In this weeks episode of The SeaQuest Rewatch, Cory and Tom search for the meaning of anger as they discuss season 2 episodes 2 & 3, "The Fear That Follows" and "Sympathy for the Deep."
The Fear that Follows:
When Darwin is arrested for being a spy, it's revealed that the aliens the Seaquest encountered and subsequently covered up, have received Bridger's message and have thus been communicating with the dolphin, indicating they wish to visit and initiate a first contact scenario. At the same time, Darwin develops signs of a symbol on his skin, a symbol that Dagwood found himself drawing as well, over and over.
The top brass however are not keen on the idea of contact, seeing the aliens as a possible threat albeit one with technological advances they can exploit and so, under the command of General Thomas's right hand man, Lt. Reinhardt, they take every precaution to insure that they are kept under observation and lock and key as much as possible. Their first meeting starts off well, with the aliens having developed a device allowing them to communicate, but soon, Dr Smith, under orders from General Thomas, tries to read the alien minds. The aliens quickly determine she is snooping and abruptly cut her off from further attempts, but otherwise do not seem unnerved.
In the middle of the night, one of the aliens visits Lucas and motions for him to accompany him outside where they meet the other two aliens. Ford and Brody show up to find Lucas standing with two aliens. The two approach Ford and Brody and absorb the two officers, taking over their bodies, just as the third alien had done to Lucas seconds before, and they all set off for the nearest native American reservation.
Meanwhile, Bridger, along with Thomas and Reinhardt find evidence of where Ford, Brody and Lucas were and learn from Oneil that the symbol on Darwin looks to be a Timecuan prophecy detailing the end days.
While the aliens meet with the local Iroquois tribe, a metal box is beamed down, interrupted by the helicopter arrival of Bridger and company. They are shot down by the aliens, but those inside appear suddenly on the ground, unharmed.
Reinhardt freaks out and takes one of the aliens captive at gunpoint and opens the metal box, revealing the aliens' deceased leader. They explain that they are all that is left of their world because of mistakes their race made and their wish now is to find the beginnings of life and start their species over, hopefully being able to avoid the same mistakes again. Before leaving they ask Lucas to join them and help them start over, but he declines, choosing to stay on Earth. Once the aliens depart, the crew finds themselves aboard the Seaquest awaiting the arrival of the aliens as they had done previously, but this time, the aliens do not land and simply take off, with only Lucas seemingly knowing that the events had happened and everyone else's memories of the aliens arrival have been erased.
Send Out the WSKRS:
The director of this episode, Robert Wiemer, had an interesting career. He started out on a TV series called Big Blue Marble (1974-1983); American kids would be pen pals with foreign kids and share their correspondence. They would also feature letters written into the show read by the mascot “Bluey,” played by Wiemer. He also collaborated with Voyagers director, Joe Napolitano, on the show. He also directed Anna to the Infinite Power, which starred Mark Patton from A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, and The Night Train to Kathmandu which starred Milla Jovovich from The Fifth Element and Resident Evil. He finally returned to TV, directing episodes of Superboy, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Seaquest. His final credit was for an episode of New York Undercover in 1998.
The Timucua language, mentioned by Tim O’Neill in this episode, was spoken by the Timucua people of northern and central Florida, and southern Georgia. In 1763 after the Seven Years War, the British took control of Florida from the Spanish and the last remaining Timucua went to Cuba where, unfortunately, the language went extinct.
Neil Giuntoli played Reinhardt. He previously starred in season 2 of the Jeff Foxworthy Show, had a role in The Shawshank Redemption and appeared in Child's Play as Eddie Caputo. We've seen him before in the Quantum Leap episode “The Leap Between The States” as Private Ryder.
The aliens are named Lemus, Booa, and Anka. The first two return in a future episode.
Joe Candelora played the cop. He also played a moustached cop in Wild Things 2 and appeared in Thunder in Paradise, the Hulk Hogan TV show, and the series Sheena.
Michael Costello played Secretary General McGrath and will be making future appearances this season and next, effectively replacing Admiral Noyce.
Sympathy for the Deep:
When Bridger received a distress call from Laura, a former girlfriend of his, the Seaquest goes to investigate the trouble. Upon arrival at an underwater colony, they meet her and Dr. Shelton who explain that for years, they've experienced no crime or psychology disorders but that incidences have suddenly risen in the last month with no explanation. Added to their problems is that everyone in the colony has been experiencing hallucinations, leaving them not knowing if what they see is real or not.
As Bridger and his team take control of the colony, they suddenly start to display criminal activity as two Seaquest guards first aggressively stop two men from robbing a store, and then let them go before turning on the shop owner and attempting to sexually assault her. Dagwood, not being human, seems to be unaffected and saves the woman. Elsewhere, Piccolo, on a mission to swim around the colony to see if there are signs of sabotage, suddenly starts to drown as he has hallucinations that his gills are missing, luckily being saved by Darwin. And finally, Bridger and Brody engage in a heated discussion, with Dr Smith revealing that all of them, herself included, are giving into their darkest desires.
The Seaquest leaves the colony to track down a possibly related energy reading leading them to a deep sea trench and a research facility that they discovered was under the direction of Shelton. Tracking him down to the surface, he reveals he was planning to kill himself for what he and done: which was to create a machine that was able to draw negative and criminal thoughts away from the colony, with the unfortunate side effect of those things growing too powerful to contain and eventually taking on a life of their own infecting the colony with the thoughts and causing their behavior and hallucinations.
Bridger convinces Shelton to return with them to fix his problem, while Brody and Dagwood manage to maintain some small semblance of control by gathering the colonists together in a town hall and singing and telling stories to maintain their sanity.
Bridger and Shelton board the research facility and while Shelton succumbs to a hallucination, Bridger manages to pull the plug on the growing negativity cloud, destroying it and saving the day, albeit with the side effect of Shelton physically aging twenty years due to his role in the creation of the cloud.
Send Out the WSKRS:
The director of this episode, Bruce Seth Green, has no relation to the actor, Seth Green. He had a very long TV career, directing episodes of Magnum P.I, Knight Rider, V, Airwolf, T.J. Hooker, MacGyver, Baywatch, Doogie Howser M.D, Swamp Thing, Law & Order, Babylon 5, Xena, Hercules, Buffy, Angel, Charmed, Dawson’s Creek, Gilmore Girls, Roswell and, of course, SeaQuest.
Mimi Kuzyk played Laura. She is still a working actor and was recently in Star Trek Short Treks and Richard Dreyfuss's Astronaut, and recurring roles on Workin' Moms Unreal, and Shawdowhunters. We've seen her before as Doctor Donna Eleese on Quantum Leap.
Shelton was played by Robert Foxworth, the voice of Ratchet in the Transformers franchise. He had a role in Falcon Crest which he left after taking a year break from the show and couldn’t come to a deal when he returned. His two time appearance character in Babylon 5 was killed off screen because he chose to take a two episode stint on Deep Space 9 due to the money.
Patti Harshey is credited as baritone singer. Baritones are usually men.
Jennifer Sky played Pretty Girl. She says “I always play a stripper or a slut.” She was a lead in Cleopatra 2525 and had a recurring role in Xena as Amarice. Also was also in The Helix… Loaded.
Keith Hudson was one of the assault soldiers. He had a part in Wild Things: Foursome as well as the Hulk Hogan vehicle Thunder In Paradise among other small guest star roles.
This is Robin Wilson's last time appearing as the ever elusive bartender.
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