seaQuest DSV is a science fiction television series from the early nineties. It ran for a total of three seasons and had a very shaky start and an abrupt ending. I have fond memories of the series, and it has been sometime since I have seen an episode. However, while I did enjoy it in the past, I can really see why it was never really successful. The show has a lot of weaknesses. Still, there is enough to like about this first season that I enjoyed watching it.

The series is set in the future, 2018 to be exact, and the world has reached a point where the natural resources of Earth are nearly depleted. Looking to survive, two frontiers were explored--space and sea. The search for resources in the sea turned out to be successful, mining productions started to spring up everywhere. At first they were ungoverned in any manner because the borders of the oceans had not yet been defined. This created new world orders with the United Earth Oceans (UEO) organization at the fore. The UEO is a global federation of nations, similar to the United Nations but with more control and a bigger military.

However, with the new world order, corruption, rogue elements, and threatening foreign powers still existed. In order to protect within the UEO borders, they commissioned the creation of a superior military submarine called the seaQuest. seaQuest is Deep Subversive Vehicle (DSV) and is a power unlike any other in the ocean.

The series begins with a two-hour pilot episode, where Captain Marilyn Stark of the seaQuest, a power hunger tyrant who is tired of not using the submarines full military capabilities, abuses her command post. In the midst of a standoff with a bordering nation, Stark issues a command to fire on an inferior submarine, despite UEO orders to hold fire. Her second in command is forced to relieve her of duty to prevent needless death. Stark is discharged from duty and another is called in to fill her role.

Wanting to prevent the seaQuest from coming into a similar position, the UEO looks to change the primary directorate of the seaQuest. To meet this goal, they reduced the military capability of the seaQuest and also instigated a research and exploration mandate. They also looked towards former U.S. Navy officer Nathan Hale Bridger (Roy Schieder) to lead the crew. Bridger was a research oriented military man and also happened to be the original designer of the seaQuest. At first Bridger is reluctant to accept seaQuest's captaincy. His son was also a Navy officer who gave his life during his first tour. Since, Bridger has had little love for the military. UEO Admiral Noyce (Richard Herd) finds Bridger and tricks him into a situation that forces Bridger to realize his expertise as a former Navy officer and a researcher make him the perfect fit as captain.

The rest of the cast includes a variety of faces. Many of whom, did not make it into the second season. Lieutenant Benjamin Krieg (John D'Aquino) is the supply and morale officer who provides a goofy personality for comic relief. He was cut from the series after season one. Lieutenant-Commander Katie Hitchcock (Stacy Haiduk) is the third in command. She was also cut after season one. Doctor Kristin Westphalen (Stephanie Beacham) is the lead researcher in charge of the research side of seaQuest. She provides a non-military outlook on every situation and a love interest for Bridger. She also did not make the transition into season two. Chief Manilow Crocker (Royce D. Applegate) is the man in charge of seaQuest's security personnel. He is an older guy who was about to retire, when found he had the opportunity to serve under his friend Bridger. He provides the kind of character you can't help but like. He was, sadly, cut after season one.

The rest of the characters survived the entire series run. Commander Jonathan Ford (Don Franklin) is the steady second in command of the seaQuest. He is a cool character who is also willing to listen to reason. Sensor Chief Miguel Ortiz (Marco Sanchez) is a minor character who never really seems to add a whole lot to the show. Lieutenant Tim O'Neill (Ted Raimi), who most people remember for his role as Joxer in Xena, is another minor character who acts as the communication officer and adds few laughs to the series, but not quite as many as he brought to Xena. Lucas Wolenczak (Jonathan Brandis) is the youngest member of the cast and second to Bridger, plays the biggest role. Many of the stories about Wolenczak, a young sixteen year old college graduate who maintains the seaQuest's computer systems. Finally there is the dolphin Darwin (voice, Frank Welker), who is a key player in many of the stories. He can talk because Lucas created a device that interprets the dolphin's speech (clicks) into human dialogue.

Altogether, the cast is not a strength. The quality of performances vary, and the fact some of the dialogue is downright shoddy does not help with the matter either. In the end, we are left with an imbalance of strong and weak characters and are forced to rely on the stories. The stories like the characters are not well developed. At first they tend to be pretty good, but towards the end of the season they start to get really fluffy.

Most of the season episodes deal with stories that are unreal, but still somewhat plausible. They attempt to take science fiction to a reasonable level and produce several decent stories that compel bits of comedy, drama, suspense, and action. For instance in "Treasure of the Mind", the seaQuest discovers the Great Library of Alexandria completely preserved under water. News gets out and all of the confederations converge to the site to claim relics from their past. Bridger and his crew must deal with negotiations between the confederation delegates with the help of ESP parapsychologists. In other episodes like "Brothers and Sisters", the focus is some sort of rescue machine. In this particular episode the seaQuest crew finds a small group of children in an underwater facility who have been living on their own for years on end. Other episodes like "Give Me Liberte" have seaQuest crew under critical condition. In this episode they are infected with a man-made virus that the government wants to cover up at all costs. Stories like these apply science fiction in a fairly good manner and produce some viewable material.

However, other episodes like "Knight of Shadows" move beyond the futuristic, underwater science fiction and take on the paranormal and aliens related sci-fi material. In this particular episode the cast finds themselves chasing after ghosts and unraveling a lackluster tale about sordid love affair. Towards the end of the season the episodes start getting pretty thick with this kind of material. There are genetically altered humans and aliens with an odd connection to dolphins. This is really when the show starts going downhill.

Overall I found the first season of seaQuest DSV to be an enjoyable watch. While I would not rank this show amongst one of my favorites due to there being several drawbacks including cast, cheesy dialogue, and sometimes hollow storylines, I still really enjoyed watching the first season. Fans of the show should enjoy the chance, and newcomers who are interested in a cheesy, yet enjoyable sci-fi series should be interested.

Episode Guide
1. To Be or Not To Be
2. The Devil's Window
3. Treasure of the Mind
4. Games
5. Treasures of the Tonga Trench
6. Brothers and Sisters
7. Give Me Liberte
8. Knight of Shadows
9. Bad Water
10. The Regulator
11. seaWest
12. Photon Bullet
13. Better Than Martians
14. Nothing But the Truth
15. Greed for a Pirate's Dream
16. Whale Song
17. The Stinger
18. Hide and Seek
19. The Last Lap at Luxury
20. Abalon
21. Such Great Patience
22. The Good Death
23. Higher Power

The DVD
seaQuest DSV: Season One contains twenty-three episodes spread over four dual-layered, dual-sided discs. Each DVD is stored in its own slimpak case, which are in turn housed in a cardboard case.

Video:
The video is given in its original television aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame color. The picture quality looks decent and offers a viewable picture. There are traces of edge enhancement and a fair amount of compression artifacts, as well as some ghosting. Colors usually look good, but there are times when they are not represented well and bright colors appear too dark.

Audio:
The audio is given in English 2.0 Dolby digital stereo sound. The sound quality is adequate and like most TV on DVD releases provides an audible track with dialogue that is easy to hear throughout each episode. There are subtitles in English and Spanish included, and support for English closed captioning.

Extras:
The only extras included with this set are deleted scenes. They are included for episodes "To Be or Not To Be", "The Devil's Windows", "Treasure of the Mind", "Nothing But the Truth", "Greed for a Pirate's Dream", "Hide and Seek", "The Last Lap at Luxury", "Abalon", and "Such Great Patience".

Final Thoughts:
seaQuest DSV is not a remarkable television series and it has plenty of flaws which make it a surprise the show lasted as long as it did. This first season is, however, not as awful as the later seasons and does include some pretty enjoyable episodes. While they are abundantly cheesy, they are cheesy in an entertaining manner. Overall, fans of the series should appreciate having the complete first season on DVD and anyone else looking to see an enjoyable science fiction series should be able to get their money's worth from this box set. It is recommended.