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SeaQuest DSV (1993-1996)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 4:44 pm    Post subject: SeaQuest DSV (1993-1996) Reply with quote

__________


My kids and I got pretty excited about this series when we saw the promos, and we loved it during most of the first season.

That opening title sequence hooked us right away and reeled us in without a struggle. The premiere episode started with a clip from a speech Kennedy made, and it sent chills up our spines when we heard it.

I can't find a video of that original opening, but even the standard opening, with the award-winning title theme and Roy Scheider's stirring words made us want to stand up and salute every week.


______________Seaquest DSV Season 1 Intro


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My 13-year-old daughter thought Jonathan Brandis was so cute she would have eloped with him in a row boat if he'd paddled by during a flood. Shocked


___

And I was ready to jump ship, give up the sea, and buy a farm in Kansas if I could settle down with Stacy Haiduk.


_____________

Ah, but by the end of season one the honeymoon was over and we knew that the promise of adventure and science fiction had turned out to be just another fish story.

Yep, this was the big one that got away . . .


__________


* Click on this link and watch a video about a yacht that will be able to do what the SeaQuest should have!



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 7:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

The amazing mini-sub below featured in one of Pye-rate's science posts, and it reminds me of an episode of SeaQuest in which Joanathan Brandis invents a one-man mini-sub that propelled itself the way a fish does.

* Click on the title or jpeg to see the article.



_________________6. The Sea Breacher-X



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 7:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Here's another clever aquatic invention that makes me wonder why submarines don't have hydrofoil capabilities.


_____________9. The Quadrafioil


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Pow
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 07, 2016 2:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I looked forward to the debut of SQDSV as did you, Bud.

The promos looked intriguing, Spielberg was one of the producers, NBC was lavish with its budget & they had some very fine writers & a good cast. Dr.Robert Ballard was endorsing the series & doing segments at the conclusion of the episodes about real science & our oceans.

The design of the SeaQuest was amazing inside & out. The sets were movie quality in appearance.

I was particularly taken with the Hyper-Reality Probe & how it was operated via high-tech gloves & goggles.

There are a handful of really good episodes. "Such Great Patience" being my favorite.

Somewhere along the way there were production issues regarding the direction of the series. They were attempting to serve 4 masters: SF, real science, entertainment & as with all tv shows, ratings.

In that process the writing started to fly all over the place, cast members quit, others were not asked back after season one. Just a mess.

I was disappointed because I really love the premise of sf as it deals with undersea stories. There are few sf tv shows that are built around this concept.

We can be certain that sf tv shows dealing with outer space will always be with us. And that's fine, I love those shows too.

However, its refreshing to see a series delve into a seldom used area like our oceans.

I realize that even with a sf idea behind it that the seas do not offer the wide, wide range of stories that the vast expanse of outer space can serve up on a weekly basis.

But it's exciting to see a sf show that explores the oceans for a change of pace.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 12:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
I realize that even with a sf idea behind it that the seas do not offer the wide, wide range of stories that the vast expanse of outer space can serve up on a weekly basis.

Respectfully, sir, I would disagree with the above statement. Science fiction set in the far future can make space exciting and sexy, but story settings that try to stick to the solar system and steers clear of the hypothetical faster-than-light propulsion will saddle us with the alternative, the dreaded slower-than-hell propulsion, which means we can't get anywhere fast, and unfortunately "there's no place like home".

No place remotely like it, in fact, this side of Pluto.

However, a series set one hundred years in the future, in which tremendous advances have been made in undersea habitats and technology, do in fact give us LOTS of great places to go. And great stories to tell, too.,

Behold . . . the wide world of a wet tomorrow!
Very Happy






















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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2016 2:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

We have yet to appreciate the vast unknown that lies beyond the shores' edge.

The hottest blood exists beyond the waves.
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Pye-Rate
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2016 9:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some of the world's largest sponges live here in the Puget Sound. In the Queen Charlotte islands is the only reef of glass sponges on Earth. The Queen Charlottes are home to the fastest tidal bore, don't dive there. The Great Lakes have their own secrets, 160 million year old impact crater, deadly earthquake faults, vanished mountains, and the Edmond Fitzgerald.

There is a lot to be found down there.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2016 11:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Ah, NOW you're talkin', fellas! Smile


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 3:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I would agree with you, Bud, that a sf TV Series that remained rooted in our solar system would also have limitations like our oceans.

The TV-Pilot Movie Plymouth was about a moon colony of human beings. It was well done & the production level was lavish. The movie was set in our near future, so it was going for a realistic tone & style. It was not going to be about aliens, alien spacecraft, time travel, parallel universes & all the sf story tropes we regularly see on such great tv shows as Star Trek & all its spin-offs, or one of my other all time favs, Farscape.

So while I really enjoyed the Plymouth movie, I did wonder just how they would keep it intriguing week in & week out.

That is the same question I have regarding a weekly series set beneath the ocean. How do they manage to keep it fresh & interesting on a weekly basis while trying to fill a 22-episode order?

The oceans cannot offer alien worlds, spatial phenomena, alternate universes & so forth such as outer space can do.

Seaquest DSV became so desperate for sf stories that they did do a time travel episode when the submarine's engine somehow created a vortex. In another they had aliens come down from their planet & kidnap the crew.
When they met King Neptune I knew that the show had devolved to a Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea level of wretched scripting.

As I wrote before, I do love seeing sf tv shows or movies dealing with humanity's future under the seas. I only question just how they can supply several seasons or more worth of compelling story lines.

I love the photos of the ocean habitats that you have posted here.

There is no doubt that visually fantastic submarines & colonies can be created for a weekly series. Then what?

I cannot buy underwater black holes, time travel & so forth as I can with an outer space, deep space, premise. It seems more like fantasy than sf & that is what Irwin Allen did with his aquatic series.

Perhaps there is a visionary or creator with a terrific premise for doing a weekly sf series set at sea that would be wonderful.

And I would love for that to happen & would check out any sf show set beneath the waves.

I just do not see the longevity of such a limiting concept if one stays away from the usual sf tropes we see in space based shows.

It isn't that I only want to see sf tv shows set in space. We've had a ton of 'em, some great & some poor. Love the space shows but I do want to see something different.

I'd embrace any sf show set below the water because it would be a refreshing change of pace.

The question is: can the writers make it fascinating & fun for we viewers without resorting to meeting King Neptune?
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 11:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
The question is: can the writers make it fascinating & fun for we viewers without resorting to meeting King Neptune?

Trust me, I could. If you doubt it, look at what I did with a story about four teenage boys in 1967 who wanted to be superheroes!





If I can make that idea fun and exciting, I can certainly make a science fiction story set under the ocean a hundred years from now as good as any space opera ever done!

But if you still doubt it, look at my two space-based science fiction novels. I can do the same thing for a story set under the sea as I did for these two.

The problem is NOT with the concept. It's with the writers who don't have the stones to make it work like it should!







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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 16, 2017 10:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I figured a link to my description of tethered undersea cities would be appropriate to add to this thread. Here's the diagram I made of the locations for the four undersea cities around Antarctica —






— and this is the jpeg I created so show the underwater turbine each city tows behind it in the strong Antarctic Circumpolar Current to provide power.




Pow wrote:
I'd embrace any sf show set below the water because it would be a refreshing change of pace.

The question is: can the writers make it fascinating & fun for we viewers without resorting to meeting King Neptune?

After re-reading Pow's concerns about how successful an undersea sci-fi story could be, I dug out my notes on a series of novels I'd like to write, called Aquatica, which is about the discovery and colonization of a planet with a global ocean.

Pow might change his mind about the potential of an undersea science fiction story if he reads the post I just made about Aquatica — although my story isn't set on Earth, it's set on an alien planet with lots of bizarre marine critters.

So, it doesn't actually prove my claim that I could come up with exciting stories for a series set in the oceans of Earth. (But I'm still confident I could do it. Wink)






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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Pow
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 1:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud, if you have not already seen it on Youtube there is a short film called Oceanus that is wonderfully done.

I believe its a proof-of-concept vehicle.

The visuals are sensational & I was hooked right away.

How I would love to see this production become a weekly sf tv show.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 10:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I couldn't locate the Youtube video you mentioned. Do you have any more info about it that would help? I'm eager to watch it! Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 26, 2017 4:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

__________________________________

I have the marvelous SeaQuest soundtrack CD, and I wish Youtube had it all, but they don't. Only the title theme.

So, here it is.

Unfortunately I've never found a high quality copy of the original opening from the pilot, in which John F. Kennedy talks about how we all came from the sea, etc. etc. before the titles cut lose.

It's great.
__________________________________


______________ SeaQuest - main title (Track 1)


__________

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 03, 2017 1:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud, the trailer on Youtube is under the title Oceanus: Odyssey One. Still there as I just checked it.

Before only the trailer was there, but now it looks like you can download a movie for it.
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