Steven Spielberg And A Twilight Zone Writer Teamed Up For An Underrated Sci-Fi Series

Rockne S. O'Bannon's sci-fi series "seaQuest DSV" was immensely popular for its all-too-brief, three-season run, airing from September 1993 through early June of 1996. Set in the far-off future of 2018, "seaQuest" followed the crew of a high-tech super-submarine called a Deep-Submergence Vehicle. The crew worked for an international research enclave called the United Earth Oceans Organization, at a time when earthbound resources were dwindling, and humanity could only survive by salvaging food and fuel from the ocean floors. The series frequently centered on biodiversity and ecological themes. It was slick and well-thought-out. It starred Roy Scheider as Captain Nathan Bridger, and Jonathan Brandis as hotshot teen Lucas. Frank Welker voiced the talking dolphin Darwin (able to speak via a high-tech translator). 

The show became more fantastical in its second season, featuring fire-breathing worm monsters, time travel plots, and an ancient alien ship. The series didn't suffer in quality, but it certainly became sillier. Roy Scheider notoriously hated the re-working of the show, and wanted to leave for its third season. He was kept on as a semiregular merely because of his contract. The third season introduced more villains and became less utopian. Michael Ironside played the more prominent Captain character for the show's final year. 

As soon as "seaQuest" went off the air, it seemed to vanish from the collective consciousness. This was odd, given the people involved. O'Bannon was the show's creator, and he has long been a notable TV writer with credits on multiple TV shows, starting with the reboot of "The Twilight Zone" in 1985. "seaQuest" was also executive produced by Steven Spielberg, giving the series a sheen of high-emd legitimacy. 

It's a pity it vanished.  

Rockne S. O'Bannon got his start on eight episodes of the new "Twilight Zone," serving as a writer, story editor, and story consultant. He wrote more scripts for the 1985 version of "Twilight" than any other. He would go on to write the screenplay for the celebrated 1988 feature "Alien Nation," and would direct a 1990 horror flick called "Fear" (not to be confused with the 1996 Mark Wahlberg film of the same name). O'Bannon also wrote one episode of the anthology series "Amazing Stories," which may be where he met Steven Spielberg, the show's creator. 

"seaQuest" was highly advertised when it first hit the airwaves, coming with a giant wave of live-action sci-fi shows that defined the decade. It, along with shows like "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "Babylon 5," "The X-Files," "Sliders," "Stargate SG-1," "Dark Skies," "Nowhere Man," "RoboCop," and many others, indicated a burst of genre daring from TV studios. "seaQuest" was creative in that it was set mostly beneath the ocean, much more interesting than the usual space operas. 

Although "seaQuest" was canceled after three years, O'Bannon's greatest success still lay ahead. In 1999, he created the Sci-Fi Channel series "Farscape," a space opera with multiple weird aliens and practical puppet effects. "Farscape" gathered a passionate cult audience, and is still whispered about to this day. I can't be sure if this is any serious bellwether for popularity, but /Film has published several articles about "Farscape," and few about "seaQuest." O'Bannon would also go on to create the short-lived series "Cult" in 2013, and the more successful "Defiance" the same year. Most recently, O'Bannon wrote episodes of the CBS series "Evil," a show that he also executive produced. He always had an eye for slick, interested genre TV, and "seaQuest DSV" is no exception. It doesn't have the cult of "Farscape," but "seaQuest" is certainly worth a look. Especially if you're a '90s sci-fi TV fan.