After the dumpster fire that was season two, the network was not a happy bunny. If the show were to come back, changes would have to be made. Much like the period between the first two seasons, cast changes were announced.
Scheider was out. After publicly calling the show garbage in press interviews, he had proven he wasn't impressed at all with the direction of the show and his contract was terminated, but with one proviso: three guest appearances to be included in the shorter 13 episode run. Who to replace him? Michael Ironside as Captain Oliver Hudson, and I can think of nobody better.
Initially reluctant to take on the role, Ironside fought for changes to the tone of the show and how some aspects would be addressed, including the right not to speak to the talking dolphin. The show would be more realistic, with darker storylines and losing a lot of the fantastical filler that littered the previous season. The producers agreed to this and the new captain was on board. Really, he is the best thing in the show and it is slightly embarrassing watching him out-act pretty much everyone else on-screen.
Elise Neal comes in playing hotshot sub pilot J J Fredericks, who throughout the season was given little much to do and only really seemed to get more screen time in the later episodes. However, with only 13 of them and a reduced budget, some cast members had to go. With realism coming in, telepaths were out and Rosalind Allen with them. Also out was Marco Sanchez, who wanted to return but was told no due to the reduced casting budget. One noticeable thing is that neither cast member is referred to after the first episode - in fact, they're pretty much dismissed in a couple of lines, so eager is the show to prove it is not the old seaQuest.
To freshen up the show a bit and set the scene for more conflict, the decision was made to set the show ten years after the events of the season two cliffhanger. I quite like this as they can demonstrate the effects of global warming and therefore give a genuine reason for the UEO to exist considering the loss of land to the rising sea level.
With a greater sense of continuity between episodes, recurring guest actors were brought in to play the bad guys of the piece: Tim DeKay as multi-billionaire Larry Deon, Ralph Wilcox as Deon's henchman Mason Freeman and Michael York as President Alexander Bourne of Macronesia. Each are suitably slimy in their roles, even if York is a little too... nice, even when playing bad, to be really evil. I think he's playing the role a little too seriously to hit the right tone.
Story wise, we're pretty much into realistic conflicts and problems, with a bit of character back story spread here and there, and it only truly gets a bit too silly with a time travel episode involving the Cuban Missile Crisis - Lucas seems to have become an expert on the theory and practicality of time travel in about five seconds, a total reverse from his thoughts in the time travel ep of season two. Playing it straight this time around doesn't help that much either.
Maybe that's the issue with this season - they're trying to be serious but there is still a level of goofiness and humour that doesn't sit well with the aim of each episode. It's much better than season two in my eyes, though my good lady was not as enamoured. Then again, season two...
Some points of note then:
- Henderson pretty much makes her way around the crew - ok, I get it, she's one of only two women in the main cast, but she's portrayed as such a vamp that it's amazing she's not got the stamp yet.
- Scheider wasn't the only returning cast member - John D'Aquino pops up as Ben Krieg in a drama heavy ep, but is pretty much wasted. At least when Scheider drops in, you get some gravitas, treating the character of Bridger much more seriously than before. It's actually quite good when he does appear and adds a level of conflict between him, Hudson and Lucas.
- Sea is the new space, with sub fighters and lasers and all that jazz. Physics takes a back seat here but it's entertaining enough if you don't think about it too much. The same can be said for the runaway Maglev train story - those people should have been jam when that thing stopped, as inertia will kill you.
- The writers seem to think all men are emotionally stunted and can't discuss their feelings with people they're supposed to be in relationships with - that gets tiring quickly, especially as one half of the couple is usually Henderson.
- I don't know if they were aiming for it specifically, but Lucas, now he's getting older, doesn't half come across as a bit of a shouty prick in a lot of stories. Serious and edgy, maybe, but prick-ish nonetheless.
- The music for this season sucks. The incidental stuff in individual episodes veers from 1930's to '60's, then to a terrible run of 80's synth. And that theme tune - think Hallmark Christmas movie crossed with SyFy movie of the week. Just terrible and totally at odds with the tone of the show.
- The show is not afraid to demonstrate its seriousness by killing off main cast members. Two die by the end of the run but this is a double edged sword. One was a long established (if still not entirely well rounded) character and their death should have resonated with the viewer. Except it doesn't, as we find out more about that person's background in the mourning scenes than we ever did in nearly thirty episodes of him actually interacting with people. As for the other death, it's a similar tale, though as they only had a dozen episodes to develop and most chances there were squandered, their passing was met with a resounding "meh" in TIT Towers.
And yet, despite all that, I'm actually quite fond of seaQuest 2032. Yeah, it's trashy, illogical and, at times, downright silly, but the tone of the show suits the concept of seaQuest in a much better way than either of the previous seasons. Part of me can't help but think that given a full season, this might have made it to re-commissioning. Then again, with the baggage of its original premise and the follow up, probably not. This show would never have made it into a list of sci-fi TV greats - as much as it tried to emulate Trek, it was trying to garner too much of a general audience to appeal to genre fans, then stepped too far in to the genre market to maintain any broader acceptance. What the third outing demonstrated, was that, with a little care and attention, this just might have worked. Final verdict then: seaQuest 2032 is a decent "first season" outing - six, veering to a seven out of ten, but couldn't save a show in it's third, as viewers, much like my good lady, had had enough. That, in my view, is a pity.
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