Tuesday, October 8, 2019

RW295 - SeaQuest Rewatch S01E14-15 - Nothing but Pirates




In this weeks episode of The SeaQuest Rewatch, Cory and Tom are a skeleton crew in hunt of treasures as they discuss season 1 episode 14 & 15 "Nothing but the Truth  and "Greed for a Pirate's Dream."

Nothing but the Truth:


(From Wikipedia with some edits) The crew evacuate the seaQuest and prepare to flood it in order to test Captain Bridger's experimental hull-siphons which, in theory, should re-float a sinking ship. Leaving only a skeleton crew aboard, the remaining officers are ordered to pick up the crew of a damaged shuttle from a university just off their bow. However, when the crew rescues the shuttle, a group of mercenaries emerge from the launch bay, attacking Crocker and begin to move towards the bridge as the chief hits the intruder alarm. 

Left alone on the bridge, Lt. Commander Hitchcock manages to disable seaQuest`s key systems just as she's taken captive by the enemy. Their leader, Colonel Steven Schrader, a radical environmentalist, instructs his men to use seaQuest's computer to obtain shut-down codes to various pollutants around the world, such as nuclear reactors and paint manufacturers with the intent of putting a stop to global pollution by any means necessary.

Meanwhile, Commander Ford manages to reach the bridge via the aqua-tubes, telling Hitchcock to tell the mercenaries the truth, no matter what, in order to control what they know. Together with Lucas, the two disable three of the mercenaries, with Ford taking one of their uniforms, and passing himself off as one of the enemies in order to free Crocker, Krieg, and two other officers from confinement. With Lucas's help, they manage to contact Bridger and develop a plan to try and retake the ship: disable the hull siphons and carry out the original experiment to flood the seaQuest, hoping that the mercenaries will be scared off. In addition to that, Crocker manages to scramble the launch bay systems in order to prevent the mercenaries' escape.

Lucas is eventually captured and taken to the bridge while Jackson, Schrader's lead mercenary, finds Ford and Krieg, attempting to start flooding the vessel but is unable to subdue them as Krieg succeeds in opening the valve, causing Jackson and Krieg to be swept away by the rush of water pouring in.

On the bridge, Darwin screams that seaQuest is sinking, causing Schrader to panic and leave, his captives Lucas and Hitchcock in tow. As they arrive at the launch bay, they find that due to Crocker's tampering, they cannot escape. Schrader agrees to release Hitchcock if Ford will let him go, to which he agrees. However, the radical environmentalist fails to realize that with seaQuest sinking, the increased pressure from the added depth will crush his small ship, and he dies as a result. With the threat abated, Lucas and Krieg are able to reactivate Bridger's hull-siphons and re-float the ship.

Send Out the WSKRS:


Bradford Tatum, who guest stars in this episode as Jackson (Colonel Schrader's lead mercenary) would eventually marry Stacy Haiduk, who portrays Lt. Commander Hitchcock and the two of them share a couple of scenes in this episode. They married on 11/11/97 and a still together.

Roy Scheider had requested his involvement in this episode be reduced so he could portray a Mafia don in Romeo is Bleeding.

Ted Raimi, Marco Sanchez, and Stephanie Beacham do not appear in this episode. 

Though not appearing in the aired version of the episode, Beacham filmed a scene that was ultimately cut where Dr. Westphalen finds Lucas on the sea deck after the ship has been saved where she gives him a hug and tells him that she was concerned for his safety, to which Lucas offers his thanks. This deleted scene is available on the first season DVD release. Another short deleted scene depicts Chief Crocker crawling through the service crawlways, trying to keep himself from giving up and accomplishing his mission to sabotage the seaQuest.

John Finn played Schrader. He was in Catch Me If You Can, the Glory civil war miniseries, as well as playing Michael Kritschgau in The X-Files and Pacey’s Dad in Dawson’s Creek. More recently he was in Walking Dead as Earl Sutton, but we’ve seen him as Admiral Spencer in the Quantum Leap episode “Running for Honor.”

Greed for a Pirate's Dream:


SeaQuest finds itself housing Dr Raleigh Young once again as they fire a magma buoy which, if it works the way it’s intended, will help predict earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Months later after the launch, the buoy lands at a treasure digging site led by a treasure hunter named Grant along with his daughter Jessie and two others, Mack and Bobby. Grant has spent 30 years searching for the lost treasure of Stede Bonnet, a partner of the famous pirate Blackbeard and the group has finally uncovered what looks to be proof that the treasure is nearby. Unfortunately, Mack knows that before they have the chance to uncover the rest of the treasure, they will have to leave soon as the UEO will be coming to retrieve their buoy. 

After an intense first meeting, led by Commander Ford, complete with guns and a chase through the forest, explanations and handshakes are exchanged while warnings are given to the hunters that their lives are in danger, even if the UEO can’t tell them exactly why. The hunters are reluctant to leave,  so close to their dream, and so Ford and crew retrieve their buoy and return to The SeaQuest. 

Back on the sub, Ford attempts to get the buoy information declassified so that he can warn the hunters properly but to no avail as the UEO won’t budge. He consults the Professor and decides that he is heading back to the island to force the hunters to leave even if he has to violate commands and tell them about the buoy. Luckily, Raleigh goes along and offers to be the one to reveal the information, choosing to take the fall for Ford. 

While Raleigh manages to convince Grant that their lives are truly in danger from a volcanic eruption, their chance to leave is destroyed as the slightly unbalanced Mack blows up their only means of getting off the island and back to the SeaQuest. 

As the island team begins to feel tremors, Dr Westphalen comes up with an idea to divert the lava flow by firing torpedoes at the lava cavern below the island in the sea floor. Admiral Noyce cuts into communications twice to order Westphalen to cease and desist, even trying to bring Bridger on as a way to stop the doctor from doing what she plans, but he is in full support of her. The plan works and the eruption occurs farther out in sea, saving the hunters along with Ford, Raleigh and the treasure that was being sought for.

Send Out the WSKRS:


Dr. Westphalen says "Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead" which paraphrases US Admiral David Farragut's order during the battle of Mobile Bay during the American Civil War.

Bobby was played by Tony Denison. He’s a working actor and recently had a lead in police procedurals The Closer and Major Crimes (200-something episodes in total). He was also in a Frankie Muniz 2011 superhero film called Pizza Man.

Jessie was played by Rya Kihlstedt. She had a small recurring role on Charmed, Heroes Reborn and Nashville. She was Basha in 2 episodes of Agents of Shield, Dr Michelle Ross in Dexter and was a lead in Home Alone 3.

Mack was played by David Marciano. He played Detective Damato in an episode of 12 Monkeys. He played recurring character Steve Billings in The Shield and starred as Ray Vecchio in Due South.

Grant was played by Sandy McPeak. We’ve seen him as Father John Roberts in the Quantum Leap episode “Leap of Faith”. He was also a Catwoman henchmen named Giggler in Batman ‘66.

Robin Wilson is credited as a Bartender in this episode. Where was she?

Whats Next?

Next up, we'll be discussing the episodes “Whale Song” and “The Last Lap of Luxury” which originally aired as episodes 16 & 19.

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