by G. Jack Urso
Sealab 2020 opening credits, from the Aeolus 13 Umbra YouTube channel.
This is the year two thousand and twenty.
The place is the Challenger Sea Mount, the top of an underwater mountain, a
complex beneath the sea. Two hundred and fifty men, women and children live
here. Each of them, a scientist pioneer. For this is our last frontier, a
hostile environment which may hold the key to tomorrow. Each day, these
oceanauts meet new challenges as they build their city beneath the sea. This is
Sealab 2020.
— Opening Narration to Sealab 2020
Sealab 2020 is an NBC Saturday morning
animated program produced by Hanna Barbara for the Fall 1972 television season.
With designs by Alex Toth, who also did Jonny
Quest, Space Ghost, and others,
the show featured state-of-the-art underwater scuba gear, and technically
plausible undersea vehicles. The show, noted for its scientific accuracy and
environmental awareness, sunk like stone in the ratings and was cancelled after
only 13 episodes, not quite making it to the end of the year. The regular cast
includes Captain Mike Murphy, his grandson Bobby and Bobby’s friend Sally, Dr.
Paul Williams, radio technician Sparks, Hal, Gail, Ed, and the teacher Mrs.
Thomas. The series episode list with descriptions is available below at the end
of this article.If Sealab 2020 is known at all today, it is
due to the parody series, Sealab 2021,
produced by Cartoon Network for its Adult Swim late-night programming block from
2001-2005. Delightfully demented, the show recreated the original series look
with a decidedly late-night sensibility. In doing so, Sealab 2021 generated new interest in Sealab 2020.
The show itself
was a response by Hanna Barbara to a growing chorus of discontent with the
“violence” of the action-oriented cartoons of the post-Jonny Quest era that seems to have come to a head in 1968. In
retrospect, it is difficult to see what problems one could have with shows such
as Space Ghost, The Herculoids, and Birdman,
but 1968 was a tumultuous year. The assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, as well as the Tet Offensive and the riot at the
Democratic National Convention in Chicago, put violence on the forefront of the
nightly news. Understandably, parents wanted one place on TV where children
could escape the violence they saw elsewhere — usually at their side while
watching the 6 PM news. It is much easier to control the violence on TV
then in real life.
In 1968,
President Johnson created the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention
of Violence (NCCPV) which quickly targeted Saturday morning action-oriented
cartoon shows a cause for the perceived rise in violence. Shows like the
aforementioned Space Ghost, The Herculoids, and Birdman, all battled invasions and fought criminal masterminds who threatened
destruction or who would frequently kidnapped their young wards, which made
parents long for the days of the slapstick humor of Loony Tunes. Like CBS’ “rural purge” of the early 1970s that saw
the cancellation of popular shows like The
Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres,
Mayberry RFD, and many others, by 1970
the entire catalog of action/superhero cartoon shows were essentially gone from
Saturday mornings. When they reappeared, as in Super Friends (1973), Hanna Barbara was careful not to show any physical
violence, so most episodes in the first two seasons revolve around lifesaving
and disaster-relief scenarios.
The
Race Issue
Hanna Barbara
took a bold step in integrating two African American characters into the show,
Ed and Mrs. Thomas, at a time when there were few characters of color on
Saturday morning TV. The networks began featured black characters in higher
profiles in the animated shows of the 1970s, but the effort was in fits and
starts.
The only animated series in the fall of 1972 to feature black
characters were Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
in its debut season, reruns of short-lived The
Jackson 5ive, and Valerie in Josie
and the Pussycats. The only one of these shows produced by Hanna Barbara
was Josie and the Pussycats and they
didn’t seem to know what to do with the smart and capable bass player Valerie.
Originally African American, Hanna Barbara changed her to Caucasian until
protests from the producers forced them to relent, according to the liner notes
from Josie and the Pussycats: Stop Look
and Listen: The Capitol Recordings (Rhino
Handmade).
In contrast to
some of the other adult characters in Sealab
2020, like Hal, Gail (voiced by actress Ann Jillian), and Sparks, Ed
particularly stands out. He is not a bland character just filling in space — he
is passionate, dedicated, opinionated, and often the first to take umbrage to any
threat to Sealab and the ocean environment. Interestingly, although an adult,
Ed's mother, Mrs. Thomas, the schoolteacher, is also on board (suggesting his
full name is Ed Thomas). This is mentioned very briefly in Episode 1, “Deep Threat,” when Bobby tells Ed, “Your mother told us about
it in school.” For some reason, this relationship is not explored nor is
it explained why only Ed’s mother is on board. Is his father still alive? Are
the parents of other crew members on board Sealab?
While Ed’s and Mrs. Thomas’ relationship
is only very briefly alluded to in the episodes “Backfire” and “The
Deepest Dive,” only in “Deep Threat” is it mentioned they are mother
and son. Additionally, throughout the entire series they are never actually
seen together — not once. This seems something of a lost opportunity. Ed was
voiced by, Ron Pinkard, who played Dr. Mike Morton on the 1970s TV series
Emergency! With their high cheekbones, they share a slight resemblance.
 |
| Sealab crew member Ed and his voice actor Ron Pinkard. |
Dr. Paul
Williams, the head scientist at Sealab, is a curious creation. Despite his
name, his physical appearance is clearly Latino. Ross Martin, best known for
playing Artemus Gordon in the 1960s TV series The Wild Wild West (cancelled in 1971 due to the influence of the
NCCPV), was tapped to play Williams, but I always thought that an odd choice.
Martin was best known for his ability to play different ethnicities. Indeed,
that was his stock-in-trade for The Wild
Wild West and much of his later career. Although Martin was a well-respected
actor, he wasn’t really a popular children’s TV show star, so why choose him to
play yet another bland, purportedly “white” character?
 |
| Dr. Paul Williams |
There
is no information on the creation of the character or pre-production
development of the series, but one can speculate that Martin was chosen because
the Williams character may have been initially intended to have a Latino
background and Martin’s use of accents would have been an advantage for such a
role. Why else spend money on a relatively famous actor, at the time, likely
little known to the target audience, when the notoriously cheap Hanna Barbara
could have literally tapped any voice actor and paid him scale? Sealab 2021 picked up on this discrepancy
and cast Erik Estrada (ChiPs) to
voice the Williams character, renamed in the series as Marco Rodrigo Diaz de
Vivar Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
As noted, this is all speculation but considering
that Hanna Barbara tried to change the race of Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats the same year,
the idea that Williams may have been originally intended to be Latino, and
later changed, cannot be entirely dismissed.
Flotsam
 |
| The Sealab Complex on the Challenger Sea Mount, designed by Alex Toth. |
Sealab 2020 aired at 11:00 a.m. Saturday
mornings opposite The Flintstones Comedy
Hour on NBC and reruns of Bewitched
on ABC. Fans will notice similarities in the animation style between Sealab 2020 and the first season of Super Friends — no surprise considering that
production designer Iwao Takamoto also served as creative director of Super Friends. Alex Toth created a
unified design for an undersea community, from the dwellings and uniforms to
the technology and vehicles. Musical director Hoyt Curtin turns in an excellent
theme that suggests both action and sea-going adventure. Incidental
music from Hoyt’s previous work on Jonny
Quest often turns up, as it did on most Hanna Barbara shows of the era (see
the Aeolus 13 Umbra article Jonny Quest: Music From The Original Television Series). Fred
Freiberger, a producer who worked on Star
Trek and Space: 1999, is credited
as a writer for the show.
Child actor
Pamelyn Ferdin voices Sally, friend to Captain Murphy’s grandson Bobby. In the
unaired pilot, based on the "Deep Threat" storyline, Sally was
originally Captain Murphy's granddaughter, though this was changed for the
series. Ferdin was fairly ubiquitous during the 1960s and 1970s, playing
everything from Lucy in several Peanuts specials, Felix Unger’s daughter Edna
on The Odd Couple, as well as
appearances in Star Trek and Space Academy, and turned in a complex
performance in the 1971 Clint Eastwood film The
Beguiled.
 |
Submarine design by Alex Toth for the episode “Collision of the Aquarius.” |
Conclusion
It is hard to
call Sealab 2020 a classic, except in
regards to its age. With its emphasis on education and information, many
episodes are long on exposition, which likely contributed to its short run of
only 13 episodes. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of adventure and the show
accurately predicted many of the environmental issues plaguing the sea today,
such as pollution, oil spills, and toxic waste. While all the aired episodes
are available on DVD, the pilot and the two final episodes, which were never
aired during the original run, have yet to be released, so a comprehensive
collection of Sealab 2020 will have
to wait for some future date. Given the relative lack of interest in the show, however,
that seems unlikely.
Was it
unreasonable for the producers of the show in 1972 to speculate on such
extensive undersea habitats as the Sealab community in 2020? Not really. In the
fifty years between 1920 and 1970, our technology advanced from biplanes to
Moon landings, so the promise of Sealab
2020 seemed reasonable at the time. In the nearly fifty years since the
show first aired, the pace of undersea exploration has not matched our
expectations, so the future predicted by Sealab may not come about exactly by the
year 2020.
Of course, there’s
always 2021.
Sealab 2020 end credits, from the Aeolus 13 Umbra YouTube channel.
Sealab 2020: Undersea Saturday Mornings
Descriptions by G. Jack Urso.
 |
| Sealab 2020 crew, L-R: Ed, Gail, Captain Mike Murphy, Dr. Paul Williams, and Hal. |
Episode 1: “Deep Threat” | Original
Airdate: September 9, 1972
Radiation from
an undersea toxic waste dump threatens Sealab. Captain’s Murphy’s grandson Bobby
and his classmate Sally go missing while visiting the kelp forest.
Episode 2: “Lost” | Original Airdate:
September 16, 1972
Sealab’ oxygen
supply is threatened when a red tide algal bloom suddenly appears. Meanwhile,
Gail trains a young lost dolphin to become a part of team Sealab and help
rescue divers.
Episode 3: “Green Fever” | Original
Airdate: September 23, 1972
A ship’s anchor
crashes into Sealab creating a cascade of events that threatens their oxygen
supply and results in one Sealab crew member having delusions.
Episode 4: “The Singing Whale” | Original
Airdate: September 30, 1972
A scientist who
studies whales visits Sealab with his disabled son. When an obsessed undersea
hunter chases down a blue whale, it’s up to the scientist’s son and Captain
Murphy’s grandson to save the hunter’s life.
 |
| Various Alex Toth designs for Sealab 2020. |
Episode 5: “The Shark Lover” | Original
Airdate: October 7, 1972
Increased shark
activity threatens the activities of Sealab workers. A shark expert is called
in to try and solve the problem and he needs to act fast before Captain Murphy is
forced to take drastic measures.
Episode 6: “The Basking Shark” | Original
Airdate: October 14, 1972
A space returns
to Earth and lands near Sealab. When it disappears, a Sealab crew member falls
under suspicion of being spy and it’s up to Sealab personnel to find the probe
and clear his name.
Episode 7: “Where Dangers Are Many” |
Original Airdate: October 21, 1972
Destructive
mining operations threaten Sealab until the dredge operator gets caught under
his own machine. After his rescue, the Sealab team shows him how to more safely
conduct his operations.
 |
The Sealab 2020 board game. Ed and Sparks weren't included in the artwork. On air for half a season, Hanna Barbara didn’t miss merchandizing opportunities. |
Episode 8: “Backfire” | Original Airdate:
October 28, 1972
When Captain
Murphy and Dr. Williams give permission for an oil company to look for undersea
deposits, Ed is outraged and wants to take action, but the oil workers refuse
to move. When a tsunami hits the oil rig and is destroyed, it’s up to the
Sealab crew to save the workers.
Episode 9: “The Deepest Dive” | Original
Airdate: November 4, 1972
Sealab personnel
take a new undersea vehicle, dubbed the Crystal Ball, down deep to set up seismograph
units and encounters a giant squid which threatens to destroy the vessel and
the crew.
Episode 10: “The Challenge” | Original
Airdate: November 11, 1972
An archeologist
finds a sunken treasure ship containing lost Aztec artifacts. Excited by the
discovery, the scientist ignores Sealab’s safety protocols putting both him and
the Sealab crew in danger.
Episode 11: “Collision of the Aquarius” |
Original Airdate: November 18, 1972
A nuclear-powered
cargo submarine has an accident near the Challenger Sea Mount, requiring Sealab
to evacuate, but an old grudge between the sub’s commander and Captain Murphy
makes a difficult situation more problematic. Sealab 2021 remade the episode under the title “7211” and was the
only “dramatic” episode of the parody series.
 |
| Alex Toth’s design for the Deep Diver vessel. |
Episode 12: “The Capture” | Original
Airdate: November 25, 1972
A biologist
collecting undersea specimens has his plans upset by Captain Murphy’s
grandchildren, Bobby and Sally. When the children try to release the animals,
they put themselves in danger and must rely on their underwater survival skills
to survive until help arrives.
Episode 13: “The Arctic Story” | Original
Airdate: December 2, 1972
When an Arctic
research team is trapped underneath a capsized iceberg the Sealab crew moves
quickly to locate the team before they freeze to death.
Episode 14: “S.O.S.: Sealab Ocean Signal” |
Original Airdate: Unaired
No synopsis
available.
Episode 15 “Utopia of Cassidy” | Original
Airdate: Unaired
A newly discovered island paradise
is not what it seems to be.
 |
| More studies of the Deep Diver vessel by Alex Toth. |
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