I liked this show. I wanted to love it, but couldn't.Seaquest started out with a science section and a military section that were at odds with each other over priorities and resources. In a way, that was its downfall. The producers and writers couldn't come up with decent story lines that successfully meshed the two components of the ship so the stories would sometimes go either one way or the other. The seasons reflected that. The first season was about conflict between the two departments. The second season was more science (especially science FICTION), the third season was military. Seaquest just couldn't seem to find its identity and NBC finally gave up.Like a lot of other fans, I had a big problem with the cast changes as the seasons progressed. I MUCH preferred Hitchcock over Henderson, and the romance between Henderson and Ford was totally unbelievable. They had no chemistry at all. I liked Piccolo and Krieg equally but Piccolo was more interesting with the gills. Two of the best looking guys (Brody and Ortiz) got killed off. I would have liked Dr Smith better if she had been older. With her telepathy, she was more interesting than Dr Westphalen. But there was no chemistry in the romance between her and Captain Bridger. The storyline with the Daggers was kind of ridiculous but Dagwood was cute with his child-like demeanor.To rockneuphoria-1: That was the 4th episode of the first season titled Games. It turned out that Dr Westphalen's brother was killed by the bad guy years ago.

At it's heart SeaQuest wasn't a bad show. I think done today it would greatly benefit from the fact that computer graphics have become so commonplace and affordable. An issue that was one of the major problems at the heart of SeaQuest. At 1 Million an episode (Unheard of at the time)there was obvious cuts that showed up on screen. The perfect example it in an episode where the SeaQuest has a giant bioillumenesant squid invading through the moon pool. The interior scenes have a number of old tricks that were obvious lifted from 1950's monster flicks. "Don't go in that room captain! It's in there!" and a clear rubber tentacle with blink lights, that is without a doubt silly looking and a budget crunched effect. Very Lost in Space-ish.The next issue at hand is story. While not being awful in the first season the plots are often centered around you taking away an ocean lesson, which would later be echoed by Dr. Robert Ballard of Titanic fame. More often the not what was meant to be fun, comes off as silly, and what should be threatening or action packed is not. The menacing ball pit from Brothers and Sisters comes to mind. Even with these issues SeaQuest doesn't show any weaknesses that any other first season Sci Fi show hasn't had. It's struggling to find an identity, and establish itself. The first seasons of Star Trek:The Next Generation, and Deep Space 9 have the same sort of growing pains as well, but turned out fine once they had found it's voice.The third issue which doesn't really show on screen is Roy Scheider himself. Roy clearly hated the show, and put the bad mouth on it as often as he could. In interviews both in print and on TV. In reflection the cut corner effects, and silly plot devices may have had something to do with Scheider's complaints, but face it when the star of a show torpedo's it how much longer is it likely to survive? Season 2 of SeaQuest saw a change in were it was filmed, which helped, and unfortunately a change in cast as well. Most of the principal cast stayed on, but the loss of Stacy Hiduk (spelled wrong I know) stunk. However we did get several new cast members that balance out the losses.The effects didn't really get any better, but I think the crew got better at making the show, and it's effects budget run and look better.The stories were starting to shape up a bit as well, but unfortunately not well enough.Budget, coupled with sinking ratings, and the star bad mouthing the show made the changes that were coming for season 3 unavoidable.Season 3 changes the format of the show considerably. It takes place years later, and Roy is replace by a man who has been in seemingly every bad movie ever Michael Ironside. While the show is dead in the water at this point. The stories started to get better, and were actually beginning to become something that might work.Only problem is it was way too late. Ratings were in the toilet, the show was pre-empted for everything. It no longer had a standard day, or time slot. The cast had yet again another round of changes made for season three, and most of what the audience was familiar with had changed so much it no longer held interest to the fans that could find the show.I gotta be honest. I loved SeaQuest, and as I watch season 1 on DVD I still do. I really wish SciFi channel would resurrect it like it did with Battlestar Galactica.I recommend it with a sense of not overanylizing the show. If you do that I guarantee you won't like it, but given half a chance I think you'll find a buried treasure of sorts.Did I use enough bad sea related jokes in this review?

Sci-fi shows are often unappreciated in their time because the subject matter is too foreign for the general public to accept. Only years later do we realize that an innovative show has gone before its time. With the recent re-runs of DSV on sci-fi I realized how much potential the show had. Exploring the oceans is as exciting as exploring space. I especially enjoyed the episode where they uncovered an air pocket which preserved much of our ancient history only to have nations fight over who owned the artifacts. I've read opinions of people who thought the acting was sub-par and the plots stupid. Let me counter by stating that even the most successful sitcom is absurd in its premise and if the laugh tracks were not in place I doubt many people would even realize something funny was going on. Sci-fi makes you think. It tries to broaden your horizons. I realize that the masses prefer being spoon fed entertainment that they can watch while chasing the kids or cleaning the house but if you take a few minutes to watch these episodes perhaps you will see the value of such entertainment. As for me, I enjoy science fiction and this show was definitely worth my time.

I've been watching the replays of the episodes during Sci Fi Channel's recent marathon, and I must say that I was struck by the "in your face" environmental activism in nearly every episode I've watched so far. The shows are still entertaining, but they border on annoyance with all the holier-than-thou preaching about how horrible mankind is.I am also reminded of how dark the underwater scenes were back then...at first I thought maybe I had a bad TV, but no, they're just dark. Does ANYONE know what the SeaQuest actually looks like?And you'd think with all the flack that Gene Roddenberry took for having Wesley Crusher "save the Enterprise" each week on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" that the producers of DSV would have learned their lessons and cut back on Jonathan Brandeis' (God rest his soul) role.