RW314 - SeaQuest Rewatch S02E10-11 - End Melt

In this weeks episode of The SeaQuest Rewatch, Cory and Tom encounter laser worms and giant crocs as they discuss season 2 episodes 10 & 11, "Dead End" and "Meltdown."

Dead End:

While returning to the SeaQuest from a seminar, Lucas, Brody, O’Neil and Henderson pick up a distress signal. Answering the signal proves to be their downfall however as their sub is pulled down into a hole in the ocean floor, landing damaged, with no way out, as they are greeted by another stranded traveler, Dr Marcus Rawlings, a scientist who was mapping the ocean floor trying to prove his theory that there were tunnels under the surface when his dive pod was also drawn down into the hole by the force of the water. Added to their troubles is a giant laser shooting worm that is the apparent creator of the tunnels and none too happy about its new guests. The group manages to scare it off temporarily and they begin to work on getting Rawlings pod fixed so they can hopefully ride the next rush of water out of their prison hole. 

Meanwhile the SeaQuest is using everything at its disposal to find their missing crew members, from Dr Smith’s psychic abilities to Darwin searching the seas. 

Back in the depths below, Lucas manages to get the pod working but the only problem is there isn’t enough oxygen for all of them to escape. A lottery is determined to be the only fair way to decide who has to stay with Lucas being the unlucky winner. As Henderson holds Lucas as he goes to sleep, Dr Smith picks up on his thoughts and reports to Bridger that their crew members are alive. Darwin also notes the water seems saltier, something that Ford remembers is a trait of the area where Dr Rawlings went missing a few days earlier, and so the SeaQuest heads out to those coordinates. 

Lucas awakes to find the water rushing in and urges everyone to get in the pod but Rawlings makes Lucas go, volunteering to remain trapped, reasoning that Lucas is younger and has a whole life ahead of him and he will tell a story of his sacrifice that will make his ex girlfriends jealous. The pod barely makes it out of the hole when SeaQuest latches onto it and pulls it into safety but Lucas doesn’t lose a moment as he realizes the Stinger could possibly get back into the hole and out again, saving Dr Rawlings. 

Bridger tries to stop Lucas but with Dagwood’s help, they pilot the stinger down, rescue Dr Rawlings, and begin heading back up, but not before the super mega laser worm shows up and being following the stinger trying to capture it. As the stinger exits the hole, the SeaQuest fires its lasers at it and the stinger gets away and back on board safely. 

Send Out the WSKRS:

WSKRS are down to 25% again! 

Dr Rawlings was played by Gregory Paul Martin. We’ve seen before in the Sliders episode  “Dragonslide” as Garett Carr. He only has a handful of credits, the last one being a family movie called Lilly's Light in 2010. He also writes books with two about to come out, and is also a noted astrologist. He did a podcast interview earlier in 2019. He is also the eldest son of Beatles producer George Martin.

The song the guys are singing at the start of the episode is called “Doo Wah Diddy Diddy.” It was written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich and originally recorded in 1963, as "Do-Wah-Diddy", by the American vocal group The Exciters. It was made internationally famous by the British band Manfred Mann. Manfred Mann's version was released on July 10th, and spent two weeks No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in August, and two weeks at the No. 1 spot in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in October.

Meltdown:

Due to the extensive farming and mining now occurring in the ocean, the ecology of the seas have been changing, resulting in once cold waters becoming warmer, and melting frozen areas, in one case, releasing a long thought extinct reptile known as the Deinosuchus, which has migrated to the warmer waters and has begun attacking anything it sees. 

Ford's father, Charles, who runs the world's largest aquacultural engineering company, contacts Johnathan, who is in good standing with a friend who has a competing mining company, and asks him to come help him with some recent problems, most notably, two of his researchers who have disappeared without a trace, and another employee who went missing after he tried to sabotage said mining company. When the remains of the employee's boat is found, they can see it's been attacked by something large.

Johnathan, on his way back in the stinger to his father's business, is suddenly attacked by the Deinosuchus and escapes only when his father manages to distract the creature with a large amount of plankton from one of his underwater reserves, all of which leads to the Seaquest being called in to help.

The croc makes it onto land to lay eggs (deemed by Dr. Smith to be infertile due to the croc's blood work), and then almost attacks Charles, but Ben, Ford's brother, manages to distract the beast and lure it away. On board the Seaquest the crew discusses their options, but unwilling to kill it, they decide that Dagwood's suggestion to put the animal back where it came from is the most humane thing to do. They use Darwin to lure the croc close to the boat and then tranquilize it before towing it back to the frozen waters and burying it under tons of snow and ice.

Meanwhile back on land, Ford, Ben, and their father all reconcile as Charles takes time off to leave Ben in charge. As a group of children play nearby, one of them goes to grab an errant ball, not noticing another nest of eggs laid by the Deinosuchus, which starts to move, ready to hatch (despite what Dr. Smith thought, thereby dooming the world to be overrun by Deinosuchus in just a few years).

Send Out the WSKRS:

The Director of this episode, Anson Williams, is best known as Potsie on Happy Days. He also directed episodes of Charmed, Baywatch, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Profiler, Seventh Heaven, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Hercules and Xena, to name a few. He’s also directed some TV movies. In 2011, he and some Happy Days co-stars sued CBS for breach of contact regarding some royalties they believed they were owed for merchandising, DVD’s and themed slot machines; the matter was settled in 2012 for $65,000 a piece and a promise to continue to uphold their original contacts.

Rick was played by Gary Bristow who will return from the dead in Season 3 as an officer.

Jenna was played by Dorian Field and she will return as an officer later this season.

Ben was played by T.E. Russell. He was also in City of Angels, Fame LA, Muscle (comedy set in a struggling gym), and 704 Hauser with John Amos.

J.A. Preston was Ford's father, Charles. We've seen him in the Lois & Clark episode “All Shook Up” as General Zeitlin. He had short runs in Santa Barbara, Hill Street Blues, Dallas and All's Fair. He was also in a movie called Americathon starring Harvey Korman, Jack Ritter, Meat Loaf, Fred Willard, George Carlin and the Beach Boys. 

Paulie was played by Tony Sago. Among a small handful of credits, he played Skybird Jones in an episode of The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo and was in one episode of Nightman.

In this episode, Piccolo hands Dagwood a corn dog and he’s carrying it every time we see him. In some states of Australia, corn dogs are referred to as Dagwood Dogs!

Whats Next?

Next up, we'll be discussing “Lostland” & “And Everything Nice."

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