Sealab 2021

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Sealab 2021
Sealab 2021 title card
Genre	Animated series Comedy
Creator(s)	Adam Reed Matt Thompson
Starring	Harry Goz (2000-2003) Kate Miller Michael Goz (2003-2005) Erik Estrada (2000-2004)
Theme music composer	Calamine
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	52 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	12 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Cartoon Network
Original run	December 21, 2000 – April 25, 2005
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Sealab 2021 was an American animated television series shown on Cartoon Network's adult-oriented programming block, Adult Swim. It premiered on December 21, 2000. 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.

Contents 1 Summary 2 Characters 3 Episodes 4 DVD boxsets 5 Trivia 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Summary

Adam Reed and Matt Thompson, the creators and writers of Sealab, thought up of 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 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 has slowly gone crazy and now spends more time goofing off in various ways rather than doing any serious work. Continuity is frequently ignored; for instance, the entire installation is destroyed at the end of many episodes. 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 in April 2005. Despite rumors of Cartoon Network canceling the series, the show was in fact ended by decision of 70/30 who felt it was the right time to move on to new projects.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Characters

See also: List of Sealab 2021 minor characters

Captain Hazel "Hank" Murphy is the ostensible leader of the crew. Unfortunately, he's 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 (among other things). He's bitter about getting beaten up as a child, so he likes to sucker punch people when he can. His most hated enemies are Bizarro Murphy and Evans (whom he thinks is named "Eggers") from Pod 6 (Murphy also despises 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 5, 2003 from Multiple Myeloma. After that, Murphy was described as having left Sealab to fight in the "Great Spice Wars".

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, 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.

Debbie DuPree (a.k.a. "White" Debbie) (voiced by Kate Miller) is the token female of the crew, 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. In the last season, she becomes devoutly religious, going so far as to speak in tongues.

Derek "Stormy" Waters (voiced by Ellis Henican) is the station's resident pretty boy (his actual function on the crew has never been revealed). 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 (who thinks he's a racist). It is wholly possible he has hidden intelligence (as he quoted Dostoyevsky and told Quinn he sucked at Socratic method) but he usually ruins any displays of intelligence he shows through equally stupid actions afterwards or revealing where he learned something (in this case the Dostoyevsky was graffiti in the bathroom and he admitted to having trouble with "that stupid alphabet"). 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.

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 (and, in some cases, trying to keep it from exploding). 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. Quinn, or someone that looks just like him, can be seen serving as a juror in the pilot episode, "Bannon Custody Battle," of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.

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 (though often as a front to further his own plans). 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". Sparks is never seen without his headset or out of his rolling, swivel office-style chair, even while out scuba diving. 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 (although, he actually can feel the pain and is just lying); 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, infact 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 (including selling human organs and SCUBA tanks for drug/bomb purposes).

Marco Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar Gabriel Garcia Marquez (voiced by Erik Estrada) is the station's engineer, macho man, and wannabe Latin lover. He's 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 "Happy Cake" 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 clearly a reference to the 1982 Literary Nobel Prize winner journalist and novelist from Colombia. It should be noted that in earlier episodes (namely Radio-Free Sealab) 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

Main article: List of Sealab 2021 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	Cover Art	Release Date	Ep #	Additional Information
Season One		July 20, 2004	13	This two disc boxset contains the first 13 episodes ("I, Robot" through "Swimming in Oblivion"). Bonus Features include Alternate Endings For Episode "I, Robot" Deleted Scenes, 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 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 ("Tourist Season" through "Neputati"). 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 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 Main Menu, underwater sound effects are used.

[edit] Trivia

• The number 420 is referenced in many episodes, such as on clocks (as in "Let 'Em Eat Corn") or even verbally pronounced (as in "Stimutacs"). This number has affiliation with cannabis culture.

• Some of the graffiti around the phones ("My backpack's got jets") is actually a line from the song "Fett's Vette" by mc chris.

• In "Murphy Murph and the Feng Shui Bunch" the graffiti telephone area is shown twice. In the second scene you can see around phone there is some graffiti that says "This graffiti is not different stop pausing".

• The password given by Murphy and Quinn for some restricted areas is "934 Texas," which has also been shown with along with variations as an address, a license plate number ("No Waterworld"), the ID number of a bomb, the serial number of the property deed to Sealab, and text on a crate in a closet where Murphy and Marco are stuck. Shanks uses the code 934 Nevada after he exits the coffee machine room in the episode "Let Em Eat Corn".

• The Bebop Cola machine's entire stock is based on puns of jazz musician's names: Root Bird, Gilberto Grape, Artie Shawberry, Kiwi Holliday, Peachmo, John Cola-Trane, Don Wild Cherry, Vince Guavaldi, Dave Bruberry, Cab Colaway, Dexterade, Nina Lemone, Mango Reinhardt, Getzberry, Fizzy Gillespie, Marian McPineapple, Or'ngette Coleman, and Mingus Dew.

• Contrary to popular belief, Sealab is destroyed (on or off screen) in only 14 episodes, 7 of which actually show the station exploding at the end of the episode.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Adultswim.com — Official Site
• AdultSwim.co.uk — Watch on Adult Swim UK
• POD-SIX.net — Wealth of information about Sealab 2021 (Internet Archive)