In this weeks episode of The SeaQuest Rewatch, Cory and Tom hack the world and find new life as they discuss season 1 episode 12 & 13 "Photon Bullet" and "Better than Martians."
Photon Bullet:
The Seaquest finds itself being ordered to Node 3, one of the major communications hubs in the world, to deliver some supplies, a request that also includes an invitation for Lucas to come aboard for a visit. Lucas, a teen among adults and feeling alone aboard the Seaquest, and not like an official crew member, finds himself quite at home amongst the denizens of Node 3, a group of like minded teenagers, overseen by Martin Clemens, once a noted hacker named Mycroft, who has since turned his life around.
Lucas asks Bridger to allow him to stay and hang out aboard Node 3 and finds himself enjoying the camaraderie amongst peers. Clemons then reveals that they are more than just a communications node. Their true mission is to try to make the world a better place through their hacking skills, using them to do anything from moving stolen money away from criminals and into charities that could really use it, to correcting election fraud occurring in countries around the world.
Lucas becomes romantically involved with a girl from Node 3 named Julianna, and also befriends a boy named Nick, who Lucas has actually talked with before through an online communications network called the Internex. These fast friendships, the challenge of what Clemens and crew are doing to help the world and welcoming surroundings, a sharp contrast to his life aboard Seaquest, lead Lucas to feel the desire to remain at Node 3.
As Lucas and his friends hang out, they get to talking and decided to see if they can figure out what they can about Clemens past as Mycroft and discover that he may have killed a man while working undercover for various governments as a hacker. Clemens discovers their snooping and comes clean, telling them how he used social engineering to take out the leader of an opposing country back when nations were on the brink of war, an action he has had a hard time reconciling ever since. Now, with Lucas aboard, he is ready to make amends by having him crack The World Bank, thus controlling all the money in the world and ensuring that none of it would go towards wars.
Lucas gets some advice from Bridger and ultimately decides to stop Clemens from taking over the bank, resulting in a hacking showdown that Lucas wins easily. Lucas convinces him that this method it is not the way to end war, and Clemens finally gives in, ending his takeover. Lucas bids his new friends goodbye as Bridger and Ford arrive to escort him back to Seaquest, handing him an envelope containing his first paycheck, cementing his official role aboard the vessel.
Send Out the WSKRS:
Clemens was played by Tim Russ of Star Trek Voyager fame. He was also the Desert Trooper in SpaceBalls who "ain't found shit". He also played The Prowler in Spider-Man The Animated Series from 1997 and was part of Star Trek Renegades; a crowd funded, low budget Star Trek movie. For video games he did voices for Elder Scrolls, Mafia 3, Wolfenstein 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 as War Machine. He was also in one episode of Tequila and Bonetti. Recently, he was in the ill-fated Swamp Thing TV show, Pen15, and a thriller called Vitals. He has one upcoming project called The Circuit; A collection of ten different stories with ten different genres all combined into one film.
Nick was played by Seth Green of Austin Powers fame. He went on to create Robot Chicken, and has done lots of voice over work including Hulk, Agents of SMASH as Rick Jones/A-Bomb, Family Guy as Chris, Guardians of the Galaxy and Ultimate Spider-Man the TV series as Howard the Duck, Leonardo in the TMNT 2014-2017 series and King Kong in the Batman Lego Movie. He worked with Jonathan Brandis before this, in Stephen King’s IT TV mini series. He also played the werewolf Oz in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Julianna was Sarah Koskoff. Once in a movie called “Hello I Must Be Going”, “That Thing You Do” as Chrissy Thomkins.
Better than Martians:
A manned spacecraft under the command of one Scott Keller that crashed in the ocean near southeast Asia finds itself in need of rescue from Seaquest. Complicating matters is an ongoing war between the nations in that area, resulting in Seaquest being ordered to go in for the rescue while on military alert. The goal is to rescue the astronauts but also to retrieve the core samples they found on Mars that contained signs of life.
Bridger makes contact with the astronauts, and it's revealed he and Scott Keller are old friends. Bridger considers whether or not he felt put off and jealous by the times he had to lobby for funding for the Seaquest as opposed to the ease in which the funding seemed to come for the space programs.
Indeed, when it's revealed that the spacecraft's rescue buoy has broken apart from the actual craft, Bridger is questioned by Admiral Noyce and the US President about his possible jealousy and whether or not it could have played a part in his failure to rescue the astronauts so far, an accusation that Bridger takes to heart until Ford helps him realize it's an absurd notion.
Meanwhile, the Asian president, President Chi, orders his general, general Tran, to try and reach the astronauts first in order to create some good PR for their country rather than the usual news of the continuous battles that occur. General Tran takes things a step further by ordering a sub to try and interfere with the Seaquest's rescue, first by planting mines, then later directly attacking the ship, and finally by tailing and capturing Hitchcock and Crocker who went out in a rescue craft to try and distract the sub from the Seaquest. Chi reprimands Tran for his actions, but still wants him to rescue the astronauts before the Seaquest does.
When the Seaquest does manage to find the downed craft, they find it devoid of the astronauts and samples, reasoning that they must have tried to swim for the surface before they ended up falling too far into the depths of the ocean. The truth is however, that general Tran got there first. Tran convinces Chi to allow him time with the rescued crew to get them to the hospital to be treated but instead he threatens to hold them for ransom until he gets the core samples but Captain Keller says he jettisoned them when he realized they weren't being rescued by the Seaquest.
Back at the crashed spacecraft, Lucas has devised a way for them to scan for the samples and they manage to find them, but are attacked by Tran's men. Darwin fights a few off causing a distraction allowing Ford and company to overcome them. Back onshore, Tran makes plans for Keller and crew to "fall" on their way to the hospital but Chi appears with his army and arrests Tran for his misdeeds. Bridger and Keller are reunited as President Chi is given the opportunity to host the press conference detailing the core samples and the ordeal that Keller and crew had to endure, ensuring not only the good PR he had hoped for, but a better understanding and friendship between nations.
Send Out the WSKRS:
General Tran was played by Aki Aleong. He’s a working actor to this day. He’s appeared in scores of action films as the old man, the retired warrior, old sage and even the Dalai Lama. He started his career in the 1950's alongside The Three Stooges, Steve McQueen and Frank Sinatra. He’s the President/Vice of MANNA, Media Action Network for Asian Americans and the Exec Director of AIM, Asians in Media.
One of the Mars crewmembers was Una Damon who we've seen before in the Sliders episode “Invasion” as Mary, and in the Lois and Clark episode “The Dad Who Came In Out Of The Cold” as Sweet Tart. Her first role was a guest spot in Doogie Howser, followed by this episode of SeaQuest. She was also the uncredited lab tour guide in the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film. She was a supporting actor in Knight Rider 2010 which also costarred Nicky Katt from the Voyagers episode “The Day The Rebs Took Lincoln” where he was one of Fagin's pickpockets.
The female news reporter was played by Ellen Leyva and she was actually a news reporter in LA. This is her only acting credit.
Scott Keller was played by Kent McCord. He appeared in Airplane 2: The Sequel as Unger. He was also in a few episodes of Farscape, Return of the Living Dead 3, Predator 2, and played Johnny Depp's father in 21 Jump Street. He starred in Adam 12 as Officer Jim Reed, a character he also played in Dragnet. His real name is actually Kent McWhirter.
James Shigeta played President Chi. He appeared in Die Hard and was the voice of General Li in Mulan. He’s had a number of roles from the 50's through to the present day and was a song and dance man back in the 50's and 60's, landing him a handful of leading man roles in romantic films.
Steven Williams played the American President. He starred in 21 Jump Street as the Captain, a role he reprised in a cameo for the film 22 Jump Street. He was also in X-files as Mr. X and Jason Goes To Hell Creighton Duke. He also stated in LA Heat with a lead role as Detective Brooks. More recently was in the IT remake.
Whats Next?
Next up, we'll be discussing the episodes “Nothing but the Truth” and “Greed for a Pirate's Dream” which originally aired as episodes 14 & 15.
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