Forum. Since 1991, the Forum ...

, and

Richard Feynman Richard Phillips Feynman (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of t ...

were all frequent visitors to his home. The character's name, Nathan Hale Bridger, was in homage to

Nathan Hale Nathan Hale (June 6, 1755 – September 22, 1776) was an American Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot, soldier and spy for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an Military intelligence, intelligence ...

. When producers began developing new characters for the second season, they named Lieutenant Brody after Police Chief Martin Brody, Roy Scheider's character in the first two '' Jaws'' films. Ralph Willcox and Karen Fraction, who both became recurring guest stars in the third season, had previously appeared as different characters in the second. Despite the numerous cast changes, Jonathan Brandis appeared in every episode of the series, Don Franklin in all but one episode ("And Everything Nice"), and Ted Raimi in all but two episodes ("Nothing But The Truth" and "The Siamese Dream"). Several of the cast's family members were brought in to play characters, as well. Brenda King, Roy Scheider's wife, portrayed Carol Bridger; Todd Allen, Rosalind Allen's husband, portrayed Clay Marshall in "The Siamese Dream"; Michael and Peter DeLuise's father, veteran actor

Dom DeLuise Dominick DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009) was an American actor, comedian, director, musician, chef, and author. Known primarily for comedy roles, he rose to fame in the 1970s as a frequent guest on television variety shows. He is widely ...

, portrayed Nick Piccolo in " Vapors". Several cast members also dabbled on the creative side of the show, as both Ted Raimi and Jonathan Brandis penned episodes during the second season. (Brandis wrote the aforementioned "The Siamese Dream" and Raimi, " Lostland".) Conversely, Robert Engels, one of the show's executive producers (and writer of two episodes, " Greed For a Pirate's Dream" and "

Hide and Seek Hide and seek may refer to: * Hide-and-seek, a children's game Film * ''Hide and Seek'' (1932 cartoon), a Fleischer Studios Talkartoon animated short * ''Hide and Seek'' (1963 film), a Swedish comedy film * ''Hide and Seek'' (1964 film), a ...

") during the first season, portrayed the recurring character Malcolm Lansdowne. While in production, ''seaQuest DSV'' won and was nominated for a number of awards.

John Debney John Cardon Debney (born August 18, 1956) is an American composer and conductor of film, television, and video game scores. His work encompasses a variety of mediums and genres, including comedy, horror, science fiction, thriller, fantasy and ...

won the 1994

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Main Title Theme Music" for his composition of the ''seaQuest DSV'' theme song and in 2000, it was named the 48th best theme song of all time by

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

. Don Davis also won an Emmy in 1995 for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Series" (Dramatic Underscore) for his score for the second season premiere, "Daggers". Russ Mitchell Landau was also nominated for his work on the third season premiere, "Brave New World", in 1996. Kenneth D. Zunder was nominated for the Emmy award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cinematography for a Series" for the episode "Such Great Patience". Jonathan Brandis won the 1994 Young Artist Award for "Best Youth Actor Leading Role in a Television Series" for his portrayal of Lucas Wolenczak and the series was nominated for a 1994 ASC Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Movies of the Week/Pilots" as well as the

Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films bel ...

for "Best Genre Television Series" in 1995. A ''seaQuest DSV'' feature film was in pre-production stages, however, it never materialized. Despite being scripted in at least one episode, Captain Bridger never refers to Dagwood by name. The closest he ever got was calling him "Dag" in the episodes " Special Delivery" and "The Siamese Dream". Despite popular belief, Darwin was not a real dolphin but rather an

animatronic An animatronic is a puppet controlled electronically to move in a fluent way. Animatronics are the modern adaptation of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films, video games and in theme park attractions. Anim ...

animal designed and created by Walt Conti, who had created other similar effects for films such as '' Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'', ''

The Abyss ''The Abyss'' is a 1989 American science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron and starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn. When an American submarine sinks in the Caribbean, a US search and recovery tea ...

'' and ''

Free Willy ''Free Willy'' is a 1993 American Adventure film, adventure Drama (film and television), drama film, directed by Simon Wincer, produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Jennie Lew Tugend, written by Keith A. Walker and Corey Blechman from a story by ...

.'' Alien creature effects were designed and created by

Tony Gardner Tony Gardner (born 10 January 1964) is an English actor and doctor. He sits on the national governing body of the actors' trade union Equity. Early life and education He attended St Augustine's Catholic College in Trowbridge. Career Gardne ...

's Alterian, Inc.

Home media

In 2005, Universal announced that the first season of ''seaQuest DSV'' would be released on Region 1 DVD along with a week-long marathon of the show on the Sci Fi Channel. The DVD release included never before seen deleted scenes on selected episodes. The second season was released in 2008 in region 1. As opposed to the first season, the second season was released on eight single-sided discs and does not contain any extra features such as deleted scenes. The third season was not released on DVD in region 1 but was released in Region 4 in 2011. On December 12, 2015, the Australian DVD label ViaVision, through its distributor Madman Distribution, released season 1 on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

in full

1080p 1080p (1920 × 1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the sc ...

High definition. Although presented in 1080p, the program is presented

Pillarbox The pillarbox effect occurs in widescreen video displays when black bars ( mattes or masking) are placed on the sides of the image. It becomes necessary when film or video that was not originally designed for widescreen is shown on a widescreen ...

ed to maintain the original 4:3 aspect ratio. Season 2 was released on Blu-ray on March 2, 2016. On April 15, 2020, selected episodes were made available on the early preview of the streaming service

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

,available to

Xfinity Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications business segment and division of the Comcast Corporation. It is used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless servic ...

subscribers with qualifying devices. On May 6, 2019 Mediumrare Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Region 2 however two episodes are missing, 'Dagger Redux' and 'The Siamese Dream' instead two episodes from the previous disc are overlapped in their place. Despite this, the correct episode titles are listed in the DVD menu. Mill Creek Entertainment announced the complete series of SeaQuest DSV on Blu-ray was released on July 19, 2022.

Merchandise

*A short series of novels based on the characters and concepts depicted on ''seaQuest DSV'' were available during the first season of the show. They were: **''seaQuest DSV: The Novel'' (a novelization of the

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie) in United Kingdom and United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television netwo ...

) by

Diane Duane Diane Duane (born May 18, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy author, long based in Ireland. Her works include the ''Young Wizards'' young adult fantasy series and the ''Rihannsu'' Star Trek novels. Biography Born in New York C ...

and Peter Norwood. Published October 1993. **''seaQuest DSV: Fire Below'' by Matthew J. Costello. Published January 1994. **''seaQuest DSV: The Ancient'' by David Bischoff. Published March 1994. *Nemesis Comics published one issue of a ''seaQuest DSV'' comic book in March 1994. It contained a 23-page original story titled ''Deep Faith'', blueprints for the Renegade submarine and for the seaQuest bridge, and two one-page "Logbook" character bios for Captain Bridger and Dr. Westphalen. The cover for the planned second issue was included on the final page of Issue #1, but it was ultimately never published. * A video game was released for the

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania a ...

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

, and

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

consoles in 1994. *A series of

action figures An action figure is a poseable character (arts), character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game, television program, or sport; fictional or historical. These fig ...

Playmates Toys Playmates Toys Limited is a Hong Kong toy company. The company was founded in Hong Kong in 1966 by Sam Chan Tai-ho as Playmates Industrial, manufacturing dolls for other companies. In 1975, Playmates began marketing its own line of preschool to ...

were released in 1993. Captain Bridger, Commander Ford, Lucas Wolenczak, Lt. Commander Hitchcock, Lieutenant O'Neill, Chief Crocker, Darwin, Dr. Rubin Zellar, and The Regulator were released as part of wave one. Additional characters such as Dr. Westphalen, Chief Ortiz, and Lieutenant Krieg and a Darwin with sound effects were planned as part of wave two, but they were never released. Additionally, prototypes of the ''seaQuest'', the Delta 4 Pirate sub, the ''Stinger'', a seaLaunch, and a Deep Sea Mini Pickup, all with electronic lights and sounds, are known to exist but were not released. *A series of

trading cards A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other t ...

produced by SkyBox were released in 1993, depicting characters, scenes, and episodes from the first season. It consisted of 100 standard trading cards, plus four foil chase cards and two promotional cards. *Various models were produced by

Monogram A monogram is a motif (visual arts), motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbo ...

, including the ''seaQuest'', a Deep Sea Mini Pickup, ''The Stinger'', and Darwin (actually a remolded Flipper) were released. *Various pieces of clothing, including T-shirts, baseball caps, and embroidered patches of the ''seaQuest'' and UEO logos (replicas of the ones used on the show) were released. *A non-fictional large format book was released in the UK during the first season, titled ''seaQuest DSV: The Official Publication of the Series''. It contained comprehensive interviews and production information, artwork, and design histories, as well as a production report of the episode "Hide and Seek". (Published October 1994. ) Other merchandise made available included a shot glass in cobalt blue with gold logo, key chains and pins, a book cover, 'magic rocks' sets, journal, and a set of bookmarks.

Soundtrack album

composed the original theme music and scored the pilot and season one shows, with Don Davis working on season two. When the series was revamped as ''SeaQuest 2032'' in the final season, Russ Landau composed a new theme and scored all the episodes. In 1995,

Varèse Sarabande Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and cast recording, original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as ...

released an album of Debney's music from the show, featuring the series main and end title themes and selections from "To Be or Not to Be" (tracks 2-8), "Knight of Shadows" (tracks 9 and 10) and "Such Great Patience" (tracks 11-13). In 2020, the label released a 2-CD expansion, with music from "To Be or Not to Be" on disc 1. Disc 2 contained music from the season one episodes “Brothers And Sisters” (tracks 1-7), “Knight Of Shadows” (8-11), “The Regulator” (12-14), “The Good Death” (15-23), “Such Great Patience” (24-31) and “The Devil's Window” (track 32).

1995 album

# Main Title (1:03) # Preparing for Battle (2:51) # Bridger's Dream (:52) # Uncharted Waters (2:06) # First Engagement (3:18) # Darwin Speaks (:58) # Dangerous Adversary (1:34) # To Adventures Bold (1:31) # Waltz With the Dead (2:48) # The Forgiving/Resurrection (4:53) # The Discovery (2:15) # Lucas Meets the Alien (2:30) # Solemn Oath (2:26) # End Credits (:37)

2020 Deluxe Edition

''CD 1'': "To Be or Not to Be" # SeaQuest Opening Credits (3:29) # SeaQuest Arrives (4:01) # Military Welcome (:37) # To The Island (1:30) # Come See Her (1:38) # seaQuest (3:32) # Playon To SeaQuest (:37) # Hitchcock Retreats (1:50) # Darwin Speaks (:59) # Stark Prepares (1:02) # Act In To SeaQuest (:46) # Transition (:34) # Attack Formation (2:48) # At The Precipice / Into The Rift (7:48) # Stark Plots (:42) # Damage Assessment (:52) # Hyper-Probe (2:05) # Impending Battle / Play On (1:51) # Bridger Returns (2:42) # Battle Stations (2:50) # Caught (1:21) # To The Bottom Of The Sea / A Tag To Bonnie The Bad Girl (6:57) # To The Ocean (4:15) # SeaQuest: End Credits (:57) # SeaQuest Opening (alternate version with Choir mixed down) (1:45) # SeaQuest (alternate version) (1:36) ''CD 2'': Season One Highlights # SeaQuest Series Promo (2:33) # Of Treasures In The Deep (1:14) # The Discovery (1:41) # Mind Meld #2 (1:23) # Big Tension (3:38) # Exploring The Depot (1:30) # Saying Goodbye (2:40) # Into The Ghost Ship (1:43) # The Possession Of Kristini (2:47) # Lukas Confronts Captain (3:14) # The Forgiving (4:51) # Vern Leaves (2:09) # Monkey Fish (1:42) # Inside Us All (:56) # Attacked (1:12) # Cynthia (1:20) # Drug Store (1:38) # Narrow Escape (1:57) # The Plan (1:41) # Close Call (3:31) # The Escape (4:21) # Darwin Save Malik (1:03) # Cheo Checkmate (1:08) # Discovery (2:14) # Of Gods And Astronauts (2:28) # Encounter (1:44) # Wolf In The Fold (1:37) # Intruder (4:28) # Communication (2:29) # Understanding/Possible Pickup (4:31) # Invitation Extended (2:26) # SeaQuest: End Credits (:35)

References

External links

"seaQuest DSV" at spacecast.com
Canadian science-fiction channel's show page * {{DEFAULTSORT:seaquest DSV 1993 American television series debuts 1996 American television series endings 1990s American science fiction television series American English-language television shows Television series set in 2018 Television series set in the 2030s American television shows featuring puppetry NBC television dramas Playmates Toys Fictional submarines Television series about submarines Television series by Universal Television Television shows set in Florida Military science fiction television series Television series by Amblin Entertainment Underwater civilizations in fiction Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Television shows filmed in Florida

Overview

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Cast

Main

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Recurring

Episodes

Production

Home media

Merchandise

Soundtrack album

1995 album

2020 Deluxe Edition

See also

References

External links