How would you re-imagine seaQuest? - SeaQuest DSV (1993) Discussion

[–] jakeconhale 16 years ago

seaQuest DSV was notorious for being 3 shows in 1, only separated by season. As two was considered a joke, that leaves season 1 and season 3.

I like the whole show, don't get me wrong, wish some things were better but I still like it. That being said, I don't think season 1 really had the gas to survive. They had the 2 floors of science labs, but there was never any overarching theme to the show, just go out and do random things.

Worked for Star Trek in the 60s, but TV audiences have become to a degree more discerning (heck, even reality TV has some overall arch).

What I would do is base a new series around the season 3 style but soften in a bit. Keep the undersea conflicts with persons like Deon and Bourne, but occasionally break off with one-off episodes such as Give Me Liberte or Bad Water to vary things up.

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The sub:
Same design, squid inspired hull design with bio-engineered skin cover. Keep it, that's the most immediately recognizable aspect. of the show. It's the baddest boat out there, the best combination of speed, weapons, and versatility to ever be created. Initially a warship, but some science facilities worked in after being given to the UEO. Not two full levels, but it would still be very well equipped.

However: keep the underwater science believable. Oh, in 25,50 years we are undoubtedly going to make faster, stronger, more maneuverable submarines and underwater craft, but I never bought into the whole "my m16 shoots lasers!" thing or putting lasers underwater. That just smacked of ripping off Star Trek phasers.

Keep the torpedoes, the grapnals, but no energy weapons.

Also, keep the sheer variety of resources the seaQuest had. The seaCrabs, the shuttles, the fighters, all that. I would consider keeping Darwin, as he worked, I thought, quite well. Not overly anthropomorphized, more of a underwater dog.

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Cast: alright, characters I would want back would be Bridger, Ford, Ortiz, O'Neill, Brody, Hitchcock, and Westphalen, and perhaps a recurring subfighter character.

Here, bridger would be basically the same, but the outside world more desperate. He's trying to bring order to the world and help develop science, and while Hudson worked for season 3, Bridger is more appealing to SQ fans.

Ford, Ortiz, O'Neill, and Hitchcock would be essentially the same, as long as you don't do things like what Hitchcock had to do in seaWest. She was a strong, competent engineer and SO much better than Henderson. Westphalen would be more of a physician as the show would focus less on science, but keep at least a hint of the Westphalen/bridger relationship there.

Brody: Keep the personality, but define his role better. He never seemed to have a title or a specific notch in the chain of command. At times he acted third in command, others he was subordinate to O'Neill. I'd make him in charge of a detachment of marines on board, acting as security and ground forces where needed. You could possibly work in a little friction between the navy and the marines. He'd be knowledgable of sub operations, but unless specifically left in command by a superior, would be more of an adjunct.

Krieg, Piccolo, Henderson, Crocker, they all had their faults to me, and while they would resonate to older fans, just wouldn't be appropriate. Perhaps Crocker as a retired friend of the Captain, Krieg maybe, but very carefully, the others no.

Daggers: If forced to decide, I would say skip the whole GELF plot line, for while it has potential, I just never really liked it. It worked for season 2, but in season 3 it seemed like the GELF population had skyrocketed into thousands. If they were to be brought in as a plot line, keep the overall population low. Perhaps have a recurring GELF officer, but not a main cast member.

As for Lucas: I'm divided. Using a s3 atmosphere, would it work to have a young genius onboard? His becoming an ensign is a perfect example, but then he just becomes a member of the crew, nothing overly special. I'd say don't have him, or if so, not too high focus. I liked him, but what parent would really send their boy genius off to a peacekeeping submarine? What navy would ALLOW said parent to do it?

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The sets:
The season 1 bridge, no question. The s2 bridge never really worked, I thought. Too much star trek influence. The nav dome gave a hint of realism, and could be used to provide immediate reference for the audience about the locations of various things in an instant. The seaQuest is here, enemy is there, colony over here, etc.

Also, do a few more shots of the nav stations, and keep an extra as the helm chief like in Bad Water. In s2, it seemed like they tried to ignore the front as much as possible, but it was very different from anything else yet seen.

Keep the aqua tubes, but for gods sake do not give the bridge a viewport straight to the ocean. Obvious weakness, one strike, the bridge floods, goodbye command crew.

Keep everything else basically the same, those were some of the best sets I've ever seen, looked absolutely realistic. Only thing that really bothered me were those side ladder tubes in the docking bay, but only as they seemed to either not be used or changed purpose (Ortiz returning from a seaCrab from them, and lucas escaping from the assault team by climbing up that same ladder, oy). Keep them, but use them.

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Scripts: use basic s3 plots, to establish the characters, leave some plot lines open, and see where it goes. No aliens without significant consideration by the writing team, "Such Great Patience" worked well, but the others not so much.

Thats about it beyond what was said earlier.

The overall intention was to bring many aspects fans enjoyed but in a workable fashion. For example: Bridger over hudson as he was more liked and also quite different from other captains out there, but he still could have handled the s3 universe. From Noyce's description in "To Be or Not To Be", the s3 universe could very well have been what was really there. It was more desperate, and explains why the seaQuest would have been used as it was, whereas in s1 it seemed like the mere presence of seaQuest in the UEO was enough to keep everyone in line. boring. Keep a workable cast (at a workable size, the seaQuest cast always seemed huge) with a workable plot in a workable universe.

They are military, act it!
They are peace-keepers, show them in action!
The outside world is in chaos, display it!

season 1 was too benign, and one can even track the slow change to military stories. Season 3 had a good universe, but had too much baggage from the first two seasons to work and was subsequently canceled.

Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated.

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[–] shakesphere1-geo 16 years ago

If this series was to be made again I would recommend that seasons 2 & 3 be disregarded and go back to the same story line that made season 1 a success. The basic look of the sets back in the 1990's were good but would need to be upgraded a little to fit 2008.

If I remember correctly the keel of the Sea Quest was laid down around 2009. As of 2008 we can't build anything like the Sea Quest the time line would have to be changed. Keel should be laid down around 2021.

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[–] Hoshi_Reed 16 years ago

Why is a lazer/energy weapon considered too futuristic? (That is like saying rail guns/plasma weapons are too futuristic - it isn't, it is just massively impractical at the moment what with power requirements and size I think the current estimation for a useful destructive weapon is so large only one would fit on a battle cruiser; there are a few desktop lab experiments going on (300 Mega Watts - enough power to power a small town) though so who knows in 20 years)

We currently have developed “Personal Halting and Stimulation Response” (PHaSER) which is non-lethal (is only meant to temporarily blind the target) - Hell the UN has Protocol IV of the Geneva Convention which the US has not signed and it revolves around lazer weapons of this nature on the battlefield if the blindness is permanent. We also have pulse/photon lasers for tattoo removal and medical use which basically vaporises the cells without heat. We are trying to develop high-powered chemical lasers to destroy ballistic missiles - this weapon is bigger than a human and currently a failure, but exists. Then there is the basic CO2 burning lazer that heats up a lot and needs to be cooled and can currently cut thin metal

The only real factor to achieve weapon intensity lazers is size and power but the SeaQuest is large enough and has power, so NOT a big issue.

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[–] jakeconhale 16 years ago

I'd be willing to admit that a hand held laser may MAY be feasible, but if you're going to do that, don't use bullet based guns as your props, and I have to agree witha few physics majors I know who say that lasers would be difficult, if at all possible, underwater.

I'd be mainly against them as they just scream Star Trek/Star Wars to me.

Closest I've seen to a realistic laser weapon would have to be the Babylon 5 pulse pistol, if for only the fact that it didn't generate a visible beam.

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[–] homer3598 16 years ago

I agree with most of the posts on this section, but the only downside I see is that almost half the cast has died, as of late the great Roy Schieder. Updating it would work but it would almost have to be a next generation sort of thing, but not such a negative outlook as was S3

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[–] shakesphere1-geo 16 years ago

Honestly the show shouldn't be made again. To many of the main people are gone and it won't be anything like season one.

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[–] Hoshi_Reed 16 years ago

Re-imaging doesn't require reusing original actors.
Look at Battlestar Galactica. The original actors aren't used to play their original characters. Though you can have fun by recasting like they did with Tom Zarak.

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[–] HawkeyePierce4077 10 years ago

the newest Battlestar is a good example how to do a successful reboot

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[–] jakeconhale 10 years ago

And you have no idea how much I wanted Ron Moore to get his hands on THIS series. Alas, probably just be more of the same as BSG rather than having its own little spark.

Brave New World (season 3) was when things really felt right.

Jake Meridius Conhale, at your service!
"Old Man" of the BSG (RDM) boards.

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[–] HawkeyePierce4077 10 years ago

Maybe if they combined parts of the GELF episodes in Season 2 and the pilot they could create a decent first episode

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[–] mitchconn 16 years ago

Interesting question! Back in 1995, while season 2 was still festering
in the hearts and minds of true SQ season 1 fans, and Season 3 was very
disappointing....I came up with 20 or so plots for episodes that I
now think would great for a Saturday morning animated series!
Unfortunately I cannot find my list of ideas! I was able to remember
only 8 of them. Just in case I move back out LA and re-establish
contact with friends who are in the TV industry, I will not
divluge them, however, I will tell you that one of them had to do
with a re-imagining of an episode from season 2 (The Maruader),
a re-visit of Season 1's finale (Ocean on Fire, which was renamed
"Higher Ground" for no apparent reason), and an episode based on
one of the books written back then. I couldn't find my list of ideas
in my storage unit, but hopefully I left some stuff at my parent's
place!

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[–] AmericanPanascope 16 years ago

Make it into a two-hour movie with Joss Whedon as writer. End of story.

Get that finger out of your ear! You don't know where that finger's been!

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[–] Lexx-2 16 years ago

I'd hold on to the scientific realism of season one, with some of season three's political grit (though better thought out). I'd also try and establish some ongoing arcs to the show, something that didn't really happen until season three. Everything from season two would go. I'd also make it more adult, but not quite in the Battlestar Galactica mode.

As for characters, I'd keep Bridger, Lucas, Westphalen, Krieg, Brody, Ford, Fredericks and Ortiz. Darwin would be an incidental presence. I think Noyce would stay as Secretary General, although McGrath did grow on me.

"Oh, I did my thesis on life experience." - Anonymous Harvard Guy, The Simpsons.

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[–] tmwna 16 years ago

First off, the command structure on SeaQuest was far too lax (e.g. oh you stole a shuttle to go seek a ghost you saw in your dreams you say... I wouldn't worry at all about being fired). The original Battlestar Galactica series suffered from this, and I think the more rigid and gritty command structure of the new series works very well.

The next thing I would do is to remove anything that doesn't have a decemt bearing in real science. This means that ghosts, demons, spirits, gods, dimensional and time travel, aliens, super lasers are OUT.

I did like Darwin, but I would would probably dumb down the equiptment, so that only simple forms of communications are possible, and perhaps get better with time.

The locations and sets of the land-based sets all seemed to be a little hard to swallow. They where always in paradise, and nearly always located in the Gulf of Mexico. I would probably make the world a little more gritty (more like today, with perhaps a 'spice' of future technologies), make the locations anywhere in the world (Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East, etc), and maybe throw in some bad weather once in a while!

I'll post futher ideas later. Comments so far are welcome :)

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Edit:
People seem to be misunderstanding me. I said "I did like Darwin, but I would would probably dumb down the equipment, so that only simple forms of communications are possible, and perhaps get better with time. "

I was actually referring to the equipment used to communicate with Darwin, not technology in general.

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[–] AmericanPanascope 16 years ago

I really like what the last poster said, with one exception: the part about "dumbing down" the technical stuff. I don't know exactly what you meant, but as a general rule you should never insult the intelligence of your audience. Film is a visual medium, and as they say, a picture's worth a thousand words. The viewers don't need to be told exactly how something works so long as they can SEE that it works - especially in science fiction.

Get that finger out of your ear! You don't know where that finger's been!

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[–] charl0tte74 16 years ago

When NBC decided to tinker around with Sea Quest season 2 they destroyed the essence of what season one was all about. Deep sea exploration. Wasn't that the purpose of the UEO? Somehow someone got it into their heads to take out what made season one work and turn it into a silly rehash of every bad science fiction movie or show that was so bad you had to turn away. I've been thinking if I had been writing that show this is how I would go about it: Of course the Sea Quest would be rebuilt but I would keep Crocker(who decides to stay in the Navy and is now head of the security complex that houses the daggers. Brody would be there but only as a subordinate and both manage to escape during the uprising with Crocker being badly injured..this would come into to play in future episodes.) Hitchcock is gone but returns in a later episode. Lt. Krieg is slaving away at a desk job at UEO headquarters and is constantly looking for ways to get back on the Sea Quest. Dr. Westphalen has decided to stay on as ship's doc but her relationship with Bridger went nowhere and their relationship is awkward at best. There would be no psychic! I would keep Dagwood and Piccolo but Henderson would be relegated to a minor role but no less important as ship's mechanic and do-it all handy woman. No need for SWAT experience here. Some stories I think would work is one where Dr. Westphalen, Lucas, O'Neil, and Brody (who has been promoted as ship's security chief while Crocker recuperates) take a launch to a small remote island to test an experimental emergency beacon and run afoul of a crazed maniac who has been living (a la "Lost")He promptly dispatches O'Neil and Lucas (destroying the beacon and their only way off the island!) leaving Westphalen and Brody to find them. The crazed maniac would be played by Terry O'Quinn before Lost of course. He is Westphalen's long lost love who supposedly croaked during one of his experiments. I would have loved to see this one. Another one I would have liked to see is Crocker not quite recovered and jockeying for a position on Sea Quest. Crocker would come to blows with his old friend Bridger who has lightened his friend's responsibilities and as Brody slowly edges Crocker out, Crocker begins to feel his age and injury (we find out his heart was damaged in the uprising and needs to be replaced) is holding him back and after some disagreements with Lucas, Westphalen, and Ford, takes a launch and goes AWOL. Soon everyone regrets what they said to the old sea dog and when they can't find him on board, start to panic. Lucas finds some information in Crocker's cabin that's alarming: he's gone to some underwater colony and sometime dive in the South Pacific looking for a quick fix to that pesky heart problem. Only problem is that the Doctor is a quack and several patients have died during the procedure. Crocker doesn't know this so Piccolo, Lucas, and Brody are dispatched to find him before the carving begins. If anyone has liked these let me know. I'm working on others and it's just something I tinker around with. I would have loved to write for that show. How different it could have been!

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[–] jakeconhale 16 years ago

The purpose of the UEO was not about exploration, it was about maintaining peaceful relations for the confederations and their underwater territories and making sure the environment wasn't destroyed by said confederations. I always thought of it as a more powerful United Nations, considering it actually had it's own military.

The exploration stuff merely happened because it was under the UEO's jurisdiction in those waters and the seaQuest had the resources to tackle such jobs.

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[–] charl0tte74 16 years ago

Either way the show was ruined!!!!

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[–] jakeconhale 16 years ago

Oh, I wouldn't say ruined. Personally I consider season 3 to be the best, only surpassed by season 1 in my preference as season 1 has more episodes.. (and a better bridge)

Now, if only NBC had kept their word about a full third season, grrr.

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[–] mrmonk2000 16 years ago

I too think that the "dumbing down" shouldn't be too intense.
The best part of the DSV was that it was sort of "organic" nature.

Extreme sci-fi would be like Andromeda, Seaquest definitely wasn't that deep, even during the 2nd and 3rd.

My interpretation-imagination of a re-imagined one would be more of a movie. Not sure how interesting it would be with DSV vs some nature-exploiters.

Would have to be well thought :)

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[–] AmericanPanascope 16 years ago

I think a good storyline for a movie would involve the UEO government turning on its people all of a sudden, and then the SeaQuest crew is torn whether or not to join with an insurrection of "pirates" against the corrupted UEO who wants to enslave the entire ocean population (think "Revenge of the Sith" or "V for Vendetta").

I should also add that my film adaptation would have huge underwater cities of a million people or so, not just small outposts.

Get that finger out of your ear! You don't know where that finger's been!

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[–] kitchenaut-1 13 years ago

In the current Hollywood climate, I feel a movie (even if Whedon wrote and directed, no less) would probably turn out worse that season 2, because most films are made to generate as much cash as possible in the shortest amount of time, and that means making them loud, bright and dumber than a rock with cut-out characters. I doubt a film would gain any new fans, and it would alienate older fans.

Any new series has to use the best of what has gone before, represent it in an inventive way and add something new. I like the suggestions of merging the scientific emphasis from season one with the politics and economics of three.
I don't think the silicon-based Aliens were too bad, although perhaps introduce them over a longer period of time, and with a bit more attention paid to current astrophysics and biology. The Seaquest being taken aboard a giant UFO to fight in an alien war was crackers.

The design has not aged one bit -it is truly visionary, and it would look even better with modern CGI. The sets still look good: futuristic but functional, and I would'nt deviate from the look too much, although the computer software and displays look a little dusty, so they could be upgraded, but overall, nearly twenty years after it aired, the Seaquest is still a submarine of the future.

One tech problem that others have mentioned: lasers are a stupid idea for subsurface warfare; lasers bloom and scatter in atmosphere, let alone water. EM-railgun-fired armor-piercing/explosive harpoons would work; there is no reactant-propellant to worry about, and it wouldn't require nearly as much power as an effective laser system. It could also work as a CIWS, if part of a sonar/WSKRS-guided Phalanx analog. The main weapons should be the dial-a-yield plasma torpedoes, although the Seaquest would also have the capabilty to fire SLBMs, cruise missiles, and High velocity-High altitude satellite/warhead kill munitions, perhaps via an EM launcher. I seem to remember the total yield of the Seaquest's nuclear arsenal being 1 Teraton, as mentioned by Bridger. Perhaps that could scaled down, or at least explained via antimatter or something. Seeing as the yield efficiency limit for modern fission-fusion weapons is around 5 MT per tonne of warhead, that would mean Seaquest would carry 200,000 tonnes of thermonuclear devices. Again, perhaps antimatter could solve this. Zero-point energy is a little far fetched. Even in Star Trek: TNG, this represents advanced tech.

I think the characters are tricky, everyone likes different ones, but a consensus of largely Season 1 crew would be a good start. I'm not sure who would play Bridger, or Lucas. Most of the cast were fairly unknown at the time, but were competent, so i'd go down that road, with established actors as Bridger and Westphalen. I would like the first episode to detail the death of Bridger's son Robert. There should be more recurring characters, if there is to be a succesful arc, rather than monster-of-the week episodes. I like Ruben Zellar, and could see him returning a couple of times.

Not sure about sea creatures. I'd go as far as viral infections, or something quite bizarre but not impossible, like an infestation of colonial or clonal hydrozoa/cnidarians. Perhaps even an episode bringing in the mythology of the 'Bloop'. The bio-electric cephalopod from the Treasures of the Tonga Trench could make an appearance, but no mutant plants or thawed-out super crocodiles. The good thing about the ocean is that size is not really a problem for physics, as the ocean will support massive lifeforms. It's just a matter of them having enough food to sustain a population, and what kind of biology could pose a threat to the Seaquest, beyond big things with tentacles.

These are only some possibles, and I wouldn't blame people for forgetting the beasts altogether. One essential creature though; Darwin. It wouldn't be Seaquest, because whenever you talk about the show, that's always the thing that people mention.

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[–] aerisjade22 13 years ago

Good thoughts here, but wanted to mention that season 3 covers that Bridger's son Robert did NOT die as previously thought. Upon the return of the ship from the alien civil war, Bridger finds out he has a grandson, and that his son lives and has a wife. Had season 3 run to completion, Bridger would have found his son.

I'm not keen on the bridge setup in season 1, it was too scattered, with the captain running all over the place to talk to the crew. Season 2-3 setup was much more efficient, even if it did seem more cold.

All 3 seasons had what I refer to as "crack" episodes (as in, the writers had to be on crack when they wrote them); the ones dealing with ghosts, gods, giant crocodiles, time-travel, alien civil war. I tend to blame it on sci-fi being a cousin of fantasy and people thinking the two are interchangeable.

As to the proposed crew, I'm iffy. All 3 season had characters I adore and characters I hated. Perhaps creating an entirely new cast would be best, with appearances from noted actors of the previous show (although that might be tricky, since at last count 5 of them had passed on). But I definitely agree that having an overall arc is the way to go, and something that seasons 1 and 2 lacked.

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[–] jakeconhale 13 years ago

5?

I was aware of Scheider, Brandis, and Applegate, but who else?

Jake Meridius Conhale, at your service!

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[–] aerisjade22 13 years ago

Roscoe Lee Browne, who played Dr. Raleigh Young, and Karen Fraction, Dr. Perry in season 3.

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[–] Lexx-2 13 years ago

On a side note, two of seaQuest's writers are on Twitter, and have answered questions from me about the show.

Rockne S. O'Bannon: http://twitter.com/#!/Rockne_S
Lee Goldberg: http://twitter.com/#!/LeeGoldberg

"Oh, I did my thesis on life experience." - Anonymous Harvard Guy, The Simpsons.

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[–] jakeconhale 13 years ago

It should also be noted that when I last contacted Goldburg with SQ questions, his response was essentially: "Don't waste your time on seaQuest, go create your own stuff". I'm also not sure how to receive the tone of the note or whether I was projecting onto it.

Jake Meridius Conhale, at your service!

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[–] jakeconhale 13 years ago

Brown wasn't cast, he was in all of 2 episodes. He's on the same level as Charlton Heston.

Fraction does count though, missed that one.

Jake Meridius Conhale, at your service!

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[–] tomkattent-1 13 years ago

interesting ideas

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[–] Prismark10 13 years ago

It needed to be something that it try to avoid.

Star trek underwater.

Its that man again!!

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[–] fox_nemhauser 13 years ago

my reimagination would be like "new battlestar galactica meets space: above and beyond"

remove: ghosts, gods, demons and all the paranormal (also: no mind reading/control)

daggers should be more like in vitros from s:aab (and no dagwood-like characters for comedic purpose)

increase the sea level, make a lot of coastal/underwater population hubs

world should be in a state of war or at least in a state of cold war

darwin should be a part of seaquest, but the human like communication should be turned down a notch

series should start with creation of the seaquest, a vessel that can explore things at deeps that were previously unreachable. it should be like enterprise - multinational crew, primarily a science ship but capable of dealing damage if needed

at some point they should stumble upon remains of atlantis. probably find out that we did not originate on earth, then trigger (by accident or not) a beacon that will send some signal. cliffhanger for the first season would be the arrival of an alien race that is looking the same as we. (darwin could be the key in finding a common language for communication)

If someone tries to kill you, you try to kill them back!

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[–] jakeconhale 13 years ago

with the exception of Atlantis, you just summarized the first season.

Jake Meridius Conhale, at your service!
Admiral of the BSG board.

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[–] fox_nemhauser 13 years ago

a lot of time passed since i watched season one... but i did watch some season 2 episodes last weekend and that's why i visited the forums.

so, seeems like there is no need to remake this, just rewatch season 1, at least for me ;)

If someone tries to kill you, you try to kill them back!

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[–] Blueghost 10 years ago

by tmwna » Fri Feb 22 2008 12:39:05
IMDb member since October 2004
Due to an apparent lack of imagination of today’s script writers, we have seen a massive upsurge in the amount of 're-imagined' TV shows, where by a series producer takes a popular TV show from the 80's/90's and redesigning it for today’s audiences.

Good examples of these are Battlestar Galactica, The A-Team, Transformers and Knight Rider.

While some of these shows have drastically benefited from their revamp, and in some cases become far more popular than its original series, others have totally failed to win the hearts of the original fans or any new ones.

Imagine you have been approached by one such studio to bring seaQuest back to life.

Your primary goal is to win the original fans back to the seaQuest camp.
Your secondary goal is to win people, who either did not like the original series or had never seen it before.

What would you make change in the show? How would you change it?

I will make my own suggestions in a seperate post.

I'd just make a good straight forward show without all the utopian BS.

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[–] lau_derrick 9 years ago

Show Bible:
I would do it primarily as a deep sea exploration show for 35 mins (no commercials), then 7 mins left for the educational bit. In that regard very similar to season 1.
The overall premise should be that in the near future, population growth has forced humanity to colonize the oceans and search for resources deep underwater to continue to survive, as faster than light space travel makes space colonization unfeasible. The UEO was formed as a treaty between all the superpowers (US, Europe, Africa, Russia, India, China) to build the seaQuest DSV and crew it with a diverse crew representative of the treaty. Treaty allows the seaQuest to go anywhere, regardless of territorial disputes, as the UEO is a treaty for deep sea exploration, not an alliance, but they must be prepared to deal with terrorists attempting to disrupt underwater activities for political gain. Each underwater tour would last 60-70 days, so divide each TV season into roughly 2 underwater tours, and 2 story arcs on land to show impact of being away from families.

No new age stuff, no global wars, no aliens. I'm OK with newly discovered underwater species, but no aliens. And no fantasy or mythology stuff either.

seaQuest DSV:
Keep the same look, but update the interior to feel more like a cramped submarine, and add in latest technology. But no overly futuristic technologies like underwater lasers or shields or force fields. Either needs to be near an underwater colony, an underwater radio tower or near the surface to communicate with the surface world. No weapons; no SLBMs. If terrorists are encountered they should not engage but work with international navies by providing intelligence only. Should carry smaller subs with super cavitating capabilities for supersonic speeds within short distances underwater. Sub-fighters are military, again from different countries, but have their own command. Add underwater mechanical arms like Space Shuttles to scoop and drill for samples. Keep the WHSKR probes and virtual reality probe.

Crew:
The Captain and XO should change regularly, so no 1 particular nation can be viewed as being in charge. The crew should NOT be military. They can rotate the same cast members about the different senior officer/management positions. Should be a mix of ethnicities, gender and orientation. Crew should be advised not to engage in relations with each other to avoid jealousies so relationships between crew members would have to be kept secret. Keep Darwin the dolphin and provide him with a wife to show the difficulties of raising dolphins in captivity. The tight quarters of the submarine should allow for some interpersonal conflict to arise, especially with misunderstandings between different cultures. Some should have loved ones/spouses/children at shore for them to talk to every 2 weeks to show typical ship deployment stresses. Convert Lucas into a nerdy and insecure Ugly Betty type of child genius whom some members of the crew help her grow her confidence whereas others try to bully her. The military crew should be international in make-up and only required for the few episodes that have encounters with terrorists. Military commander reports in to the civilian Captain and XO, and not happy with the official org chart, since the commander should be an O-6.

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[–] goldeagle905-1 9 years ago

For me personally, I always thought and felt that the true canonical seaQuest story began with "To Be Or Not To Be" and ended with "Higher Power". I consider Seasons 2 and 3 themselves as some bad hokey reboot and alternate reality (read "Darkest Timeline") of the show (NBC's alternate reality of it, that is). lol

In the years following the show's cancellation, I dabbled in DSV fanfic writing some stories and scripts that re-imagined Season 2, picking up where Season 1's finale left off and imagining that the following seasons never happened.

It's been many years but from what I can gather from stories pasted all over Word docs, 😜 My re-imagining went something like this:

i) A new seaQuest is built. Has all the capabilities and functionalities of the first sub but with upgraded tech and new capabilities (which I won't post here for now due to its length). The ship's bridge, deck, crew and captain's quarters, hallways and labs etc. all look virtually much the same as Season 1 in this story line (and look nothing like the sets in Season 2) but again with upgraded tech (e.g. a much powerful system network, upgraded SEAPOC). The WSKRS also has been upgraded, and there is now a storage unit of a few HR Probes and in particular, at least a few Stingers (after the UEO commissions the production of more Stingers).

The major change I brought to the seaQuest would have been there is now a Speeders sub-fighter squadron on board (something that the Season 3 writers tried to do) but unlike Season 3, the sub's squadron has more a peacekeeping role and is involved in rescue operations (though they are capable of engaging in combat if the situation arises). I would have introduced a sub-fighter, probably the captain of the squad, as a main new character.

ii) All the main characters from the first season return and are signed on to the next tour aboard the new sub.

E.g. Lt Commander Hitchcock is back (after turning down the offer to captain the oil tanker), so is Dr. Westphalen, Lt Krieg is also back (after managing to weasel his way back on to seaQuest through some technical loophole in the UEO Fleet's rules on being assigned to a particular ship). So is Chief Crocker who delays retirement for another year, following his divorce. Crocker is allowed back on duty after Captain Bridger reaches out to help him by giving him a personal recommendation, following Crocker's rescue feat/operation of Dr. Wolenczak and his staff in the season one finale.

Also, two of the series' recurring characters from the first season, Chief William Shan (Dustin Nguyen) and Dr. Joshua Levin (Timothy Omundson) are upgraded to major character status and are now part of the main cast crew in the new season. Story arcs will be presented for them as well and their backgrounds will be explored in subsequent episodes.

iii) My own script bible would have had the main story arcs and much of the story lines on six of the main cast/characters: Captain Bridger, Lucas, Dr. Westphalen, Commander Ford, Commander Hitchcock and Lt. Krieg. Much of the character development would have been around these characters. Also, the experiences on board seaQuest would be based from their own experiences and perspectives. Lt O'Neill, Lt Ortiz, Darwin are still there though and stories will be focused on them.

The father-mother-son motive will be developed further for Bridger, Lucas and Westphalen and my story would have of course have the mandatory and predictable series' ending where Nathan and Kristin finally get married. 😄

Unlike the original season 3 though, in my story, Bridger's son Robert is confirmed dead (to give the story a bittersweet development). Also unlike where the story went in the following seasons, I kept the original writers' premise that Commander Ford does come from an impoverished and troubled background and his past serves an important factor in the way his character develops, in the way he relates to others and how he has come to be where he is today.

There is some sort of love triangle conflict between Jonathan, Katherine and Ben. But in this storyline, it would have been again, a predictable Katherine and Ben ending. lol

iv) I would have kept the show's premise strictly science fact-based and maintained the sense of wonder about exploring the oceans that the first season established in its vision and mood for the show. There were many things that could be explored: global warming, El Nino, hydroponic tech, the LOST laws, oil spills, potential outbreaks and cures that the oceans may contain etc. One story of mine had this premise of how the seaQuest's science crew figures out an important bio-property in certain reefs that could potentially provide a cure for certain deadly diseases including cancer.

Other story has the seaQuest intervening and mitigating a conflict between a community of sea farmers and an MNC which is threatening to take over their land.

At the same time, the politics and conflicts of the show would still be there and there needed to be some permanent threat of conflict/tension that seaQuest had to face. My story would have climaxed with a future season finale, whereby other confederations or in particular, individual nations like Russia or China or Saudi Arabia/Iran have secretly built their own specialized sub(s) to rival seaQuest, flaunting UEO law and thereby bringing tensions within the UEO to a whole new level of international crisis.

So plenty of avenues the story can go.

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[–] AStrangeOldMan 9 years ago

All great ideas, but you're forgetting the 'orangutan clause' that sank the series to begin with.
There were far too many people who thought that their vision of SeaQuest was the one that should be developed. It resulted in many good ideas being shot in many directions and none of them having much merit after being gutted and 'improved-upon' by the office-building full of producers.

"Great script! Here are the changes. Put an orangutan in and a love interest."

No fate but what we make. -Terminator II

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[–] goldeagle905-1 9 years ago

True. I seriously think a large part of the reason of why the creative environment behind the show was like that (too many people, too many ideas shot in many directions) was due to the fact that there was effectively no show runner taking charge of the series in its early stages. Well at least a good show runner that understood the series’ potential.

If there had been a good show runner who could utilize all the best ideas that the various writers were throwing out there for the show in the early stages and to neutralize and contain the demands of NBC during that stage (like what Roddenberry did on Star Trek), I do think a lot of the problems that plagued the series could have been avoided.

And speaking of Trek, you might have noticed that a huge reason why those shows worked was because the main premise of space exploration often took a back seat to
character development. ST is not so much about the ships or about space as it is about Captains Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, Archer etc. The space sci-fi aspects are coated around or revolve around these people.

That is why I personally think that when it came to finding the best way to resolve such a chaotic writing environment such as this show, keeping the premise primarily character-focused was the way to go, with the aspect of sea science and exploration being developed as a secondary motive, developed to enhance the story.

The story of seaQuest is the story of Nathan Bridger and then it’s about those around him who are in a position to be close to him and whom he has to work and live with on board on the sub. If the series had such a path in its vision, it would have been a great show.

PS I thought the orangutan episode was good. 😀

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[–] jermainegirard 8 years ago

will just bullet point. I'M sure some of this will seem contradictory but In my humble opinion:

ALIENS/SEA MONSTERS: Yes! i'm in favour of BOTH of them but use them very seldom like only 1 ep per season for aliens & a few for monsters. no more than that.
TIME TRAVEL: I'm okay with this but only do it like once in the shows entire history otherwise it gets stupid.
LASERS: yeah i'm fine with lasers given it is already a real technology.
GLOBAL WARS: I'm very pro this. like ST:DS9 u could have some great story arcs with this.
GELFS: I'm okay with them but don't make dumb, stupid characters like dagwood. he was soo stupid his character. DOH!
TRIVIA BITS: A defo YES YES. loved the little trivia bits at the end. "see you on the next adventure of seaquest".
MIDDLE-AGED CAPTAIN: keep the captain that type of age. resist the silly temptation for a young pretty boy. also no age-inappropriate relationships like a 50 year old man with a 24 year old woman. the older I get I find them sooo cringey.
CLEARLY DEFINED MAP: I think season 3 did this a little better. but I would like to see a clear structure of earth in the pilot episode- i.e the countries and sea confederations.

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*DONTS*
*GODS, SPIRITS & DEMONS = NO!!!! I don't mind aliens but anything spirit like or ghost-like a big NO NO from me. that's where I draw the line. no demons, hauntings or greek mythology also.
EMPATHS: Defo no. copying star trek too much.

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