In "the near future" (beginning in the year 2018), the series follows the adventures of the high-tech submarine seaQuest DSV 4600. Funded by the United States government and other private loans, the seaQuest was the largest submarine to ever travel the seas. Designed by navy captain Nathan Bridger, the seaQuest was originally designed as a military vessel. However, following the death of his son Robert during a global war in the early twenty first century, Bridger retires from the service and retreats to an island somewhere in the Yucatán Peninsula. Devoting the majority of his time to science, Bridger rescued a dolphin, whom he named Darwin, from a fisherman's net in a lagoon. He attempted to develop a form of verbal communication between humans and dolphins, but eventually tried to develop a series of hand signals. During his self-imposed exile on the island, Bridger's wife, Carol, also dies, leaving him totally alone. Following the Livingston Trench incident in which the world was almost plunged into a nuclear war, the seaQuest was left without a captain. The ship was recalled to drydock and refitted to become less of a military force and more of an exploration and research vessel. Realizing that the ship needed a captain that had not been "sitting with his finger on the trigger", the new United Earth Oceans Organization (or UEO) recruits Bridger to assume command of the boat he designed.
Episodes were not always shown in production order; as a result, certain consequences of episodes do not always carry over to the next. For example, the episode "The Stinger" shows Admiral Noyce as the Secretary General of the UEO, a position he obtains in "The Last Lap at Luxury" which originally aired afterwards (the DVD release keeps the production order). Similarly, the episode "Blindsided" shows the seaQuest still on Earth, even though it had been taken to Hyperion and destroyed in "Splashdown." Additionally, the episode "Brainlock" shows Lieutenant Brody still alive, even though he died in "SpinDrift." Furthermore, Captain Bridger's beard disappears after "And Everything Nice", but reappears in "Watergate", only to disappear again throughout the rest of the second season. The episodes in this article are listed in chronological (production) order.
| Title |
Original airdate |
Production |
Episode |
| "To Be or Not to Be" (Pilot) / "The Nathan Bridger Incident"[1] |
September 12, 1993 |
101 & 102 |
1 |
| When Commander Jonathan Ford is forced to relieve Captain Marilyn Stark of duty for disobeying orders, the seaQuest DSV is left without a captain. The new United Earth Oceans Organization recruits reluctant retired Captain Nathan Bridger to assume command; however, Bridger is not at all enthusiastic about rejoining the military. But, when a renegade pirate submarine begins to endanger lives, Bridger can't help but be swept up in the life he tried to escape, especially when the captain of the rebel sub turns out to be the recently fired Stark on a revenge mission to destroy the seaQuest. |
|
| "Games" |
October 3, 1993 |
105 |
2 |
| Mass murderer Dr. Rubin Zellar is unwittingly taken aboard the seaQuest. Placing him in custody, Zellar is able to escape and informs Bridger that he's hidden a toxin frozen in ice somewhere aboard the ship...a toxin that is surely melting with each passing second. |
|
| "Give Me Liberté" |
October 24, 1993 |
108 |
3 |
| A virus found onboard a sunken space station infects the crew. As Bridger rushes to find the inventor of the pathogen, a warrior submarine from an opposing confederation arrives to cover up their crimes, even if it means the destruction of the seaQuest. |
|
| "Brothers and Sisters" |
October 17, 1993 |
107 |
4 |
| The seaQuest is ordered to entomb a munitions depot thought to be abandoned. However, when the crew discovers children living inside, Bridger must convince them to follow him to safety. (Special guest star: Kellie Martin.) |
|
| "The Devil's Window" |
September 19, 1993 |
103 |
5 |
| While investigating a black smoker, Darwin becomes seriously ill. Bridger must contemplate setting his long-time aquatic pal free in order to save his life. |
|
| "Treasures of the Mind" |
September 26, 1993 |
104 |
6 |
| The seaQuest discovers the lost Library of Alexandria sunken beneath the sea. However, when surrounding nations cannot agree on a peaceful way to share the discovery, Bridger must act as mediator before escalating tensions result in the destruction of the library. |
|
| "Treasures of the Tonga Trench" |
October 9, 1993 |
106 |
7 |
| As the seaQuest undergoes inspection, Lieutenant Benjamin Krieg has a close encounter with an unknown life form while in a seaCrab in the Tonga Trench. When the creature lets him go, Krieg discovers a treasure trove of mysterious glowing stones; stones that may mean big money. However, is the bigger threat to seaQuest the greed that overtakes the crew or the unknown life form? |
|
| "Knight of Shadows" |
October 31, 1993 |
109 |
8 |
| When Bridger is hurled across his quarters by an unknown force, it leads the seaQuest to find a hundred-year-old sunken ship where the spirits of those who perished there haunt its ancient hull, one of which possesses Dr. Westphalen. |
|
| "Bad Water" |
November 7, 1993 |
110 |
9 |
| Commander Ford, Dr. Westphalen, Lucas and Lieutenant Krieg are trapped on the surface of the ocean as a hurricane rages above them. Meanwhile, suffering severe damage from a lightning strike, the seaQuest must desperately search for a sunken French submarine before its passengers; all children, run out of air. |
|
| "The Regulator" |
November 21, 1993 |
111 |
10 |
| When the air conditioning breaks down in the crew quarters, Krieg has no choice but to turn to "The Regulator", a cut-throat black market trader who hides a shamed past with whom Bridger is familiar with and Lucas finds he can sympathize with. |
|
| "seaWest" |
November 28, 1993 |
112 |
11 |
| When the seaQuest visits the Broken Ridge mining colony, one of the colonists desperately pleads for the crew's help to escape from a dangerous situation straight out of the Old West. |
|
| "Photon Bullet" |
December 19, 1993 |
113 |
12 |
| Feeling isolated, unwanted, and unappreciated aboard the seaQuest, Lucas visits Node Three, a communications colony populated by other teenage computer geniuses, led by legendary computer hacker Martin Clemens, AKA, "Mycroft." However, Lucas soon finds himself caught up in the group's tampering with global finances; tamperings that have more motive than they appear. (Special guest star: Tim Russ.) |
|
| "Better Than Martians" |
January 2, 1994 |
114 |
14 |
| The first manned mission to Mars returns home to Earth, led by Commander Scott Keller, an old friend of Bridger's. However, a malfunction during re-entry plunges the capsule into the ocean where a corrupt general from a foreign confederation races to recover the astronauts before the seaQuest can. |
|
| "Nothing But the Truth" |
January 9, 1994 |
115 |
13 |
| In preparation for an experiment, the crew evacuates the seaQuest, leaving only Commander Ford, Lt. Commander Hitchcock, Lieutenant Krieg, Chief Crocker, and Lucas aboard. However, environmental extremists use the seaQuest`s vulnerable state to seize control of the boat. |
|
| "Greed For a Pirate's Dream" |
January 16, 1994 |
116 |
15 |
| When Dr. Raleigh Young's magma buoy launched from the seaQuest months earlier rockets out of the sea and crash lands onto an island, a group of treasure hunters believe that the UEO is on their way to steal the fortune they hope to find. |
|
| "Whale Song" |
February 6, 1994 |
117 |
16 |
| When an environmental radical begins to sink whaling ships, the UEO orders Bridger to find the attacker and destroy him. However, Bridger refuses on moral grounds and resigns as captain of the seaQuest. |
|
| "Hide and Seek" |
February 27, 1994 |
119 |
19 |
| While visiting Malcolm Lansdowne, Dr. Westphalen and he are captured by ousted dictator and escaped UEO prisoner Milos Tezlov, who wants Malcolm's dolphins to train for militaristic purposes. However, when Kristin notices Tezlov's autistic son Caesar taking an extreme liking to dolphins, she forges a deal for her release, granting Tezlov passage aboard the seaQuest. (Special guest star: William Shatner.) |
|
| "The Last Lap at Luxury" |
March 20, 1994 |
120 |
17 |
| UEO Secretary General Andrea Dre travels aboard the seaQuest en route to a conference where she invites Lucas to join her to speak out on his work with Darwin. However, Lucas soon finds himself held hostage along with the leaders of the other UEO confederations. |
|
| "The Stinger" |
February 20, 1994 |
118 |
18 |
| Lucas and Lt. Commander Hitchcock enter the seaQuest in a competition to design a revolutionary new kind of single-seat submersible. However, while testing it, Lucas is fired upon and the sub is captured by a rival developer. |
|
| "Abalon" |
May 1, 1994 |
121 |
20 |
| When Commander Ford believes he saw a mermaid at the bottom of the ocean, Captain Bridger orders him to take shore leave, but while on leave, Ford encounters the same woman again and soon finds himself ensnared in a mysterious scientist's unnatural experiment. Meanwhile, Lucas sneaks away to a party where Julianna and he may go “all the way.” (Special guest star: Charlton Heston.) |
|
| "Such Great Patience" |
May 8, 1994 |
122 |
21 |
| The seaQuest makes the biggest discovery in human history when they discover an alien starship entombed in an undersea rock face; trapped there for over a million years. When an away team goes inside the ship, they find that they might not be the only thing aboard it. |
|
| "The Good Death" |
May 15, 1994 |
123 |
22 |
| The seaQuest is tricked into torpedoing a ship carrying dozens of child refugees, led by Cynthia Westphalen, Kristin's daughter. When their launch is damaged, Commander Ford, Shan, and the Westphalens must take refuge in the Amazonian Confederation, whose brutal leader believes the seaQuest has sent assassins after him. |
|
| "Higher Power"/"An Ocean on Fire" |
May 22, 1994 |
124 |
23 |
| An emotional time is at hand as the seaQuest`s tour of duty comes to an end; Chief Crocker faces his retirement and the end of his marriage, Commanders Ford and Hitchcock are offered the same command, and Captain Bridger and Dr. Westphalen begin a romantic relationship. Most emotional of all is Lucas who realizes that his father is hardly a part of his life anymore. However, when the Earth's crust begins to crack open underneath his father's power plant, the world is threatened by an unstoppable rise in ocean temperature which will melt the polar caps. With lava seeping into the sea, Bridger must sacrifice the seaQuest in order to save the world. |
| Title |
Original airdate |
Production |
Episode # |
| "Daggers" |
September 18, 1994 |
201 & 202 |
24 |
| The crew of the new seaQuest shove-off from New Cape Quest, but their shakedown cruise is interrupted when Genetically Engineered Life Forms (G.E.L.F.s) revolt and seize control of their island colony as well as a defensive weapons space base and threaten to suffocate the human race. |
|
| "The Fear That Follows" |
September 25, 1994 |
203 |
25 |
| The engineers of the alien spacecraft that the original seaQuest discovered before her destruction receive the message sent by the crew and relay their intentions, through Darwin, to make first contact with the human race. While Lucas and the rest of the crew are ecstatic, General Thomas and a hot-shot UEO lieutenant can only see things from a military perspective. |
|
| "Sympathy For the Deep" |
October 2, 1994 |
204 |
26 |
| A parapsychologic experiment gone terribly wrong has driven the residents of the peaceful Miranda Colony to near insanity, including Captain Bridger's old girlfriend, who pleads with him for help. When the seaQuest arrives, they too are affected. |
|
| "Playtime" |
October 23, 1994 |
206 |
28 |
| A distant call for help pulls the seaQuest through an underwater anomaly, propelling the boat into the future 225 years where they find that mankind has destroyed itself, leaving only two teenaged kids as the only human life left on Earth. |
|
| "Special Delivery" |
December 11, 1994 |
210 |
32 |
| When Dr. Smith performs psychological evaluations on the crew, Commander Ford allows Dagwood to take shore leave. Trouble soon arises when he is accused of murdering the man who created him, something he does not remember doing. Sentenced to life in prison, Ford and Brody attempt to give Dagwood a small taste of a life he's never had and never will. |
|
| "The Sincerest Form of Flattery" |
November 13, 1994 |
207 |
29 |
| A programmer obtains a computerized copy of Captain Bridger's personality and uses it to automate an experimental submarine. When the project goes awry, Bridger must go one-on-one with himself before the submarine can destroy the seaQuest and level New Cape Quest with a missile attack which will kill everyone in the city. |
|
| "Vapors" |
October 9, 1994 |
205 |
27 |
| While on shore leave, Captain Bridger and Dr. Smith struggle with a possible romance after Piccolo inadvertently starts rumours about them in the maglev. Meanwhile, Henderson and O'Neill go out on a date, while Ford, Brody and Ortiz try to find dates. On their shore leave, Piccolo, Lucas and Dagwood respond to Piccolo's father's plea for help. (Special guest star: Dom DeLuise) |
|
| "By Any Other Name" |
November 20, 1994 |
208 |
30 |
| A distress call from an underwater horticultural colony brings the seaQuest and her crew to investigate. However, the seemingly benign colony is not what it appears to be when a flower picked by Henderson is brought back to the boat and begins to mutate. |
|
| "When We Dead Awaken" |
November 27, 1994 |
209 |
31 |
| Brody's mother suddenly reappears in her son's life after being cryogenically frozen for twenty-two years, though their reunion may be short lived as she is soon targeted by an assassin; an assassin who's affiliated with someone the seaQuest crew is familiar with. |
|
| "Dead End" |
December 18, 1994 |
211 |
33 |
| Lucas, Brody, O'Neill and Henderson are pulled beneath the Earth's surface in a seaLaunch into an underground cavern. With not enough air for them all to return to the surface, they must take their chances in a lottery. When Lucas comes up short, he must come to terms with being condemned to death. |
|
| "Meltdown" |
January 8, 1995 |
212 |
34 |
| An undersea mining operation raises the temperature in the South Atlantic, releasing a behemoth prehistoric crocodile from its icy tomb which threatens the life of local inhabitants, including an undersea farming team led by Commander Ford's family. |
|
| "Lostland" |
January 15, 1995 |
213 |
35 |
| On a deep diving mission, Commander Ford discovers an ancient gold helmet proving that the lost continent of Atlantis once existed. However, when Captain Bridger and Ortiz try the helmet on, they are consumed by the ancient curse sealed within and begin lashing out at the crew. |
|
| "And Everything Nice" |
January 22, 1995 |
214 |
36 |
| On the mainland, Lucas falls for a beautiful woman and asks to resign from his position. However, he soon becomes ensnared in an elaborate scheme to seize control of the seaQuest and deal a crippling blow to the UEO. |
|
| "Watergate" |
March 5, 1995 |
217 |
37 |
| On a mission to escort rock star Sarah Toenin to a USO show, Lucas and O'Neill discover that nearby Solitaire Island is, in fact, an ancient pyramid. Upon making the discovery, Sarah speaks in strange tongues that O'Neill recognizes as Ancient Greek, foretelling the coming of Neptune, the God of the sea. |
|
| "Dream Weaver" |
February 19, 1995 |
215 |
38 |
| When a comet splashes into the water near seaQuest`s location, it mysteriously disintegrates into particles, which cocoons the boat and impregnates it with an aggressive alien predator that disables the boat and attacks the crew. (Special guest star: Mark Hamill.) |
|
| "Alone" |
February 26, 1995 |
216 |
39 |
| Dr. Smith must risk her life in a battle of the mind against "The Avatar", a powerful paranormal being who threatens the world's security with his ability to place world leaders into comas. |
|
| "Something in the Air" |
March 19, 1995 |
218 |
40 |
| The crew protects a group of researchers at an abandoned mining outpost while they study an ancient chest found buried in the Mediterranean. However, the chest turns out to be a Pandora's Box that unleashes a demon on the away team. |
|
| "Dagger Redux" |
April 2, 1995 |
219 |
41 |
| A legendary computer hacker known as “The Marauder” breaks Mariah out of prison to use her desire for revenge against Captain Bridger to destroy the seaQuest, leaving the sea free to be mined for prehistoric insect fuel whom "The Marauder" believes to be the missing element in cold fusion. Meanwhile, feeling stagnated aboard the boat, O'Neill takes a leave of absence, but soon finds himself in Mariah's clutches. |
|
| "The Siamese Dream" |
April 30, 1995 |
220 |
42 |
| When Piccolo and Dagwood mysteriously share a nightmare, Dr. Smith takes them to a parapsychology facility to try and help them, administered by her former love, Clay Marshall. But is the dream real, or is Marshall attempting to gain access to the seaQuest? |
|
| "Blindsided" |
September 13, 1995 |
222 |
43 |
When his airplane crashes in the South American jungle, Piccolo is kidnapped by a ruthless dictator who has been secretly creating cloaked artificial life-forms that have gone out of control.
|
|
| "Splashdown" |
May 21, 1995 |
221 |
44 |
| The image of Commander Keller appears to the crew and asks them to the “Christmas Tree Trench.” Upon arrival, a massive alien starship draws seaQuest from the water and takes them billions of light-years away to the far distant world of Hyperion where the crew is forced into the middle of a civil war which may result in the destruction of seaQuest and all aboard. (Special guest star: Mark Hamill.) |
| Title |
Original airdate |
Production |
Episode # |
| "Brave New World" |
September 20, 1995 |
301 |
45 |
| Ten years after seaQuest mysteriously disappeared off the face of the Earth, Lucas reappears and is taken into UEO custody. When the rest of the crew and the boat also reappear on Earth, they find that the world has become a much more dangerous place in the past decade. (Special guest star: Roy Scheider.) |
|
| "In the Company of Ice and Profit" |
September 27, 1995 |
302 |
46 |
| As the crew chafes against the hard-as-nails attitude of Captain Hudson, Larry Deon of Deon International plots to send an iceberg the size of New England towards Saudi Arabia, which, when melted, would flood the Saudi desert, increasing the demand for his water purification technologies. To prevent Hudson from destroying the iceberg, Deon plants Macronesian refugees on its surface, led by a former member of seaQuest`s crew: Lieutenant Benjamin Krieg. (Special guest star: John D'Aquino.) |
|
| "Smoke on the Water" |
October 11, 1995 |
303 |
47 |
| When UEO haulers begin to mysteriously disappear, the seaQuest is ordered to stand guard and defend the ships. However, this mission reunites Hudson with his long-lost love. Meanwhile, when Dagwood encounters a group of Daggers up-world, he considers leaving seaQuest and Lucas must learn about the responsibilities of being an officer. |
|
| "Destination Terminal"/"Totally Terminal" |
October 18, 1995 |
304 |
48 |
| When a revolutionary new underwater train heads out on her maiden voyage, Lucas is ordered by Captain Hudson to go along and observe, while Commander Ford and Henderson also take a ride on a secret date. However, when Deon International plots to keep the air travel business at number one, they sabotage the train and kill the engineer, leaving Lucas to stop the locomotive before it crashes. |
|
| "Chains of Command" |
November 1, 1995 |
305 |
49 |
| When UEO missiles are launched against a Macronesian outpost, Captain Hudson is ordered to relieve his former commanding officer, Admiral Vanalden, who has seized control of a secret military base and plans to plunge the human race into a state of nuclear war. |
|
| "Brainlock" |
January 12, 1996 |
311 |
50 |
| On the eve of the signing of the new UEO charter, President Alexander Bourne and Larry Deon conspire to gain control of Lieutenant Fredericks' psyche-implant in order to program her to assassinate Secretary General McGath and cripple the UEO beyond repair. |
|
| "Spindrift" |
November 8, 1995 |
306 |
51 |
| After rescuing a group of children from a Macronesian attack, Henderson is captured and sentenced to death by President Alexander Bourne. Unwilling to accept this, Captain Hudson organizes a rescue mission, one that puts Lieutenant Brody's life in extreme jeopardy. |
|
| "Equilibrium" |
November 15, 1995 |
307 |
52 |
| Upon discovering a viral outbreak caused by a rescue mission mounted by the original seaQuest over a decade earlier, Lucas develops a method to counteract the agent. However, when Captain Bridger arrives on the scene and proposes to let the pathogen naturally breakdown, seaQuest soon finds itself locked in mortal combat with its former captain. (Special guest star: Roy Scheider.) |
|
| "Resurrection" |
December 6, 1995 |
308 |
53 |
| After faking his own death, environmental radical Max Scully once again encounters the seaQuest and plans to use the ship's laser banks to detonate an underwater nuclear stockpile that will destroy the human race, save for a select few within his environmental paradise; Ecotopia. |
|
| "Good Soldiers" |
December 20, 1995 |
309 |
54 |
| Captain Bridger, Lucas, Commander Ford, and Dagwood infiltrate a former UEO base, now in the hands of Macronesia, to locate a set of top-secret data crystals containing information on crimes against humanity; crimes that Bridger and Ford were accessories to. (Special guest star: Roy Scheider.) |
|
| "Second Chance" |
December 27, 1995 |
310 |
55 |
| A freak imbalance in one of seaQuest`s reactor cores creates a time displacement sphere around the boat that rockets the ship back in time to October 1962, where they find that all of mankind has been destroyed as a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis. With no choice, the crew must travel back further in time to try to prevent the holocaust. |
|
| "Reunion" |
January 28, 1996 |
312 |
56 |
| On a diplomatic mission, Henderson discovers that her former love is now a prisoner and forced to work as slave labour. She also finds that Mason Freeman, Larry Deon's right-hand man, is also a prisoner. When the two of them instigate a prison break and steal a submarine, they capture a UEO science outpost and hold the science team hostage. |
|
| "Weapons of War" (Series Finale) |
June 9, 1996 |
313 |
57 |
| As seaQuest patrols a free trade zone between the UEO and Macronesia, Lieutenant O'Neill's on-line romance turns out to be a defector from an elusive Asian power known as the Chaodai; a power that attacks both the UEO and Macronesia with its impressive sub-fighter capability. In this final adventure, one member of seaQuest`s crew will not live to see another day. |
| Title |
Original airdate |
Production |
Episode # |
| "Friends in High Places" |
Unaired/Unproduced |
#68902 |
N/A |
| The seaQuest takes place in a war games exercise. However, when the opposing ship launches a live torpedo at seaQuest, Captain Bridger discovers that the perpetrator's motives are part of a plan to expose Cuban war crimes from twenty years past. |
|
| "A Place Called Armageddon" |
Unaired/Unproduced |
#68912 |
N/A |
| A routine mission is soon interrupted by an emergency communique from the UEO that the world had been plunged into total nuclear war and that the seaQuest may be the only ship left in the fleet. As the crew deals with the prospect of global annihilation, the deaths of their families, and the condemnation of remaining aboard the seaQuest, a visiting scientist soon begins stirring up the emotions of the jilted crew. |
|
| "In Father's Footsteps" |
Unaired/Unproduced |
314 |
58 |
| On a mission at Dr. Lawrence Wolenczak's classified underwater research base, Lucas discovers evidence that his father may still be alive in cryostasis, three years after taking the experimental science vessel Orpheus deep into a magma chamber. Determined to learn if his father has survived, Lucas disobeys Captain Hudson's orders and sets out to find him. However, the Chaodai have also become interested in Dr. Wolenczak's work and plot to intercept the seaQuest team. |
|
| "Depths of Deceit" |
Unaired/Unproduced |
315 |
59 |
| Captain Hudson's father becomes entangled in a coup d'état by President Bourne to gain total control of Deon International, which has developed a new kind of space weapons platform; one that can obliterate the seaQuest from orbit. Meanwhile, General Stassi conspires with Hudson's father and Larry Deon in order to gain control of Macronesia. Beneath the sea, an old friend of Hudson's assumes command of seaQuest and instigates war with Macronesia. |
|
| "About Face" |
Unaired/Unproduced |
317 |
61 |
| Captain Hudson is abducted by Macronesia and conditioned to believe that he is an enemy spy who has been surgically altered to resemble the real Captain Hudson with a mission to infiltrate the seaQuest. However, Hudson's abduction brings him the one thing he never had in his real life; a home and a loving family. The script for this episode was never completed. |
|
| "The Horizon Crew" |
Unaired/Unproduced |
318 |
62 (unknown) |
| This episode was written and was to be directed by Jonathan Brandis.[2] Plot details are unknown. |
|
| "The Vault" |
Spec Script |
N/A |
N/A |
| While seaQuest puts into drydock for forty-eight hours, Lieutenant O'Neill, Lucas, Dagwood and Dr. Perry are assigned to a dangerous mission.[3] |