SeaQuest DSV — Facts

Completed

Originally the year 2018 in the first season—seaQuest DSV originally mixed high drama with realistic scientific fiction. It originally starred Roy Scheider as Captain Nathan Bridger, designer and commander of the eponymous naval submarine seaQuest DSV 4600, Jonathan Brandis as Lucas Wolenczak, a teenaged computer genius placed aboard seaQuest by his father, and Stephanie Beacham as Kristin Westphalen, the chief medical officer and head of the seaQuest science department. In the opening episode of the third season Scheider departed the show, his character Bridger was replaced by Michael Ironside as Captain Oliver Hudson. Also present was a dolphin character called Darwin who, due to technological advances, was able to communicate with the crew. Steven Spielberg 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 even an earthquake. The second season contained changes in the cast as well as continued disputes between cast members and producers, while 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.

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, Gregory Bateson, Ram Dass, Timothy Leary, Werner Erhard, and Richard Feynman were all frequent visitors to his home. The character's name, Nathan Hale Bridger, was in homage to Nathan Hale.

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, 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") 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 won the 1994 Emmy 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. 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 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 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 and Free Willy. Alien creature effects were designed and created by Tony Gardner's Alterian, Inc.

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 in full 1080p High definition. Although presented in 1080p, the program is presented Pillarboxed 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 through on the early preview of Peacock, a streaming service from NBCUniversal, available to Xfinity 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.

• 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:
  1. seaQuest DSV: The Novel (a novelization of the pilot episode) by Diane Duane and Peter Norwood. Published October 1993.
  2. seaQuest DSV: Fire Below by Matthew J. Costello. Published January 1994.
  3. 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, Game Boy, and Genesis consoles in 1994.
• A series of action figures designed by Playmates Toys 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 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, 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

John Debney 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 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)