Sealab 2020 crew, left to right: Ed, Gail, Captain Mike Murphy, Dr. Paul
Williams, and Hal.
"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 a 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, chief scientist; Sparks, the radio technician; oceanauts Hal, Gail, and 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 six p.m. news. It is much easier to control the violence on TV than 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 as 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 Superfriends (1973), Hanna Barbara was careful not to show any physical
violence, so most episodes in the first two seasons revolve around life-saving
and disaster-relief scenarios.
The Race Issue
Hanna Barbara took a bold step in
integrating two African American characters into the show, Ed and the teacher
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 the 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 school teacher, 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 the their 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 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 designed as Latino, and later
changed, cannot be entirely dismissed.
Flotsam
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 Superfriends — no surprise considering that production designer
Iwao Takamoto also served as creative director of Superfriends. 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 turns up from time to time,
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 of 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.
Conclusion
 |
Submarine design by Alex Toth for the episode
“Collision of the Aquarius.”
|
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, 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, however, the pace of undersea exploration has not matched our expectations, so the future predicted in the show may not come about exactly by the year 2020.
Of course, there’s always 2021.
Sealab 2020: Episode List
Descriptions by G. Jack Urso.
Descriptions by G. Jack Urso.
 |
| Sealab 2020 crew, left to right: 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.
Episode 5: "The Shark Lover" | Original Airdate: October 7, 1972
 |
| Various Alex Toth designs for Sealab 2020. |
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. Though
only 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: "The Collison 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.
Episode 12: "The Capture" | Original
Airdate: November 25, 1972
 |
| Alex Toth’s design for the Deep Diver vessel. |
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 Artic Story" |
Original Airdate: December 2, 1972
When an Artic 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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