…for beneath the surface lies the future.

SeaQuest DSV is the early 1990s television show that sought to capitalize on the success of recent science fiction shows. The premise of the show is simple: a large submarine’s adventures underwater. This futuristic submarine is helmed by our favorite shark killer, Roy Schneider. His crew is a seminal underwater United Nations, in the guise of the United Earth Oceans, set out to ensure peace in the now colonized oceans. The first season of SeaQuest DSV (that’s Deep Submergence Vehicle) takes all the great adventures one could have in a submarine, combines them into one-hour episodes and packages them together.

The show includes a large ensemble of crew members. Such a large ensemble can be difficult to understand, but luckily the characters are all easily recognizable clichés and readily understood. From the British doctor, to the commander who was reluctant to join, the wiz kid, the southern crew member, and, of course, the headstrong crew member(s), each allows you to know their motives and job immediately. Throw into this a guest star of the week and it is easy to lose focus as to who is who. Upon reflection only three characters stand out: Lucas, Captain Bridger, and Darwin. Bridger stands out easily, since he’s the leader of the crew and a well known, well remembered actor. Theother two are more fun oddities that the creators knew would be fun. Lucas, played by Jonathan Brandis, is the wiz kid of the show. His notoriety is that he’s a 16-year-old misunderstood teen on a multi-billion dollar submarine. Finally there is Darwin, the talking dolphin. Through the wonders of technology, the dolphin's clicks and whistles are able to be interpreted and understood by the ship and relayed to whoever is talking to him.

This first season doesn’t rely on the strengths of the characters but rather on the exploits of the ship; whether it’s saving abandoned children from an outpost about to collapse, battling a rogue submarine, finding the Library of Alexandria, or battling a leviathan. Each of these reasons allows SeaQuest to have a famous guest star on their ship. By the end of each episode the story is neatly tied up and the guest star is gone, ready to be forgotten by the next show.

These points may sound negative, but they're not. This first season of SeaQuest is a fun voyage. The episodes rely on adventures and exploits that one could only do undersea. SeaQuest takes you on a futuristic ride to the bottom of the ocean. Their adventures can be awe inspiring and make you realize how little we know about our own planet. SeaQuest dares to explore our own realm and asks us if this is something Earth could become. After all, what drove people to colonize the oceans was to find additional energy sources. Somehow SeaQuest has become more relevant now than when it was first produced.

Surprisingly, despite the 13 years since its premiere, the show holds up pretty well. The “futuristic gadgets” are grounded in fact and even include movies on a disc. The CGI still appears state of the art. It looks better than some current television shows. The production budget for SeaQuest appears almost limitless. Sure some of the sets are reused and claimed to be a different part of the ship, but that’s easily understood and expected on a television show. The computers on this ship may be a bit laughable, but when it comes to representing the ship in the water the CGI is nearly flawless.

Presentation
If this show were being produced today I’m sure it would capitalize on the high definition, widescreen, 16:9 movement. As it is, it’s presented in its original aspect ratio of 4:3. It appears to be from a master source with a wonderful presentation.

Extras
Since this was produced before the whole “let’s save it for DVD” era of television, there are very few extras. Included are deleted scenes for 9 of the 23 hour-long episodes. These deleted scenes only total 30 minutes. After watching the scenes it’s easy to tell why they were deleted in the first place. Unfortunately there is no commentary on any episodes. At the end of each episode there is a scientist who comes on to talk about some of the facts presented in the episodes. While these are informative, they were a part of the original airing and don’t provide very much additional information.

The Bottom Line
This show may be more than a decade old, but it holds up very well, each episode offering good entertainment and a little something to think about. Certainly recommended.