Conference noted::sf

    It wasn't as bad as I was led to expect, and it has one of my favorite
    TV actors (Don Franklin), so I'll be watching (or at least taping) for
    a while longer.
    
    Major complaint:  Wesley Crusher is back!  Aaauuuuuggghhh!

    
    RE: -.1
    
         No, no. It's Wesley Crusher with an attitude. Much more in line
         with today's youths... :^)
    
    
         I quite liked it, other than that it's nice to know that once
         we humans manage to develop a way of living, working underwater
         we'll exploit it's resources...
    
         Thank goodness for SeaQuest! :^)
    
                                                             Bye,
                                                              Mike.

I rather liked the pilot: predictable, but a nice setup for some (possibly) 
interesting characters.  I have always liked Roy Scheider, and the other
supporting cast was decent.  The writing wasn't too bad for the pilot.

What I did like was some of the throw-away stuff.  For example, all through
the pilot we saw Wesley Cru... excuse me, Lucas Wolenczak wearing a Florida
Marlins baseball shirt with the logo "World Champions 2010".  For someone
who is living in South Florida and hearing the hype about the Marlins first
season (and the perpetual coverage of their owner Wayne Huiznega, whose
background matches Lucas's father in the show *perfectly*), it was amusing.

The problems I can see come in future shows writing.  The pet dolphin is
sick and might need to be released?  This is of paramount concern to 
every person on the SeaQuest and/or everyone on earth?  Give me a break...

-- Ken Moreau

        The following quote is from an article in THE BOSTON SUNDAY 
    GLOBE'S TV WEEK magazine, September 12-18, 1993, page 2, written by
    Bruce McCabe of the Globe staff.  The quote is from seaQuest DSV
    executive producer David J. Burke (he shares this job with Steven
    Speilberg):

        "My work comes out of our characters, who are military and
    scientific people.  I'm not plot oriented.  Still, we've got our
    share of fantastic stories and sea monsters.  At the moment, 
    we're working on a good ghost story for Halloween."

        Now, don't you feel better about the future of SF television?
 
        Larry

    I don't know who they consulted in the design of the SEAQUEST or the
    pirate sub in the pilot, but I'm sure Dr. Ballard knows better.  What
    type of fluid dynamics was considered in the utterly cluttered,
    protuberance studded, hull forms.  NONE.   Those hulls were about as
    streamlined as a 1920 Rolls.

    I caught a recent episode concerned with the discovery of part of the
    library of Alexandria.   What did they do with a fairly good premise?
    Lybian terrorists and an ESP lover for the C.O..   

    They will have to do a lot better to hold my interest.
    

    Joe P.

    Seaquest starts in the UK tomorrow. the news that Wesley Crusher's in
    it fills me with dread. Star Trek TNG was awful (social workers in
    space). Previous comment suggest DSV will be more of the same twaddle.
    
    
    Woody

Unless I am missing something, and I haven't seen the premiere episode,
the references to "Wesley Crusher"  are metaphorical, right?
There is a teen-age geek who is the software whiz who solves problems
on the fly and write SW to translate dolphin to English,
but he's played by another actor, NOT the same guy who was Wesley Crusher.

- tom]

    Yes, it's a different actor....and the character does not save the ship
    every other week.
    
    Brenda
    

    No, he takes turns with the dolphin....

    re .6
    
    Starts in the UK? What time & what channel?
    
    Sean.

    ITV on Sundays. Seen the first episodes...Awful. Real drivel.
    
    woody.

    	Apparently the motto for this series is "Millions for special
    effects but not one cent for original plots or characters."  No 
    wonder the general public still tends to look down on SF.  SQDSV
    is doing little to change that misleading image.
    
    	Larry                                 
    

    Re: .4
    
    >The quote is from seaQuest DSV executive producer David J. Burke (he 
    >shares this job with Steven Speilberg):
    >
    >    "My work comes out of our characters, who are military and
    >scientific people.
    
    Empirical evidence demonstrates otherwise, I think.
    
    I would _love_ to see some kind of "letters to home" episode.  It would 
    tell us who the characters have to write to, it would show us life on
    the seaQuest and it would let the characters interact with each other
    for a change.  Plots come and go, characters stay.  They need to invest
    more in them.
    
    Obviously, I'm still watching.  Of course, I tape it (while watching
    _Lois & Clark_) so I have the option of fast-forwarding.  While it has
    never quite sunk to the depths I dread (and the fact that I think them
    capable of reaching those depths is illuminating), it has never come
    close to what I originally hoped for it.

    Re -.1
    
>    While it has
>    never quite sunk to the depths I dread (and the fact that I think them
    
    	Pun intended, I sincerely hope . . .  :-)
    
    							- jim

    
       Oh, is it still on?
    
       (I think that sums up my feelings...)
    
    					-mjg
    

    
    I watched the first twenty minutes last night.
    
    Drivel.
    
    We have a character suffering from some lurgey that means he can't open
    his hand, until he forgets in the next scene and starts waving them
    about like Marcel Marceau....
    
    We have the Captain trotting around 21st century Paris in a *2CV* for
    goodness sake!
    
    What a waste. They've obviously spent quite a bit on the sets, pity they
    economised on everything else......
    
    Nigel

    What's a 2CV?
    					andrew

I was flipping through the channels while setting up to tape DS9 last night,
and one character caught my eye.  I said to myself, "Hey, it's Ilya!"
Kuriakin, aka David McCallum from "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."  Then watching
a bit further I saw it was seaQuest, and I flipped over to "Lois and
Clark"!  

I think McCallum is supposed to guest on Babylon 5, which I'd be more
interested in watching him in.

PeterT

    re .17
    
    A 2CV is a small French car, which is now out of production. The idea
    that one would still be kicking about as (presumably) a hire car in the
    21st Century is laughable.
    
    I assume it was a fairly pathetic attempt to impart a little French
    "atmosphere".
    
    Tosh, utter tosh.
    
    Nigel
    

    Hey!  They finally found someone who could write!!  Not only do we have
    all sorts of excitement plot-wise, but they fit in lots of little
    character interaction (developing the Bridger/Ford relationship, for
    example).  Now, let's see if they can keep it up.

    Did the show change time-slots, or has it bit the dust?
    
    Dave

    No, it's just been pre-empted lately.  It's back this weekend.  I just
    hope they don't go all stupid again; they've been quite tolerable in
    the last 2-3 episodes.

    Nobody's mentioned this show since its first season.  Well, here it
    is in the 2nd season.  I have to admit that I really like the
    show's characters and I like the casting.
    But the writers for this show are absolutely awful.  The stories
    are completely ridiculous and the episodes that have reasonable
    storylines are poorly written and executed.
    
    What they need is to get story ideas from real SF fans and then have
    the ideas written into scripts by people who have knowledge of what
    makes good science fiction.
    
    The two hundred foot, Jurassic crocodile from last week was definitely
    weird.  If DS9 was still on Sunday nights in this area, I wouldn't have
    seen this or any other SeaQuest episodes this year.

Yes, the shows are stinko.  I can't believe they're still suckering me into
watching these with their promos.  I'm gonna switch over to Lois & Clark, or
something.  That CA crocodile was just stupid, and poorly animated.

-Patrick

    Re: .23
    
    >What they need is to get story ideas from real SF fans
    
    Right now I think they're getting their story ideas from the National
    Enquirer.  (They're both based in Florida; coincidence?)

    This week's show set a new low.  Ghosts, curses, racial memories,
    virtual reality via telepathy, manifestation of a physical object after
    a telepathic experience, et cetera.  It was just awful.
    
    
    				-- edp
    
    
Public key fingerprint:  8e ad 63 61 ba 0c 26 86  32 0a 7d 28 db e7 6f 75
To find PGP, read note 2688.4 in Humane::IBMPC_Shareware.

    I agree the people are all right but I am beginning to think I have
    seen it all before in an earlier life ( shades of Bridey Murphy) did
    any of the writers have anything to do with the old Voyage to the
    bottom of the sea series? I also think the Seaview was a better looking
    boat with a little more imagination in the design but the stories were
    a little on the trite side, of course I am just showing my age as a lot
    of you folks reading this may not know what I am talking about.
    to quote from "The complete directory to prime time TV shows" One of
    TV's all time favorite science-fiction series, it ran from September
    1964 until september 1968, it followed the exploits of the officers and
    men of the Seaview a glass nosed atomic submarine that roamed the seven
    seas fighting villians both human and alien. Does that sound familier?
        
    Joan

Unfortunately I can't compare them, at least favorably.  Not because I never 
saw Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in fact I watched them all when they 
first came out.  But SeaQuest just offends my sensibilities so much that
I find it unwatchable.  If I had to watch something with Quest in the title,
I'd much prefer Johnny Quest!

PeterT

    I too liked Voyage to the bottom of the Sea when it was new but now
    after watching some of the new SF shows and then seeing Voyage (we have
    a station here that runs it every sunday night) it does not have the
    same appeal as it used to.
      
    
    joan
    

    
    This show will be back in the fall according to NBC.
    I'm not a big fan, just an occasional viewer.
    
    

    Well, almost everyone may have died last night.  I wonder who wants
    out of the contract?  It is interesting that now they are stuck on
    a strange planet with no way home....much like ST: Voyager.  It opens
    up many new doors for them.  I think they were getting into a rut
    on earth.  Hopefully the writing will be better next season.
    
    RS

    Yeah, it struck me as a Producer's Ideal Season Finale;
    If any actors get uppity about salary, well, they died in the last
    episode.  
    
    I like the Dagger character, but the rest of this season's
    new actors I could do without.  I liked the Dr and 2nd mate from 
    last year better.  Telepathic characters conflict with plot consistency
    from episode to episode.  And this season, everyone seemed to keep
    changing posts.
    
    Let's hope the plots and direction get more believeable next year.
    There were too many aliens shooting at them in the last scenes
    for everyone not have been wiped out.  If they had halved the number
    of opponents, then it would have been more reasonable.

    I just read in TV guide that Mad About You will be moving into
    this time slot.  Knowing that Seaquest got renewed, I wonder where
    they will put it?  
    
    Too bad for Mad About You.  I think I remember reading somewhere
    that Sunday is not a big tv night (you think it would be...) and
    as we know from SeaQuest, Sunday shows tend to get prempted
    for ball games or long movies.  It sounds like a bad move for
    Mad About You, but it will probably work out in SeaQuest's favor
    ---if they don't put them up against ER or something!!
    
    RS

    I think seaQuest is moving to Thursday (maybe Wednesday).

    Lots of changes on this show for next season.  Michael Ironside
    will be the new captain with Roy having guest shots.  Lots of crew
    die in the season finale fight...Wendy, Piccelo (sp?), Brody
    and Ortis.  Ted Rami wants to come back, but so far doesn't have
    a contract.  There is a new girl signed up to an ensign.  The
    new day is Wednesday at 800est.
    
    RS

    I wonder how many of the writing staff also get the axe?  :-)

    Hopefully, a lot.  Definitely need better writers.
    
    RS

    The final thing they should do to this show is rename it
    SeaQuest 2099 and relocate it 75 years or so further into 
    the future.  Everything on that show seemed too implausible
    for the year 2020.  They might be able to disclaim any
    association to the previous show, keep the best of the actors
    and just give them new names.  I'd buy it if the show wasn't
    stupid anymore.

    I checked into the internet yesterday and only two people will not
    be coming back, Ortis and Wendy.  Lucas will also have to wear a
    uniform this season.   They have 4 new members to the writing staff.
    It sounded like one of them also wrote for ST:NG.   Has anyone
    peeked into the the America Online newsgroup for this show?  It sounds
    like some of the big wigs who work on the show such as Lee Goldberg
    the Production Supervisor and a few others note in there frequently.
    I can't believe the fans who write in there!  They are outright RUDE.
    They are accusing Lee and the others of not doing their jobs, telling
    them to quit,  accusing them of being "plants" and not who they say
    they are and so forth.....it was pretty crazy in there!!!!   
    
    Maybe
    they are justified for saying those things since I didn't see any
    of the original postings, but it sure sounds like a really bad way
    to go about getting the show to be better.
    
    RS