By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
I am not sure if Seaquest was meant to end after the second season or not but it certainly seemed so given the cataclysmic events of the season finale Splashdown. Seaquest seemed to struggle to gain viewers, created its identity with production movements and behind the scenes cast terminations and resignations.
The first season was a more adult scientific show with the odd jaunt into the sci-fi realm with episodes like Such Great Patience. In season two the producers went for a much younger crew and a huge jump into sci-fi.
This included the introduction of a new human species the Daggers, created to be the ultimate soldiers but it all failed miserably. When a Dagger gives birth, which should be impossible, they rebel demanding equal rights. A Dagger joined the crew, Dagwood played by Peter DeLuise. He was by far the most fascinating character with a lot of depth to explore and Dagwood became the most well-rounded character on the show.
Seaquest over that season would meet killer plants, Greek ghosts, aliens, mad psychics, be transported to the future and evil clones. Every cliché was covered but the cast were young and energetic and fun enough to keep you watching regardless of how dumb some of the stories were. In one episode, to save the past and the future they free two teenagers from a life dependent on computers. They are then left to repopulate the planet with no guidance. Did no-one see the problem with this idea in repopulating the world? In the episode it is mentioned that there were other clusters of teenagers but they were now dead. While it’s an allegory to Adam and Eve, how will these two children deal with childbirth and all that comes with it, never mind day to day living and learning. Had nobody watched Wrong Turn to see what happens with in-breeding? The computer begged Lucas to be turned off so stuff like this meant audiences left with ratings dropping badly.
Lead actor Roy Scheider went public about how he hated the show as it was not the show he was promised it would be. His contract meant he could not quit and had to return for a few episodes in Season Three. In that season he was replaced by a new Captain; Oliver Hudson, Michael Ironside.
But by the end of Season Two it may have been they were not getting a third season and wanted to end on a bang. The Colbys did this by Fallon being abducted by a UFO. But Seaquest went one better. Why not kill off the entire cast, bar a couple?
Earlier in the second season Mark Hamill played Tobias, a genius who was blind and being hunted by a vicious alien. It turns out he was also an alien living in human form in secret on Earth for years. The arrival of a Stormer that can possess a body forces him to reveal his secret. He is from a world called Hyperion that is forever at war and because Tobias tried to preach peace he was seen as a criminal and fled to Earth for safety. His oldest friend and Bridger’s buddy, astronaut Scott Keller, played by Galactica 80’s Kent McCord, is shocked. The Stormer defeated, Tobias leaves to travel the universe in his ship along with Scott on the opportunity of a lifetime.
In the finale Scott appears to some of the Seaquest crew telling them to meet him at the Christmas Tree as he needs their help urgently. It is his term for a canyon they rescued him from previously named so because it had so many branches. They are ripped from the ocean by a spaceship and transported to the planet Hyperion.
They are attacked and forced to destroy a hostile sub. They meet Tobias again whom can now see. They witness the KrayTak execute Scott live on air despite Bridger’s pleas. Tobias pleads their case and brings representatives from the native Hyperion people who beg for help. The KrayTaks flooded the planet and have a space station in orbit but the natives want to use their tractor beams to knock a comet into the space station.
While they work on that, they need the Seaquest crew to defend them against underwater attacks. With their underwater knowledge the crew can help the natives win the war. They are introduced to refugees among them a little girl before deciding what to do. Bridger has doubts and sends Piccolo and Darwin out on a mission to see what they can find. They find Scott alive and well who reveals the truth.
They have been played and it is in fact the KrayTaks the Seaquest have been dealing with and Tobias is in fact a Stormer from counter-intelligence. Stormers are the foot soldiers of the KrayTaks who have stolen all the tech they have and are nothing but politicians. What the crew thought was a colony is a docking station. They intend to crash the comet into the planet destroying all resistance. They need to get to the mothership and take it over to prevent that from happening.
Leaving Ford (Don Franklin) to command the Seaquest with orders to self destruct if necessary, Bridger takes a team to the station where they rescue Tobias and plant explosives to take out the tractor beams the Kraytaks intend to use. There is no way home if they do this. Unlike Captain Janeway in Voyager, this is their only option. However they are attacked by the KrayTaks and their Stormers in an epic battle, Star Wars like fire fight cutting them off from the shuttle. Things get worse when the Stormers firebomb the shuttle. There is no way off. They are being overrun by the KrayTak forces. Bridger warns Ford of their situation and tells him to destroy the mothership by any means necessary.
Lucas is entrusted to Dagwood (Peter deLuise) and forced off the ship along with Darwin. Ford sets all weapons on the mothership but before they can execute, the KrayTaks launch an underwater barrier mine. In a lovely character moment, communications officer O’Neill (Ted Raimi) clutches his crucifix knowing they are all about to die. The Seaquest is blown apart leaving Bridger with only one option. He tells Lucas to never let them take away what he believes and to tell what happened today.
Gripping Henderson’s (Kathy Evison) hand, Bridger closes his eyes as the enemy swarms in. They are consumed by a massive explosion leaving Lucas and Dagwood alone. Lucas vows to get their story home. In the meantime they have to find survivors and rebuild. The legacy of the Seaquest now lies with a teenager shunned by his age group for his intelligence and abandoned by his father and a Dagger that is hated where he comes from because of his skin he is yet trusted by Bridger to protect a boy he considers a son. Not forgetting Darwin of course.
The camera pans up from the two of them in a dingy to an alien sky and we fade out.
Now if that had been the end of the Seaquest story forever, it would have been a cracker. Well, it still is a cracker but we know most of the crew are returned for Season Three.
However, this does not take away from the tension and excitement of this ending. Regardless of what you think of the other episodes there is a humanity and vibrancy among the crew that makes you want to be part of it. There is no way the first cast would have made this as exciting it was. As with every hero’s death you start speculating on how they can come back from such devastation. In this case as it stood, they would not.
The KrayTaks are actually pretty devious. Their appearance is one of humanoid while the Stormers are monsters. It is a classic tale of don’t judge by appearances. They claimed that they had no underwater technology given the planet has been only recently flooded. So the shock on Ford’s face at seeing the mine is well acted. There is no time to move out of the way as they see their own deaths before them. The director Anson Williams, did a great job on this one cutting between battles to ramp up the excitement and the moment Bridger closes his eyes, you know all hope is lost. The special effects are top notch and if ever you want to go out in style this is the way to do it.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 