SEAQUEST DSV 2032-SECOND CHANCE, REUNION, WEAPONS OF WAR (final three episodes ever) and wrap up

 SEAQUEST DSV-SECOND CHANCE

 

Okay, I was NOT expecting this! In the most serious season, suddenly SQ’s engines whatever it’s called implode and/or create a black hole that SQ can…sail through into…the past of 1962. During the Cuban Missile Crisis. What? AND where STAR TREK (TOMORROW IS YESTERDAY is boring), LOST IN SPACE (VISIT TO A HOSTILE PLANET has those hick comedy farmers), SPACE: 1999 (okay, those plague hiders are not really very developed in JOURNEY TO WHERE) and others have gone wrong, SQ gets it totally right.

 

The feel of the 60s, the father and daughter that eventually help SQ but who, along with a mom and younger son, are found dead at first (It’s sad to see yet another young person who died incredibly before her time in the talented Brittany Murphy----did Ashton Kushner do a job on her? She does a great job here and she usually does in all her movies and TV shows), and the whole premise. Dr. Perry gets more to do, too.

 

The father and daughter are fully developed characters and aren’t stupid. The father…when he takes the SQ gun to fire and before that when he finds out that his wife had just purchased a St Christopher medal, which Piccolo and Lonnie told him was too hot to touch when he did in the near future when the Cuban Missile Crisis went terribly wrong…probably thanks to SQ’s own mistake in firing on the propellers of an errant Russian freighter, activating a US sub, hidden on the bottom into declaring nuclear war.

 

It’s almost TWILIGHT ZONE quality but BETTER because it has continuing characters. The two pairs of keys is an amazing moment. All of this is extremely well done entertaining, and attractive. AND they do not shy away from the racism of the day either. Some eye opening sequences.

 

Oh and btw, since Darwin saves the day again, it’s time for the idiot Hudson to have a scene with him, thanking him. It never happens but should the show have continued I would have demanded it.

 

It’s sad that the show is headed toward an unceremonious  ending as it doesn’t get the back nine (the TV industry nonsense of giving a show more of a season than was first given, rather than giving it 22 to start). This when the show was finally finding its footing and confidence and telling good stories in good TV consistently and it was far better than the schlock offered to us by most episodes of STAR TREK: NEXT GENERATION, STAR TREK: VOYAGER, the horrid STAR TREK: DEEP SLEEP MINE, STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE, ANDROMEDA, BABYLON 5, and quite a few others. They also finally had the characters and interplay right as well as the connection between episodes and the continuity. In addition, the show, in these final few episodes seemed to find the balance between ecological disasters and warnings and the way to alleviate these and the more outlandish sci fi wildness (a black hole, really?) AND the political intrigue action thriller premises. These finale five, indeed, the final three, have the balance just perfect but…

 

…no one was watching.

 

This is because of a few reasons, I believe. The makers of the show have gone on record in STARLOG and other places in judging the show a failed one. It’s really not. If it were on today, 57 episodes would deem it a total success. It sure had less bad episodes than most shows considered successes and it never sunk to the unintelligent crap that the CW has on in this TV season of 2020 to 21 or of the last two seasons. It would have probably been given those back nine and another season if it were on some service station like NETFLIX or AMAZON PRIME if it were made today or aired there and back in the 1990s if it were syndicated, it would have been a full on success.

 

Watched as it aired, even I didn’t see all the episodes, in fact, less of them than I thought, and the schedule kept revolving when it was on, when it pre-empted, and what episode order to show it in, left viewers with the wrong impression. Sure, TWO opening segments, highly publicized, were ALMOST TOTALLY to blame. Both DAGGERS and BRAVE NEW WORLD were two of the worst episodes and this gave viewers the wrong impression of what was to come. Both season two and three improved by far after those two borefests that were just wrong in every way. In addition, the people working on the show were bad mouthing it, even the stars. Most people put the show down but they haven’t seen every episode, and probably not more than those two opening disasters and if they have not in order. In order, and given time, the show could have caught onto a huge audience but it was never, like many sci fi series, treated right by the audience (many who tell me they gave up after season one), the stars, the production staff and bosses, the studio, the network, and let’s see…did I leave anyone else out? With all that against it, is it any wonder a show with three seasons and 57 episodes is considered a failure when, watched in order and in a row, it’s really not?

 

Of the bad: TONGA TRENCH, GREED FOR A PIRATE’S TREASURE, DAGGERS, SPECIAL DELIVERY, LOSTLAND, DREAM WEAVER, WATERGATE, and BRAVE NEW WORLD. I’ll throw in PLAYTIME, too, even though I think it has promise and isn’t really all that bad. That’s still a single digit number and truth be told, far less than the crap offered by every 1990s STAR TREK series and STAR WARS movies.

 

 

Okay so the rest had some issue and flaws and there were  a handful that really didn’t, especially in season one and three. The much maligned second season had the most issues but honestly, it didn’t serve that hatred and wasn’t really all that bad. And it was honest in its trying. If Roy stayed for season three, would they have needed to try so hard? I don’t know. Hudson started out hated by me but by mid season I really liked him and the conflict he brought to the cast of characters.

 

The show haunts me because there are those I know that hate it that I know would like it if they just sat down and shut up and watched it. It will never happen because of the reputation it has, a reputation that is not really earned but given as excuses by even the people who produced it. It’s annoying and sad. That said, it took me a long time to watch this show despite having had copies for a long time. Why? I thought it would be difficult and yes, there were a handful of episodes that were difficult to sit through (not even all the bad ones, just the openings to seasons two and three). It wasn’t that bad. In fact, I enjoyed the entire re-watch.  It shows that no one really knows what they are talking about when it comes to this show.  

SEAQUEST DSV-REUNION

 

This episode, like the ones around it, offers a lot of surprises. The clichés are long gone from the show, though Henderson seeing her first love is a bit coincidental, it still works. That he turns out to be using her from the start is a shock and that he does NOT come through in the end to save her is also startling as that would be what one might expect to happen. Another coincidence is that Mason Freeman is at the sight. One thing: is this base underwater? With artificial light? If not, what was that about the base industries and content being too toxic so it couldn’t be made on the surface? I also did not expect the running away prisoners to be taking over a sea base of hostages. All of this is terribly exciting and I love the entire thing. Just wonderful action. The show obviously expected to get another nine episodes because that friggin Mason Freeman gets away again…and this actor is brilliant in his villain capacity. You love to hate him. I could have used less of the end music of Kumbai-ar. But there’s nothing wrong with this episode. I also wonder sometimes as in all shows of this nature, when someone is shot with a “ray” gun if they are killed or stunned. I think their guns have stun settings (in SECOND CHANCE, Lucas seems to tell the girl that kisses him---was he even that interested?---that the bigot guys they just shot, even the ones that were not moving---would all recover). Here, somehow, the gun Lonnie used to save Ford from her ex-boyfriend was set on kill. In response…to Ford giving it up for her…she breaks up with him? Huh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SEAQUEST DSV-WEAPONS OF WAR

 

Tim finally gets an episode again and …lo and behold, it’s about a girl and getting a life. Sigh. That said, dramatically, there’s nothing wrong with this episode. Dr. Perry gets more to do again. Then there’s that…

 

…what the hell just happened? What did they do?

 

I guess SPOILERS?

 

 

Spoilers?

 

 

…okay, a random shot explodes Fredricks out of the show and out of life. WOT? What did they just do? And then Lucas has to report, as usual, what is happening in the sea! It’s shocking and sad. I guess the new girl ---Kimura--was supposed to replace her and that happened in this episode but as this is the last episode and wasn’t meant to be (Wikipedia has a list of more episodes that were to be produced but never were). It would have been interesting to see how her relationship with Tim would have gone in the show continued with her as part of the crew. Tim seems to be the one that gets shirked by the girls such as the dagger girl and Lonnie herself. At the same time, this was a semi-sorta Hudson really does like Tim in a way, though it’s clear he likes Piccolo more (giving him glasses to help him read in an earlier episode and in SECOND CHANCE giving him a birthday gift—the only one to remember his birthday).

 

So in one season killing off two major crew members is a bold and shocking move. I’m not sure I like it but it did give the “universe” a dangerous feel. I just really started liking Fredricks a lot and then this…I wish Magath made not that she saved his life. Piccolo offers to help Hudson clean out her room but he’s already done. It’s sad and he leaves the door to her room open.

 

And I’m sure the new enemy would be the Chaodai. As these seem to be a take on China/Japan I’m not sure how this would pan out. They seemed more advanced in tech than the UEO and less in morality and even zero in diplomacy so that long talks between Hudson, Mcgath, Bourne, Deon, and other villains would not be happening. These villains shoot first and ask questions later.

 

So what’s left? Three novels, a making of book that gives a detailed timeline before the first season starts and some of the first season, ONE comic book with a promise of a second that never happened, and LOTS of fan fics that loyal and loving fans have created.

 

And to be complete, the unmade rest of season three:

 

  S3UE1     "In Father's Footsteps"   K0414(?)

On a mission at Dr. Lawrence Wolenczak's classified underwater research base, Lucas discovers evidence that his father may still be alive in cryostasis, three years after taking the experimental science vessel Orpheus deep into a magma chamber. Determined to learn if his father has survived, Lucas disobeys Captain Hudson's orders and sets out to find him. However, the Chaodai have also become interested in Dr. Wolenczak's work and plot to intercept the seaQuest team.

 

This episode would have been interesting and to see Lucas and his father again together might have been great. At the same time, so many officers are disobeying Hudson without repercussion, it might be time to prove something to the crew.

 

 

S3UE2       "Depths of Deceit"  K0415(?)

Captain Hudson's father becomes entangled in a coup d'état by President Bourne to gain total control of Deon International, which has developed a new kind of space weapons platform; one that can obliterate the seaQuest from orbit. Meanwhile, General Stassi conspires with Hudson's father and Larry Deon in order to gain control of Macronesia. Beneath the sea, an old friend of Hudson's assumes command of seaQuest and instigates war with Macronesia.

 

SO I guess with this we finally find out that Deon is alive. Stassi is a nasty piece of work and having him meet his end might be in order. Having a space weapon aim at SQ is a great premise and having all these villains together would have worked IMO. Hudson’s father is either trying to capture villains or is one himself. Hudson by the way mentions his father in REUNION about being rich and one line that seemed confusing, “He often doesn’t take his own advice.”  He also claims his father is truthful and honest so maybe the father, here, is a double spy/agent for stopping the villains and stopping them from using the space platform?

 

 

 

S3UE3       "About Face"   K0417(?)

Captain Hudson is abducted by Macronesia and conditioned to believe that he is an enemy spy who has been surgically altered to resemble the real Captain Hudson with a mission to infiltrate the seaQuest. However, Hudson's abduction brings him the one thing he never had in his real life; a home and a loving family. The script for this episode was never completed.[citation needed]

 

THIS one sounds awful really. It sounds like a bad VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA episode with at least two cliché plots mixed together, maybe more. I wonder if Elaine would have appeared as part of his new “family.”

 

 

S3UE4       "The Horizon Crew"         K0418(?)

Plot details are unknown.

 

Note: This episode was written and was to be directed by Jonathan Brandis.[1]

 

Brandis did a great job last time so it’s a shame we don’t get this.

 

 

 

S3SS1        "The Vault"      Unknown/Spec Script

While seaQuest puts into drydock for forty-eight hours, Lieutenant O'Neill, Lucas, Dagwood and Dr. Perry are assigned to a dangerous mission.[2]

 

NOT much to go on here but Perry getting some action might have been different and interesting.

 

 

 

So, I’m glad I did this re-watch. Far from what I thought previously, I would no longer loathe ALL the Dagwood/Dagger episodes. Some of them are just fine. And Dag’s scenes are, sometimes awkward, almost always watchable other than SPECIAL DELIVERY and possibly the first of season two. Deluise is a good actor. Ditto Piccolo. I used to hate the character but it’s hard to dismiss him, especially in season three where he backs up friends all the time and I love that he goes with Tim in the last episode, knowing it could end both their careers. I also tended to, like everyone else, loathe the second season just because it changed the cast and premise so much. I can’t say this enough: season two has some merit and I like it now. Season three is as good as I remembered but again, other than a scene here or there, I don’t think I saw all of it!

 

I might read the books and the comic some time soon but I DO need a SEAQUEST rest.

 

Some fan fic: (there were loads more of paper zines in the 1990s):

 

http://sirens_choc.tripod.com/ELF.html

 

SQ is, if anything, more of a favorite for me. I liked it in the past but now I love it. It really gave me a lot of enjoyment this re-watch. It deserves a better reputation AND better respect from fans, the stars, and the producers and makers of the show (STARLOG issue 229 interview is most difficult to read and highly unfair). It’s on line. Don’t bother. Bother though, to give this show a try in its entirety. That’s the only way to watch it. You will enjoy it as one of the only sci fi sea series out there (okay THE DEEP is a family underwater show and VOYAGE and OCEAN GIRL and....)