Entertainment
The 90s Sci-Fi Series Killed For Daring To Do Something Different
By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Star Trek defined science fiction for decades, with countless studios attempting their own spin on the voyages of the starship Enterprise. In 1993, Rockne S. O’Bannon, the man who would go on to create Farscape, launched his own take on the iconic franchise that started it all, with the twist that, instead of deep space, it would take place deep underwater.
In its first season, SeaQuest DSV embraced its unique setting with episodes based on real oceanographic science and environmental issues, but the science-heavy episodes weren’t good enough for NBC executives, who wanted a younger, more action-packed series, and the result is a show that started off filled with promise but was destroyed behind the scenes by shortsighted greed.
You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat
The concept of SeaQuest DSV is simple: in the future, mankind is forced to move into underwater colonies to survive in a world with rapidly dwindling resources and the effects of climate change. The SeaQuest is an experimental submarine under the oversight of the UEO (United Earth Oceans organization), tasked with scientific research and defending the colonies from raiders and rival nations. For a sci-fi series, it’s remarkably grounded, and while the first season includes an episode about a ghost ship and another involving an alien ship, the two are outliers from the rest, which deal with politics, the ethics of environmentalism, and surviving miles under the surface.
SeaQuest DSV even includes a fun bit of perfect stunt casting, with Roy Scheider, famous for playing Brody in Jaws, stars as Captain Nathan Bridger, a former military officer coming out of self-imposed exile following the death of his wife to take the helm. Bridger resigns rather than go after an anti-whaling activist, and when a catastrophic industrial accident threatens all life on Earth, he doesn’t hesitate when he realizes what has to be done. The problem is that Scheider came back for Season 2, and the shift from edutainment to action-oriented sci-fi was a waste of his acting talent, and Bridger seemed out of place fighting giant crocodiles and cloaked scientific experiments.
The rest of the crew fared even worse, with teen prodigy Lucas (Jonathan Brandis, a mainstay of Tiger Beat in the early 90s), Commander Ford (Don Franklin), and Lieutenant O’Neill (Ted Raimi) the only three to last all three seasons, well, them, and Darwin the Dolphin. In an effort to make the series appeal to a wider audience, NBC executives wanted to get more “eye candy” on the show, which meant out went Stephanie Beacham as Dr. Kristin Westphalen and Royce Applegate as Chief Crocker, in came the significantly younger Kathy Evison as JG Lonnie Henderson and Edward Keer as Lieutenant James Brody.
Cast changeover happens with every show, but by the time NBC was done, only four characters were carried over from Season 1 to Season 2, and SeaQuest DSV was completely unrecognizable.
From Science And Exploration To Giant Crocodiles
Edutainment episodes based on real science and exploration were replaced by a giant crocodile escaping from its icy prison, an alien hunter finding its way on board the sub, and even the SeaQuest itself looks different. On camera, Captain Bridger sacrificed the original to save the planet.
Off camera, SeaQuest DSV was moved from filming in Vancouver to Florida at Universal Studios, complete with a brand new set. Scheider eventually bailed, leading to Michael Ironside replacing him for Season 3, when the show was rebranded as SeaQuest 2032 as the hard-nosed Captain Oliver Hudson, but the producers may as well have been rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.
SeaQuest DSV was never a ratings juggernaut, but the slower, more thoughtful, and character-driven episodes of Season 1 provided a fantastic building block for the future. O’Bannon’s biggest hit, Farscape, took time to evolve into the wild sci-fi romp it would eventually become, but his first series was denied the opportunity to grow and develop organically. The result is that Seasons 2 and 3 were flaming ratings death for NBC as every act of studio interference backfired, with audiences turning away in droves from the corny plots, which went so far in Season 3 that Poseidon was involved.
If SeaQuest DSV had remained focused on environmental plots and deep-sea exploration, it might have become one of the 90s’ best sci-fi shows instead of a forgotten series. Thanks to the raw talent of Jonathan Brandis, Lucas was even a better teen character than Wesley Crusher on The Next Generation, and again, Roy Scheider was directly involved in a network genre series as a lead, for the first and last time.
The ocean is vast and largely unexplored, filled with countless wonders, and it’s an amazing setting for a sci-fi series, but no matter how great the concept, any show will fall apart if greedy studio executives are chasing the latest trend, and there’s no telling where O’Bannon would have taken the show if he hadn’t been sabotaged.
Entertainment
This $10 upgrade transforms your PC — but it’s only on sale until midnight
TL;DR: Upgrade a PC affordably with this Microsoft Windows 11 Pro license, on sale for just $9.97 (reg. $199) through tonight at midnight.
Want to get the feeling of a new computer without having to shell out all the money for one? A new operating system gives your device a whole new feel, and if you’ve got a PC lying around, it could probably use this Microsoft Windows 11 Pro upgrade. If you act fast, you can get it for only $9.97 through tonight at 11:59 p.m. PT.
Windows 11 Pro breathes new life into an old computer, extending its lifespan for less than the cost of your lunch. Unlike older operating systems, this one was made with the modern professional in mind.
Mashable Deals
Rest easy knowing Windows 11 Pro is filled with features that can improve your workflow — from an easy-to-use interface that enhances usability to snap layouts, seamless redocking, a more powerful search experience, and improved voice typing.
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Windows 11 Pro includes Copilot, Microsoft’s very own AI-powered assistant, which can assist you with a wide range of tasks. Get some help kickstarting your writing process, summarizing web pages, changing your settings, or even opening your apps.
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Entertainment
3 AdultFriendFinder red flags — how to avoid scams on AFF
Depending on who you ask, AdultFriendFinder is either the Wild West of hookup sites, an “anything goes” paradise for adult fun, or a total scam replete with bots, fake profiles, and inactive accounts.
After months of personal testing, I can confidently say which AFF you experience ultimately boils down to how you use the site. If you approach it naively, without a strategy, you’re probably going to have some frustrating experiences. On the other hand, if you exercise a modicum of caution and common sense, you’ll discover a huge, fun, and kink-friendly community.
Here are three red flags to look out for as you use AFF, to help you spot potential scammers and separate the authentic users from the fake profiles.
Hookup apps for everyone
AdultFriendFinder
—
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Tinder
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top pick for finding hookups
Hinge
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popular choice for regular meetups
Credit: AdultFriendFinder
Unverified accounts
AdultFriendFinder already offers a fantastic first step in combatting fake profiles that they call ConfirmID. Once you’ve created an account, you can, at any time, upload a clear scan of a government-issued ID card and then, using a webcam, undergo a quick face verification scan to confirm that you are indeed the person identified in the government document.
This step strikes the perfect balance between not being onerous enough to annoy the average user but still requiring enough effort to deter scammers, who notoriously go after the low-hanging fruit.
Mashable Trend Report
Once you’ve completed the ConfirmID sequence, you’ll be rewarded with a verification badge on your profile, and we strongly recommend that you limit your one-on-one interactions on the site to other verified users.
Perfect profile photos
Alright, admittedly this one requires some personal judgment, as everyone should strive to upload good, high-quality photos of themselves to dating websites. But if every photo looks like it belongs in a magazine, or if the person in the photo looks a little too good to be true, you should exercise caution.
In the age of generative AI and filters, it’s trivially easy to create a fake photo or series of photos, so you should also be on the lookout for what isn’t in the photos. Are there recognizable local landmarks (clubs, restaurants, well-known parks, or street corners) in the photos, or are they all equally generic?
Over-eager chatters
Ever since chat bots became a thing, dating sites have become plagued with them, and as AI improves more and more, it’s not always easy to know, right away, if the “person” you’re talking to is really human. One dead giveaway, though, is how much they chat and how quickly they reply.
Real people go off on tangents, employ non sequiturs, and sometimes stumble with awkward questions or comments. Chat bots, on the other hand, are typically always chipper and extremely fast-talking, so much so that a paragraph-long answer can come back to you in seconds.
They also almost always have an agenda, too, whether that’s directing you to click on a link (“Follow my Instagram profile”) or getting you to divulge some potentially compromising bit of personal information about yourself.
Entertainment
SNL opens with another Pete Hegseth press conference
Saturday Night Live returned from a brief hiatus Saturday with a cold open depicting a joint press conference between Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel, with “Master of None” creator Aziz Ansari playing the latter.
Colin Jost’s Hegseth hit the familiar beats at the podium — performative machismo, military bravado, and repeated jabs at the secretary’s well-documented drinking habits. This time, Hegseth arrived at the mic hauling an oversized pitcher of scotch, which he assured the room was his one for the day. He then fielded questions from the press about the administration’s handling of U.S. strikes on Iran, dismissing each reporter with the particular brand of smug confidence that has become central to Jost’s portrayal of the character.
Ansari’s Patel proved to be the sketch’s standout, arriving to defend his tenure at the FBI and proceeding to do so poorly. The bit’s centerpiece involved Patel simultaneously denying and admitting that he had locked himself out of his work email for 36 hours after forgetting he had changed his password to “kashmeoutside69.”
Funnily enough, Patel was reportedly locked out of his FBI email in real life and believed, at least momentarily, that he was being fired. As the sketch demonstrated, the distance between SNL’s Cold Open and the actual news cycle has rarely felt smaller.
This $10 upgrade transforms your PC — but it’s only on sale until midnight
Wild D Jonas Brodin out for Game 1, F Joel Eriksson Ek also ailing
