Customer Reviews

Sealab 2021 - Season 3

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The third season of Sealab 2021 was a bittersweet one to say the least. Harry Goz, voice of the hilariously maniacal Captain Murphy, died after lending his voice for the first four episodes, and his son Michael eventually took his place as Captain Tornado Shanks. Many Sealab viewers believe that Shanks' arrival signaled the downfall of the series, but this is quite untrue. "Chalkboard Jungle", in which Shanks assists Quinn in substituting Debbie Love's class, wouldn't work the same without him, while "Dearly Beloved Seed" is possibly the most off the wall episode of Sealab ever. "Red Dawn", in which Captain Murphy introduces a Communist regime to Sealab and he wages war with JFK, must be seen to be believed. Yes, this was the beginning of the series going downhill writing wise, but for die hard Adult Swim viewers who immensely enjoyed Sealab 2021, the fact that these are Harry Goz's final vocal performances are reason enough to own this alone. The special features are once again dismal, this time there are no commentaries (even though I really wouldn't consider the commentaries on Season two worth hearing), and a few extra episodes, including the original version of "Dearly Beloved Seed" and some unaired material.

This is the last 'Sealab 2021' season that's gonna be worth owning. This is where it started to crash, with a general dip in quality, and one really rather questionable episode. (Dearly Beloved Seed) But, overall it's still damn good, and has a few truly great episodes. (Though not quite the funniest episode of the show, 'Red Dawn' is probably my favorite episode. In fact, each of the episodes where Murphy is still around ranges from very good to excellent) Course, the show really had no hope of maintaining itself with Murphy gone. It's not that there is anything inherently wrong with Shanks; I think he's pretty funny. (And much of the time, he might as well be Murphy, other than the voice-acting, which proves to be a huge difference.) But Murphy was always the heart of the show and the funniest character, so you can't expect it to hold up with out him. Course, it turns out that Goz's death isn't the only problem. The writing totally went to hell after this season. Not everything made after this is completely worthless, but it's been weak enough that I never really bothered to watch it consistently. But, that's the next season, and Season 3 is still really cool.

Also, the packaging for this season is really neat, and seems to be a lot more solid and durable than the other ones.

Now for this review I will have to seperate 2 era's, The Murphy Era and the Shanks Era.

Murphy Era:
Who are we kidding? Murphy was the funniest character on the show, and made the show! His episodes are hilarious, including to 4 or so on this set. The best are the ones where he becomes a Commie, and where he becomes a Barbeaubot.

Shanks Era:
Funny, but lost a bit of its impact. Some funny episodes, but Shanks was mostly a hit or miss character. There are funny moments, but no where near as great as Murphy.

Extras:
As on every disc of Sealab, the extras are pretty bad. Yeah, there are 2 unused episodes, one of which has bad sound, and the other isn't animated. The Kitty FunFun shorts suck, I didn't really find "Stormy Waters, Pundit" any funny as well. The commentaries are meh, so the extras are all right.

Bottom Line:
This show is hilarious and in some episodes, brilliant. The pure quality of the shows are worth the set, but if I were to own one Sealab set, it would be Season 2, which has some pretty good extras. But don't buy it for the extras. Highly recommended.

And the issue is that these are still great episodes! If you are a fan, then expect some changes with the new captain. If not then I'd say give season 2 a try (most consistent to me- I found some of season one to be so intent on being absurd that they failed to be funny!). A lot of friends think I'm an idiot for liking this show- so be prepared for one goofy show!

Is this the last great season? Who knows- I'm just some schmuck reviewer on Amazon. But don't be confused by the childish drama- these are fun and goofy as before. As much as I liked the early shows, this is not some character driven drama, it is a crazy cartoon.

The first few episodes, which still have Harry Goz (Capt Murphy) and Erik Estrada (Marco), are really good and funny. These include Tourist Season, Red Dawn (one of my favorite Sealab episodes), Meet Beck Bristow, and I Robot Really.

There are then 2 episodes without Capt Murphy (Harry Goz died) and Marco (Estrada's apearances on the show became less frequent for some reason) which are decent; these 2, Frozen Dinner and Splitsville, are both funny but clearly suffer from not having Capt Murphy or Marco.

The rest of the episodes feature Tornado Shanks as the new captain (voiced by Goz's son). ASHDTV and Chalkboard Jungle are both funny but again are just not as good as episodes from earlier in the series; they are showing signs of the new "direction" the show takes in later episodes.

This new "direction" is clear in the rest of the episodes on the DVD. They are just plain stupid. Rather than having humerous situations and dialog like the show used to have, they resort to totally random stuff in an attempt to be funny. The "jokes" are more blunt and they really kill them.

I know some people like these types of jokes and find the new episodes funny, but I don't. To me, the new Sealab episodes have the same problems as the new Family Guy episodes they've started showing again on Fox and the newer Simpsons episodes (like season 11 on). Hard to explain - you either know what I'm talking about because you feel the same way about these shows or you don't.

Sea Lab is often a hit and miss show. This DVD is no different from the ones that came before it. There are many funny, worthwhile bits in this season. If for no other reason than to round out your "Captain Murphy Years" collection, this DVD is a reasonable purchase. Also note that many of the episodes featuring the new captain are, contrary to some of the reviews, enjoyable. Overall, this DVD is a worthwhile purchase.

Alright! More insanity from the sadly now defunct Sealab. By this season, the show hit it's stride. Every episode is hilarious, the humor is faster and more densely packed in. The only episodes i skip are ones that i have taped and watched a million times, and sometimes i see new jokes in those to.The extras are decent, two unaired but still funny episodes, a pilot even older and crappier than the one on the first set. The commentaries are silly again, this time they are almost all about Cornelius Drebble, inventor of the submarine (pretty funny). Every review i have read has been bashing the show after it lost the wonderful Harry Goz(Captain Murphy), but i don't see why. He was incredibly talented and a hilarious character, but the show was starting to run out of plots based on Murphy's insane stupidity. This is sacrilege to many, but i think some of the best episodes are the final ones, even without Murphy. Losing him forced the writers to look for new ways to start or move stories along, and the jokes come even faster. Every episode on this set is hilarious and it includes what may be my favorite episode, "ASHDTV" where the crew spends most of the show watching digital cable. It becomes a nonstop stream of jokes that shows how good this show got in the end. I still miss some jokes because i am laughing so hard at others. Hesh Prince Baby! That episode is the first one after introducing Tornado Shanks, and along with "I Robot, Really" it also signals a shift in Dr. Quinn's character. At first he was brilliant and little egotiscal, but for the rest of the series he usually drunk, whining, or acting almost as stupid as the rest of the crew. Not as big a change as the new captain, but i still think it changes the shows dynamic. Sealab only got better and better, and i hope the decision to end it was made by the creators and not because some fans didn't like the new captain. And to any who question my Adult Swim street cred, I have been watching and taping it since the first night, and even watched "Oblongs", "Mission Hill", and "home Movies" when they originally aired on the WB and NbC. All hail Sparkimus Prime!

Its remarkable how bad the show got after Harry (Capt. Murphy) died. There's a few episodes with him left on here which are always great. If I was king i would have not added any more characters and just made Quinn captain. Or heck maybe even Hesh! Would not have made sense but think of the potential. All the characters are great, except the new captain who I've heard is related to Harry in real life. I don't know his characters name because frankly nobody needed to. The show would have been light years better if they only maintained the original crew and pressed on from there. If for some tragic reason you are buying this DVD set before buy 1 or 2 then do yourself a favor and choke yourself...jk I mean go buy the first 2, watch them over and over for one month straight until you can quote each line and then move on to frisky dingo (ANOTHER MAJOR RECOMMENDATION)

i'm a sealab fan and was able to get these on at an amazing price, very hilarous I love adult swim and the late 70-80's parody cartoons selab 2021 is a must for your collection

If you like the off-beat humor of Williams Street productions (ATHF, Space Ghost Coast to Coast), I think this is their best work. I actually remember the original SeaLab cartoon, which even as a youngster I thought was really lame. Taking the original and having the characters say the ridiculous things they say is sheer genius. Some of the scenes I played over and over and just kept laughing. If you have an off-beat sense of humor, this is for you. Or you might try waiting to see if they show any more episodes on Adult Swim, but they haven't in a long time. That's why I purchased this; I had seen most of them, but really wanted to see them again.