Did NBC deliberately sabotage this show?
Okay, I've finally gone through both seasons of Sea Quest and am shocked at how different season one is from season two. I know a show is supposed to change from season to season, but the changes were so drastic and so damaging, I now know why it never recovered. The first season I have to say was great in both the writing and the overall quality of the actors. The show had sci-fact based plots that dealt with the premise of underwater exploration and the impact of our choices on the environment. The characters were always changing and there was great chemistry throughout. I loved Royce Applegate as Chief Crocker and would have liked to see more of him. Stephanie Beacham was great as ship's doc and there was so much more for her to do. But somehow NBC got into their heads as these networks often do, that a great show needs tweaking. I can understand a little tweak here and there. But what they did was to give it a complete cosmetic overhaul. This was taking a Cadillac and trying to replace it with an Edsel. The result was not only damaging to the overall theme of deep sea exploration, but the quality and charm of the first season was destroyed. First I hear the producers were bickering back and forth with the studio and then decided to move it to Florida. This led to the departure of Ms. Beacham and probably their objective since they wanted a younger crew. For what? Ratings? Chief Crocker with his old sea dog sensibilities was given his walking papers to Davy Jones' locker and the funny and oddly endearing character of Lt. Krieg who gave me several laughs over his constant harebrain schemes and his hamburger and fish poop debacles were to be sorely missed. And I mean sorely missed. I would have liked to see him in the second season trapped behind a UEO headquarters desk constantly scheming to get back on seaQuest. He was replaced by a smart aleck from Brooklyn with a knack for breathing underwater and a strange dude with DNA issues. If the second season dealt with the realities of science, then the second dealt it a death blow, cause there was nothing steeped in fact or quality of writing. There seemed to be an effort on NBC's behalf to deep six the best show on television at the time. The plots revolved around silly new age ideas of aliens, ancient Gods who want SeaQuest to be the love boat and find his true love, psychics who could read minds, man eating plants, comatose patients with an ax to grind, and finally who could forget the demon in pandora's box? The plots now revolved only around the main characters of Bridger, Brody, Lucas, Ford, Smith, Piccolo, Dagwood, newcomer Henderson, sometimes Ortiz and O'Neil, and if you were lucky..Darwin. Gone was the closing summary by Robert Ballard offering his take on the episode and his expertise. Why? The guy found the Titanic for God's sake! The actors were left to offer up little dishes on the sea life flavor of the week. The set redesign was dark, cramped, and aesthetically cold and unpleasant. I don't know who decided to make these changes, but when they did, they killed what was great about the show in the first place. Deep sea exploration and having a ship loaded with the tools to enforce it and having a great cast of characters who offered humor, warmth, intelligence, and offering hope for the future. To the people who killed this show...great job! You wanted to ruin it and you did, pat yourselves on the back for a job well done! The third season if possible, is even darker and left me with a feeling of hopelessness and longing for the days of the only true season..one!!!
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