Sealab 2021
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| Sealab 2021 | |
|---|---|
 Sealab 2021 logo, seen on the title card |
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| Genre | Animated series Comedy |
| Created by | Adam Reed Matt Thompson |
| Starring | Harry Goz (2000-2003) Kate Miller Michael Goz (2003-2005) Erik Estrada Brett Butler Ellis Henican Bill Lobley |
| Theme music composer | Calamine |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 52 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Keith Crofford Mike Lazzo |
| Producer(s) | Adam Reed Matt Thompson |
| Running time | 12 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Cartoon Network |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) |
| Original run | December 21, 2000 – April 25, 2005 |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Sealab 2021 is an American animated television series shown on Cartoon Network's adult-oriented programming block, Adult Swim. It premiered on December 21, 2000 and the final episode aired on April 25, 2005. Sealab 2021 is one of the four original Williams Street series that premiered on Adult Swim in 2000 (the others are Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Brak Show, and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law).
Like Cartoon Network's Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, the animation used stock footage from a 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon, in this case the short-lived, environmentally themed Sealab 2020, along with original animation. Sealab 2021 was produced by 70/30 Productions.
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[edit] Summary
Adam Reed and Matt Thompson, the creators and writers of Sealab 2021, thought up the idea for the show in 1995 while they were production assistants for Cartoon Network. They stumbled on a tape of the show Sealab 2020, and wrote dialog to match the lips. Cartoon Network passed on the show because they believed that it wasn't funny. Five years after quitting Cartoon Network, the two went back to the original tape, this time making the characters do what they wanted. Cartoon Network bought the show, coincidentally around the same time that Adult Swim was created[1]. The original "pitch pilot" is available on the Season 1 DVD as a special feature.
The show is set one year after the time frame of Sealab 2020. During this year, the crew's professionalism and morals have slowly degraded, causing the crew to spend more time goofing off in various ways rather than doing any serious work. None of the episodes share any connection or ongoing plot. As a result, continuity is frequently ignored; for instance, the entire installation is destroyed at the end of many episodes, and cast members are often killed in horrible ways. While the show contains many references to the pop culture of the 1980s-2000s and appears to be set in the year 2021, John F. Kennedy is President and Robert Kennedy is his Attorney General, suggesting that it is in fact still the early 1960s. (Episode 29, "Red Dawn")
Fans and critics felt that the show fell into a decline following the death of Harry Goz, the voice of Captain Murphy.[2] After four seasons, the final episode aired on April 25, 2005.
[edit] Characters
- See also: List of Sealab 2021 minor characters
| Picture | Description |
|---|---|
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Captain Hazel "Hank" Murphy is the ostensible leader of the crew. Unfortunately, he is also the most deranged member and quite unfit for service; instead of providing any real leadership, he's either running a pirate radio show, ordering crewmembers to steal cable so he can watch his favorite show "Chopper Dave", complaining about his missing Happy Cake oven, or playing golf near the station's reactor core. He once became addicted to scorpion venom. He signs his name "Murhpi". He's easily amused and displays many symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder. He's bitter about getting beaten up as a child, so he likes to sucker punch people when he can. He is prone to having blackouts during which he has dreams that Sparks is out to get him and that he is obsessed with either Imogene Coca or Michael Caine. His most hated enemies are Bizarro Murphy and Evans (whom he calls "Eggers") from Pod 6. He seems to have a fixation on actress Adrienne Barbeau, making reference to her several times, including calling his robotic form the Barbeaubot. The only episode where Murphy consistently acts responsibly is "7211" from the second season, with the running gag being that the entire episode is a faithful re-enactment of an actual Sealab 2020 episode. Murphy was voiced by Harry Goz until his death on September 6, 2003 from Multiple Myeloma. After that, Murphy was described as having left Sealab to fight in the "Great Spice Wars". |
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Captain Bellerophon "Tornado" Shanks earned his position as Sealab's new captain by answering a help-wanted ad. A retired football coach and lovable redneck, he has all of Murphy's shortsighted idiocy combined with a Southern charm. Tornado's leadership qualities have led him to coach the crew in a football game against killer robots, declare Sealab a sovereign nation (named Sealabia), warp the minds of Sealab's orphan population, and assert that a huge tumor on his head would go away through prayer alone, forcing the crew to shrink themselves and get injected into his body in order to save him. In the episode, "Dearly Beloved Seed", it is revealed that Shanks had six brothers, who are all deceased. Late in the series, Shanks dropped his southern accent because "everyone thought I [Shanks] was gay." Shanks is voiced by Michael Goz, son of Harry Goz. |
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Debbie DuPree (voiced by Kate Miller) is the token female of the crew (other than "black debbie"), a marine biologist, and blonde and beautiful to boot. Being the token female, she tends to get upset when the guys do chauvinistic things but is also a stereotypical dumb blonde. She has an on going sexual relationship with Doctor Quinn and slept with Murphy at least once. She is slightly promiscuous and an exhibitionist, often ripping open her shirt for various male characters. In the episode "Butchslap" she tells Marco that being a filthy whore is "all she knows". In the last season, she becomes devoutly religious, going so far as to speak in tongues. |
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Derek "Stormy" Waters (voiced by Ellis Henican) is the station's resident pretty boy. Very childish, he's all looks and no brains most of the time; he barely knows what's going on around him. He greatly enjoys coleslaw. His stupidity has gotten him into trouble several times, mainly with "Black" Debbie. It is wholly possible he has hidden intelligence but he usually ruins any displays of intelligence he shows through equally stupid actions afterwards or revealing where he learned something. This was displayed in the "Stimutacs" episode, where the drug gave him "total cognizance of every synapse in [his] cerebral cortex", making him the smartest crew member and giving him the ability of mind over matter. He also knows how to make a Dagwood sandwich underwater. He has a habit of exclaiming "Holy Bejesus!" whenever something happens. |
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Doctor Quentin Q. Quinn (voiced by Brett Butler) is the brains of the outfit, with an IQ of 260. As the only member of the crew with any formal education and any sort of common sense left, he's the one that ends up running the station. In effect, he is the comedic straight man of the series. He's also the "token black guy." He and Debbie have an on-again, off-again relationship. Quinn is actually a cyborg -- an illness in his youth forced him to transplant his human brain into a replica robot body. Although Quinn dramatically revealed this in the pilot episode "I, Robot" it doesn't really affect his character that much and it is only rarely mentioned again throughout the series.He also has a hydraulic penis which is very large and requires a lot of strength to operate. |
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Jodene Sparks (voiced by Bill Lobley) is the station's sarcastic, scheming radio operator, and co-conspirator with Captain Murphy in most of his escapades. In a dream of Murphy's, Sparks is portrayed as also being the head of a terror organization located inside of a mountain, where his minions refer to him as "The Overlord" (featured in the episode "Happycake"). Sparks is never seen without his headset or out of his rolling, swivel office chair, even while out scuba diving, although in the episode "Green Fever", he is seen in a personal transporter instead of his chair. In one episode, Debbie stabs his legs, which he claims he can't feel so he can claim disability to get an affirmative action based promotion; in another episode he exclaims "I'm not crippled; I'm just lazy!" after having his legs shrunk. In episode 12, Sparks can be seen playing a drumset, in fact using his legs, while rocking out with 'Marduk', the Stimutacs-induced Sun God. Regardless, it has not stopped other characters (primarily Shanks) from addressing him as "cripple" or implying such. Sparks seems to have the vice of cupidity, as his quest for money has been in several plots; such as the murdering of the crew to collect on life insurance policies, the creation of Stimutacs to "make an assload of money", and his numerous underhand deals with Paddy O'Reilly. In addition, episode 46 reveals his penchant for hentai. He can also regrow his own head. |
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Marco Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar Gabriel Garcia Marquez (voiced by Erik Estrada) is the station's engineer, macho man, and wannabe Latin lover. He often exclaims random things in Spanish, although he doesn't actually speak the language. He has tried to seduce both females on the station at various times, with limited success. He also has a thing for CHiPs, which starred Estrada himself. One of his catchlines is "I'll give it a shot of Vitamin M!" He was given the nickname "Mailbox Head" by Captain Murphy in the "Radio Free Sealab" episode. Note to the names: Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar is the main character of the Spaniard epic XI century poem "El Cantar del Mío Cid" while Gabriel García Márquez is the 1982 Literary Nobel Prize winner journalist and novelist from Colombia. It should be noted that in earlier episodes that he was portrayed as the most level-headed of the crew, which changed throughout the series' run. When under the influence of Stimutacs, he possesses the "energy of a bear that has the energy of two bears". |
[edit] Episodes
Fifty-two 11-minute episodes of Sealab 2021 were produced, as opposed to only 16 25-minute episodes of the original Sealab 2020. Sealab 2021 is rated TV-14.
[edit] DVD boxsets
| DVD Name | Release Date | Ep # | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season One | July 20, 2004 | 13 | This two disc boxset contains the first 13 episodes ("Radio Free Sealab" through "Swimming in Oblivion"). Bonus features include alternate endings for episode "I, Robot", deleted scenes, the original pitch pilot, and uncensored scenes for "Radio Free Sealab". Music during the main menu is the original recording of the theme song. |
| Season Two | February 1, 2005 | 13 | This two disc boxset contains the second set of 13 episodes ("Der Dieb" through "Return to Oblivion"). Bonus features include commentaries for all thirteen episodes, an animatic for the unseen episode "Ronnie", and other assorted bonus features - many of which involve women in bikinis. The DVD cover, used for the "Bizarro" episode, is a homage to the cover of Uncanny X-Men #100, by artist Dave Cockrum. Music during the main menu is the theme song played backwards. |
| Season Three | July 12, 2005 | 13 | This two disc boxset contains the third set of 13 episodes ("Splitsville" through "Neptunati"). Bonus features include two unseen episodes and the animatic of a third unseen episode, commentary for four episodes, and other features. Music during the main menu is the music used in the "Red Dawn" episode. |
| Season Four | August 8, 2006 | 13 | This two disc boxset contains the final 13 episodes ("Isla de las Chupacabras" through "Legacy of Laughter"). Bonus features include alternate endings and deleted scenes. For this set, Cartoon Network abandoned their usual digipak packaging design in favor of a more traditional amaray-style keep case. During the main menu, underwater sound effects are used. |
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
- Adultswim.com — Official Site
- AdultSwim.co.uk — Watch on Adult Swim UK
- POD-SIX.net — Wealth of information about Sealab 2021 (Internet Archive)
- Interview with Sealab 2021 Creator
- Wikia has a wiki on this subject: Sealab
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