RW325 - SeaQuest Rewatch S03E04-05 - Terminal Commands

In this weeks episode of The SeaQuest Rewatch, Cory and Tom ride the train of insanity as they discuss season 3 episodes 4 & 5, "Destination Terminal" and "Chains of Command."

Back in the MagLev:

SeaQuest Videogame for Super Nintendo

Destination Terminal:

As a super high speed underwater train is readied to be launched, Lucas, Ford and Henderson find themselves aboard it on the maiden voyage, Lucas as a technical observer, and Ford and Henderson as their first date. Things quickly go awry however as Larry Deon’s right hand man, Mason Freeman, has managed to sabotage some parts of the train, and stowed away on board in order to ensure the train will crash and allow Deon’s air travel interests to soar to new heights while the train based industry loses steam.

Lucas clashes with the train’s designer, Bradley Dumont, a scientist who has a great amount of disdain for Lucas’s achievements since he set a grade point average record before dropping out of college. As Lucas leaves Dumont to grab a drink, Freeman makes his way to the cockpit, killing him and setting the train to accelerate to speeds beyond what it was supposed to be able to achieve, and escapes, knocking out Lucas along the way.

When Lucas awakens he finds Dumont’s lifeless body and enlists Henderson and Ford to help. Ford finds Freeman trying to decouple the last train car so he can escape, but fight breaks out with Freeman getting the upper hand and successfully getting away in the car as the train continues its acceleration. 

Hudson goes to find Deon and bluffs his way to getting the answer to stopping the train, a solution that restores power to the cockpit but doesn’t allow them to slow or stop the train down. Henderson, Lucas and Ford come up with a plan to decouple the main cabin so the passengers will be safe, and then accelerating their cockpit section to even higher speeds, resulting in it breaking free from the underwater tube, and slowed down by the water, saving them.

Back on board SeaQuest, an observant Hudson orders Ford to debrief Henderson and the two share a kiss and a hug.

Send Out the WSKRS:

The writer of this episode was Javier Grillo-Marxuach. This episode of SeaQuest is where he started his writing career and went on to write episodes for The Pretender, The Dead Zone and Jake 2.0. In 2004 he joined the writing team on Lost and also served as a Supervising Producer for the first 2 seasons. He then became co-executive producer on Medium while he released his own Viper Comics title Middleman. He also wrote for Marvel Comics on Annihilation - Super-Skrull and Annihilation: Conquest, as well as the Dynamite Entertainment four-issue limited run Classic Battlestar Galactica: Cylon Apocalypse. Middleman was made into a series by ABC but only lasted one season due to low ratings. Most recently he has worked on Department Zero, Helix and The 100.

Bradley Dumont was played by Cameron Thor. He’s probably best known as Dodgson in Jurassic Park. He has also appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation, A Few Good Men, and Ring of Fire (with Jewel as June Carpenter).

The Reporter was played by Bob Hite, Jr. Following in the footsteps of his father, Bob Hite, Sr., he only has one other role playing Richard in Captiva Island.

Chains of Command:

When a volley of unauthorized UEO missiles is launched, destroying an outpost in Macronesia territory, the SeaQuest is sent to the launch site, a secret UEO nuclear weapons base where a rogue UEO Admiral names Vanalden disappeared months ago with his crew and is suspected of sending the missiles. Hudson’s orders are to relieve the admiral of his command or destroy the base completely in order to avert a possible world war. Added to Hudson’s troubles are his own past with Vanalden, who was actually once his own commanding officer before he was demoted for disobeying a command. 

Hudson, Lucas, and Dagwood head to the base in a shuttle, finding themselves herded by drones into a landing bay where they are taken captive by Vanalden’s executive officer, Loper. Dagwood is sent off to fight for his life against one of Vanalden’s crew members, while Hudson is presented to Vanalden and Lucas attempts to shut down the bases weapons from his holding cell. 

Hudson and Vanalden have a discussion in which the admiral has decided that he believes in anarchy over law and war over peace, that fighting is their true nature. The captain gets the upper hand on Vanalden, holding him at knife point and ordering him to make his crew surrender and leave, but the admiral manages to stun Hudson with a small hidden weapon. 

Elsewhere, Micronesian fighters have begun attacking SeaQuest, believing them  to be the source of the attack on the Macronesian outpost. They manage to get the jump on SeaQuest, heavily damaging the boat and putting Ford into a coma, leaving Brody next in charge. Henderson breaches the chain of command and pilots the SeaQuest away, reasoning that their duty was to the mission to destroy the base, not to try and fight the enemy fighters. 

Meanwhile, Dagwood, suffering from remorse over having almost killed his adversary, manages to help Lucas shut down the power in the weapons area and are taken to Vanalden where he informs them that it was to no avail as the weapons are on a separate power grid. Hudson challenges Vanalden to a duel but he declines, offering his exec instead. 

Aboard the SeaQuest, Brody reprimands Henderson for not following orders and plans to go after the fighters despite resistance from the crew. Eventually Brody decides to heed their advice and return to their mission and the weapons base to await the time when they will launch their missiles to destroy it. 

Back on the weapons base, Hudson and Loper begin battling but Hudson ultimately wins, getting a few verbal digs in to remind her of her daughter who loves in the world above the sea. Hudson stands up to Vanalden, saying that he and his crew will not become a part of their crusade to which the admiral responds by ordering them to be executed. As they are taken away, Hudson, Lucas, and Dagwood fight back before finally being saved by Loper, who decided after her defeat to turn off the bases’ weapons in order to save the world for her daughter, and allows the three to leave.

Back aboard Seaquest, Brody, his Hudson-imposed waiting period expired, orders the base destroyed while the crew begins to mourn the loss of their three friends. As the base crumbles into the sea, O’Neil receives a request to dock from Hudson, Lucas, and Dagwood who managed to get away just in time, to return home.

Send Out the WSKRS:

Vanalden was played by Bernie Casey. He’s a “that guy” for sure, having appeared in Revenge of the Nerds, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Spies Like Us, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka and The Martian Chronicles. His career spans back to the 70’s with Brian’s Song, David Bowie’s The Man Who Fell To Earth and Cleopatra Jones amongst others.

Whats Next?

“Brainlock” & “Spindrift”

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