Sealab 2021

Sealab 2021 was an animated comedy shown on Cartoon Network's adult-oriented programming block, Adult Swim. Each episode was 15 minutes long, including commercials. Like Cartoon Network's ', the animation closely resembled stock footage from a 1970's Hanna-Barbera cartoon, in this case the short-lived environmentally-themed Sealab 2020. Sealab 2021 was produced by 7030 Productions for Cartoon Network's Williams Street Studios. Sealab was cancelled after five seasons by Cartoon Network, with the final episode airing in April 2005. Many critics felt that the show was never the same after the death of voice actor Harry Goz and that this led Adult Swim to cancel the popular series.

Episode list and original air dates

Three episode pilot

• December 21, 2000 "Radio Free" - Murphy starts a pirate-radio station, which attracts the attention of the FCC.
• December 30, 2000 "Happy Cake" - Murphy complains about his stolen Happy Cake oven (which makes real baked goods with a 40 watt bulb!), while Sparks shows off his mountain fortress.
• December 30, 2000 "I, Robot" - While the station is in danger from a hull breach, the crew ponders what life would be like if they put their brains inside robot bodies.

Season one

• September 2, 2001 "Chickmate" - Debbie's biological clock goes off, and she tries to find a crewmember that would make a good father for her as-yet-unconceived baby.
• September 16, 2001 "Predator" - A pseudo-invisible monster (reminiscent of the monster from the movie Predator) is on a killing spree in Sealab. Can Captain Murphy and Dr. Quinn save Sealab?
• September 30, 2001 "Lost in Time" - While pirating cable for Captain Murphy, Quinn and Stormy are caught in a 15-minute time warp as Sealab continually blows up.
• October 14, 2001 "Little Orphan Angry" - An "orphan" comes aboard Sealab, courtesy of the Final Request Foundation, with sinister plans in his mind.
• October 21, 2001 "Waking Quinn" - Electrocuted in the station's tank room, Quinn drifts in and out of consciousness, dreaming a series of bizarre stories.
• October 28, 2001 "All That Jazz" - Murphy is trapped by an evil soda machine, while the rest of the crew goes out on tour with MC Chris.
• December 9, 2001 "Murphy Murph and the Feng Shui Bunch" - Murphy is sold on redecorating the station according to feng shui rules, but Quinn distrusts the guy doing the selling. A showdown between the decorator and Marco at the end of the episode reveals that the events of the episode in fact take place in a video game played by Master Shake and Meatwad of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Season two

• April 7, 2002 "In the Closet" - Due to a faulty door, the Sealab crew gets locked in a tool closet. A few black eyes result as they try to get out, but then they discover that a pack of unfed killer dogs are running around Sealab.
• April 28, 2002 "Stimutacs" - Sparks starts pushing a new, "mostly kelp" energy pill that proves to be highly addictive.
• May 5, 2002 "Swimming in Oblivion" - Behind the scenes at the chaotic "set" of Sealab 2021. In this episode, the voice actors use their own names rather than the characters'.
• May 12, 2002 "Der Dieb" - A series of unexplained thefts leads Murphy to declare "Martian law". In the ensuing madness, everyone ends up blaming Quinn for all the thefts.
• November 3, 2002 "Policy" - After running up thousands of dollars in credit card debt, Murphy can't come up with a way to pay for it all...until Sparks intervenes. He takes out life insurance policies on the crew before sending them on a fatal fool's errand, and proceeds to kill Captain Murphy with a homemade tesla coil in the hot tub before stealing all the toys Murphy bought.
• November 10, 2002 "Hail Squishface" - A mysterious (and very pretty) Asian visitor brings a irresistibly cute Gloop onto the station, which Murphy names Squishface. There's two problems, though: Gloops stink, and they multiply so fast that eventually Sealab is overrun with them (Gloops later make small cameos on Harvey Birdman).
• November 17, 2002 "Bizarro" - The crew is held hostage by a Bizarro version of themselves.
• November 24, 2002 "Legend of Baggy Pants" - After trying to start a game of golf next to the reactor core (and turning Hesh into Monster Hesh in the process), Murphy goes looking for the pro shop—and gets thoroughly lost in the process.
• December 8, 2002 "7211" - A nuclear submarine crashes outside the station, and the crew of Sealab (in a rare occurrence) must work quickly to stop an environmental disaster from happening. The only "serious" episode in the show, this was an original episode of Sealab 2020 which was redubbed by the 2021 voice actors, with approximately half of the original episode's footage excised to fit the shorter running time. At the end of the closing credits, the submarine crashes into Sealab and both explode. The episode's title derives from the sequence number of the original episode its footage comes from.
• December 15, 2002 "Tinfins" - The crew of Sealab (along with a vapid gossip-show host, a bear in lederhosen and guest stars Kid N' Play) star in a sneak preview special for the movie Tinfins, complete with plenty of ads for the restaurant Grizzlebee's.
• December 29, 2002 "Feast of Alvis" - Capt. Murphy's attempts at a happy Alvistide go awry thanks to non-Alvian crew members, an uncooperative electrician, and Alvis himself "crapping the buffet".

Season three

• May 26, 2003 "Brainswitch" - An accident leaves Quinn comatose and Stormy allegedly smarter. Have they really switched brains?
• June 2, 2003 "Vacation" - Dr. Quinn forcibly takes a well-deserved vacation, inside Sealab's walls, the crew attempts to find out what he's doing. (Also known as the "Uh-oh" episode.)
• June 9, 2003 "Fusebox" - The electricity is out in Sealab, and the crew tries to turn the power back on.
• June 16, 2003 "Article 4" - A loophole in the Sealab charter turns everyone into captains, except Stormy (too stupid), Quinn (too proud to exploit the loophole), and the Chinese crew members (because of anime, among other things). How will Sealab survive? And where did Capt. Murphy go?
• November 16, 2003 "Return to Oblivion" - A network executive audits the set of the hard-hitting action drama Sealab 2021, with hopes of somehow salvaging the dwindling series.
• November 23, 2003 "Splitsville" - Debbie and Quinn break up, while Dr. Virjay gets his old rock band back together.
• November 30, 2003 "Tourist Season" - Captain Murphy opens Sealab to tourists, eventually prompting Dr. Virjay to renounce his religion, and begin to eat meat from cows.
• December 7, 2003 "Red Dawn" - Kommissar Murphy brings Marxist-Leninist ideals to Sealab.
• December 14, 2003 "Meet Beck Bristow" - Hollywood Actor Beck Bristow comes to Sealab to study for a television role.
• December 21, 2003 "I, Robot, Really" - Due to an incident with Chubby Carol, Quinn is blackmailed into giving each crew member a robot body, but what is to become of the crew's old bodies?
• December 31, 2003 "Frozen Dinner" - The Sealab crew attempts a daring rescue mission to Ice Station Zebra, one of whose inhabitants has turned to cannibalism. They are accompanied by a German who bears more than a passing resemblance to Jürgen Prochnow and is given to firing his pistol and shouting "Sieg Heil!" Unfortunately, the two inhabitants of Ice Station Zebra cannot be rescued due to a lack of wetsuits, thanks to Debbie. The episode ends with a rousing rendition of the chorus of "It's a Long Way to Tipperary."
• January 11, 2004 "Tornado Shanks" - As Captain Murphy leaves for The Great Spice Wars, a new captain, Tornado Shanks, is given the helm.

Season four

• June 20, 2004 "ASHDTV" - A delivering mishap and some dishonesty on Sparks' part pockets Sealab a brand new Asteroid Smasher/High-Definition TV.
• June 27, 2004 "Chalkboard Jungle" - Dr. Quinn teaches Debbie Love's class of 4th-graders including Fatass McBlobbicus, while having to deal with Tornado Shanks' warped and unscientific view of education. The classic story "The Scarlet Ibis," by James Hurst, is ripped off as part of a classroom discussion of death. All the while, cuts are made between Debbie Love's classroom and the spa Love is visiting, creating a series of double entendres.
• July 4, 2004 "Dearly Beloved Seed" - The last of Captain Shanks' brothers dies from a heart attack while taking a dump; all the while, Hesh and Debbie Dupree get married. The episode ends with Uzi fire and a parody of the dialogue style of The Matrix. (written by a Sealab fan known only as "MCHeshpants420", his screen name at Adult Swim's official web boards)
• July 11, 2004 "Craptastic Voyage" - Quinn, White Debbie, and "He Who Smokes Bitches" Stormy Waters venture deep into Tornado Shanks to destroy a malignant tumor in Captain Shanks' head.
• July 18, 2004 "Let 'Em Eat Corn" - Tornado Shanks declares Sealab a sovereign nation in order to be his own tax haven. A wave of secession fever sweeps through the entire crew, with a half-dozen nations declaring themselves independent in a few minutes; with the help of two British businessmen, they are all soon armed with missiles allegedly loaded with nuclear warheads. When push comes to shove and every Sealab nation declares war on every other one, however, the nukes all turn out to be duds. The Brits get away with Sealab's cash and play a horrible "rock" song over the end credits.
• July 18, 2004 "Neptunati" - Stormy's meddlesome inquistiveness uncovers Shanks' membership in a world-controlling society.
• November 14, 2004 "Isla de las Chupacabras" - A team-building exercise goes horribly wrong when the Sealab crew are attacked by Chupacabras.
• November 21, 2004 "Joy of Grief" - A grief counselor tries to help the Sealab crew through a hard time.
• November 28, 2004 "Green Fever" - Zombies ravage Sealab as Debbie plans her (fifth) 30th birthday party.
• December 5, 2004 "Sharko's Machine" - Marco's illegitimate son applies for a job on Sealab. Can he pass the civil service exam with Debbie and Quinn helping?
• December 12, 2004 "Return of Marco" - Marco died three episodes ago. What's he doing back?

Season five

• March 6, 2005 "Casinko" - Sealab is in danger of crashing into an ancient American Indian burial ground.
• March 13, 2005 "Butchslap" - Marco's secret past from 50 years ago threatens the lives of the Sealab crew.
• March 20, 2005 "Monkey Banana Raffle" - An eccentric trillionaire (a parody of Richard Branson) buys Sealab.
• March 28, 2005 "Shrabster" - This episode parodies both Pulp Fiction and the "backwards" episode of Seinfeld. Quinn genetically engineers a hybrid crustacean to reproduce enough larvae to end world hunger. The plot, which is revealed in a series of scenes in reverse chronological order introduced with an annoying voiceover and a bad title card, continues with Sparks selling off the rights for the shrimp-crab-lobster to Grizzlebee's; the corporation's agents, Dan and Don, try to take possession of the queen shrabster with the help of Captain Shanks, only to be thwarted by Shanks' non-cooperation. Dan and Don hijack a submersible loaded with shrabster eggs instead, only to wind up crashing it into the ocean floor and returning to dry land empty-handed. Quinn finds out about Sparks' double dealing and kills him. Shanks escapes with the queen to an unnamed city, where her loud roars attract the attention of the police; the captain gets the queen to agree to a murder-suicide pact, then neglects to kill himself, instead helping himself to several bites of her claws.
• April 4, 2005 "Cavemen" - Quinn and Stormy are stuck in a cave with only 10 minutes of oxygen while Sealab burns. They rehash a number of things about their lives and the current week's destruction of Sealab, often through fighting, and finally ascend to heaven together, where they begin an afterlife full of encounters with longtime friends and prostitutes.
• April 11, 2005 "Moby Sick" - Quinn is struck with a moral dilemma when Abelard, a whale dying of asbestos-caused "whale cancer," begs Quinn to euthanize him. Environmentalists insist on saving his life, while a few people insist euthanasia is the best option. Dolphin Boy takes up the banner of Odontocetian Pride against the intrusion of the inferior Mysticetians, vowing to kill Abelard. Marco discovers that Abelard's cancer is delicious, and proceeds to eat it all out of him at the end of the episode, as a skinhead Dolphin Boy jumps onto him with a harpoon and Debbie DuPree chains herself to the swiftly sinking whale.
• April 18, 2005 "No Waterworld" - All the water around Sealab mysteriously disappears as a result of an alien landing. Sparks sells off all the oxygen tanks and shoots out all the glass windows in the station with an AK-47, resulting in yet another catastrophe when the water finally returns.
• April 25, 2005 "Legacy of Laughter" - The final episode of Sealab 2021, done as an interview and sort of a sequel to "Tinfins" (the film "Tinfins 2" is in the works and it's sponsored by Grizzlebee's). There is a Q&A session with the audience, during which one person asks of the people on stage are supposed to be the voice actors as themselves, or are they in character now? The only answer is "yes". It's determined that the biggest problem with Sealab 2021 is that it "wasn't enough like Aqua Teen Hunger Force". The interview/episode ends with a greatest hits tribute to Captain Murphy and a sneak preview of the next season right after the commercial break. Ironic thing is, there aren't anymore new episodes as the episode ends that way.