| United Earth Oceans UEO |
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The crest of the UEO |
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| Founded | 2018 |
| Capital(s) | Pearl Harbor, Hawaii New Cape Quest, Florida |
| Official language(s) | Multicultural |
| Currency | UEO credits |
| Affiliation | UEO Navy, Section 7 Security |
The United Earth Oceans Organization (commonly known as "UEO") is the fictional governing body in the television series seaQuest DSV. The UEO was first introduced in the pilot episode of the series, "To Be or Not to Be" and remained a recurring element for the duration of the series. Although never fully explained during the course of the series, it is implied that the UEO has taken the place of the United Nations.
As explained in the first episode, following the growing colonization in the world's oceans, the expansion of mining, and "Livingston Trench" incident in which the world was almost plunged into nuclear war at the hands of the trigger-happy captain of the seaQuest DSV, Marilyn Stark, NORPAC, a governing military body was absorbed and a new world peace was instituted in the year 2018, in which the UEO was created to preside over. With the formation of the UEO, the seaQuest was turned over to the UEO and became, not only the UEO's naval flagship, but also a symbol of peace, scientific exploration, and global demilitarization, as evidenced by the fact that UEO retrofitted the seaQuest to become an underwater exploration vessel in place of a solely military submarine.
Among the original members of the UEO were the United States of America, Canada, The United Kingdom, and France among others, as well as many other undersea "confederations", such as the newly formed Montagnard Confederation and the Amazonian Confederation among others.
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The UEO was the subject of much criticism in the early episodes of the series. In "Treasures of the Mind", after the seaQuest recovers the long lost Library of Alexandria, the UEO administered negotiations regarding the ownership of the various artifacts, with seaQuest captain Nathan Bridger representing the UEO.[1] In "Games", Dr. Rubin Zellar attempts to use the seaQuest`s sea to air missiles to destroy UEO Headquarters in order to abolish, what he believed to be, the "illusion of peace."[2]
While the UEO was intended to be a peaceful coalition of nations and confederations, not all members were happy with their position within the organization, such as the Montangnard Confederation, who attempted to recover the first manned capsule to reach Mars before seaQuest could to bolster their position within the UEO, as depicted in "Better Than Martians."[3] Not all individuals within the UEO were pleased with the concept either, such as Secretary General Andrea Dre, who was perceived as being a "dinosaur" from the era when money launderers and bureaucrats made policy. Dre plotted to kidnap the leaders of several confederations and coerce them to sign an amended UEO constitution. Her plan was thwarted by the crew of seaQuest however, she was impeached, and William Noyce was named temporary Secretary General until an election could be held, as seen in "The Last Lap at Luxury."[4] He would be replaced by McGath by 2021.[5]
While the original seaQuest was handed over to the UEO upon its formation, following its destruction in "Higher Power", UEO was forced to construct a new seaQuest to replace it at their own expense.[6] In "And Everything Nice", an attempt is made to hijack the seaQuest to weaken the UEO's global presence. The attempt ultimately proved unsuccessful.[7]
The high cost of building seaQuest-class submarines, however, would prove to be an Achilles' heel of sorts as the UEO was unable to pool the funds as well as the technology necessary to replace the seaQuest 4600-II after it went missing in 2022, as depicted in "Splashdown." With the seaQuest missing in action, the UEO was unable to control the explosion of commerce as well as the fallout of wealth, power, and greed following the summit of 2026 in which the UEO lifted the ban on colonial deregulation, as mentioned by Captain Oliver Hudson in the cold opening of "Brave New World."[6]
The Alliance of Macronesia (formerly New Australia) began to expand their territory into the 2030s as well as their technological superiority given that Deon International furnished them with the Lysander-class subfighter, proving to be a formidable opponent to the UEO. A trade embargo was placed on Macronesia by 2032 leading to rising conflicts beneath the sea, which nearly led to a war between Macronesia and the UEO as the alliance seized control of the Nexus Colony in the heart of the Pacific Ocean. Fortunately, the UEO was able to recover the seaQuest just prior to Macronesia's seizure of Nexus and drive the alliance out of the colony.[6]
Later that year, the UEO charter went up for renewal. The Organization's poor handling of Macronesia and other global policies began to split public opinion on both the UEO and on Secretary General McGath, half of which believed he ran the UEO like a prison state and the other half believing him to be weak. President Bourne of the alliance plotted to assassinate McGath to abolish the UEO and continue his quest for world domination, but, his attempt was thwarted, as seen in the episode ""Brainlock"."[8] As the series drew to its end, a new world government, the elusive Asian power known as the Chaodai, began to attack both the UEO and the alliance as seen in the final episode, "Weapons of War", however, the series was canceled shortly afterwards and the final fate of the UEO is currently unknown.
The UEO's largest division, for which the seaQuest serves as flagship. The UEO Navy was composed of various submersibles, many of which were heavily armed, such as the Navis-18 class submarine,[9] as well as a prototype Marauder-class vessel that was operated entirely by artificial intelligence (which was ultimately destroyed in the episode "The Sincerest Form of Flattery").[10] UEO also had a large number of hauler-type ships at its disposal.[11]
Each member of the UEO wore the Organization's crest on their left shoulder as part of their uniform. Removal of the patch is analogous to a soldier removing his uniform.[12]
The UEO's next next largest division, the marines serve as the UEO's main combat force. They are routinely posted as security on undersea bases[13] and high security areas such as the G.E.L.F. Colony Prison[9] and Verdome, the UEO Maximum security prison for dangerous and criminally insane prisoners.[13] The seaQuest II may have also carried a contingent of marines onboard, as evidenced by such episodes as "By Any Other Name" and "Splashdown."
Being primarily an undersea organization the UEOs focus was primarily the naval and marine branch, but since the UEO more or less also replaced the U.N. in terms of peace keeping it also has an Army, Air Force, and Space Force.[9] From 2020 to late 2021 the highest ranking officer of the UEO was General Thomas, the previous was Admiral William Noyce. The UEO's highest ranking officer going from a 2 star Admiral in 2017 to a 4 star General in 2020 shows the progress the UEO made in recruiting high ranking officers from their own countries militaries into serving on attachment with the UEO.
The UEO's highest level of security, originally known as "Sector 7", but renamed to "Section 7" by late 2022,[14] many within the organization were not overly thrilled about the idea of a "secret police" in what was supposed to be a utopia-like society. In "Good Soldiers", Captain Hudson compares them to the Gestapo and is disgusted to find that Captain Bridger has apparently joined ranks with them.[15] Section 7 personnel were brought in from all divisions of the UEO, but Army personnel were the most common followed by the Navy.[5][14] There were also several Officers seen wearing US military Rank pins suggesting it may have evolved from or worked closely with US Military Intelligence.[15]
Sector 7 was in charge of the G.E.L.F. Colony Prison on "Dagger Island" where the UEO held all of the genetically engineered life forms created during the "Dark Period of Genetics" (aside from Dagwood, who had been assigned to the new seaQuest in a custodial assignment as seen in the episode "Daggers.")[9]
As a matter of UEO policy, Sector 7 prisoners are not permitted to board the seaQuest.[9]
Although NORPAC is mentioned as being seaQuest's original fleet, numerous references to it crop up in future episodes, such as "NORPAC First Strike"; a communications link mentioned in "Higher Power." It could be inferred that NORPAC was absorbed into the UEO.
While the UEO was supposed to be a peaceful alliance, it was not without its share of blemishes. Captain Bridger, in particular, was not overly fond of the UEO's nervous stance on the unfamiliar, such as their choice to have an armed contingent standing by after the seaQuest had discovered an alien starship entombed in an undersea rockface. As a result, Bridger and his crew elected not to inform the UEO of the message they intended to send to the aliens homeworld, inviting them back to Earth, despite the fact that the message would be sent in the interests of mutual understanding and cooperation.[16] Bridger was also skeptical of notifying the UEO when the seaQuest encountered an unknown force having a potentially deadly impact on the ship and the nearby Miranda Colony, claiming that the UEO would send in the nuclear fleet as their initial reaction.[17]
UEO also maintained records of crimes against humanity that took place on a base that was eventually annexed by Macronesia, in which G.E.L.F.s were subjected to various forms of torture to determine their stamina, endurance, and regenerative abilities.[15]
The UEO was written into the script of the seaQuest DSV pilot by series creator Rockne S. O'Bannon.[18] By the second season of the series, Roy Scheider (Captain Bridger) had felt that the series had strayed too far away from what it once was; that the UEO had become too inclined towards the military side of things than the original intention of science. Scheider explained that "I became more of a combat commander than a scientific commander and I hadn't signed up for that."[19] Comparisons were also drawn between seaQuest DSV`s UEO and Star Trek`s United Federation of Planets.[20]
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